The Enduring Word: From William Tyndale to the English Standard Version

Celebrating God’s Faithfulness October 2026 marks a significant moment in the life of the ESV Bible and Crossway. Twenty-five years have passed since the ESV was first published in 2001, and, remarkably, as we reflect on this anniversary, the ESV has become, perhaps, the most widely distributed Bible in the world, with more than 369 million copies distributed worldwide. The recent success of the ESV would not have been imaginable in the early days of the translation work, or in 2001, when the first ESV Bibles were coming off the press, let alone in 1996, when a small group of Crossway employees committed to seeking the Lord’s leading during a season of prayer and fasting. October also marks another, even more significant anniversary—one that reaches back five centuries to the very beginning of English Bible translations: the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s New Testament. And so, as we commemorate these two important anniversaries, we celebrate God’s faithfulness in revealing himself to us through his God-breathed, inerrant Word and for his kindness in preserving the Scriptures for his people today. The Bible is a sacred treasure, containing the very words of God. This soberi...