The Christian Standard Bible (CSB)—including audio—is now available on Bible Gateway! Click here to read and search the CSB online at Bible Gateway, or click here to listen to the audio CSB.
Developed by 100 scholars from 17 different denominations, the Christian Standard Bible is a revision of the Holman Christian Standard Bible. It’s particularly well-suited for sermon preparation and serious Bible study, although its careful balance of readability and literal accuracy make it useful for any Bible readers.
The CSB translation team followed a translation approach called optimal equivalence—a method which balances readability in modern English with faithfulness to the Bible’s original languages. The result is a Bible that adheres closely to the wording of the original languages except when doing so might obscure the text’s meaning for modern readers, in which cases the CSB employs a more dynamic translation.
To get a sense for the CSB‘s unique approach to translation, here’s how the CSB translates the account of one of Jesus’ most famous miracles—the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11:
As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”
When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked.
“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”
Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.” — John 11:29-44 (CSB)
The CSB is available to read and search using the search form at the top of any page on BibleGateway.com. You can click here to start reading the CSB at Genesis 1, or click here to read more about this translation. You can also listen to the CSB by visiting our library of audio Bibles.
We’re grateful to Holman Bible Publishers for making the CSB available on Bible Gateway! It’s an excellent and unique addition to our Bible library. If you’re familiar with its predecessor, the HCSB, you’ll find that it continues in the path set down by that Bible, incorporating the latest biblical scholarship and translation insight. If you’re new to this family of Bibles, you’ll find the CSB well worth exploring.
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