Parableman has an interesting post about the way ESV and TNIV advocates tend to talk past each other without understanding. Essentially these two translations differ because their aim is different. The TNIV aims to translate the sense or meaning of the bible into todays languange, whilst the ESV aims to translate the actual form or words of the bible into English, and at times is more concerned with accuracy to the form than readability.
Personally, I would advocate using a more literal translation like the ESV as ones main translation and then referring to the less literal ones, especially whenever the language is not clear to you. I covered a number of these issues in more detail in a series of posts called the ESV Interview.
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