THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a translation of

the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1961; it is used
and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. Though it is not the first Bible to be
published by the group, it is their first original translation of ancient Classical
Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Old Aramaic biblical texts. As of November 2015, the
Watch Tower Society has published 208 million copies of the New World
Translation in whole or in part in more than 130 languages.

History
Until the release of the NWT, Jehovah's Witnesses in English-speaking
countries primarily used the King James Version. According to the publishers, one of
the main reasons for producing a new translation was that most Bible versions in
common use, including the Authorized Version (King James), employed archaic
language. The stated intention was to produce a fresh translation, free of archaisms.
Additionally, over the centuries since the King James Version was produced, more
copies of earlier manuscripts of the original texts in the Hebrew and Greek
languages have become available. According to the publishers, better manuscript
evidence had made it possible to determine with greater accuracy what the original
writers intended, particularly in more obscure passages. They said linguists better
understood certain aspects of the original Hebrew and Greek languages than
previously.
In October 1946, the president of the Watch Tower Society, Nathan H. Knorr,
proposed a fresh translation of the New Testament, which Jehovah's Witnesses
usually refer to as the Christian Greek Scriptures. Work began on December 2, 1947
when the "New World Bible Translation Committee" was formed, composed of
Jehovah's Witnesses who professed to be anointed. The Watch Tower Society is said
to have "become aware" of the committee's existence a year later. The committee
agreed to turn over its translation to the Society for publication and on September
3, 1949, Knorr convened a joint meeting of the board of directors of both the Watch
Tower Society's New York and Pennsylvania corporations where he again announced
to the directors the existence of the committee and that it was now able to print its
new modern English translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Several chapters
of the translation were read to the directors, who then voted to accept it as a gift.
The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was released at a
convention of Jehovah's Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York, on August 2, 1950.
The translation of the Old Testament, which Jehovah's Witnesses refer to as
the Hebrew Scriptures, was released in five volumes in 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, and
1960. The complete New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released as a
single volume in 1961, and has since undergone minor revisions. Cross
references which had appeared in the six separate volumes were updated and
included in the complete volume in the 1984 revision.
In 1961 the Watch Tower Society began to translate the New World
Translation into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish; the New
Testament in these languages was released simultaneously on July 1963 in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By 1989 the New World Translation was translated into
eleven languages, with more than 56,000,000 copies printed.

Translators
The New World Translation was produced by the New World Bible Translation
Committee, formed in 1947. This committee is said to have comprised unnamed
members of multinational background. The committee requested that the Watch
Tower Society not publish the names of its members, stating that they did not want
to "advertise themselves but let all the glory go to the Author of the Scriptures,
God, adding that the translation, "should direct the reader... to... Jehovah God". The
publishers believe that "the particulars of [the New World Bible Translation
Committee's members] university or other educational training are not the
important thing" and that "the translation testifies to their qualification". Former
high ranking Watch Tower staff have claimed knowledge of the translators'
identities.
Evangelical minister Walter Ralston Martin identified Nathan H. Knorr, Fredrick
W. Franz, Albert D. Schroeder, George Gangas, and Milton Henschel as members of
the translation team, writing of them, "The New World Bible translation committee
had no known translators with recognized degrees in Greek or Hebrew exegesis or
translation... None of these men had any university education except Franz, who left
school after two years, never completing even an undergraduate degree." Franz had
stated that he was familiar with not only Hebrew, but with Greek, Latin, Spanish,
Portuguese, German, and French for the purpose of biblical translation. In his
critique of the NWT, K. J. Baumgarten wrote, the NWT must be evaluated on its
own merits, the qualifications of the committee members are not as relevant as the
quality of their work product.

2013 revision
At the Watch Tower Society's annual meeting on October 5, 2013, a
significantly revised translation was released. Many outdated terms were replaced
with modern English. The Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53 8:11) and the Short and
Long Conclusions of Mark 16 (Mark 16:820)offset from the main text in earlier
editionswere removed. The new revision was also released as part of
an app called JW Library.

Translation
According to the Watch Tower Society, the New World Translation attempts to
convey the intended sense of original-language words according to the context.
The New World Translation employs nearly 16,000 English expressions to translate
about 5,500 biblical Greek terms, and over 27,000 English expressions to translate

about 8,500 Hebrew terms. The translators state that, where possible in the target
language, the New World Translation prefers literal renderings and does not
paraphrase the original text.

Textual basis
The master text used for translating the Old Testament into English
was Kittel's Biblia Hebraica. The Hebrew texts, Biblia Hebraica
Stuttgartensia and Biblia Hebraica Quinta, were used for preparing the latest
version of this translation. Other works consulted in preparing the translation
include Aramaic Targums, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Torah, the
GreekSeptuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Masoretic Text, the Cairo Codex, the Aleppo
Codex, Christian David Ginsburg's Hebrew Text, and the Leningrad Codex.
The Greek master text by the Cambridge University scholars B. F.
Westcott and F. J. A. Hort (1881) was used as the basis for translating the New
Testament into English. The committee also referred to the Novum Testamentum
Graece (18th edition, 1948) and to works by Catholic Jesuit scholars Jos M. Bover
(1943) and Augustinus Merk (1948). The United Bible Societies' text (1975) and
the Nestle-Aland text (1979) were used to update the footnotes in the 1984 version.
Additional works consulted in preparing the New World Translation include
the Armenian Version, Coptic Versions, the Latin Vulgate, Sixtine and Clementine
Revised Latin Texts, Textus Receptus, the Johann Jakob Griesbach's Greek text,
the Emphatic Diaglott, and various papyri.

Other languages
Translation into other languages is based on the English text, supplemented
by comparison with the Hebrew and Greek. The complete New World Translation has
been published in more than eighty languages or scripts, with the New Testament
available in more than fifty additional languages.
When the Writing Committee approves the translation of the Bible into a new
language, it appoints a group of baptized Jehovah's Witnesses to serve as a
translation team. Translators are given a list of words and expressions commonly
used in the English New World Translation with related English words grouped
together (e.g. atone, atonement or propitiation). A list of vernacular equivalents is
then composed. A database of Greek and Hebrew terms is available where a
translator has difficulty rendering a verse. The vernacular terms are then applied to
the text in the target language. Further editing and translation is then performed to
produce a final version.

Features
The layout resembles the 1901 edition of the American Standard Version. The
translators use the terms "Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures" and "Christian Greek
Scriptures" rather than "Old Testament" and "New Testament", stating that the use

of "testament" was based on a misunderstanding of 2 Corinthians 3:14. Headings

were included at the top of each page to assist in locating texts; these have been
replaced in the 2013 revision by an "Outline of Contents" introducing each Bible
book. There is also an index listing scriptures by subject.
Square brackets [ ] were added around words that were inserted editorially,
but were removed as of the 2006 printing. Double brackets were used to indicate
text considered doubtful. The pronoun "you" was printed in small capitals (i.e., YOU)
to indicate plurality, as were some verbs when plurality may be unclear. These
features were discontinued in the 2013 release. The New World Translation attempts
to indicate progressive rather than completed actions, such as "proceeded to rest"
at Genesis 2:2 instead of "rested". The 2013 release indicates progressive verbs
only where considered contextually important.

Use of Jehovah
Main article: Jehovah
The name Jehovah is a translation of the Tetragrammaton (Hebrew: ,
transliterated as YHWH), although the original pronunciation is unknown. The New
World Translation uses the name Jehovah 6,979 times in the Old Testament. The
Watch Tower Society notes that the Tetragrammaton appears in "the oldest
fragments of the Greek Septuagint". In reference to the Septuagint, biblical
scholar Paul E. Kahle stated, "We now know that the Greek Bible text as far as it was
written by Jews for Jews did not translate the Divine name by Kyrios, but the
Tetragrammaton written with Hebrew or Greek letters was retained in such MSS
(manuscripts). It was the Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton by Kyrios,
when the divine name written in Hebrew letters was not understood any more."
The New World Translation also uses the name Jehovah 237 times in the New
Testament where the extant texts use only the Greek words kurios (Lord) and theos
(God). Walter Martin, an evangelical minister, wrote, "It can be shown from literally
thousands of copies of the Greek New Testament that not once does the
tetragrammaton appear." However, the translators of the New World
Translation believed that the name Jehovah was present in the original manuscripts
of the New Testament when quoting from the Old Testament, but replaced with the
other terms by later copyists. Based on this reasoning, the translators "restored the
divine name", though it is not present in any extant manuscripts.
The use of Jehovah in the New Testament is not unique to the NWT;
translations in English with similar renderings include A Literal Translation of the
New Testament ... From the Text of the Vatican Manuscript (Heinfetter, 1863); The
Emphatic Diaglott (Wilson, 1864); The Epistles of Paul in Modern English (Stevens,
1898); St. Pauls Epistle to the Romans (Rutherford, 1900); The Christians Bible
New Testament (LeFevre, 1928) and The New Testament Letters (Wand, Bishop of
London, 1946).

Overall review

In its review of Bible translations released from 1955 to 1985, The

HarperCollins Bible Dictionary listed the New World Translation as one of the major
modern translations.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia says of the NWT reference edition: "[Jehovah's
Witnesses]' translation of the Bible [has] an impressive critical apparatus. The work
is excellent except when scientific knowledge comes into conflict with the accepted
doctrines of the movement." It criticizes the NWT's rendering of Kyrios as "Jehovah"
in 237 instances in the New Testament.

Old Testament
Samuel Haas, in his 1955 review of the 1953 first volume of the New World
Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, in the Journal of Biblical Literature, stated that
although "this work indicates a great deal of effort and thought as well as
considerable scholarship, it is to be regretted that religious bias was allowed to
colour many passages."
Professor Benjamin Kedar, a Professor of History and Director of the Institute
for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said in 1989: "In my
linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translations, I often refer
to the English edition of what is known as the New World Translation. In so doing, I
find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this work [the NWT Old Testament]
reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as
accurate as possible."
Regarding the NWT's use of English in the 1953 first volume of the NWT
(Genesis to Ruth), Dr. Harold H. Rowley (18901969) was critical of what he called
"wooden literalism" and "harsh construction." He characterized these as "an insult
to the Word of God", citing various verses of Genesis as examples. Rowley
concluded, "From beginning to end this [first] volume is a shining example of how
the Bible should not be translated." Rowley's published review is dated January
1953, six months before the volume was actually released; Rowley did not update
his review following the July 1953 release or the 1961 revision, and he died before
the release of the 1970 and later revisions.

New Testament
A 2003 study by Jason BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies
at Northern Arizona University in the United States, of nine of "the Bibles most
widely in use in the English-speaking world," including the New American Bible, The
King James Bible and The New International Version, examined several New
Testament passages in which "bias is most likely to interfere with translation." For
each passage, he compared the Greek text with the renderings of each English
translation, and looked for biased attempts to change the meaning. BeDuhn
reported that the New World Translation was "not bias free", but emerged "as the
most accurate of the translations compared", and thus a "remarkably good
translation", adding that "most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of
the NW as a literal, conservative translation". BeDuhn said the introduction of the
name "Jehovah" into the New Testament 237 times was "not accurate translation by

the most basic principle of accuracy", and that it "violate[s] accuracy in favor of
denominationally preferred expressions for God", adding that for the NWT to gain
wider acceptance and prove its worth its translators might have to abandon the use
of "Jehovah" in the New Testament.
Theologian and televangelist John Ankerberg accused the NWT's translators
of renderings that conform "to their own preconceived and unbiblical theology. John
Weldon and Ankerberg cite several examples wherein they consider the NWT to
support theological views overriding appropriate translation. Ankerberg and Weldon
cite Julius R. Mantey, co-author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New
Testament and A Hellenistic Greek Reader, who also criticized the NWT, calling it "a
shocking mistranslation."
William Barclay, Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism, concluded that
"the deliberate distortion of truth by this sect is seen in the New Testament
translation. ... It is abundantly clear that a sect which can translate the New
Testament like that is intellectually dishonest.
Edgar J. Goodspeed, translator of the New Testament in An American Translation,
wrote in a letter to the Watch Tower Society: "I am interested in the mission work of
your people, and its world wide scope, and much pleased with the free, frank and
vigorous translation. It exhibits a vast array of sound serious learning, as I can
testify."
Former American Bible Society board member Bruce M. Metzger concluded
that "on the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly
equipment of the translators," but identified instances where the translation has
been written to support doctrine, with "several quite erroneous renderings of the
Greek." Metzger noted a number of "indefensible" characteristics of the translation,
including its use of "Jehovah" in the New Testament.
Unitarian theologian Charles Francis Potter stated about the NWT: "Apart from
a few semantic peculiarities like translating the Greek word stauros, as "stake"
instead of "cross", and the often startling use of the colloquial and the vernacular,
the anonymous translators have certainly rendered the best manuscript texts, both
Greek and Hebrew, with scholarly ability and acumen."
Religion writer and editor Alexander Thomson said of the NWT: "The translation is
evidently the work of skilled and clever scholars, who have sought to bring out as
much of the true sense of the Greek text as the English language is capable of
expressing. ... We heartily recommend the New World Translation of the Christian
Greek Scriptures, published in 1950 by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
Thomas Winter, an instructor of Greek at the University of Nebraska and
former president of the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, considered the Kingdom
Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures to be a "highly useful aid toward the
mastery of koine (and classical) Greek," adding that the translation "is thoroughly
up-to-date and consistently accurate."
The Andover Newton Quarterly reported, "The translation of the New
Testament is evidence of the presence in the movement of scholars qualified to deal
intelligently with the many problems of Biblical translation. One could question why

the translators have not stayed closer to the original meaning, as do most
translators ... In not a few instances the New World Translation contains passages
which must be considered as 'theological translations.' This fact is particularly
evident in those passages which express or imply the deity of Jesus Christ."

The New World Translation and "Proskuneo"

(worship)
by Matt Slick (https://carm.org/religious-movements/jehovahs-witnesses/newworld-translation-and-proskuneo-worship)
The chart below is a list of every occurrence of the Greek word, "proskuneo,"
that I could find in The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures
(1969). This work was produced by the New World Translation Bible
(NWT) committee in accordance with the Watchtower organization. An interlinear is
a word-for-word translation of the Greek text. Included in this Watchtower interlinear
is the text of the New World Translation Bible placed in a column on each page so
the reader can see exactly how the NWT renders each occurrence of the verb,
"proskuneo."
The word, "proskuneo," means "to kiss the hand, bow down before, show
obeisance, to worship." Since the Jehovah's Witnesses deny that Jesus is God, they
maintain that He is not to be worshipped. So, how does the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society translate the word, "proskuneo," in their Greek New Testament in
reference to Jesus and other objects of adoration? The NWT never translates the
word into "worship" when it references Jesus. It does, however, render the word as
"worship" regarding the devil, the dragon, the beast, the image, demons, idols, and
an angel. Of course, they correctly translate it as "worship" when it deals with God.
Is the New World Translation biased against worshipping Jesus? It would
surely seem so and especially since the NASB, NIV, KJV, NKJV, etc., all translate the
word as "worship" in reference to Jesus.
What is curious is to note that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society used to
teach that worshipping Jesus was acceptable:
"The fact that our Lord received worship is claimed by some to be an
evidence that while on earth he was God the Father disguised in a body of flesh and
not really a man. Was he really worshiped, or is the translation faulty? Yes we
believe our Lord Jesus while on earth was really worshiped, and properly so. While
he was not the God, Jehovah, he was a God. The word God signifies a mighty one,
and our Lord was indeed a mighty one. So it is stated in the first two verses of the
gospel of John. It was proper for our Lord to receive worship in view of his having
been the only begotten of the Father. . . ," (The Watchtower, July 15, 1898, p. 216).
It seems that as the Watchtower theology changed, they needed a Bible
consistent with those changes, hence, the New World Translation. Following is a
chart listing every appearance of the word, "proskuneo," in the New World
Translation. Let's see if the bias of the Watchtower organization is obvious.
The word, "proskuneo," occurs 55 times in the Watchtower Kingdom
Interlinear. Of those 55, 15 are in reference to Jesus with 40 used of others, 27% of
the usage is of Jesus, and not a single reference is translated as "worship" even
though in reference to the devil, demons, idols, etc., they do translate it as worship.
If this doesn't demonstrate their bias, then what does?

Verse

Jesus

God

drago
Demo n,
Devil Generic Idols
ns
beast,
image

Peter

Angel

Peter

Angel

obeisanc
e
obeisanc
Matt. 2:8
e
obeisanc
Matt. 2:11
e
Matt. 2:2

worshi
p

Matt. 4:9
worshi
p

Matt. 4:10
obeisanc
e
obeisanc
Matt. 9:18
e
Matt.
obeisanc
14:33
e
Matt.
obeisanc
15:25
e
Matt.
18:26
Matt.
obeisanc
20:20
e
obeisanc
Matt. 28:9
e
Matt.
obeisanc
28:17
e
obeisanc
Mark 5:6
e
Mark
obeisanc
15:19
e
Matt. 8:2

obeisanc
e

worshi
p

Luke 4:7
worshi
p

Luke 4:8
Luke
24:52
Verse
John 4:20

obeisanc
e
Jesus

God
worshi

drago
Demo n,
Devil Generic Idols
ns
beast,
image

p
worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p

John 4:21
John 4:22
John 4:23
John 4:23
John 4:24
John 9:38

obeisanc
e

John 12:20

worship
worshi
p

Acts 7:43
Acts 8:27

worship
obeisanc
e

Acts 10:25
Acts 24:11
1 Cor.
14:25
Heb. 1:6

worship
worshi
p
obeisanc
e

Heb.
11:21

Verse

worshi
p

Jesus

God

Rev. 3:9
Rev. 4:10
Rev. 5:14
Rev. 7:11

drago
Demo n,
Devil Generic Idols
ns
beast,
image
obeisanc
e

worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p

Rev. 9:20
Rev. 11:1
Rev. 11:16
Rev. 13:4

worship
worshi
p
worshi
p

Peter

Angel

worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p

Rev. 13:8
Rev. 13:12
Rev. 13:15
Rev. 14:7

worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p

Rev. 14:9
Rev. 14:11
Rev. 15:4

worshi
p
worshi
p

Rev. 16:2
Rev. 19:4
Rev. 19:10

worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p
worshi
p

Rev. 19:20
Rev. 20:4

worshi
p

Rev. 22:8
Rev. 22:9

worshi
p

As you can see, the NWT is very bias in how it translates the word,
"proskuneo." Whenever it is in reference to Jesus, they absolutely will not let it be
translated as worship. Why? Because they erringly deny that Jesus is God in flesh
and their Bible reflects their bias. This is not how proper theology is done.
The Watchtower Organization has changed the Bible to suit its
needs!