Les Témoins de Jéhovah lisent leur propre traduction de la Bible, réalisée par un comité dont les membres n’ont jamais été nommés. Cette page pose une question précise : aux passages qui véhiculent des enseignements propres aux Témoins, le grec ou l’hébreu étaye-t-il la formulation anglaise, qu’ont réellement publié les recenseurs, et que dit l’organisation de ses propres choix ?
Dernière vérification le 19 septembre 2026
Ce que montrent les publications, passage par passage
Chaque passage ci-dessous donne le grec ou l’hébreu, le texte anglais de la Traduction du monde nouveau, la manière dont d’autres traductions majeures le rendent, et la raison que l’organisation invoque elle-même. Tout au long, l’élément de preuve le plus direct est la Kingdom Interlinear de l’organisation elle-même, qui imprime sous le texte grec un mot-à-mot littéral. Un tel mot-à-mot est une aide à la lecture, non une proposition de traduction, mais là où il diffère de la traduction imprimée en regard, la différence est visible par n’importe quel lecteur.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation soutient que l’absence d’article rend θεός qualitatif plutôt que défini, de sorte que la proposition décrit une qualité de la Parole au lieu de l’identifier au Dieu tout-puissant ; elle propose “divine” et “a godlike one” comme rendus possibles et cite d’autres traductions qui portent un texte semblable.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”
The opening verse of John's Gospel in the current (2013) revision of the New World Translation, as displayed in the Study Edition on the Watchtower Online Library.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), John 1:1
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the running Bible text read in full; wording confirmed character for character.
1984 · John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”
The same verse in the 1984 Reference Bible, which is still hosted on the Watchtower Online Library under the symbol Rbi8. The rendering 'a god' is identical in both editions; only the English word order and the bracketed article differ.
1985 · John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Ἐν In ἀρχῇ beginning ἦν was ὁ the λόγος, Word, καὶ and ὁ the λόγος Word ἦν was πρὸς toward τὸν the θεόν, God, καὶ and θεὸς god ἦν was ὁ the λόγος. Word.”
The Watch Tower Society's own interlinear sets its word-for-word English beneath the Westcott and Hort Greek text. Its literal line for the third clause reads 'and god was the Word'; the New World Translation column beside it reads 'and the Word was a god'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, John 1:1 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and the English gloss read directly from the page.
Notes.The Kingdom Interlinear is itself a Watch Tower publication, so this is primary evidence of what the organisation's own scholars took the Greek to say word for word.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-john-1-1
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible and New American Bible all read: “and the Word was God.” The NET Bible reads “and the Word was fully God”; Smith’s Literal Translation reads “and God was the Word.””
The parallel page for John 1:1. Of the major English versions listed there, none renders the clause 'a god'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, John 1:1 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026. Read on Bible Hub's reproduction, not in the printed editions; I did not check any version's own printing.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-john-1-1
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1139-1140 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb points to a quality about someone. Therefore, John’s statement that the Word, or Logos, was “a god” or “divine” or “godlike” does not mean that he was the God with whom he was.”
The organisation's fullest published defence of 'a god'. The appendix also lists seven other translations that render the clause 'a god', 'divine' or 'godlike', quotes Philip B. Harner's 1973 Journal of Biblical Literature article, and gives a chart of anarthrous predicate nouns in Mark and John (apparition, prophet, thief, king and so on) where translators supply 'a'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2A: Jesus—A Godlike One; Divine
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1139 and 1140 read from the HTML page-number spans.
Notes.The appendix quotes Harner: 'In John 1:1 I think that the qualitative force of the predicate is so prominent that the noun cannot be regarded as definite.' It does not quote any rendering Harner himself proposed.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-app2a
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“the Word was a god: Or “the Word was divine [or, “a godlike one”].” … Many scholars agree that the absence of the definite article before the second the·osʹ is significant. When the article is used in this context, the·osʹ refers to God Almighty. On the other hand, the absence of the article in this grammatical construction makes the·osʹ qualitative in meaning and describes a characteristic of “the Word.””
The current study note attached to John 1:1, giving the organisation's present-day reason for the rendering.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice 2A de l’organisation déclare que « c’est avec une justification égale que l’article indéfini “a” est inséré devant le θεός anarthre de l’attribut en Jean 1:1 », et que l’anglais exige un article là où le grec n’en exige pas.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Ἐν In ἀρχῇ beginning ἦν was ὁ the λόγος, Word, καὶ and ὁ the λόγος Word ἦν was πρὸς toward τὸν the θεόν, God, καὶ and θεὸς god ἦν was ὁ the λόγος. Word.”
The Watch Tower Society's own interlinear sets its word-for-word English beneath the Westcott and Hort Greek text. Its literal line for the third clause reads 'and god was the Word'; the New World Translation column beside it reads 'and the Word was a god'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, John 1:1 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and the English gloss read directly from the page.
Notes.The Kingdom Interlinear is itself a Watch Tower publication, so this is primary evidence of what the organisation's own scholars took the Greek to say word for word.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-john-1-1
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1139-1140 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb points to a quality about someone. Therefore, John’s statement that the Word, or Logos, was “a god” or “divine” or “godlike” does not mean that he was the God with whom he was.”
The organisation's fullest published defence of 'a god'. The appendix also lists seven other translations that render the clause 'a god', 'divine' or 'godlike', quotes Philip B. Harner's 1973 Journal of Biblical Literature article, and gives a chart of anarthrous predicate nouns in Mark and John (apparition, prophet, thief, king and so on) where translators supply 'a'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2A: Jesus—A Godlike One; Divine
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1139 and 1140 read from the HTML page-number spans.
Notes.The appendix quotes Harner: 'In John 1:1 I think that the qualitative force of the predicate is so prominent that the noun cannot be regarded as definite.' It does not quote any rendering Harner himself proposed.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-app2a
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La note d’étude de l’organisation elle-même déclare : « Une traduction littérale du texte grec serait “all things”. (Comparer avec la Kingdom Interlinear.) Cependant, une telle traduction pourrait donner l’impression que Jésus n’a pas été créé, mais qu’il était lui-même le Créateur. » Elle soutient que le mot grec rendu par “all” peut, dans certains contextes, signifier “all other”.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth … All other things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist … 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake”
The word 'other' appears five times in these verses in the 2013 revision, with no brackets and no footnote marking it as an addition.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Colossians 1:16-20
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the running text of verses 15-23 read in full; the absence of brackets confirmed by eye.
1985 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“16 ὅτι because ἐν in αὐτῷ him ἐκτίσθη it was created τὰ the πάντα all (things) … τὰ the πάντα all (things) δι’ through αὐτοῦ him καὶ and εἰς into αὐτὸν him ἔκτισται· it has been created; 17 καὶ and αὐτὸς he ἔστιν is πρὸ before πάντων all (things)”
The Society's own word-for-word line renders τὰ πάντα simply 'all (things)' at every occurrence. There is no word in the Greek corresponding to 'other'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Colossians 1:16-20 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Colossians 1 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “For in him all things were created”; English Standard Version: “For by him all things were created”; New American Standard Bible: “for by Him all things were created”; King James Bible: “For by him were all things created”; New Revised Standard Version: “for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created”.”
No major English version consulted inserts 'other' at Colossians 1:16.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Colossians 1:16 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction; the printed editions themselves were not consulted.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-col-1-16
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Colossians 1:16 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“all other things: A literal rendering of the Greek text would be “all things.” (Compare Kingdom Interlinear.) However, such a rendering could give the impression that Jesus was not created but was the Creator himself. And that idea would not agree with the rest of the Bible, including the preceding verse, which calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation.””
The organisation's own study note states plainly both that the literal Greek says 'all things' and that the reason for adding 'other' is doctrinal consistency, not grammar. The note goes on to argue that 'the Greek word for “all” can in some contexts have the meaning “all other”'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Colossians 1:16, 'all other things'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Colossians chapter 1 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Notes.The note ends: 'So both the Bible’s teachings as a whole and the probable meaning of the Greek word used here support the rendering “all other things.”'
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwtsty-note-col-1-16
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice A2 de la révision de 2013, “Features of This Revision”, documente de nombreux changements de vocabulaire et de style, mais ne mentionne pas la suppression des crochets. Aucune explication officielle n’a été trouvée.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1984 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth … All [other] things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist … 20 and through him to reconcile again to himself all [other] things”
In the 1984 Reference Bible the same five occurrences of 'other' are enclosed in square brackets, which that edition uses to mark words supplied by the translators.
2013 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth … All other things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist … 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake”
The word 'other' appears five times in these verses in the 2013 revision, with no brackets and no footnote marking it as an addition.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Colossians 1:16-20
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the running text of verses 15-23 read in full; the absence of brackets confirmed by eye.
2013 · pp.1722-1725 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The English verb “impale” was used in previous versions of this Bible in connection with the execution of Jesus. While this term could refer to the way that Jesus was nailed to the torture stake, it is more often used in reference to the ancient method of execution by running a sharp stake through the body and fixing the victim on it. Since Jesus was not impaled with the torture stake, this revision uses such expressions as “executed on a stake” and “nailed to the stake” with regard to the manner in which Jesus was fastened to the torture stake.”
The 2013 revision's own account of one change it made. The appendix sets out many vocabulary changes ('long-suffering' to 'patience', 'Sheol' and 'Hades' to 'the Grave', 'soul' rendered by sense) but says nothing about the removal of the 1984 edition's square brackets.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, Appendix A2: Features of This Revision
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix A2 opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1722, 1723 and 1724 read from the page-number spans. I searched the whole appendix for the word 'bracket' and found no occurrence. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation previously stopped mid-sentence after “nailed to the stake” and closed with a full stop; the rest of the sentence has been restored.
Notes.Useful as evidence that the organisation does document its revisions — which makes the silence about the brackets worth noting, carefully and without imputing motive.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwt-a2-impale
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation soutient que le présent exprime ici un état commencé dans le passé et qui se poursuit, ce que l’anglais rend par un parfait ; elle cite la grammaire de Winer et Moulton–Turner, qui tous deux mentionnent Jean 8:58 comme exemple de cette construction, et note que la Traduction du monde nouveau rend la même forme verbale par “I have been” en Jean 14:9.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · John 8:58 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Jesus said to them: “Most truly I say to you, before Abraham came into existence, I have been.””
The 2013 rendering. The 1984 Reference Bible reads identically apart from capitalisation and the small-capital 'YOU': 'Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.'
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, John 8:58 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for John 8 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“English Standard Version: “before Abraham was, I am.” King James Bible: “Before Abraham was, I am.” New American Standard Bible: “before Abraham was born, I am.” NET Bible: “before Abraham came into existence, I am!” Contemporary English Version: “even before Abraham was, I was, and I am.””
Every major version consulted renders ἐγώ εἰμι here as a present, 'I am'. The NET Bible matches the NWT's 'came into existence' for γενέσθαι but keeps 'I am'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, John 8:58 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-john-8-58
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1145-1146 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The action expressed in John 8:58 started “before Abraham came into existence” and is still in progress. In such situation εἰμί (ei·miʹ), which is the first-person singular present indicative, is properly translated by the perfect indicative.”
The appendix supports the rendering with G. B. Winer's grammar (7th ed., Andover, 1897, p. 267) and Moulton–Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, Vol. III (Edinburgh, 1963, p. 62), both of which do cite John 8:58 as an example of the 'present of past action still in progress'. It also lists five early Syriac, Georgian and Ethiopic versions rendering 'I was'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2F: Jesus—In Existence Before Abraham
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1145 and 1146 read from the page-number spans. I confirmed the appendix's wording; I did not open Winer or Moulton–Turner to check the quotations against the printed grammars.
2013 · study note, John 8:58 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In this context, however, the action expressed by the Greek verb ei·miʹ started “before Abraham came into existence” and was still in progress. It is therefore properly translated “I have been” rather than “I am,” … In fact, at Joh 14:9, the same form of the Greek verb ei·miʹ is used to render Jesus’ words: “Even after I have been with you men for such a long time, Philip, have you not come to know me?””
The current study note. It acknowledges the argument that ἐγώ εἰμι alludes to the Septuagint of Exodus 3:14 and answers it from context rather than from grammar alone.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on John 8:58, 'I have been'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty John chapter 8 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation had silently expanded the Watchtower Online Library's own Bible-book abbreviations (and, at Hebrews 1:6, dropped a parenthetical cross-reference). Restored to the wording on the page.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation déclare que le verbe a un sens large — “(fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully” — et que c’est le contexte qui tranche ; elle ajoute que « beaucoup de traducteurs de la Bible emploient ici le terme “worship” (Hé 1:6), donnant l’impression que Jésus est Dieu. Cependant, la Bible montre ailleurs que Jésus n’est pas le Dieu tout-puissant ».
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Hebrews 1:6 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Hebrews 1 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Bible, New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible all read “worship him”. Young’s Literal Translation reads: “And let them bow before him -- all messengers of God;” Douay-Rheims reads “adore him”.”
The great majority of English versions read 'worship' here, but Young's Literal Translation renders the same verb 'bow before', showing that a non-cultic rendering is not unique to the NWT.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Hebrews 1:6 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-heb-1-6
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Hebrews 1:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Greek verb rendered “do obeisance to” (pro·sky·neʹo) … is broad in meaning. One lexicon gives the following possible meanings: “(fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully.” The context is essential in determining which is the correct rendering in this case. … Many Bible translators use the term “worship” here (Heb 1:6), giving the impression that Jesus is God. However, the Bible shows elsewhere that Jesus is not Almighty God.”
The organisation's stated reason for choosing 'do obeisance' at this verse: the lexical range permits either, and the doctrinal conclusion that Jesus is not Almighty God decides which is used.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Hebrews 1:6, 'do obeisance to him'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Hebrews chapter 1 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation had silently expanded the Watchtower Online Library's own Bible-book abbreviations (and, at Hebrews 1:6, dropped a parenthetical cross-reference). Restored to the wording on the page.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwtsty-note-heb-1-6
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La note d’étude de l’organisation sur Matthieu 14:33 énonce directement le principe : “They rendered obeisance to him, not as to a god or a deity, but as to ‘God’s Son.’” [“Ils lui ont rendu hommage, non comme à un dieu ou à une divinité, mais comme au ‘Fils de Dieu’.”] De son propre aveu, le rendu anglais est choisi selon l’identité que l’on attribue à l’objet.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Matthew 28:9 and 28:17 in the Kingdom Interlinear
Note sur la fiabilité.Kingdom Interlinear Matthew chapter 28 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and both glosses read in context.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Hebrews 1:6 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Hebrews 1 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
2013 · study note, Matthew 14:33 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“did obeisance to him: Or “bowed down to him; paid him homage.” These people recognized Jesus as God’s representative. They rendered obeisance to him, not as to a god or a deity, but as to “God’s Son.””
The note makes explicit that the choice between 'worship' and 'obeisance' for προσκυνέω is governed by who the object is held to be.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Matthew 14:33, 'did obeisance to him'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read on the nwtsty Matthew chapter 14 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation soutient qu’un article unique n’implique pas nécessairement un seul référent en grec koinè, en citant l’Idiom Book de C. F. D. Moule — le sens “of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ... is possible in κοινή [koi·neʹ] Greek even without the repetition [of the definite article]” [“du grand Dieu, et de notre Sauveur Jésus Christ... est possible en grec κοινή [koi·neʹ] même sans la répétition [de l’article défini]”] — ainsi que l’étude d’Ezra Abbot de 1888, longuement reproduite.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Titus 2:13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“while we wait for the happy hope and glorious manifestation of the great God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ”
The repeated 'of' makes two persons the natural reading in English. The 1984 Reference Bible reads 'of the great God and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus'.
1985 · Titus 2:13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“τῆς of the δόξης glory τοῦ of the μεγάλου great θεοῦ God καὶ and σωτῆρος of Savior ἡμῶν of us Χριστοῦ of Christ Ἰησοῦ, Jesus,”
The Greek has a single article τοῦ governing both 'great God' and 'Saviour', joined by καί. This is the construction covered by Granville Sharp's rule.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Titus 2:13 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Titus 2 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“One person: New International Version “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”; English Standard Version “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”; New American Standard Bible “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”; New Revised Standard Version “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. Two persons: King James Bible “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”; American Standard Version “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”; New American Bible “the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ”; Douay-Rheims “the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ”.”
Modern versions overwhelmingly read one person, but the King James Version, the American Standard Version, the Douay-Rheims and the New American Bible render the phrase in a way that permits or implies two — so the NWT's reading is not unique to it.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-titus-2-13
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1143-1144 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“This indicates that when two distinct persons are connected by καί, if the first person is preceded by the definite article it is not necessary to repeat the definite article before the second person. … According to An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, by C. F. D. Moule, Cambridge, England, 1971, p. 109, the sense “of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . is possible in κοινή [koi·neʹ] Greek even without the repetition [of the definite article].””
The organisation's defence of reading two persons at Titus 2:13. The appendix lists eleven translations from 1719 to 1972 that render it the same way and quotes Ezra Abbot at length.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2E: “Of the Great God and of [the] Savior of Us, Christ Jesus”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1143 and 1144 read from the page-number spans. I confirmed the appendix's wording; I did not open Moule's Idiom Book or Abbot's essays to check the quotations against the printed originals.
2013 · study note, Titus 2:13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Some scholars therefore argue that only one person is referred to here, so they render this phrase, “of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” They thus view this text as proof that the inspired Scriptures describe Jesus as “the great God.” However, many scholars and Bible translators acknowledge that this passage can properly be rendered as it is in the New World Translation, referring to two distinct persons.”
The current study note. It states the opposing reading accurately before answering it, and refers the reader to Kingdom Interlinear Appendix 2E.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Titus 2:13, 'of the great God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Titus chapter 2 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation soutient que ἁρπαγμός dérive de ἁρπάζω, “to seize; to snatch” [“saisir ; ravir”], et que “the Scriptures never use the Greek term to mean the holding on to something already in one’s possession” [“les Écritures n’emploient jamais le terme grec au sens de retenir quelque chose que l’on possède déjà”] ; elle propose comme rendu possible “did not regard equality with God as something to be seized (grasped)” [“n’a pas considéré l’égalité avec Dieu comme une chose à saisir (à ravir)”].
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Philippians 2:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“although he was existing in God’s form … did not even consider the idea of trying to be equal to God”
The 2013 rendering, quoted from the study-note headwords, which reproduce the main text. The 1984 Reference Bible read: 'who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God.'
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Philippians 2:6
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note headwords and the 1984 running text both opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and read directly. The 2013 wording is quoted from the study-note lemmas rather than from a continuous reading of the main text.
2013 · study notes, Philippians 2:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Greek noun used here (har·pag·mosʹ; lit., “a thing to be seized”) is derived from the verb har·paʹzo, which has the basic meaning “to seize; to snatch.” Some have suggested that this term refers to retaining something already possessed. However, the Scriptures never use the Greek term to mean the holding on to something already in one’s possession. … If Jesus “did not even consider the idea of trying to be equal to God,” it must be that he was never equal to God.”
The organisation's argument, and its conclusion, drawn explicitly from its own rendering. The note also gives 'did not regard equality with God as something to be seized (grasped)' as an alternative rendering.
1985 · Philippians 2:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“6 ὃς who ἐν in μορφῇ form θεοῦ of God ὑπάρχων existing οὐχ not ἁρπαγμὸν snatching ἡγήσατο he considered τὸ the εἶναι to be ἴσα equal (things) θεῷ, to God,”
The Society's own word-for-word line reads 'not snatching he considered the to be equal (things) to God'. The disputed word is ἁρπαγμός, which occurs only here in the New Testament.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Philippians 2:6 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Philippians 2 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-phil-2-6
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“English Standard Version: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”; New Revised Standard Version: “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited”; New American Standard Bible: “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped”; King James Bible: “thought it not robbery to be equal with God”; Young’s Literal Translation: “thought it not robbery to be equal to God”.”
Mainstream versions are themselves divided over what ἁρπαγμός means here; 'grasped', 'exploited' and 'robbery' carry quite different implications. None, however, states that the subject never possessed equality.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Philippians 2:6 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-phil-2-6
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La note d’étude de l’organisation déclare : “Grammatically, such a rendering is possible, but the context has to be taken into consideration” [“Sur le plan grammatical, un tel rendu est possible, mais il faut tenir compte du contexte”], et elle argumente à partir du passage environnant et de l’habitude qu’avait Paul d’adresser ses doxologies à Dieu.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · Romans 9:5 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“ἐξ out of ὧν whom ὁ the χριστὸς Christ τὸ the (thing) κατὰ according to σάρκα, flesh, ὁ the (one) ὢν being ἐπὶ upon πάντων, all (things), θεὸς God εὐλογητὸς blessed (one) εἰς into τοὺς the αἰῶνας· ages; ἀμήν. amen.”
The Greek runs on without a full stop. Whether ὁ ὤν ('the one being') continues the description of Christ or begins a new clause about God is a question of punctuation, which the earliest manuscripts do not settle.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Romans 9:5 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Romans 9 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“Christ as God: New International Version “the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!”; English Standard Version “is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever”; New Revised Standard Version “comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever”. Separate doxology: New American Bible “is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever.”; Good News Translation “May God, who rules over all, be praised forever!”; Contemporary English Version “I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever!””
Romans 9:5 is genuinely disputed among translators quite independently of the New World Translation: the New American Bible, a Roman Catholic translation, punctuates it as the NWT does.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-rom-9-5
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1142-1143 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“These translations take ὁ ὤν (ho on) as the beginning of an independent sentence or clause referring to God and pronouncing a blessing upon him for the provisions he made.”
The appendix lists seven translations that punctuate Romans 9:5 as the New World Translation does, including the Revised Standard Version (1952), Moffatt (1935), Today's English Version (1966), the New American Bible (1970) and the New English Bible (1972). It quotes Winer's grammar and Ezra Abbot's 1888 study, which notes a point after σάρκα in codices A, B, C and L.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2D: “God, Who Is Over All”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1142 and 1143 read from the page-number spans. I have not opened Winer or Abbot to check those quotations, nor the manuscripts to confirm the punctuation claim.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Aucune note d’étude ni note de bas de page sur ce rendu n’a été trouvée, que ce soit dans l’édition de 2013 ou dans celle de 1984, sur la Bibliothèque en ligne Watchtower.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Zechariah 12:10 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“and they will look to the one whom they pierced, and they will wail over him as they would wail over an only son”
The speaker throughout the verse is Jehovah ('I will pour out'), but the object of 'look to' is rendered 'the one', not 'me'. The 1984 Reference Bible read 'they will certainly look to the One whom they pierced through'.
“וְהִבִּ֥יטוּ wə-hib-bî-ṭū | and they will look | Conj-w | V-Hifil-ConjPerf-3cp; אֵלַ֖י ’ê-lay | on Me | Prep | 1cs; אֵ֣ת ’êṯ | - | DirObjM; אֲשֶׁר־ ’ă-šer- | whom | Pro-r; דָּקָ֑רוּ dā-qā-rū | they have pierced | V-Qal-Perf-3cp”
The Masoretic Text reads אֵלַי ('elay), 'to me' — a preposition with a first-person singular suffix. A number of Hebrew manuscripts read אֵלָיו ('elav), 'to him', and translations differ accordingly.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub Hebrew text analysis, Zechariah 12:10, word-by-word Hebrew with morphology
Note sur la fiabilité.Word-by-word Hebrew analysis page opened on 19 September 2026 and the morphology read directly. The existence of the 'elav variant in some Hebrew manuscripts is inferred from the divergence among the translations listed on the parallel page and from the wording of the New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible; I did not consult a Hebrew critical apparatus, so that point is recorded as unverified in the claim.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“'Me': New International Version “They will look on me, the one they have pierced”; King James Bible “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced”; New American Standard Bible “they will look at Me whom they pierced”; JPS Tanakh 1917 “And they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through”. 'Him' or 'the one': New Revised Standard Version “when they look on the one whom they have pierced”; New American Bible “when they look on him whom they have thrust through”.”
The New World Translation's 'the one' matches the New Revised Standard Version almost word for word; the New American Bible reads 'him'. This is a textual crux in the Hebrew, not a rendering peculiar to the NWT.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-zech-12-10
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · John 19:37 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“And again, a different scripture says: “They will look to the one whom they pierced.””
John's quotation of Zechariah 12:10, rendered consistently with the NWT's Zechariah. The Kingdom Interlinear's line for the same verse reads: 'Ὄψονται They will see εἰς into ὃν whom ἐξεκέντησαν. they pierced.' — the Greek of John does not contain a word for 'me' either.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), John 19:37
Note sur la fiabilité.Both the nwtsty John 19 page and the Kingdom Interlinear John 19 page opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the verse read in each.
Notes.Because the Greek of John 19:37 itself has no 'me', the NWT's rendering here is uncontroversial; the question is confined to the Hebrew of Zechariah.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwt2013-john-19-37
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La note d’étude actuelle explique encore que le grec porte littéralement “through the blood of the own (one)” et que ὁ ἴδιος peut s’employer seul comme terme d’affection désignant un proche parent.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own Son.”
The 2013 rendering. The 1984 Reference Bible read 'with the blood of his own [Son]', with 'Son' bracketed as a supplied word and a footnote referring the reader to Appendix 6C.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Acts 20:28
Note sur la fiabilité.Both chapter pages opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; the 1984 footnote 'For a discussion of “the blood of his own [Son]” see App 6C' was also read on the Rbi8 page.
1985 · p.1141 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Grammatically, this passage could be translated as in the King James Version and Douay Version, “with his own blood.” That has been a difficult thought for many. … A noun in the singular number would be understood after “his own,” most likely God’s closest relative, his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ.”
The organisation's defence. It quotes J. H. Moulton's Prolegomena (1930 ed., p. 90) on ὁ ἴδιος used absolutely as a term of endearment for near relations, and F. J. A. Hort's remark in the Westcott and Hort appendix that 'it is by no means impossible that ΥΙΟΥ dropped out after ΤΟΥΙΔΙΟΥ at some very early transcription'. It also lists six translations from 1903 onwards that supply 'Son'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2C: With the Blood of God’s Own Son
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page marker 1141 read from the page-number span. I have not opened Moulton's Prolegomena or the Westcott and Hort appendix to verify those quotations against the printed originals.
1984 · Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own [Son]. … *For a discussion of “the blood of his own [Son]” see App 6C.”
The 1984 Reference Bible brackets ‘[Son]’ as a supplied word and carries a footnote referring the reader to Appendix 6C. The 2013 revision prints ‘his own Son’ with no brackets.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References, Acts 20:28 and its footnote
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page and footnote block opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 by the independent auditor and read directly. Added during the audit: the claim about the 1984 bracketing previously rested on no source that showed the 1984 text.
2013 · study note, Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“with the blood of his own Son: Lit., “through the blood of the own (one).” Grammatically, the Greek expression could be translated “with the blood of his own” or “with his own blood,” so the context has to be taken into consideration. In Greek, the expression ho iʹdi·os (“his own”) could stand alone without a clarifying noun or pronoun … In non-Biblical Greek papyri, the phrase is used as a term of endearment to refer to close relatives.”
The current note repeats the 1985 appendix's argument and again concedes the alternative rendering.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Acts 20:28, 'with the blood of his own Son'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Acts chapter 20 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Notes.The same page carries a separate note: 'God: Some ancient manuscripts read “the Lord” here, but the main text reading “God” has strong manuscript support and is viewed by many scholars as the original reading.'
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwtsty-note-acts-20-28
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La note de la Bible à références de 1984 explique : « Outre qu’il est traduit par “spirit”, ruʹach est aussi traduit par “wind” et par d’autres mots qui désignent une force agissante invisible ».
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Genesis 1:2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Now the earth was formless and desolate, and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep, and God’s active force was moving about over the surface of the waters.”
The 2013 rendering, with a footnote reading ‘Or “God’s spirit.”’
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Genesis 1:2
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page and footnote block opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and read directly. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: this record previously also asserted the 1984 Reference Bible wording and footnote, which are on a different document; that material has been moved to src-nwtv-rbi8-gen-1-2, which carries its own URL.
“וְר֣וּחַ wə-rū-aḥ | And the Spirit | Conj-w | N-csc; אֱלֹהִ֔ים ’ĕ-lō-hîm | of God | N-mp; מְרַחֶ֖פֶת mə-ra-ḥe-p̄eṯ | was hovering | V-Piel-Prtcpl-fs”
The Hebrew phrase is רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, ruach elohim. The noun ruach covers wind, breath and spirit; the construction itself does not decide between a personal and an impersonal sense.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” King James Bible: “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” New Revised Standard Version: “while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” New American Bible: “with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters”.”
The New Revised Standard Version and the New American Bible both render ruach elohim impersonally at Genesis 1:2. The New World Translation's 'active force' is a stronger paraphrase than either, but the impersonal reading is not unique to it.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Genesis 1:2 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-gen-1-2
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1984 · Genesis 1:2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God’s active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. … “And . . . active force (spirit).” Heb., weruʹach. Besides being translated “spirit,” ruʹach is also translated “wind” and by other words that denote an invisible active force.”
The 1984 Reference Bible's wording and its footnote on ruach, which is where the organisation explains the choice of ‘active force’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References, Genesis 1:2 and its footnote
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page and footnote block opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 by the independent auditor and both read directly; wording confirmed character for character.
Dans le Nouveau Testament, la Traduction du monde nouveau désigne l’esprit saint par le pronom neutre anglais “it” — par exemple en Jean 14:17, “the spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive, because it neither sees it nor knows it” [“l’esprit de la vérité, que le monde ne peut pas recevoir, parce qu’il ne le voit pas et ne le connaît pas”]. Source: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), 2013
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation fait observer, à juste titre, que πνεῦμα est grammaticalement neutre et que le pronom αὐτό en Jean 14:17 est neutre ; elle ajoute que là où l’esprit est décrit comme enseignant ou rendant témoignage, “he used a figure of speech called personification” [“il a employé une figure de style appelée personnification”].
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study notes, John 14:16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“When Jesus spoke of the holy spirit, an impersonal force, as a helper and referred to this helper as ‘teaching,’ ‘bearing witness,’ ‘giving evidence,’ ‘guiding,’ ‘speaking,’ ‘hearing,’ and ‘receiving’ … he used a figure of speech called personification … sees it . . . You know it: The two occurrences of “it” render the Greek pronoun au·toʹ, which is in the neuter gender and refers to the Greek word for spirit (pneuʹma), which is also in the neuter gender.”
The organisation's explanation of its impersonal rendering of the spirit at John 14:17. The grammatical observation about the neuter pronoun is correct as far as it goes; John 16:13-14 uses the masculine pronoun ἐκεῖνος with παράκλητος, which the note does not mention here.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study notes on John 14:16, 17, 'helper' and 'sees it . . . You know it'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study notes read in full on the nwtsty John chapter 14 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. The observation about ἐκεῖνος at John 16:13-14 is my own and was not checked against the interlinear in this session.
Deux rendus de ce groupe pèsent plus lourd que tous les autres sur ce site, car tout l’enseignement de 1914 repose sur eux. Ils sont examinés en détail dans le dossier sur la chronologie.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation soutient que παρουσία “refers to a presence covering a period of time rather than simply a coming or an arrival” [“se rapporte à une présence couvrant une période de temps plutôt qu’à une simple venue ou arrivée”], en citant la comparaison avec les jours de Noé en Matthieu 24:37-39 et l’opposition que fait Paul entre présence et absence en Philippiens 2:12.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Matthew 24:3 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?”
The 2013 rendering. The 1984 Reference Bible is identical in this phrase: 'what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?'
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Matthew 24:3 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Matthew 24 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
1940 · entry παρουσία · Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones · Clarendon Press, Oxford; digital text hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
“παρουσ-ία, ἡ, (πάρειμι) A. presence, of persons, δεσπότου, etc., A. Pers. 169 … 2. arrival, ἡμῶν κοινόπουν π. S. El. 1104, cf. E. Alc. 209, Th.1.128 … 5. in NT, the Advent, Ev.Matt.24.27, al.”
Liddell, Scott and Jones give ‘presence’ as sense A.1 and ‘arrival’ as sense A.2, so ‘presence’ is a well-attested classical sense. The same entry also gives, as sense A.5, ‘in NT, the Advent’, citing Matthew 24:27 — the New Testament sense the lexicon itself distinguishes from the classical ones.
Note de provenance et de vérification for A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell, Scott and Jones), παρουσία
Note sur la fiabilité.The Perseus entry page was opened on 19 September 2026 and the entry text read directly from the page HTML. I did not consult a printed copy of LSJ, so no page number of the printed lexicon is recorded. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the earlier version of this record quoted only senses A.1 and A.2 and omitted sense A.5, ‘in NT, the Advent, Ev.Matt.24.27’, which bears directly on the passage at issue. Sense A.5 has been added so that the record does not present the lexicon as more favourable to one side than it is.
Provenance de la numérisation.Perseus Digital Library's digitisation of the 1940 ninth edition.
Notes.This confirms the Kingdom Interlinear appendix's citation of Liddell and Scott, and also shows what that appendix does not mention: that the same entry gives 'arrival' as a second sense.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-lsj-parousia
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, NET Bible and New American Bible all read “your coming”; the King James Bible reads “the sign of thy coming”. Young’s Literal Translation reads “the sign of thy presence”.”
Every major modern version consulted reads 'coming'; Young's Literal Translation of 1862 reads 'presence', showing that the NWT's choice is a recognised literal option rather than an invention.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Matthew 24:3 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the earlier wording attributed “your coming” to the King James Bible, which reads “thy coming”. Corrected.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-matt-24-3
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Matthew 24:3 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“presence: The Greek word pa·rou·siʹa (in many translations rendered “coming”) literally means “being alongside.” It refers to a presence covering a period of time rather than simply a coming or an arrival. This meaning of pa·rou·siʹa is indicated at Mt 24:37-39, where “the days of Noah . . . before the Flood” are compared to “the presence of the Son of man.” At Php 2:12, Paul used this Greek word to describe his “presence” in contrast to his “absence.””
The current study note. Its two supporting arguments — the comparison with Noah's days and Paul's contrast between presence and absence — are both drawn from the New Testament's own usage and are reasonable as far as they go.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Matthew 24:3, 'presence'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Matthew chapter 24 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation had silently expanded the Watchtower Online Library's own Bible-book abbreviations (and, at Hebrews 1:6, dropped a parenthetical cross-reference). Restored to the wording on the page.
1985 · pp.1147-1149 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The word pa·rou·siʹa occurs 24 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures … In these 24 places the New World Translation renders pa·rou·siʹa as “presence.” … Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon, 1968, p. 1343, gives as the first definition of pa·rou·siʹa the English word presence. … In Matthew 24:3, as well as in other texts such as 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1, the word pa·rou·siʹa refers to the royal presence of Jesus Christ since his enthronement as King in the last days of this system of things.”
The organisation's defence of 'presence', and the doctrinal conclusion drawn from it. The appendix also quotes Israel P. Warren's 1879 book The Parousia at length and Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker on parousia as 'the official term for a visit of a person of high rank'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 3B: Christ’s Presence (Parousia)
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1147, 1148 and 1149 read from the page-number spans. I confirmed from Liddell, Scott and Jones directly that 'presence' is indeed sense A; I have not opened Warren (1879) or the printed BAGD.
Notes.The final sentence is the load-bearing one for the 1914 doctrine: the lexical claim ('presence') and the doctrinal claim ('since his enthronement as King') are placed side by side, but the second does not follow from the first.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-app3b
L’appendice de la Kingdom Interlinear Translation passe, en un seul paragraphe, de l’affirmation lexicale selon laquelle παρουσία signifie « présence » à l’affirmation doctrinale selon laquelle, en Matthieu 24:3, le mot “refers to the royal presence of Jesus Christ since his enthronement as King in the last days of this system of things” [“se rapporte à la présence royale de Jésus Christ depuis son intronisation comme Roi dans les derniers jours de ce système de choses”] — c’est-à-dire à une présence invisible commençant en 1914. Rien dans les données lexicales ne fournit cette date ni cette invisibilité. Source: The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, 1985Source: A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell, Scott and Jones), 1940
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice de l’organisation appuie le point lexical sur Liddell et Scott, sur le Theological Dictionary of the New Testament et sur The Parousia d’Israel P. Warren (1879), et présente l’application à l’intronisation du Christ comme découlant de la Bible dans son ensemble plutôt que du mot seul.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1147-1149 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The word pa·rou·siʹa occurs 24 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures … In these 24 places the New World Translation renders pa·rou·siʹa as “presence.” … Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon, 1968, p. 1343, gives as the first definition of pa·rou·siʹa the English word presence. … In Matthew 24:3, as well as in other texts such as 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1, the word pa·rou·siʹa refers to the royal presence of Jesus Christ since his enthronement as King in the last days of this system of things.”
The organisation's defence of 'presence', and the doctrinal conclusion drawn from it. The appendix also quotes Israel P. Warren's 1879 book The Parousia at length and Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker on parousia as 'the official term for a visit of a person of high rank'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 3B: Christ’s Presence (Parousia)
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1147, 1148 and 1149 read from the page-number spans. I confirmed from Liddell, Scott and Jones directly that 'presence' is indeed sense A; I have not opened Warren (1879) or the printed BAGD.
Notes.The final sentence is the load-bearing one for the 1914 doctrine: the lexical claim ('presence') and the doctrinal claim ('since his enthronement as King') are placed side by side, but the second does not follow from the first.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-app3b
1940 · entry παρουσία · Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones · Clarendon Press, Oxford; digital text hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
“παρουσ-ία, ἡ, (πάρειμι) A. presence, of persons, δεσπότου, etc., A. Pers. 169 … 2. arrival, ἡμῶν κοινόπουν π. S. El. 1104, cf. E. Alc. 209, Th.1.128 … 5. in NT, the Advent, Ev.Matt.24.27, al.”
Liddell, Scott and Jones give ‘presence’ as sense A.1 and ‘arrival’ as sense A.2, so ‘presence’ is a well-attested classical sense. The same entry also gives, as sense A.5, ‘in NT, the Advent’, citing Matthew 24:27 — the New Testament sense the lexicon itself distinguishes from the classical ones.
Note de provenance et de vérification for A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell, Scott and Jones), παρουσία
Note sur la fiabilité.The Perseus entry page was opened on 19 September 2026 and the entry text read directly from the page HTML. I did not consult a printed copy of LSJ, so no page number of the printed lexicon is recorded. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the earlier version of this record quoted only senses A.1 and A.2 and omitted sense A.5, ‘in NT, the Advent, Ev.Matt.24.27’, which bears directly on the passage at issue. Sense A.5 has been added so that the record does not present the lexicon as more favourable to one side than it is.
Provenance de la numérisation.Perseus Digital Library's digitisation of the 1940 ninth edition.
Notes.This confirms the Kingdom Interlinear appendix's citation of Liddell and Scott, and also shows what that appendix does not mention: that the same entry gives 'arrival' as a second sense.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-lsj-parousia
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La Tour de Garde du 1er octobre 2011 déclare : « Au lieu de dire 70 ans “at Babylon”, beaucoup de traductions portent “for Babylon”. (NIV) Certains historiens affirment donc que cette période de 70 ans s’applique à l’Empire babylonien. » Elle répond que le contexte de Jérémie fait des soixante-dix ans une période de punition pour Juda, et non une période de suprématie babylonienne.
“לְפִ֞י lə-p̄î | after | Prep-l | N-msc; מְלֹ֧את mə-lōṯ | are completed | V-Qal-Inf; לְבָבֶ֛ל lə-ḇā-ḇel | for Babylon | Prep-l | N-proper-fs; שִׁבְעִ֥ים šiḇ-‘îm | seventy | Number-cp; שָׁנָ֖ה šā-nāh | years | N-fs”
The Hebrew is לְבָבֶל, lə-Ḇāḇel: the prefixed preposition is lamed (ל), whose ordinary senses are 'to', 'for' or 'belonging to'. The preposition meaning 'in' or 'at' is bet (ב), which is not what stands here.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub Hebrew text analysis, Jeremiah 29:10, word-by-word Hebrew with morphology
Note sur la fiabilité.Word-by-word Hebrew analysis page opened on 19 September 2026 and the consonantal text, pointing and morphological tag 'Prep-l' read directly from the page.
2013 · Jeremiah 29:10 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
““For this is what Jehovah says, ‘When 70 years at Babylon are fulfilled, I will turn my attention to you, and I will make good my promise by bringing you back to this place.’”
The 2013 rendering. The 1984 Reference Bible read 'In accord with the fulfilling of seventy years at Babylon I shall turn my attention to YOU people'. Neither edition carries a study note or footnote on the preposition. The page marker [[p971]] appears just above the verse in the 1984 edition.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Jeremiah 29:10
Note sur la fiabilité.Both chapter pages opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the verse read in each; the absence of any study note on this verse confirmed by reading the whole study-note block for Jeremiah 29:10, which contains only marginal references and an index.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“'For Babylon': New International Version “When seventy years are completed for Babylon”; English Standard Version “When seventy years are completed for Babylon”; New American Standard Bible “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon”; American Standard Version “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon”; JPS Tanakh 1917 “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon”; New Revised Standard Version “Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed”; NET Bible “Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over”. 'At Babylon': King James Bible “after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon”; New King James Version “After seventy years are completed at Babylon”; Brenton Septuagint Translation “When seventy years shall be on the point of being accomplished at Babylon”.”
The great majority of modern versions, including the Jewish Publication Society's own Tanakh, read 'for Babylon' — that is, seventy years belonging to Babylon. The King James Version and the New King James Version read 'at Babylon', so the New World Translation's rendering is shared with them.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-jer-29-10
La lecture de Jérémie 29:10 est déterminante pour la date de 607 avant notre ère que l’organisation retient pour la destruction de Jérusalem : si les soixante-dix ans correspondent à la période de suprématie de Babylone plutôt qu’à la période d’exil de Juda, le calcul qui place la destruction soixante-dix ans avant 537 avant notre ère ne tient plus. Source: The Watchtower, 1 octobre 2011Source: The Watchtower, 1 novembre 2011
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation déclare : « Puisque la Bible dit explicitement que l’exil a duré 70 ans, il doit avoir commencé en 607 av. n. è. » Elle soutient que les chroniques babyloniennes sont incomplètes et que la tablette astronomique VAT 4956 peut se lire comme appuyant 588 avant notre ère pour la 37e année de Nabuchodonosor, tout en concédant dans une note qu’« aucun des spécialistes profanes cités dans cet article ne soutient que Jérusalem a été détruite en 607 av. n. è. ».
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 octobre 2011 · pp.26-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Instead of saying 70 years “at Babylon,” many translations read “for Babylon.” (NIV) Some historians therefore claim that this 70-year period applies to the Babylonian Empire. … The Bible, however, shows that the 70 years were to be a period of severe punishment from God—aimed specifically at the people of Judah and Jerusalem, who were in a covenant to obey him.”
The organisation's own acknowledgement that most translations read 'for Babylon', and its answer: that the context of Jeremiah requires the seventy years to be a period of exile for Judah rather than a period of Babylonian supremacy. This article and its sequel are the fullest published defence of the 607 BCE date.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part One
Note sur la fiabilité.Article opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page marker 27 read from the page-number span within the passage quoted, and the article's own header gives 'w11 10/1 pp. 26-31'.
1 novembre 2011 · pp.22-28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“At present, the majority of secular historians believe that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.E. However, the Bible writers Jeremiah and Daniel clearly state that the Jews were in exile for 70 years, not 50 years. … Since the Bible explicitly says that the exile lasted for 70 years, it must have begun in 607 B.C.E.”
The second article argues that the Babylonian chronicles are incomplete and that astronomical tablet VAT 4956 can be read to support 588 BCE as Nebuchadnezzar's 37th year. A footnote states plainly: 'None of the secular experts quoted in this article hold that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E.'
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part Two
Note sur la fiabilité.Article opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; the footnote and the quoted paragraphs read directly. Page marker 23 read from the page-number span; the article header gives 'w11 11/1 pp. 22-28'.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation note que les plus anciens manuscrits grecs ne comportent pas de ponctuation et que « la grammaire du texte grec permet de placer une virgule (ou deux-points) soit avant, soit après le mot “today” ». Elle reconnaît que Westcott et Hort, Nestle–Aland et les Sociétés bibliques unies placent tous la virgule avant “today”, et dit que l’autre placement « s’harmonise avec des déclarations que Jésus avait faites auparavant et avec des enseignements que l’on trouve ailleurs dans les Écritures ».
Afficher les preuves (5 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Luke 23:43
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter page opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 by the independent auditor and the running Bible text of verse 43 read in full; wording confirmed character for character.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References, Luke 23:43
Note sur la fiabilité.1984 Reference Bible chapter page opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the verse read in full. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: this record was previously filed under the id ‘src-nwtv-nwt2013-luke-23-43’, although its publication, date and URL are all the 1984 Reference Bible. Renamed, and a separate record added for the 2013 wording.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” English Standard Version “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” King James Bible “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Lamsa Bible “Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.””
Of the major English versions on the page, none punctuates the verse as the New World Translation does. One version on the same page does: George Lamsa's translation from the Syriac Peshitta places the comma after ‘today’, as the New World Translation does.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Luke 23:43 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened on 19 September 2026 and all 42 renderings on it read, on Bible Hub's reproduction rather than in the printed editions. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the earlier wording of this record claimed that ‘all seventeen versions on the page’ place the comma before ‘today’. The page carries 42 versions, and the Lamsa Bible places it after ‘today’. Corrected.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-luke-23-43
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“43 καὶ And εἶπεν he said αὐτῷ to him Ἀμήν Amen σοι to you λέγω, I am saying σήμερον today μετ’ with ἐμοῦ me ἔσῃ you will be ἐν in τῷ the παραδείσῳ. Paradise.”
The printed Greek text carries a comma after λέγω and before σήμερον — that is, the punctuation of the Westcott and Hort text the Society reproduces places 'today' with the promise, not with the speaking.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Luke 23:43 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Luke 23 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek line, including its punctuation, read directly from the page.
2013 · study note, Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In this verse, the grammar of the Greek text allows for placing a comma (or a colon) either before or after the word “today.” … Scholarly editions of the Greek text like the ones prepared by Westcott and Hort, Nestle and Aland, and the United Bible Societies put a comma before the Greek word rendered “today.” However, placing the comma after “today” harmonizes with earlier statements that Jesus made and with teachings found elsewhere in the Scriptures.”
A candid statement of the organisation's method at this verse: the grammar permits either, the standard critical editions choose one, and the organisation chooses the other because of what it holds the Bible to teach elsewhere. The note also cites the fifth-century Curetonian Syriac and Hesychius of Jerusalem as early witnesses to the alternative punctuation.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Luke 23:43, 'Truly I tell you today,'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Luke chapter 23 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. I have not opened Burkitt's edition of the Curetonian Syriac or the text of Hesychius to check those secondary citations.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation déclare ouvertement que les éditions critiques de référence, y compris celle de Westcott et Hort, placent la virgule avant “today”.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“43 καὶ And εἶπεν he said αὐτῷ to him Ἀμήν Amen σοι to you λέγω, I am saying σήμερον today μετ’ with ἐμοῦ me ἔσῃ you will be ἐν in τῷ the παραδείσῳ. Paradise.”
The printed Greek text carries a comma after λέγω and before σήμερον — that is, the punctuation of the Westcott and Hort text the Society reproduces places 'today' with the promise, not with the speaking.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Luke 23:43 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Luke 23 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek line, including its punctuation, read directly from the page.
2013 · study note, Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In this verse, the grammar of the Greek text allows for placing a comma (or a colon) either before or after the word “today.” … Scholarly editions of the Greek text like the ones prepared by Westcott and Hort, Nestle and Aland, and the United Bible Societies put a comma before the Greek word rendered “today.” However, placing the comma after “today” harmonizes with earlier statements that Jesus made and with teachings found elsewhere in the Scriptures.”
A candid statement of the organisation's method at this verse: the grammar permits either, the standard critical editions choose one, and the organisation chooses the other because of what it holds the Bible to teach elsewhere. The note also cites the fifth-century Curetonian Syriac and Hesychius of Jerusalem as early witnesses to the alternative punctuation.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Luke 23:43, 'Truly I tell you today,'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Luke chapter 23 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. I have not opened Burkitt's edition of the Curetonian Syriac or the text of Hesychius to check those secondary citations.
L’appendice de la Kingdom Interlinear Translation dit, à propos de Matthieu 27:40, qu’“There is no evidence that the Greek word stau·rosʹ here meant a cross such as the pagans used as a religious symbol for many centuries before Christ” [“Rien ne prouve que le mot grec stau·rosʹ désignait ici une croix comme celle que les païens ont utilisée comme symbole religieux pendant de nombreux siècles avant Christ”], et poursuit en disant que les rédacteurs du Nouveau Testament employaient ce mot “to mean the same thing as in the classical Greek, namely, a simple stake, or pale, without a crossbeam of any kind at any angle. There is no proof to the contrary.” [“dans le même sens qu’en grec classique, à savoir un simple poteau, ou pieu, sans traverse d’aucune sorte ni à aucun angle. Il n’existe aucune preuve du contraire.”] Le lexique classique de référence, Liddell, Scott et Jones, donne comme deuxième sens de σταυρός “cross, as the instrument of crucifixion” [“croix, en tant qu’instrument de crucifixion”], cite Matthieu 27:40 parmi les passages relevant de ce sens, et rapporte que Lucien décrit la forme comme la lettre grecque T. Source: The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, 1985Source: A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell, Scott and Jones), 1940Source: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), 2013
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice de l’organisation fonde son argumentation sur le sens classique du mot ainsi que sur W. E. Vine, Hermann Fulda (1878) et Paul Wilhelm Schmidt (1904) ; la note d’étude actuelle sur Matthieu 20:19 répète qu’en grec classique le verbe signifiait “to fence with pales, to form a stockade, or palisade” [“entourer de pieux, former un retranchement ou une palissade”].
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1149-1151 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“There is no evidence that the Greek word stau·rosʹ here meant a cross such as the pagans used as a religious symbol for many centuries before Christ. … The inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures wrote in the common (koi·neʹ) Greek and used the word stau·rosʹ to mean the same thing as in the classical Greek, namely, a simple stake, or pale, without a crossbeam of any kind at any angle. There is no proof to the contrary.”
The organisation's appendix on the cross. It cites W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary, Lewis and Short's Latin dictionary, Hermann Fulda (1878), Paul Wilhelm Schmidt (1904) and an illustration of the crux simplex taken from Justus Lipsius, De cruce libri tres (Antwerp, 1629, p. 19).
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 3C: “Torture Stake”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1149, 1150 and 1151 read from the page-number spans. I have not opened Vine, Fulda, Schmidt or Lipsius to check those citations against the printed originals.
Notes.The appendix concludes: 'Evidence is, therefore, completely lacking that Jesus Christ was crucified on two pieces of timber placed at right angles.'
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-app3c
1940 · entry σταυρός · Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones · Clarendon Press, Oxford; digital text hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
“σταυρός, ὁ, A. upright pale or stake … of piles driven in to serve as a foundation, Hdt.5.16, Th.7.25. II. cross, as the instrument of crucifixion, D.S.2.18, Ev.Matt. 27.40, Plu.2.554a … its form was represented by the Greek letter T, Luc. Jud.Voc. 12. b. pale for impaling a corpse, Plu. Art. 17.”
The standard classical Greek lexicon gives both senses. Its second sense is 'cross, as the instrument of crucifixion', and among the passages it cites for that sense is Matthew 27:40 — the very verse the Kingdom Interlinear appendix uses to argue the opposite. It also records Lucian describing the shape of the σταυρός as the letter T.
Note de provenance et de vérification for A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell, Scott and Jones), σταυρός
Note sur la fiabilité.The Perseus entry page was opened on 19 September 2026 and the entry text extracted and read directly from the page HTML. I did not consult a printed copy of LSJ, so no page number of the printed lexicon is recorded.
Provenance de la numérisation.Perseus Digital Library's digitisation of the 1940 ninth edition; the page itself carries the imprint 'Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.'
Notes.The Kingdom Interlinear's own parousia appendix (3B) cites Liddell and Scott approvingly; the same lexicon flatly contradicts its stauros appendix.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-lsj-stauros
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Matthew 20:19 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“This is the first of over 40 occurrences of the Greek verb stau·roʹo in the Christian Greek Scriptures. This is the verb for the Greek noun stau·rosʹ, rendered “torture stake.” … In classical Greek, it meant “to fence with pales, to form a stockade, or palisade.””
The current study note, which rests the case on the classical rather than the koine sense of the verb.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Matthew 20:19, 'executed on a stake'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read on the nwtsty Matthew chapter 20 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La note publiée par l’organisation dit, dans son intégralité : « demandez : Cette leçon est appuyée par certains manuscrits anciens et concorde avec la formulation de Jean 15:16 et 16:23. D’autres manuscrits anciens portent : “demandez-moi”. »
Afficher les preuves (4 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · John 14:14 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“14 ἐάν if ever τι anything αἰτήσητέ YOU should ask με me ἐν in τῷ the ὀνόματί name μου of me τοῦτο this ποιήσω. I shall do.”
The Greek text printed in the Society's own interlinear — the Westcott and Hort text — contains με, 'me', and the Society's own word-for-word line renders it. The New World Translation column beside it does not.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, John 14:14 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for John 14 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“With 'me': New International Version “You may ask me for anything in my name”; English Standard Version “If you ask me anything in my name”; New American Standard Bible “If you ask Me anything in My name”; New Revised Standard Version “If in my name you ask me for anything”. Without 'me': King James Bible “If ye shall ask any thing in my name”; American Standard Version “If ye shall ask anything in my name”; New King James Version “If you ask anything in My name”; Young’s Literal Translation “if ye ask anything in my name”.”
The variant divides English versions along textual lines: those following the Textus Receptus or the Byzantine text omit 'me', those following the Alexandrian text include it. The NWT's omission is shared with the King James and American Standard Versions.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, John 14:14 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction. The characterisation of which text-types support which reading is my own inference from the pattern of versions and reflects the parallel versions shown on the page opened, not a critical apparatus of the manuscripts.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-john-14-14
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, John 14:14 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“ask: This reading is supported by some ancient manuscripts and agrees with the wording at Joh 15:16 and 16:23. Other ancient manuscripts read: “ask me.””
The whole of the organisation's published explanation for omitting 'me' — a two-sentence textual note. The omission is a real manuscript variant, not an invention, but the note does not say which reading the principal critical editions prefer.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on John 14:14, 'ask'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty John chapter 14 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026; I confirmed that there is no longer note attached to this verse. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation had silently expanded the Watchtower Online Library's own Bible-book abbreviations (and, at Hebrews 1:6, dropped a parenthetical cross-reference). Restored to the wording on the page.
Un rendu inhabituel ne prouve pas nécessairement quelque chose. Ces quatre éléments figurent sur cette page parce qu’ils sont vrais. Une page qui les aurait omis ne mériterait pas d’être crue sur le reste.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New Revised Standard Version: “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” NET Bible: “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” Good News Translation: “which he made his own through the blood of his Son.” Contemporary English Version: “It is the flock he bought with the blood of his own Son.” English Standard Version: “which he obtained with his own blood.” King James Bible: “which he hath purchased with his own blood.””
The New Revised Standard Version and the NET Bible render Acts 20:28 in words identical to the 2013 New World Translation.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“Christ as God: New International Version “the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!”; English Standard Version “is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever”; New Revised Standard Version “comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever”. Separate doxology: New American Bible “is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever.”; Good News Translation “May God, who rules over all, be praised forever!”; Contemporary English Version “I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever!””
Romans 9:5 is genuinely disputed among translators quite independently of the New World Translation: the New American Bible, a Roman Catholic translation, punctuates it as the NWT does.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-rom-9-5
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” King James Bible: “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” New Revised Standard Version: “while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” New American Bible: “with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters”.”
The New Revised Standard Version and the New American Bible both render ruach elohim impersonally at Genesis 1:2. The New World Translation's 'active force' is a stronger paraphrase than either, but the impersonal reading is not unique to it.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Bible Hub parallel translations, Genesis 1:2 in the parallel English versions
Note sur la fiabilité.Page opened and every rendering read on 19 September 2026 on Bible Hub's reproduction.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-gen-1-2
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“'Me': New International Version “They will look on me, the one they have pierced”; King James Bible “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced”; New American Standard Bible “they will look at Me whom they pierced”; JPS Tanakh 1917 “And they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through”. 'Him' or 'the one': New Revised Standard Version “when they look on the one whom they have pierced”; New American Bible “when they look on him whom they have thrust through”.”
The New World Translation's 'the one' matches the New Revised Standard Version almost word for word; the New American Bible reads 'him'. This is a textual crux in the Hebrew, not a rendering peculiar to the NWT.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-zech-12-10
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”; English Standard Version: “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”; New Revised Standard Version: “through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”. American Standard Version: “in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ”; King James Bible: “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”.”
The American Standard Version of 1901 renders 2 Peter 1:1 almost exactly as the 2013 New World Translation does, inserting 'the' before 'Saviour'; the King James Version likewise separates the two.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“'For Babylon': New International Version “When seventy years are completed for Babylon”; English Standard Version “When seventy years are completed for Babylon”; New American Standard Bible “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon”; American Standard Version “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon”; JPS Tanakh 1917 “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon”; New Revised Standard Version “Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed”; NET Bible “Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over”. 'At Babylon': King James Bible “after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon”; New King James Version “After seventy years are completed at Babylon”; Brenton Septuagint Translation “When seventy years shall be on the point of being accomplished at Babylon”.”
The great majority of modern versions, including the Jewish Publication Society's own Tanakh, read 'for Babylon' — that is, seventy years belonging to Babylon. The King James Version and the New King James Version read 'at Babylon', so the New World Translation's rendering is shared with them.
Notes.This quote field compiles renderings quoted separately from one Bible Hub parallel page; it is not a continuous passage. Each rendering was checked word for word against the page, which carries over forty versions.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-bh-jer-29-10
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice de l’organisation cite l’hypothèse de F. J. A. Hort selon laquelle ΥΙΟΥ aurait pu disparaître du texte à une époque ancienne, ainsi que J. H. Moulton au sujet de l’emploi de ὁ ἴδιος dans les papyrus.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New Revised Standard Version: “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” NET Bible: “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” Good News Translation: “which he made his own through the blood of his Son.” Contemporary English Version: “It is the flock he bought with the blood of his own Son.” English Standard Version: “which he obtained with his own blood.” King James Bible: “which he hath purchased with his own blood.””
The New Revised Standard Version and the NET Bible render Acts 20:28 in words identical to the 2013 New World Translation.
1985 · p.1141 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Grammatically, this passage could be translated as in the King James Version and Douay Version, “with his own blood.” That has been a difficult thought for many. … A noun in the singular number would be understood after “his own,” most likely God’s closest relative, his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ.”
The organisation's defence. It quotes J. H. Moulton's Prolegomena (1930 ed., p. 90) on ὁ ἴδιος used absolutely as a term of endearment for near relations, and F. J. A. Hort's remark in the Westcott and Hort appendix that 'it is by no means impossible that ΥΙΟΥ dropped out after ΤΟΥΙΔΙΟΥ at some very early transcription'. It also lists six translations from 1903 onwards that supply 'Son'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2C: With the Blood of God’s Own Son
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page marker 1141 read from the page-number span. I have not opened Moulton's Prolegomena or the Westcott and Hort appendix to verify those quotations against the printed originals.
2013 · study note, Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“with the blood of his own Son: Lit., “through the blood of the own (one).” Grammatically, the Greek expression could be translated “with the blood of his own” or “with his own blood,” so the context has to be taken into consideration. In Greek, the expression ho iʹdi·os (“his own”) could stand alone without a clarifying noun or pronoun … In non-Biblical Greek papyri, the phrase is used as a term of endearment to refer to close relatives.”
The current note repeats the 1985 appendix's argument and again concedes the alternative rendering.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Acts 20:28, 'with the blood of his own Son'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Acts chapter 20 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Notes.The same page carries a separate note: 'God: Some ancient manuscripts read “the Lord” here, but the main text reading “God” has strong manuscript support and is viewed by many scholars as the original reading.'
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwtsty-note-acts-20-28
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“τὴν the ἐκκλησίαν ecclesia τοῦ of the θεοῦ, God, ἣν which περιεποιήσατο he reserved for self διὰ through τοῦ the αἵματος blood τοῦ of the ἰδίου. own (one).”
The Greek ends with τοῦ ἰδίου, 'of the own (one)'. There is no word for 'Son' in the Greek; the question is whether one is to be understood.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Acts 20:28 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for Acts 20 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
La discussion sur Tite 2:13 est bien antérieure à la Traduction du monde nouveau. Le volume du dix-neuvième siècle consacré aux épîtres pastorales dans la série de commentaires critiques de Meyer, rédigé par Johann Eduard Huther, concluait que la question “cannot be decided on purely grammatical grounds” [“ne peut être tranchée sur des bases purement grammaticales”], et notait qu’“There are instances enough of two distinct subjects standing under one article only” [“Les exemples ne manquent pas de deux sujets distincts placés sous un seul article”]. Source: Critical and Exegetical Hand-book to the Epistles to Timothy and Titus (the Pastoral Epistles volume of Meyer’s Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar series)
· Johann Eduard Huther · Reproduced on Bible Hub; English translation published by T&T Clark, Edinburgh, and Funk & Wagnalls, New York
“It cannot be decided on purely grammatical grounds, for μεγ. Θεοῦ and σωτῆρος ἡμ. may be two attributes referring to Ἰησ. Χριστοῦ; still it may be also that σωτῆρ. ἡμῶν Ἰησ. Χρ. is a subject distinct from μεγ. Θεοῦ, even although only one article is used.”
Huther sets out the history of the dispute among commentators and concludes that the single article does not settle it. In a footnote he adds: 'There are instances enough of two distinct subjects standing under one article only, and we cannot see why these instances should not be quoted here.'
Note de provenance et de vérification for Critical and Exegetical Hand-book to the Epistles to Timothy and Titus (the Pastoral Epistles volume of Meyer’s Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar series), Commentary on Titus 2:13
Note sur la fiabilité.Bible Hub's commentary page was opened on 19 September 2026 and the passage read in full. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: this record previously attributed the passage to Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer and dated it 1880. The volume on the Pastoral Epistles in Meyer’s series is by Johann Eduard Huther (1807-1880); the text itself refers to Meyer in the third person (“comp. Meyer on the passage”, “my commentary on the passages”), and the Pulpit Commentary on the same Bible Hub page summarises the position as “Huther’s conclusion”. The German fourth edition is 1876 and English printings include Edinburgh (T&T Clark) and New York (Funk & Wagnalls, 1885); Bible Hub does not say which printing it reproduces, so no date is recorded. The text was read on Bible Hub’s reproduction and not in any printed edition, so the confidence is “supported” rather than “verified”.
Provenance de la numérisation.Public-domain nineteenth-century commentary reproduced in full text by Bible Hub.
Notes.Cited to show the site's readers that the dispute at Titus 2:13 predates the New World Translation by a century and is a genuine grammatical dispute, not an invention of either side.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-huther-titus-2-13
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation applique le même raisonnement qu’en Tite 2:13, en relevant la distinction faite entre Dieu et Jésus au verset suivant.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · 2 Peter 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“to those who have acquired a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and the Savior Jesus Christ”
The 2013 rendering inserts 'the' before 'Savior', separating the two. The 1984 Reference Bible read 'by the righteousness of our God and [the] Savior Jesus Christ', with the supplied article bracketed.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), 2 Peter 1:1
Note sur la fiabilité.Both chapter pages opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the verse read in each; the brackets in the 1984 text and their absence in the 2013 text confirmed by eye.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, 2 Peter 1:1 (word-for-word English under the Greek)
Note sur la fiabilité.Interlinear text for 2 Peter 1 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the Greek and gloss read directly.
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”; English Standard Version: “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”; New Revised Standard Version: “through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”. American Standard Version: “in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ”; King James Bible: “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”.”
The American Standard Version of 1901 renders 2 Peter 1:1 almost exactly as the 2013 New World Translation does, inserting 'the' before 'Saviour'; the King James Version likewise separates the two.
1685 · A continuator of Matthew Poole's Annotations (not Poole himself) · Reproduced on Bible Hub
“And our Saviour Jesus Christ: there being but one article in the Greek, these words are to be understood conjunctly, the particle and being but an explicative, and the sense is: Through the righteousness of our God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is God”
The single-article argument on the other side, stated three centuries before Granville Sharp's rule was formalised in 1798.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible, Commentary on 2 Peter 1:1
Note sur la fiabilité.Commentary page opened on 19 September 2026 and the passage read in full on Bible Hub's reproduction; no printed edition consulted. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: this record previously named Matthew Poole as the author. Poole died in 1679 having annotated only as far as Isaiah 58; the rest of the Annotations upon the Holy Bible, including 1 and 2 Peter, was completed by other Nonconformist divines and published in 1685 (the 1 and 2 Peter portion is usually attributed to Edward Veale). Because the specific attribution is not certain and the text was read on a secondary reproduction, the confidence is “supported”.
Provenance de la numérisation.Public-domain seventeenth-century commentary reproduced in full text by Bible Hub.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-poole-2pet-1-1
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1143-1144 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“This indicates that when two distinct persons are connected by καί, if the first person is preceded by the definite article it is not necessary to repeat the definite article before the second person. … According to An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, by C. F. D. Moule, Cambridge, England, 1971, p. 109, the sense “of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . is possible in κοινή [koi·neʹ] Greek even without the repetition [of the definite article].””
The organisation's defence of reading two persons at Titus 2:13. The appendix lists eleven translations from 1719 to 1972 that render it the same way and quotes Ezra Abbot at length.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 2E: “Of the Great God and of [the] Savior of Us, Christ Jesus”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1143 and 1144 read from the page-number spans. I confirmed the appendix's wording; I did not open Moule's Idiom Book or Abbot's essays to check the quotations against the printed originals.
C’est la caractéristique la plus distinctive de cette traduction, et la raison que l’organisation donne pour l’avoir faite. C’est aussi le point sur lequel le spécialiste que l’organisation cite avec le plus d’approbation se montre vivement critique.
La Traduction du monde nouveau emploie le nom Jéhovah 237 fois dans les Écritures grecques chrétiennes. Ce chiffre est celui de l’organisation elle-même, indiqué dans l’appendice A5 de l’édition de 2013. Source: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 2013
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice A5 expose les six motifs avancés par l’organisation : que les copies des Écritures hébraïques du premier siècle contenaient le Tétragramme ; que certaines copies de la Septante le contenaient aussi ; que Jésus a parlé du nom de son Père ; que le nom subsiste dans « Alléluia » ; que la Tosefta fait référence au nom divin dans des écrits chrétiens ; et que d’autres traducteurs l’ont rétabli.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · pp.1736-1743 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. … The New World Bible Translation Committee determined that there is compelling evidence that the Tetragrammaton did appear in the original Greek manuscripts.”
The organisation's own statement of the count and of its reasoning. The six grounds it lists concern the Hebrew Scriptures, the Septuagint, Jesus's references to the Father's name, the word 'Hallelujah', the Tosefta, and the practice of other translators. None of them is a Greek New Testament manuscript.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, Appendix A5: The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1736 to 1743 read from the page-number spans. The observation that none of the six grounds is a Greek New Testament manuscript is my own reading of the list, which I read in full.
Notes.The appendix quotes The Anchor Bible Dictionary ('There is some evidence that the Tetragrammaton … appeared in some or all of the O[ld] T[estament] quotations in the N[ew] T[estament] when the NT documents were first penned') and George Howard. I have not opened either.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwt-a5
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice C1 de l’organisation ne le conteste pas. Il déclare : « Aujourd’hui, cependant, nous ne disposons d’aucun manuscrit du “Nouveau Testament” du premier siècle de notre ère que nous puissions examiner. Personne ne peut donc vérifier les manuscrits grecs originaux du “Nouveau Testament” pour voir si les rédacteurs de la Bible ont employé le Tétragramme », et il soutient que les copistes, à partir du deuxième ou du début du troisième siècle, ont substitué Kyrios ou Theos.
2020 · pp.vol. 54, no. 1 · A. Tim Span, Stuart T. Rochester and Fika J. van Rensburg (Faculty of Theology, North-West University, South Africa) · AOSIS Publishing (open access); DOI 10.4102/ids.v54i1.2560
“There are no extant Greek New Testament manuscripts that contain the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew or Greek characters, and the multiplication of late Hebrew versions carries little weight. The Greek corpus of New Testament manuscripts and all early versions fail to yield an original New Testament Tetragrammaton, and the J versions offer little extra.”
A peer-reviewed, open-access article evaluating George Howard's 1977 hypothesis — the hypothesis on which the New World Translation's practice partly rests — through the test case of Romans 10:13. The authors conclude: 'An original Tetragrammaton lacks documentary and contextual support in Romans 10:13.'
Note de provenance et de vérification for In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi, Rendering the Divine Name in Romans 10:13
Note sur la fiabilité.The full text of the article was opened on scielo.org.za on 19 September 2026 and the quoted sentences read in context. The journal is peer-reviewed and open access; the article carries a DOI.
Notes.The article is written from a confessional Reformed standpoint, which the site should say plainly when citing it. Its factual statement about the manuscript corpus is not in dispute among textual critics, including those who are sympathetic to Howard.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-span-2020
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Today, however, no manuscripts of the “New Testament” from the first century C.E. are available for us to examine. So no one can check the original Greek manuscripts of the “New Testament” to see whether the Bible writers used the Tetragrammaton. The Greek manuscripts of the “New Testament” that would have a bearing on this issue are copies that were made from about 200 C.E. onward.”
The organisation's own appendix states plainly that the case for restoring the divine name rests on inference rather than on manuscript evidence. It then poses the translator's choice: 'Will he follow the Greek text that uses Kyʹri·os or The·osʹ instead of the Tetragrammaton, or will he endeavor to ascertain where the Tetragrammaton would have appeared in the original Greek manuscripts?'
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix C1: The Restoration of the Divine Name in the “New Testament”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix C1 opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and read from beginning to end.
Explication de l’organisation · 1 mars 1991Vérifié
L’organisation déclare dans ses propres publications qu’aucun manuscrit grec ancien des Écritures grecques chrétiennes parvenu jusqu’à nous ne contient le nom divin : La Tour de Garde du 1er mars 1991 dit ‘True, no early surviving Greek manuscript of the “New Testament” contains the personal name of God,’ [‘Il est vrai qu’aucun manuscrit grec ancien du “Nouveau Testament” parvenu jusqu’à nous ne contient le nom personnel de Dieu,’] et Étude perspicace des Écritures demande, dans son propre intertitre, pourquoi le nom ne figure ‘not in any available ancient manuscript’ [‘dans aucun manuscrit ancien disponible’]. Source: The Watchtower, 1 mars 1991Source: Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, 1988Source: The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), 1985
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation répond que les copies conservées datent du troisième siècle et des siècles suivants, époque à laquelle ‘the original text of the writings of the apostles and disciples had been altered’ [‘le texte original des écrits des apôtres et des disciples avait été altéré’], et que les données fournies par la Septante montrent que la même substitution s’est manifestement produite dans les copies grecques des Écritures hébraïques.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 mars 1991 · pp.26-30 · pars. 14, 17, 20 (pp. 28-30) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“True, no early surviving Greek manuscript of the “New Testament” contains the personal name of God. But the name was included in the New World Translation for sound reasons, not merely on a whim.”
The article is the organisation’s fullest published answer to the charge that the New World Translation is falsified. It compares the criticism to sixteenth-century attacks on Luther’s Bible, defends the renderings at Luke 23:43 (“Truly I tell you today”), Matthew 26:26 (“This means my body”) and John 1:1 (“the Word was a god”), and answers the objection to the form “Jehovah” by saying that “scholars are by no means in agreement that the form ‘Yahweh’ represents the original pronunciation”. It offers this explanation of the criticism: “the New World Translation is criticized because it is published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who outspokenly declare that many of Christendom’s doctrines are not found in the Bible.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, The “New World Translation”—Scholarly and Honest
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue date was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library’s listing for The Watchtower of 1 March 1991, and page numbers were taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
Notes.This is the article the site should quote when stating the organisation’s case on the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures: it concedes the manuscript position and argues from inference.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-w-1991-0301-scholarly-honest
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1988 · pp.9-10 · pars. 31-38 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In view of this evidence it seems most unusual to find that the extant manuscript copies of the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures do not contain the divine name in its full form.”
The article poses the question in its own sub-heading: “Why is the divine name in its full form not in any available ancient manuscript of the Christian Greek Scriptures?” It answers that the earlier explanation — that the Septuagint had already substituted Kyʹri·os — “is no longer valid” in light of the Septuagint fragments, quotes Paul Kahle (The Cairo Geniza, 1959, p. 222) to the effect that “It was the Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton by kyrios”, and concludes: “Evidently because by the time those extant copies were made (from the third century C.E. onward) the original text of the writings of the apostles and disciples had been altered.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, Jehovah (section “In the Christian Greek Scriptures”)
Note sur la fiabilité.Article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quoted sentence sits immediately after the embedded page marker for page 9. The scholarly works it cites were not opened.
Notes.The organisation’s own reference work states plainly that no available ancient manuscript of the Christian Greek Scriptures carries the divine name.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-it-jehovah-greek
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · pp.1133-1137 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Authorities fix the date for this papyrus as the first century B.C.E., that is, about two centuries after the LXX was begun. This proves that the original LXX did contain the divine name wherever it occurred in the Hebrew original.”
The appendix builds the case from Papyrus Fouad Inv. 266, a Septuagint roll of Deuteronomy in which the Tetragrammaton is written in square Hebrew characters. It records that a fragment was published by W. G. Waddell in 1944, that in 1948 “two Gilead-trained missionaries of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society obtained photographs of 18 fragments” in Cairo and permission to publish them, and that 12 appeared in the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. It quotes Paul Kahle and Jerome, and argues from Jerome’s statement that Matthew first wrote in Hebrew that the divine name stood in the original Gospel.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), Appendix 1A: The Carry-Over of the Divine Name Into the Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read; quotations and page markers confirmed from the document. The cited papyrological literature was NOT opened.
Notes.Note carefully what is and is not claimed: the papyrus evidence concerns the Greek Septuagint (an Old Testament translation), not any manuscript of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-int-1985-app1a
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation dit qu’il existe « soit de solides raisons contextuelles, soit des raisons linguistiques de rétablir le nom divin dans ces versets », et cite à l’appui, pour chacun, des lexiques, des commentaires et des traductions.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“These verses do not contain either a direct or an indirect quotation from the “Old Testament” that uses the Tetragrammaton. However, there are either strong contextual grounds or linguistic reasons for restoring the divine name in these verses. … It should be noted, though, that the New World Bible Translation Committee did not rely on these translations as the basis for restoring the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures.”
The 237 occurrences are divided into two lists: Appendix C2 covers verses that quote or allude to Hebrew Scripture passages containing the Tetragrammaton; Appendix C3 covers the rest, where the name is supplied on contextual grounds alone.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix C3: Verses Where the Name Jehovah Does Not Appear as Part of Direct or Indirect Quotations
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix C3's introductory text opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and read directly. I did not count how many of the 237 occurrences fall under C3, so no figure is claimed.
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Today, however, no manuscripts of the “New Testament” from the first century C.E. are available for us to examine. So no one can check the original Greek manuscripts of the “New Testament” to see whether the Bible writers used the Tetragrammaton. The Greek manuscripts of the “New Testament” that would have a bearing on this issue are copies that were made from about 200 C.E. onward.”
The organisation's own appendix states plainly that the case for restoring the divine name rests on inference rather than on manuscript evidence. It then poses the translator's choice: 'Will he follow the Greek text that uses Kyʹri·os or The·osʹ instead of the Tetragrammaton, or will he endeavor to ascertain where the Tetragrammaton would have appeared in the original Greek manuscripts?'
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix C1: The Restoration of the Divine Name in the “New Testament”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix C1 opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and read from beginning to end.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice C3 déclare : « Il convient toutefois de noter que le Comité de traduction de la Bible du monde nouveau ne s’est pas appuyé sur ces traductions comme base pour rétablir le nom divin dans les Écritures grecques chrétiennes. Ces références J apportent plutôt la preuve que d’autres traducteurs ont pris des décisions semblables. »
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“J [1] בשורת מתי, Euangelium Hebraicum Matthæi (Gospel of Matthew, in Hebrew), edited by Jean du Tillet, with a Latin translation by Jean Mercier, Paris, 1555. The translation into Hebrew uses יהוה or an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton in the main text of some verses. … J [2] Even Bohan (אבן בוחן, “Tested Stone; Touchstone”), by Shem-Tob ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut, Spain, c. 1385.”
The 'J' references cited in the New World Translation's footnotes are, on the organisation's own account, translations into Hebrew and other languages, together with reference works. The earliest, J2, is a fourteenth-century polemical work; the others run from 1555 to 2012.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix C4: Translations and Reference Works Supporting the Use of the Divine Name in the “New Testament”
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix C4 opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and the entries for J [1] to J [22] and several later entries read directly; the dates quoted were read from those entries. I did not read every one of the several hundred entries in the list. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation previously gave J2 before J1, joined by an ellipsis, and wrote the labels as ‘J1’ and ‘J2’ where the appendix prints ‘J [1]’ and ‘J [2]’. Both corrected.
2020 · pp.vol. 54, no. 1 · A. Tim Span, Stuart T. Rochester and Fika J. van Rensburg (Faculty of Theology, North-West University, South Africa) · AOSIS Publishing (open access); DOI 10.4102/ids.v54i1.2560
“There are no extant Greek New Testament manuscripts that contain the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew or Greek characters, and the multiplication of late Hebrew versions carries little weight. The Greek corpus of New Testament manuscripts and all early versions fail to yield an original New Testament Tetragrammaton, and the J versions offer little extra.”
A peer-reviewed, open-access article evaluating George Howard's 1977 hypothesis — the hypothesis on which the New World Translation's practice partly rests — through the test case of Romans 10:13. The authors conclude: 'An original Tetragrammaton lacks documentary and contextual support in Romans 10:13.'
Note de provenance et de vérification for In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi, Rendering the Divine Name in Romans 10:13
Note sur la fiabilité.The full text of the article was opened on scielo.org.za on 19 September 2026 and the quoted sentences read in context. The journal is peer-reviewed and open access; the article carries a DOI.
Notes.The article is written from a confessional Reformed standpoint, which the site should say plainly when citing it. Its factual statement about the manuscript corpus is not in dispute among textual critics, including those who are sympathetic to Howard.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-span-2020
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“These verses do not contain either a direct or an indirect quotation from the “Old Testament” that uses the Tetragrammaton. However, there are either strong contextual grounds or linguistic reasons for restoring the divine name in these verses. … It should be noted, though, that the New World Bible Translation Committee did not rely on these translations as the basis for restoring the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures.”
The 237 occurrences are divided into two lists: Appendix C2 covers verses that quote or allude to Hebrew Scripture passages containing the Tetragrammaton; Appendix C3 covers the rest, where the name is supplied on contextual grounds alone.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix C3: Verses Where the Name Jehovah Does Not Appear as Part of Direct or Indirect Quotations
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix C3's introductory text opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026 and read directly. I did not count how many of the 237 occurrences fall under C3, so no figure is claimed.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Le comité donne lui-même la raison dans la même phrase : à ce verset, « le contexte et les textes apparentés appuient fortement le rétablissement du nom divin ».
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 janvier 1985 · pp.10-12 · pars. 11-16 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Thus, out of the 237 times that we have restored Jehovah’s name in the body of our translation, there is only one instance wherein we have no support or agreement from any of the Hebrew versions. But in this one instance, namely, at 1 Corinthians 7:17, the context and related texts strongly support restoring the divine name.”
The foreword states the committee’s reasoning: “The evidence is that the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures has been tampered with, the same as the text of the LXX has been”; that “Sometime during the second or third centuries C.E., the Tetragrammaton (YHWH, or JHVH) was eliminated from the Greek text by copyists”; and that “the modern translator is warranted in using the divine name as an equivalent of those two Greek words” where the Christian writers quote Hebrew Scripture passages in which the name occurs. It explains that its supports, “designated in this work by ‘J’ with a superior number”, are translations of parts or all of the Christian Greek Scriptures into Hebrew made over the centuries, and says the committee “looked for some agreement with us by the Hebrew versions we consulted to confirm our rendering”, in order “to avoid overstepping the bounds of a translator into the field of exegesis”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), Foreword (section “Restoring the Divine Name, Jehovah”)
Note sur la fiabilité.Foreword opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the 1 Corinthians 7:17 admission and the description of the “J” references confirmed word for word, with page numbers from the document’s own page markers.
Notes.This is the organisation’s own, explicit statement that the “J” supports are Hebrew translations rather than ancient Greek manuscripts, and its own acknowledgement of one restoration with no textual support at all.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-int-1985-foreword-divine-name
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1985 · p.1138 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Following is a list of the 237 places where the name “Jehovah” is restored in the main text of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. See the footnotes on these citations for support.”
The appendix prints the full list of the 237 main-text restorations, from Matthew 1:20 to Revelation 22:6, and a further list of “the 72 places where the name ‘Jehovah’ occurs, not in the main text . . . but only in the footnotes”. It notes that “Jah” survives in hal·le·lou·i·aʹ at Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), Appendix 1B: Restoring the Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; both lists were read and the count of 237 and 72 confirmed from the appendix’s own wording.
Notes.The appendix makes no distinction between restorations that fall in passages quoting the Hebrew Scriptures and those that do not, and this project has not counted them. The site must not publish a proportion it has not counted itself.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-int-1985-app1b
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La Tour de Garde du 1er mars 1991 ajoute que « les spécialistes sont loin d’être d’accord pour dire que la forme “Yahvé” représente la prononciation originelle » et que « la prononciation n’est pas de la plus haute importance à l’heure actuelle ». L’appendice A4 fait la même remarque en citant le spécialiste A. F. Kirkpatrick, qui écrivait en 1930 : « le point vraiment important n’est pas la prononciation exacte, mais la reconnaissance qu’il s’agit d’un nom propre, et non d’un simple titre appellatif comme “Seigneur” ».
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Appendix A4 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Some feel that the name was pronounced “Yahweh,” whereas others suggest different possibilities. . . . However, there is no reason to be dogmatic. We simply do not know how God’s ancient servants pronounced this name in Hebrew.”
The appendix states that the Tetragrammaton “appears nearly 7,000 times in the Hebrew Scriptures” and gives the organisation’s reasons for using the form “Jehovah”: that it “has a long history in the English language”, first appearing in English in Tyndale’s 1530 Pentateuch as “Iehouah”, and that Rotherham (1911) and Kirkpatrick (1930) preferred it as the familiar English form. On the meaning it says: “Thus, the understanding of the New World Bible Translation Committee is that God’s name means ‘He Causes to Become.’ Scholars hold varying views, so we cannot be dogmatic about this meaning.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A4: The Divine Name in the Hebrew Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Full appendix fetched from JW.org and read on 19 September 2026; all quoted wording confirmed from the page text.
Notes.Useful because the organisation itself concedes both that the pronunciation is unknown and that scholars differ on the meaning it assigns to the name.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-nwtsty-a4-divine-name-hebrew
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1988 · pp.5, 8 · pars. 4, 23 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text printed in Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In the Hebrew Scriptures the New World Translation contains the divine name 6,979 times, because the translators took into account, among other things, the fact that in some places the scribes had replaced the divine name with ʼAdho·naiʹ or ʼElo·himʹ.”
Earlier in the same article the organisation states: “‘Jehovah’ is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although ‘Yahweh’ is favored by most Hebrew scholars.” Taken together the two statements show that the organisation openly records both that its preferred form is not the scholarly favourite and that its Hebrew Scriptures text carries the name more often than the printed Hebrew text carries the Tetragrammaton.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, Jehovah (sections “Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name” and “Importance of the Name”)
Note sur la fiabilité.Article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; both quotations confirmed and located by the document’s embedded page markers (pages 5 and 8).
1 mars 1991 · pp.26-30 · pars. 14, 17, 20 (pp. 28-30) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“True, no early surviving Greek manuscript of the “New Testament” contains the personal name of God. But the name was included in the New World Translation for sound reasons, not merely on a whim.”
The article is the organisation’s fullest published answer to the charge that the New World Translation is falsified. It compares the criticism to sixteenth-century attacks on Luther’s Bible, defends the renderings at Luke 23:43 (“Truly I tell you today”), Matthew 26:26 (“This means my body”) and John 1:1 (“the Word was a god”), and answers the objection to the form “Jehovah” by saying that “scholars are by no means in agreement that the form ‘Yahweh’ represents the original pronunciation”. It offers this explanation of the criticism: “the New World Translation is criticized because it is published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who outspokenly declare that many of Christendom’s doctrines are not found in the Bible.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, The “New World Translation”—Scholarly and Honest
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue date was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library’s listing for The Watchtower of 1 March 1991, and page numbers were taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
Notes.This is the article the site should quote when stating the organisation’s case on the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures: it concedes the manuscript position and argues from inference.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-w-1991-0301-scholarly-honest
Étude perspicace des Écritures indique que le Tétragramme figure 6 828 fois dans le texte hébreu imprimé de la Biblia Hebraica et de la Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, tandis que la Traduction du monde nouveau porte le nom divin 6 979 fois dans les Écritures hébraïques ; la révision de 2013 donne un total de 7 216 pour l’ensemble de la Bible, soit six de plus que l’édition de 1984. Source: Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, 1988Source: The Watchtower (study edition), 15 décembre 2015
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation explique cet excédent en disant que « les traducteurs ont tenu compte, entre autres choses, du fait qu’en certains endroits les scribes avaient remplacé le nom divin par ʼAdho·naiʹ ou ʼElo·himʹ », et attribue les six occurrences ajoutées en 2013 principalement à des leçons des manuscrits de la mer Morte.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1988 · pp.5, 8 · pars. 4, 23 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text printed in Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In the Hebrew Scriptures the New World Translation contains the divine name 6,979 times, because the translators took into account, among other things, the fact that in some places the scribes had replaced the divine name with ʼAdho·naiʹ or ʼElo·himʹ.”
Earlier in the same article the organisation states: “‘Jehovah’ is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although ‘Yahweh’ is favored by most Hebrew scholars.” Taken together the two statements show that the organisation openly records both that its preferred form is not the scholarly favourite and that its Hebrew Scriptures text carries the name more often than the printed Hebrew text carries the Tetragrammaton.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, Jehovah (sections “Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name” and “Importance of the Name”)
Note sur la fiabilité.Article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; both quotations confirmed and located by the document’s embedded page markers (pages 5 and 8).
15 décembre 2015 · pp.9-13 · pars. 2, 6, 7 (pp. 9-11) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2013 revision of the New World Translation includes the name 7,216 times, which is 6 more than the 1984 edition. Five of the additional instances are found at 1 Samuel 2:25; 6:3; 10:26; 23:14, 16.”
The article states the three principles the committee set in the 1940s — sanctify God’s name, translate literally where possible but convey the correct sense where a word-for-word rendering would distort, and use easy-to-understand language. It also records a change in the meaning assigned to the divine name: the 1984 edition said the name means He “causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises”, whereas Appendix A4 of the 2013 edition says “it is not limited to what he himself chooses to become. It also includes what he causes to happen with regard to his creation and the accomplishment of his purpose.” A footnote to the new meaning adds: “Some reference works present this understanding, though not all scholars agree.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), A Living Translation of God’s Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed from the Online Library listing for the study edition of 15 December 2015 and page numbers from the document’s embedded page markers.
Le sens que l’organisation attribue au nom divin a changé d’une édition à l’autre : l’édition de référence de 1984 disait qu’il signifie que Dieu ‘causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises’ [‘se fait devenir Celui qui accomplit ses promesses’], tandis que l’appendice A4 de la révision de 2013 dit que ce sens ‘is not limited to what he himself chooses to become’ [‘ne se limite pas à ce qu’il choisit lui-même de devenir’] mais ‘also includes what he causes to happen with regard to his creation’ [‘englobe aussi ce qu’il fait arriver à l’égard de sa création’]. Source: The Watchtower (study edition), 15 décembre 2015Source: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), 2013
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La Tour de Garde du 15 décembre 2015 présente cela comme une précision tirée de la forme causative du verbe hébreu ha·wahʹ, et ajoute cette note : ‘Some reference works present this understanding, though not all scholars agree’ [‘Certains ouvrages de référence présentent cette compréhension, bien que tous les biblistes ne soient pas d’accord’].
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
15 décembre 2015 · pp.9-13 · pars. 2, 6, 7 (pp. 9-11) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2013 revision of the New World Translation includes the name 7,216 times, which is 6 more than the 1984 edition. Five of the additional instances are found at 1 Samuel 2:25; 6:3; 10:26; 23:14, 16.”
The article states the three principles the committee set in the 1940s — sanctify God’s name, translate literally where possible but convey the correct sense where a word-for-word rendering would distort, and use easy-to-understand language. It also records a change in the meaning assigned to the divine name: the 1984 edition said the name means He “causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises”, whereas Appendix A4 of the 2013 edition says “it is not limited to what he himself chooses to become. It also includes what he causes to happen with regard to his creation and the accomplishment of his purpose.” A footnote to the new meaning adds: “Some reference works present this understanding, though not all scholars agree.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), A Living Translation of God’s Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed from the Online Library listing for the study edition of 15 December 2015 and page numbers from the document’s embedded page markers.
2013 · Appendix A4 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Some feel that the name was pronounced “Yahweh,” whereas others suggest different possibilities. . . . However, there is no reason to be dogmatic. We simply do not know how God’s ancient servants pronounced this name in Hebrew.”
The appendix states that the Tetragrammaton “appears nearly 7,000 times in the Hebrew Scriptures” and gives the organisation’s reasons for using the form “Jehovah”: that it “has a long history in the English language”, first appearing in English in Tyndale’s 1530 Pentateuch as “Iehouah”, and that Rotherham (1911) and Kirkpatrick (1930) preferred it as the familiar English form. On the meaning it says: “Thus, the understanding of the New World Bible Translation Committee is that God’s name means ‘He Causes to Become.’ Scholars hold varying views, so we cannot be dogmatic about this meaning.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A4: The Divine Name in the Hebrew Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Full appendix fetched from JW.org and read on 19 September 2026; all quoted wording confirmed from the page text.
Notes.Useful because the organisation itself concedes both that the pronunciation is unknown and that scholars differ on the meaning it assigns to the name.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-nwtsty-a4-divine-name-hebrew
C’est là que l’affirmation populaire et le dossier documentaire divergent. Il existe de vraies critiques, parfois sévères et émanant de spécialistes sérieux. Il existe aussi des éloges, y compris dans une étude que l’organisation cite elle-même. Et plusieurs des citations qui circulent le plus largement sont mal attribuées ou demeurent totalement introuvables.
En avril 1953, Bruce M. Metzger, alors professeur associé de Nouveau Testament au Princeton Theological Seminary et plus tard le plus éminent critique textuel anglophone de sa génération, a écrit dans Theology Today que le rendu de Jean 1:1 par la Traduction du monde nouveau, “and the Word was a god”, est « une épouvantable erreur de traduction » qui « méconnaît entièrement une règle établie de la grammaire grecque ». Source: Theology Today, avril 1953
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Les Témoins de Jéhovah n’ont jamais accepté cette lecture de la grammaire, et cinquante ans plus tard Jason BeDuhn a défendu le même rendu comme une traduction littérale du grec, exempte de l’influence de la King James. Le site devrait présenter les deux.
avril 1953 · pp.65-85 (the John 1:1 passage on p. 75, the Colossians 1:15-17 passage on p. 76) · Section IV, 'Erroneous Translations', items 1 and 2 · Bruce M. Metzger · Princeton Theological Seminary (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110)
“As a matter of solid fact, however, such a rendering is a frightful mistranslation. It overlooks entirely an established rule of Greek grammar which necessitates the rendering, '. . . and the Word was God.'”
Metzger is discussing the 1950 New World Translation's rendering of John 1:1 as 'and the Word was a god'. He argues from E. C. Colwell's 1933 rule on the Greek definite article, and says that none of the thirty-five parallel passages cited in the translation's own appendix is actually parallel. In the same section he writes that the fourfold insertion of 'other' at Colossians 1:15-17 is 'unwarrantably inserted' and 'not present in the original Greek', and he criticises the renderings of Philippians 2:6, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1 and Revelation 3:14.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Theology Today, The Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ: A Biblical and Theological Appraisal
Note sur la fiabilité.The full scan text was downloaded from the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quoted sentences, the section heading and the page markers were confirmed by eye. The bibliographic record (Theology Today vol. 10 no. 1, April 1953, pp. 65-85, DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110) was independently confirmed in Crossref. The publisher's own page on journals.sagepub.com returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and was not opened. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The scan was downloaded again and read independently. The quotation is verbatim. The running heads run 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 79, 81, 82, 85, which confirms the 65-85 range; the 'frightful mistranslation' sentence falls between the p. 75 and p. 76 markers and the 'unwarrantably inserted' sentence between the p. 76 and p. 77 markers, so the two passages are on pp. 75 and 76. Crossref independently returns the same title, subtitle, author, volume, issue, pagination and month.
Provenance de la numérisation.Optical-character-recognition text of a scanned offprint of the article, hosted by the Internet Archive (item 'TheJehovahsWitnessesAndJesusChrist'). The offprint reproduces the journal's own page numbering (65-85), which the running heads and page markers in the scan confirm. The canonical /download/ URL answers with a redirect that some clients will not follow; the file itself resolves at an Internet Archive node host, https://ia601608.us.archive.org/0/items/TheJehovahsWitnessesAndJesusChrist/Jehovahs_Witnesses_and_Jesus_Christ_Metzger_djvu.txt, which is what was fetched. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.This is a theological appraisal of the movement as a whole, of which the translation criticism is one section (Section IV). It is not a formal review of the translation; Metzger's short review of the translation itself came eleven years later in The Bible Translator (src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator), which has now also been read. In April 1953 Metzger was associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary; he was made full professor in 1954. Do not call him 'Professor of New Testament' as of 1953.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1953-theology-today
Dans le même article de 1953, Metzger a écrit que le mot “other”, inséré quatre fois dans la Traduction du monde nouveau en Colossiens 1:15-17, « a été inséré sans justification », n’est « pas présent dans le grec original » et « a manifestement été employé par les traducteurs pour que le passage présente Jésus comme étant sur le même plan que les autres choses créées ». Source: Theology Today, avril 1953Source: The Bible Translator, juillet 1964
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : En 2003, Jason BeDuhn est parvenu à la conclusion inverse sur ce passage : « en Colossiens 1:15-20, il est exact d’ajouter “other” parce que “other” est implicite dans le grec ».
avril 1953 · pp.65-85 (the John 1:1 passage on p. 75, the Colossians 1:15-17 passage on p. 76) · Section IV, 'Erroneous Translations', items 1 and 2 · Bruce M. Metzger · Princeton Theological Seminary (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110)
“As a matter of solid fact, however, such a rendering is a frightful mistranslation. It overlooks entirely an established rule of Greek grammar which necessitates the rendering, '. . . and the Word was God.'”
Metzger is discussing the 1950 New World Translation's rendering of John 1:1 as 'and the Word was a god'. He argues from E. C. Colwell's 1933 rule on the Greek definite article, and says that none of the thirty-five parallel passages cited in the translation's own appendix is actually parallel. In the same section he writes that the fourfold insertion of 'other' at Colossians 1:15-17 is 'unwarrantably inserted' and 'not present in the original Greek', and he criticises the renderings of Philippians 2:6, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1 and Revelation 3:14.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Theology Today, The Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ: A Biblical and Theological Appraisal
Note sur la fiabilité.The full scan text was downloaded from the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quoted sentences, the section heading and the page markers were confirmed by eye. The bibliographic record (Theology Today vol. 10 no. 1, April 1953, pp. 65-85, DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110) was independently confirmed in Crossref. The publisher's own page on journals.sagepub.com returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and was not opened. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The scan was downloaded again and read independently. The quotation is verbatim. The running heads run 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 79, 81, 82, 85, which confirms the 65-85 range; the 'frightful mistranslation' sentence falls between the p. 75 and p. 76 markers and the 'unwarrantably inserted' sentence between the p. 76 and p. 77 markers, so the two passages are on pp. 75 and 76. Crossref independently returns the same title, subtitle, author, volume, issue, pagination and month.
Provenance de la numérisation.Optical-character-recognition text of a scanned offprint of the article, hosted by the Internet Archive (item 'TheJehovahsWitnessesAndJesusChrist'). The offprint reproduces the journal's own page numbering (65-85), which the running heads and page markers in the scan confirm. The canonical /download/ URL answers with a redirect that some clients will not follow; the file itself resolves at an Internet Archive node host, https://ia601608.us.archive.org/0/items/TheJehovahsWitnessesAndJesusChrist/Jehovahs_Witnesses_and_Jesus_Christ_Metzger_djvu.txt, which is what was fetched. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.This is a theological appraisal of the movement as a whole, of which the translation criticism is one section (Section IV). It is not a formal review of the translation; Metzger's short review of the translation itself came eleven years later in The Bible Translator (src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator), which has now also been read. In April 1953 Metzger was associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary; he was made full professor in 1954. Do not call him 'Professor of New Testament' as of 1953.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1953-theology-today
juillet 1964 · pp.150-152 (quoted passages at pp. 151 and 152) · Bruce M. Metzger · United Bible Societies (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/000608446401500311)
“On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged). … Frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent. (p. 151) … Some of the translations which are simply indefensible include the following. The introduction of the word 'Jehovah' into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading. (p. 152)”
A signed review of the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in the United Bible Societies' translation journal, running from the heading 'BOOK REVIEW' on p. 150 to the signature 'BRUCE M. METZGER' at the foot of p. 152. It is mixed, not uniformly hostile. Metzger notes the Westcott and Hort Greek text, records that 'one of the most notable features of the translation is the introduction of the name Jehovah 237 times into the main body of the text, as well as 72 times in the footnotes in the lower margin' (p. 151), and allows the translators 'a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment'. He then objects that rendering the same Greek word by the same English word 'has a specious show of faithfulness to the original, but the application of the principle with any degree of consistency tends to produce a certain woodenness' (p. 151); that 'and the Word was a god' at John 1:1, 'while entirely in accord with the Arian theology of the sect, is not justified despite a lengthy note which attempts to support it' (p. 152); and that 'in the interest of providing support for their Unitarianism, the translators have not hesitated to insert four times the word “other” (totally without warrant from the Greek) before the word “things” in Col. 1: 16 f.' (p. 152).
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Bible Translator, Book Review: New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — all three printed pages. journals.sagepub.com still returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and the live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404, but the Wayback Machine serves the United Bible Societies' own page images of the issue: a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg under /tbt/1964/03/. Those three images were downloaded and read, and the quotations above are transcribed from them. The review is signed 'BRUCE M. METZGER'. Crossref independently confirms The Bible Translator vol. 15 no. 3 (July 1964), pp. 150-152, by B. Metzger.
Provenance de la numérisation.Page images of the printed journal from the United Bible Societies' own Bible Translator archive at ubs-translations.org, preserved in the Wayback Machine. The review occupies the images a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg in /tbt/1964/03/, whose printed page numbers are 150, 151 and 152; the viewer's own index maps image a151.jpg to printed page 151, which is the page the secondary literature cites. The live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404.
Notes.This record previously said the text could not be opened and that nothing should be quoted from it. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] It has now been read, and that judgement is reversed. The much-circulated sentence about 'a plain piece of special pleading' is accurate word for word, and it is on p. 152. The citation 'pp. 150-153' that circulates online is wrong: the review ends on p. 152. Note two traps. First, the same three pages contain the favourable sentence that defenders of the translation quote, so a page that uses one half without the other is quoting selectively. Second, Wikipedia's rendering of the p. 151 sentence, 'Frequently an intelligent use of a critical information is apparent', has a stray 'a'; the printed text reads 'an intelligent use of critical information'.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator
Une recension parue dans The Expository Times de novembre 1953, attribuée au spécialiste de l’Ancien Testament H. H. Rowley, concluait au sujet de la Traduction du monde nouveau des Écritures hébraïques, volume I : 'From beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated.' ['Du début à la fin, ce volume est un exemple éclatant de la manière dont la Bible ne devrait pas être traduite.'] Source: The Expository Times, novembre 1953
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation reconnaît qu’à sa parution la traduction 'was subjected to severe criticism' ['a fait l’objet de critiques sévères'], et elle répond à l’accusation générale selon laquelle elle serait l’œuvre d’amateurs en soutenant qu’une traduction doit être jugée sur ses caractéristiques plutôt que sur les noms de ses traducteurs.
novembre 1953 · pp.41-42 (within the 'Literature' section, pp. 41-46) · H. H. Rowley · T. & T. Clark (published by SAGE; 'Literature' section DOI 10.1177/001452465306500203)
“From beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated.”
A review of the 1953 New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Volume I. The reviewer also objects to the translation's 'wooden literalism' and its treatment of the Hebrew text.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Expository Times, How Not to Translate the Bible (review in the 'Literature' section)
Note sur la fiabilité.The article could not be opened: journals.sagepub.com returns HTTP 403 to automated requests. What was confirmed on 19 September 2026 is that Crossref's record for The Expository Times vol. 65 no. 2 (November 1953) lists pp. 41-46 as the unsigned 'Literature' book-review section, which is consistent with a signed review beginning at p. 41; no separately indexed article titled 'How Not to Translate the Bible' exists in that volume. The quoted sentence, and the November 1953 / vol. 65 / p. 41 citation, appear in the same form on two independent secondary sites (exjw.org.uk and reachouttrust.org). Rowley's authorship rests on those secondary attributions, not on anything opened here. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The HTTP 403 from SAGE was reproduced. Two further, better-quality attestations were found, neither of them an advocacy site: Wikipedia's article on the New World Translation carries a full journal citation — Rowley, H. H., 1953, 'How Not To Translate the Bible', The Expository Times 65, pp. 41-42 — and attaches the same sentence to p. 41; and George D. Chryssides, a mainstream academic writer on the movement, discusses 'the unfavourable criticisms by Harold Henry Rowley (1953)' as a real item of 1953 criticism. That makes fabrication very unlikely, but it still does not put the words in front of an auditor's eyes. 'supported' remains correct; do not upgrade until the page is read.
Notes.H. H. Rowley (1890-1969) was Professor of Semitic Languages at Manchester and a leading Old Testament scholar; he wrote the 'Recent Foreign Theology' column in The Expository Times throughout this period, which makes the attribution plausible but does not establish it. The review concerns the Hebrew Scriptures volume, not the 1950 New Testament. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] Two further points for the next pass: a second Rowley review, of Volume II, is attested in the secondary literature ('the second volume shows the same faults as the first'); and Chryssides judged in 2019 that Rowley's criticism, unlike Metzger's, was 'extremely vague' — which is a fair thing to tell readers alongside the famous sentence.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-rowley-1953-expository-times
Samuel S. Haas a publié un compte rendu de la New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Volume I, dans le Journal of Biblical Literature en décembre 1955, et on le cite comme concluant que, bien que l’ouvrage « témoigne de beaucoup d’efforts et de réflexion ainsi que d’une érudition considérable, il est regrettable que des préjugés religieux aient été autorisés à colorer de nombreux passages ». Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, décembre 1955
décembre 1955 · pp.282-283 (the review begins at p. 282; the sentence quoted below is cited to p. 283) · Samuel S. Haas · Society of Biblical Literature (DOI 10.2307/3261681; JSTOR stable 3261681)
“[While] 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.”
A review of the 1953 New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Volume I (Genesis to Ruth), in the principal North American journal of biblical studies. The sentence above is the review's conclusion. It is not the whole of Haas's criticism: the secondary literature also quotes him from p. 282 to the effect that 'religious bias is shown most clearly in the policy of translating the tetragrammaton as Jehovah', and that he objected to 'Jehovah' being substituted for 'Adonai' at Genesis 18:3. Quoting only the concluding sentence therefore understates rather than overstates his criticism.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Journal of Biblical Literature, Review: New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Vol. I
Note sur la fiabilité.The existence and citation of the review were confirmed in the Crossref record on 19 September 2026: Journal of Biblical Literature vol. 74, issue 4, December 1955, first page 282, reviewer Samuel S. Haas, DOI 10.2307/3261681. The text of the review could not be opened; the JSTOR item page returns only a stub to automated requests. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] Two problems with the wording. First, the opening word is not settled: the reproduction carried by Wikipedia, which cites Haas 1955 p. 283 directly, begins 'this work indicates a great deal of effort…' with no 'While', and reads as a fragment; the advocacy sites give 'While this work indicates…'. The bracket above marks that the first word is supplied and unconfirmed. Second, the review runs pp. 282-283, so the sentence's page is plausible but unconfirmed. Do not print this sentence without saying that the original was not read.
Notes.A second contemporary review of the same volume exists and appears not to be used on either side of the popular argument: J. J. Owens, 'Book Review: New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures', Review & Expositor vol. 53 (April 1956), pp. 253-254, DOI 10.1177/003463735605300239 (confirmed in Crossref; text not opened). Owens is quoted in the secondary literature as finding that 'the literalness and stiff expressions' detract, which is a criticism of style rather than of doctrine.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-haas-1955-jbl
Bruce Metzger est revenu sur le sujet dans une recension signée de la Traduction du monde nouveau des Écritures grecques chrétiennes, parue dans The Bible Translator, la revue des Sociétés bibliques unies, en juillet 1964. La recension est mitigée. Il concédait que 'on the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged)' ['dans l’ensemble, on retire une impression assez bonne du bagage érudit des traducteurs (leurs noms ne sont pas divulgués)'] et que 'frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent' ['on constate fréquemment un usage intelligent de l’information critique'] ; il écrivait ensuite que 'the introduction of the word “Jehovah” into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material, is a plain piece of special pleading' ['l’introduction du mot “Jéhovah” dans le texte du Nouveau Testament, malgré beaucoup d’ingéniosité dans une argumentation remplie d’une quantité considérable d’éléments hors de propos, est un pur plaidoyer partial'], et il répétait ses objections de 1953 à 'and the Word was a god' ['et la Parole était un dieu'] en Jean 1:1 et au quadruple 'other' ['autres'] en Colossiens 1:16. Source: The Bible Translator, juillet 1964
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Appendix A5 of the 2013 New World Translation is the organisation's answer on the divine name. Metzger's own review independently records the same figure the organisation gives: the name is introduced '237 times into the main body of the text, as well as 72 times in the footnotes'.
juillet 1964 · pp.150-152 (quoted passages at pp. 151 and 152) · Bruce M. Metzger · United Bible Societies (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/000608446401500311)
“On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged). … Frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent. (p. 151) … Some of the translations which are simply indefensible include the following. The introduction of the word 'Jehovah' into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading. (p. 152)”
A signed review of the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in the United Bible Societies' translation journal, running from the heading 'BOOK REVIEW' on p. 150 to the signature 'BRUCE M. METZGER' at the foot of p. 152. It is mixed, not uniformly hostile. Metzger notes the Westcott and Hort Greek text, records that 'one of the most notable features of the translation is the introduction of the name Jehovah 237 times into the main body of the text, as well as 72 times in the footnotes in the lower margin' (p. 151), and allows the translators 'a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment'. He then objects that rendering the same Greek word by the same English word 'has a specious show of faithfulness to the original, but the application of the principle with any degree of consistency tends to produce a certain woodenness' (p. 151); that 'and the Word was a god' at John 1:1, 'while entirely in accord with the Arian theology of the sect, is not justified despite a lengthy note which attempts to support it' (p. 152); and that 'in the interest of providing support for their Unitarianism, the translators have not hesitated to insert four times the word “other” (totally without warrant from the Greek) before the word “things” in Col. 1: 16 f.' (p. 152).
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Bible Translator, Book Review: New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — all three printed pages. journals.sagepub.com still returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and the live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404, but the Wayback Machine serves the United Bible Societies' own page images of the issue: a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg under /tbt/1964/03/. Those three images were downloaded and read, and the quotations above are transcribed from them. The review is signed 'BRUCE M. METZGER'. Crossref independently confirms The Bible Translator vol. 15 no. 3 (July 1964), pp. 150-152, by B. Metzger.
Provenance de la numérisation.Page images of the printed journal from the United Bible Societies' own Bible Translator archive at ubs-translations.org, preserved in the Wayback Machine. The review occupies the images a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg in /tbt/1964/03/, whose printed page numbers are 150, 151 and 152; the viewer's own index maps image a151.jpg to printed page 151, which is the page the secondary literature cites. The live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404.
Notes.This record previously said the text could not be opened and that nothing should be quoted from it. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] It has now been read, and that judgement is reversed. The much-circulated sentence about 'a plain piece of special pleading' is accurate word for word, and it is on p. 152. The citation 'pp. 150-153' that circulates online is wrong: the review ends on p. 152. Note two traps. First, the same three pages contain the favourable sentence that defenders of the translation quote, so a page that uses one half without the other is quoting selectively. Second, Wikipedia's rendering of the p. 151 sentence, 'Frequently an intelligent use of a critical information is apparent', has a stray 'a'; the printed text reads 'an intelligent use of critical information'.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator
Thomas N. Winter, alors spécialiste des lettres classiques à l’université du Nebraska-Lincoln, a donné en 1974 une recension favorable de la Kingdom Interlinear Translation dans The Classical Journal, écrivant que 'the integrity of the text is preserved' ['l’intégrité du texte est préservée'], que 'the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate' ['la traduction due au comité anonyme est tout à fait à jour et constamment exacte'], que 'the book has been very carefully compiled and printed' ['le livre a été compilé et imprimé avec un très grand soin'], et recommandant à un spécialiste des lettres classiques ou à un étudiant de la Bible de 'bring him in and place an order' ['le faire entrer et passer commande'] lorsqu’un Témoin se présente. Source: The Classical Journal, avril 1974Source: JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, 19 septembre 2026
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Jehovah's Witnesses cite this review on JW.org for the sentence 'The translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate', attributed to page 376. That quotation is accurate: the printed review reads 'The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate.'
avril 1974 · pp.375-376 · Thomas Nelson Winter (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) · Classical Association of the Middle West and South
“This is no ordinary interlinear: the integrity of the text is preserved, and the English which appears below it is simply the basic meaning of the Greek word. Thus the interlinear feature of this book is no translation at all. A text with instant vocabulary more correctly describes it. … The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate. … The book has been very carefully compiled and printed. In sum, when a Witness comes to the door, the classicist, Greek student, or Bible student alike would do well to bring him in and place an order.”
A short, favourable review of the 1969 Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The review opens 'An original Greek text for two dollars is something of a miracle, and it should not surprise us that it took a world-wide group of Bible students to pull it off.' Winter sets a line of the Kingdom Interlinear beside a line of an ordinary Latin interlinear, says the latter's 'mixmastered Latin… is anathema to any classicist', and reports that he gave the Kingdom Interlinear to several second-year Greek students as an auxiliary text and that their Greek improved. His one worked example of accuracy is that where the King James and Revised Standard have 'wise men' for magoi, the Kingdom Interlinear has 'astrologers', 'a more correct and informative rendition'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Classical Journal, Review of New World Bible Translation Committee's The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — the whole printed review, not the repository abstract. The repository's PDF (cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=classicsfacpub) returns HTTP 403 to automated requests from this environment but opens through the Wayback Machine; it reproduces the printed review, headed 'APRIL-MAY, 1974' and signed 'THOMAS N. WINTER, University of Nebraska'. The quotations above are transcribed from it. The repository record gives the citation as The Classical Journal, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Apr.-May 1974), pp. 375-376, and carries the JSTOR SICI string 0009-8353(197404/05)69:4<375:TKITOT>2.0.CO;2-F, which independently encodes volume 69, issue 4, first page 375.
Provenance de la numérisation.The University of Nebraska-Lincoln repository's own PDF of the printed review, which reproduces the review in full, headed 'APRIL-MAY, 1974' and signed 'THOMAS N. WINTER, University of Nebraska'. The live viewcontent.cgi URL returns HTTP 403 to automated requests; the Wayback Machine's copy of the same PDF opens normally. Note that the repository's record page at /classicsfacpub/27 carries only a shortened abstract of the review, not the whole of it.
Notes.The citation repeated in Watch Tower publications and across the internet, 'The Classical Journal 66 (April-May 1974)', gives the wrong volume: volume 66 covers 1970-71. The author's own university, and the JSTOR SICI string on the same page, give volume 69, no. 4. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] An earlier version of this record said that the sentence Jehovah's Witnesses quote — 'The translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate' — did not appear in the text reproduced by Winter's university and was unconfirmed. That was wrong, and it was wrong because the repository's record page carries only a condensed abstract. The full PDF has the sentence, in this form: 'The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate.' JW.org's quotation of it is accurate, and the site must say so. What the site may fairly add is the context: Winter was assessing a Greek text with word-by-word glosses as a teaching aid for classicists, and his single worked example of accuracy is 'astrologers' for magoi.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-winter-1974-classical-journal
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Based on his analysis of nine major English translations, Jason David BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies, wrote: 'The NW [New World Translation] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.' Although the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation are the result of religious bias on the part of its translators, BeDuhn stated: 'Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers.'—Truth in Translation, pages 163, 165.”
The page sets out three reasons the New World Translation differs from other Bibles (reliability, faithfulness, literalness), explains the omission of the Apocrypha and of later manuscript additions, and then, under the heading 'Positive comments about the New World Translation from non-Witness scholars', gives nine favourable comments: Edgar J. Goodspeed (a letter dated 8 December 1950), Allen Wikgren (The Interpreter's Bible, vol. I, p. 99), Alexander Thomson (The Differentiator, April 1952, p. 52), Charles Francis Potter (The Faiths Men Live By, p. 300), Robert M. McCoy (Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963, p. 31), S. MacLean Gilmour (Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966, p. 26), Thomas N. Winter (The Classical Journal, April-May 1974, p. 376), Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein (a statement of 1989) and Jason David BeDuhn. A footnote states that the comments 'apply to editions of the English New World Translation prior to the 2013 revision'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Is the New World Translation Accurate?
Note sur la fiabilité.The whole page was fetched and read on 19 September 2026 and every quotation above was transcribed from it. The page is undated, so the access date is recorded as its date; its content may change. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The page was fetched and read again. The BeDuhn quotation above is verbatim. One correction: the page carries nine favourable comments, not eight — the earlier version of this record enumerated eight and left out Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, who appears between Winter and BeDuhn. The claim built on this record has been corrected to match.
Notes.The page quotes BeDuhn's favourable verdict (pp. 163, 165) and does not mention his appendix (pp. 169-181), in which he calls the use of 'Jehovah' in the New Testament an inaccuracy. Of the nine favourable comments, four are cited to journals or reference works (Wikgren, McCoy, Gilmour, Winter), one to a scholarly monograph (BeDuhn) and four to a private letter, a privately circulated magazine, a general-readership book and an undated personal statement (Goodspeed, Thomson, Potter, Kedar-Kopfstein). Of the nine, only the Winter and BeDuhn items have been checked against their originals in this research, and the Winter one checks out.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-jw-faq-accurate
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Les Témoins de Jéhovah citent ce verdict sur JW.org et l’ont cité dans La Tour de Garde du 1er décembre 2004 sous le titre “A ‘Remarkably Good’ Translation”.
2003 · pp.163, 165 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland (ISBN 0761825568 / 076182555X)
“While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said that the NW emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared. Holding a close second to the NW in its accuracy, judging by the passages we have looked at, is the NAB. (p. 163) … The NW and NAB are not bias free, and they are not perfect translations. But they are remarkably good translations, better by far than the deeply flawed TEV, certainly better as a translation than the LB and AB, which are not really translations at all, consistently better than the heavily biased NIV … (p. 165)”
BeDuhn compares nine English New Testaments (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NAB, Amplified, Living Bible, Today's English Version and the New World Translation) across a set of disputed passages. The same summary paragraph continues: 'Both of these are translations produced by single denominations of Christianity… I have pondered why these two translations, of all those considered, turned out to be the least biased.' On p. 165 he also writes of 'bias in the NW, where in my opinion accuracy was impaired by the commitments of the translators', adding that 'the biases of the NW translators do not account for most of the differences of the NW from the other translations', which are due to 'the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Chapter 12, 'A Final Word'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. What was confirmed independently on that date: the p. 163 sentence, in full and with its opening hedge, is reproduced at tetragrammaton.org; the p. 165 sentence is attested down to 'certainly better as a translation than the LB and AB'; and the fragments 'remarkably good', 'better by far' and 'consistently better' are quoted from pp. 163, 165 by The Watchtower of 1 December 2004, which has been read. The tail 'consistently better than the heavily biased NIV' is attested only in part — 'consistently better' is in the Watchtower, 'heavily biased NIV' is not — so the trailing ellipsis must stay. BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. The quotations below are transcribed from two independent published reproductions of the passage: the long review at tetragrammaton.org, which quotes the summary paragraph in full, and — for the second half — the partial quotation in The Watchtower of 1 December 2004 and on JW.org.
Notes.This is the passage Jehovah's Witnesses quote. The organisation's 2004 Watchtower article says BeDuhn compared 'eight major translations'; the book compares nine (BeDuhn writes on p. 133 of 'the other eight translations we are comparing'). [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The earlier version of this record began the quotation at 'the most accurate of the translations compared', with the preceding words supplied in brackets. That dropped BeDuhn's own hedge, 'While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said that…', which is exactly the half JW.org also drops. The hedge has been restored and must be printed with the verdict.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-verdict
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Based on his analysis of nine major English translations, Jason David BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies, wrote: 'The NW [New World Translation] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.' Although the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation are the result of religious bias on the part of its translators, BeDuhn stated: 'Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers.'—Truth in Translation, pages 163, 165.”
The page sets out three reasons the New World Translation differs from other Bibles (reliability, faithfulness, literalness), explains the omission of the Apocrypha and of later manuscript additions, and then, under the heading 'Positive comments about the New World Translation from non-Witness scholars', gives nine favourable comments: Edgar J. Goodspeed (a letter dated 8 December 1950), Allen Wikgren (The Interpreter's Bible, vol. I, p. 99), Alexander Thomson (The Differentiator, April 1952, p. 52), Charles Francis Potter (The Faiths Men Live By, p. 300), Robert M. McCoy (Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963, p. 31), S. MacLean Gilmour (Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966, p. 26), Thomas N. Winter (The Classical Journal, April-May 1974, p. 376), Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein (a statement of 1989) and Jason David BeDuhn. A footnote states that the comments 'apply to editions of the English New World Translation prior to the 2013 revision'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Is the New World Translation Accurate?
Note sur la fiabilité.The whole page was fetched and read on 19 September 2026 and every quotation above was transcribed from it. The page is undated, so the access date is recorded as its date; its content may change. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The page was fetched and read again. The BeDuhn quotation above is verbatim. One correction: the page carries nine favourable comments, not eight — the earlier version of this record enumerated eight and left out Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, who appears between Winter and BeDuhn. The claim built on this record has been corrected to match.
Notes.The page quotes BeDuhn's favourable verdict (pp. 163, 165) and does not mention his appendix (pp. 169-181), in which he calls the use of 'Jehovah' in the New Testament an inaccuracy. Of the nine favourable comments, four are cited to journals or reference works (Wikgren, McCoy, Gilmour, Winter), one to a scholarly monograph (BeDuhn) and four to a private letter, a privately circulated magazine, a general-readership book and an undated personal statement (Goodspeed, Thomson, Potter, Kedar-Kopfstein). Of the nine, only the Winter and BeDuhn items have been checked against their originals in this research, and the Winter one checks out.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-jw-faq-accurate
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 décembre 2004 · p.30 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.””
A one-page article in The Watchtower of 1 December 2004 reporting BeDuhn's book. It states that he 'examined and compared for accuracy eight major translations, including the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures', and quotes him further on 'the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, A “Remarkably Good” Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page (w04 12/1 p. 30). [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] Fetched and read again; the quotation is verbatim, and the page marker in the Watchtower Online Library HTML (data-no="30") confirms p. 30. The article's own citation gives the book's title as 'Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament', which is the correct title and the one now used in the BeDuhn records.
Notes.The article does say BeDuhn was 'critical of some of its translation choices' but does not say what the criticism was. It gives the number of translations compared as eight; BeDuhn compares nine.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-w04-remarkably-good
Dans un appendice du même ouvrage, BeDuhn a écrit que, « ayant conclu que la NW est l’une des traductions anglaises du Nouveau Testament les plus exactes actuellement disponibles », il « manquerait à son devoir » s’il ne mentionnait pas « une particularité de cette traduction qui, selon la plupart des conventions de traduction, serait considérée comme une inexactitude » — l’emploi de « Jéhovah » dans le Nouveau Testament. Il a qualifié le raisonnement qui la sous-tend de « correction conjecturale » plutôt que de traduction, et a dit que la règle que les traducteurs s’étaient eux-mêmes fixée avait été appliquée de manière incohérente en 2 Thessaloniciens 1:9, 1 Pierre 2:3 et 1 Pierre 3:15. Source: Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2003
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’appendice A5 de la Traduction du monde nouveau de 2013 expose les raisons pour lesquelles l’organisation « rétablit le nom divin » en 237 endroits des Écritures grecques chrétiennes, en s’appuyant sur la présence du Tétragramme dans des manuscrits hébreux et dans certains fragments grecs préchrétiens de la Septante datant de l’époque de Jésus.
2003 · pp.169, 171, 174, 175, 177 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“Having concluded that the NW is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available, I would be remiss if I did not mention one peculiarity of this translation that by most conventions of translation would be considered an inaccuracy, however little this inaccuracy changes the meaning of most of the verses where it appears. I am referring to the use of 'Jehovah' in the NW New Testament. … But the name never appears in any Greek manuscript of any book of the New Testament. So, to introduce the name 'Jehovah' into the New Testament, as the NW does two-hundred-thirty-seven times, is not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy: adherence to the original Greek text. (p. 169) … To suggest such a reading not supported by the manuscript evidence is called making a conjectural emendation. It is an emendation because you are repairing, 'mending,' a text you believe is defective. It is conjectural because it is a hypothesis… The editors of the NW are making a conjectural emendation when they replace kurios, which would be translated 'Lord,' with 'Jehovah.' (p. 171) … The inconsistency of the NW translators in not using 'Jehovah' in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Peter 2:3, and 1 Peter 3:15 shows that interpretation rather than a principle of translation is involved in deciding where to use 'Jehovah'. (p. 175) … [The zeal of the NW editors …] has carried them too far, and into a harmonizing practice of their own. … Their principle of 'emendation' does not seem to work. (p. 177)”
In the appendix that follows his favourable overall verdict, BeDuhn argues that putting 'Jehovah' into the New Testament, where no surviving Greek manuscript has it, is a 'conjectural emendation' (p. 171) — repairing a text one believes to be defective — rather than translation, and that the translators applied their own rule inconsistently. He lists five verses at which they used 'God' instead (Romans 11:2; 11:8; Galatians 1:15; Hebrews 9:20; 1 Peter 4:14), saying 'I cannot say why the NW editors abandoned their principle of conjectural emendation in these five cases; it makes no difference in the meaning of the text' (p. 174), and then three at which, by their own principles, 'Jehovah' should have appeared and did not: 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Peter 2:3 and 1 Peter 3:15 (pp. 174-175). Of the last two he writes that 'the NW translators have deviated from the principles by which they would normally use “Jehovah”, and they have done so quite obviously because of bias'. He nevertheless ends the appendix still defending the translators' motive.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Appendix, 'The Use of “Jehovah” in the NW New Testament'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. What was confirmed independently on that date, from two reproductions that do not depend on each other: the p. 169 sentence (tetragrammaton.org, which reproduces the opening of the appendix in full); the p. 171 definition of conjectural emendation (same); the p. 174 and p. 175 material about the eight verses (same); and the p. 175 sentence and both p. 177 fragments (Trevor Allin's critique, which quotes them with page attributions and is hostile to BeDuhn, so has no motive to soften him). BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect. Two fragments that appeared in the earlier version of this record have been removed because no reproduction anywhere attests them: a second p. 177 sentence, 'I personally do not agree with that practice, and think that identifications of “Lord” with “Jehovah” should be placed in footnotes', and a p. 170 phrase, 'denominationally preferred expressions for God'. Neither may be published unless the book is read.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. The quotations below are transcribed from two independent published reproductions: the long review at tetragrammaton.org, which quotes pp. 169 and 171-175 at length, and Trevor Allin's critique (src-nwt-allin-2026-review), which quotes pp. 175 and 177 with page attributions. The two agree word for word on the p. 175 sentence.
Notes.This is the half of BeDuhn's assessment that Watch Tower publications do not quote. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The opening clause matters and was missing before: BeDuhn introduces the criticism by restating his favourable verdict in the very same sentence — 'Having concluded that the NW is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available, I would be remiss…'. A page that quotes the 'inaccuracy' half without that clause is doing to BeDuhn what JW.org does to him in the other direction.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-jehovah-appendix
avril 1953 · pp.65-85 (the John 1:1 passage on p. 75, the Colossians 1:15-17 passage on p. 76) · Section IV, 'Erroneous Translations', items 1 and 2 · Bruce M. Metzger · Princeton Theological Seminary (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110)
“As a matter of solid fact, however, such a rendering is a frightful mistranslation. It overlooks entirely an established rule of Greek grammar which necessitates the rendering, '. . . and the Word was God.'”
Metzger is discussing the 1950 New World Translation's rendering of John 1:1 as 'and the Word was a god'. He argues from E. C. Colwell's 1933 rule on the Greek definite article, and says that none of the thirty-five parallel passages cited in the translation's own appendix is actually parallel. In the same section he writes that the fourfold insertion of 'other' at Colossians 1:15-17 is 'unwarrantably inserted' and 'not present in the original Greek', and he criticises the renderings of Philippians 2:6, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1 and Revelation 3:14.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Theology Today, The Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ: A Biblical and Theological Appraisal
Note sur la fiabilité.The full scan text was downloaded from the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quoted sentences, the section heading and the page markers were confirmed by eye. The bibliographic record (Theology Today vol. 10 no. 1, April 1953, pp. 65-85, DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110) was independently confirmed in Crossref. The publisher's own page on journals.sagepub.com returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and was not opened. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The scan was downloaded again and read independently. The quotation is verbatim. The running heads run 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 79, 81, 82, 85, which confirms the 65-85 range; the 'frightful mistranslation' sentence falls between the p. 75 and p. 76 markers and the 'unwarrantably inserted' sentence between the p. 76 and p. 77 markers, so the two passages are on pp. 75 and 76. Crossref independently returns the same title, subtitle, author, volume, issue, pagination and month.
Provenance de la numérisation.Optical-character-recognition text of a scanned offprint of the article, hosted by the Internet Archive (item 'TheJehovahsWitnessesAndJesusChrist'). The offprint reproduces the journal's own page numbering (65-85), which the running heads and page markers in the scan confirm. The canonical /download/ URL answers with a redirect that some clients will not follow; the file itself resolves at an Internet Archive node host, https://ia601608.us.archive.org/0/items/TheJehovahsWitnessesAndJesusChrist/Jehovahs_Witnesses_and_Jesus_Christ_Metzger_djvu.txt, which is what was fetched. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.This is a theological appraisal of the movement as a whole, of which the translation criticism is one section (Section IV). It is not a formal review of the translation; Metzger's short review of the translation itself came eleven years later in The Bible Translator (src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator), which has now also been read. In April 1953 Metzger was associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary; he was made full professor in 1954. Do not call him 'Professor of New Testament' as of 1953.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1953-theology-today
juillet 1964 · pp.150-152 (quoted passages at pp. 151 and 152) · Bruce M. Metzger · United Bible Societies (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/000608446401500311)
“On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged). … Frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent. (p. 151) … Some of the translations which are simply indefensible include the following. The introduction of the word 'Jehovah' into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading. (p. 152)”
A signed review of the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in the United Bible Societies' translation journal, running from the heading 'BOOK REVIEW' on p. 150 to the signature 'BRUCE M. METZGER' at the foot of p. 152. It is mixed, not uniformly hostile. Metzger notes the Westcott and Hort Greek text, records that 'one of the most notable features of the translation is the introduction of the name Jehovah 237 times into the main body of the text, as well as 72 times in the footnotes in the lower margin' (p. 151), and allows the translators 'a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment'. He then objects that rendering the same Greek word by the same English word 'has a specious show of faithfulness to the original, but the application of the principle with any degree of consistency tends to produce a certain woodenness' (p. 151); that 'and the Word was a god' at John 1:1, 'while entirely in accord with the Arian theology of the sect, is not justified despite a lengthy note which attempts to support it' (p. 152); and that 'in the interest of providing support for their Unitarianism, the translators have not hesitated to insert four times the word “other” (totally without warrant from the Greek) before the word “things” in Col. 1: 16 f.' (p. 152).
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Bible Translator, Book Review: New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — all three printed pages. journals.sagepub.com still returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and the live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404, but the Wayback Machine serves the United Bible Societies' own page images of the issue: a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg under /tbt/1964/03/. Those three images were downloaded and read, and the quotations above are transcribed from them. The review is signed 'BRUCE M. METZGER'. Crossref independently confirms The Bible Translator vol. 15 no. 3 (July 1964), pp. 150-152, by B. Metzger.
Provenance de la numérisation.Page images of the printed journal from the United Bible Societies' own Bible Translator archive at ubs-translations.org, preserved in the Wayback Machine. The review occupies the images a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg in /tbt/1964/03/, whose printed page numbers are 150, 151 and 152; the viewer's own index maps image a151.jpg to printed page 151, which is the page the secondary literature cites. The live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404.
Notes.This record previously said the text could not be opened and that nothing should be quoted from it. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] It has now been read, and that judgement is reversed. The much-circulated sentence about 'a plain piece of special pleading' is accurate word for word, and it is on p. 152. The citation 'pp. 150-153' that circulates online is wrong: the review ends on p. 152. Note two traps. First, the same three pages contain the favourable sentence that defenders of the translation quote, so a page that uses one half without the other is quoting selectively. Second, Wikipedia's rendering of the p. 151 sentence, 'Frequently an intelligent use of a critical information is apparent', has a stray 'a'; the printed text reads 'an intelligent use of critical information'.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator
2003 · pp.124-125, 133 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“Ironically, some of these same scholars are quick to charge the NW translation with 'doctrinal bias' for translating the verse literally, free of KJV influence, following the most obvious sense of the Greek. It may very well be that the NW translators came to the task of translating John 1:1 with as much bias as the other translators did. It just so happens that their bias corresponds in this case to a more accurate translation of the Greek. (pp. 124-125) … Bias has shaped most of these translations much more than has accurate attention to the wording of the Bible. The NW translation of John 1:1 is superior to that of the other eight translations we are comparing. I do not think it is the best possible translation for a modern English reader; but at least it breaks with the KJV tradition followed by all the others, and it does so in the right direction by paying attention to how Greek grammar and syntax actually work. (p. 133)”
BeDuhn defends 'and the Word was a god' as a defensible rendering of the Greek, drawing on Philip Harner's 1973 study of qualitative predicate nouns, and argues that the customary rendering owes more to the King James tradition than to the grammar. The same p. 133 paragraph ends: 'All that we can ask is that a translation be an accurate starting point for exposition and interpretation. Only the NW achieves this, as provocative as it sounds to the modern reader.' This is the rendering Bruce Metzger called a 'frightful mistranslation' in 1953 and 'not justified' in 1964.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Chapter 11, 'And the Word Was …'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. Both passages were confirmed independently on that date against reproductions that quote them in full with page attributions: pp. 124-125 at rfmcelroyiii.wordpress.com, p. 133 at tetragrammaton.org. BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect. One reproduction prints 'the other eight translation we are comparing'; the singular is evidently that site's typing slip and 'translations' is used above.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. The pp. 124-125 passage is transcribed from the excerpt collection at rfmcelroyiii.wordpress.com and the p. 133 paragraph from the long review at tetragrammaton.org; the two are independent of each other.
Notes.BeDuhn's own preferred rendering is not the New World Translation's; he says on p. 133 that he does not think it is the best possible translation for a modern English reader. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The earlier version began the quotation with a bracketed supply, '[the NW rendering of] John 1:1 is superior…'. The bracket was unnecessary: the printed sentence is 'The NW translation of John 1:1 is superior to that of the other eight translations we are comparing', and it is preceded by 'Bias has shaped most of these translations much more than has accurate attention to the wording of the Bible', which is the sentence that gives the passage its force. Both have been restored. Note also that the page is pp. 124-125, not p. 125 alone.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-john-1-1
2003 · pp.83-87 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“It is ironic that the translation of Colossians 1:15-20 that has received the most criticism is the one where the added words are fully justified by what is implied in the Greek. … The decision whether or not to make something implicit explicit is up to the translators, and cannot be said to be either right or wrong in itself. Accuracy only comes into it when assessing whether something made explicit in the translation really is implied in the Greek. If it is, then it is accurate to make it explicit. In Colossians 1:15-20, it is accurate to add 'other' because 'other' is implied in the Greek.”
BeDuhn examines the New World Translation's insertion of '[other]' four times at Colossians 1:16-17 — the insertion Bruce Metzger called 'unwarrantably inserted' in 1953 and 'totally without warrant from the Greek' in 1964. BeDuhn argues (p. 84) that 'all' is commonly used in Greek as a hyperbole and that Paul does not mean to include God or Christ in the phrase 'all things', so that 'all other things' makes the implication explicit.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Chapter 7, 'Probing the Implicit Meaning'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. The passage was confirmed independently on 19 September 2026 against the reproduction at tetragrammaton.org, which quotes it continuously and attributes it to pp. 83-87 — not to p. 87 alone, as this record previously said. Two details: BeDuhn italicises 'other' rather than putting it in quotation marks, and the reproduction reads 'really is implied the Greek', apparently dropping a word, which is restored above as 'implied in the Greek'. BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. Transcribed from the long review at tetragrammaton.org, which reproduces the passage and attributes it to pp. 83-87.
Notes.Editions before the 2013 revision printed the word in brackets — 'all [other] things'. The 2013 revision removed the brackets. That change has not been checked against a primary text in this research. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The earlier version of this record ended the quotation with a second sentence, 'But if words are added that cannot be shown to be implied in the original Greek, then the translation that adds them is inaccurate', run on without an ellipsis as though it followed directly. No reproduction anywhere attests that sentence, and the continuous text runs differently. It has been removed and replaced with the wording that is attested.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-colossians
Des citations que nous avons contrôlées et que nous n’utiliserons pas
Plusieurs citations à l’allure féroce circulent en ligne au sujet de cette traduction. Nous avons recherché l’origine de chacune, et lorsqu’une citation est mal attribuée, déformée ou introuvable, nous l’écartons, si utile qu’elle puisse paraître. Les preuves documentées de cette page sont assez solides sans elle.
Les déclarations attribuées au grammairien du grec Julius R. Mantey contre la Traduction du monde nouveau circulent à partir d’un enregistrement audio non daté publié par une organisation apologétique et d’une lettre adressée à la Société Watch Tower qui n’a pu être retrouvée dans aucune archive, aucun dossier judiciaire ni aucune publication universitaire. L’exposé publié de ses propres vues, Depth Explorations in the New Testament (Vantage Press, 1980), n’est cité par presque aucun des sites qui le citent, et n’a pas été consulté dans le cadre de cette recherche. Source: Christian Research Institute, Statement DJ265Source: Depth Explorations in the New Testament, 1980 (unverified)
· pp.2 pp. · Christian Research Institute (speakers: Walter Martin and Julius R. Mantey) · Christian Research Institute, Charlotte, North Carolina
“Dr. Mantey: Well, as a backdrop, I was disturbed because they had misquoted me in support of their translation. I called their attention to the fact that the whole body of the New Testament was against their view. … Dr. Martin: What was their response to what you said? Dr. Mantey: They said I could have my opinion and they would retain theirs.”
A two-page statement published by an American apologetics organisation, described at its foot as 'excerpted from the tape, “Martin and Mantey on the New World Translation” (catalogue number C-118)'. Mantey, co-author with H. E. Dana of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (1927), says his grammar was misquoted in support of the rendering 'a god' at John 1:1 and that he wrote to the Society about it. He also says 'the translation is deceptive' and that he would advise a Witness 'to get a translation other than the NWT, because ninety-nine percent of the scholars of the world who know Greek … are in disagreement with the JWs'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Christian Research Institute, Statement DJ265, The New World Translation (transcript of a discussion between Walter Martin and Julius R. Mantey)
Note sur la fiabilité.The PDF was downloaded from equip.org on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quotations are transcribed from it. What is verified is what this publication says, not the accuracy of its contents. The statement carries no date, no reference to the original recording's date, and no reproduction of the letter Mantey describes. The Christian Research Institute is an apologetics organisation, not a neutral or peer-reviewed publisher. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] Downloaded and read again; the quotation is verbatim and the context field is accurate to the document.
Notes.The '99 percent of the scholars of the world' figure is an unsupported estimate offered in conversation and should not be repeated as a finding. Mantey's letter to the Watch Tower Society, widely reproduced online and usually dated 11 July 1974, could not be traced to any archive, court record or scholarly publication in this research. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] One correction for precision: both the '99 percent' figure and the phrase 'diabolical deceivers' ARE traceable — to this document, which has been read. Martin puts 'diabolical deceivers' to Mantey as something he has been quoted as saying, and Mantey answers 'Yes.' What is untraceable is any primary publication by Mantey containing them. Say that precisely rather than saying they have no source at all.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-mantey-cri-dj265
1980 · Julius R. Mantey · Vantage Press, New York (ISBN 0533045355)
The book in which Julius R. Mantey set out his own published criticism of the New World Translation's rendering of John 1:1 and John 8:58, as distinct from the recorded conversation circulated by the Christian Research Institute.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Depth Explorations in the New Testament
Note sur la fiabilité.The book's existence, author, publisher, year and ISBN were confirmed on 19 September 2026 from Open Library and Google Books' catalogue record, and an Internet Archive item exists (depthexploration0000mant). The book is lending-restricted and was not opened; no quotation from it has been recorded. Vantage Press was a subsidy (author-financed) publisher, which is relevant to how the book should be weighed. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The Internet Archive and Open Library records were checked again and both give the title in the plural, 'Depth explorations in the New Testament', Vantage Press, 1980, ISBN 0533045355; Wikipedia's citation of it in the singular, 'Depth Exploration', is wrong. Still unopened, so 'unverified' stands.
Notes.If the site wishes to quote Mantey at all, this book — not an undated apologetics tape — is the citation to obtain and read first. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] A precise target for that reading: Wikipedia's article on the New World Translation attributes the two most-quoted Mantey phrases about John 1:1, 'a shocking mistranslation' and 'Obsolete and incorrect', to this book at pp. 136-137. So those phrases are not sourceless, as an earlier note here implied; they carry a page citation that nobody in this research has yet checked against the page.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-mantey-1980-depth-explorations
Deux références constamment répétées dans ce débat sont inexactes. Le compte rendu de Thomas Winter se trouve dans The Classical Journal, volume 69, numéro 4 (avril-mai 1974), pages 375-376, et non dans le volume 66, qui couvre 1970-71. Le compte rendu de Bruce Metzger dans The Bible Translator occupe les pages 150-152 du volume 15, numéro 3, et non 150-153 ; le compte rendu se termine, au-dessus de la signature de Metzger, à la page 152. Source: The Classical Journal, avril 1974Source: The Bible Translator, juillet 1964
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’erreur du volume 66 concernant Winter figure dans des publications de la Watch Tower et sur JW.org, qui ne cite le compte rendu que par le mois et l’année. L’erreur “pp. 150-153” concernant Metzger figure sur des sites critiques.
avril 1974 · pp.375-376 · Thomas Nelson Winter (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) · Classical Association of the Middle West and South
“This is no ordinary interlinear: the integrity of the text is preserved, and the English which appears below it is simply the basic meaning of the Greek word. Thus the interlinear feature of this book is no translation at all. A text with instant vocabulary more correctly describes it. … The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate. … The book has been very carefully compiled and printed. In sum, when a Witness comes to the door, the classicist, Greek student, or Bible student alike would do well to bring him in and place an order.”
A short, favourable review of the 1969 Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The review opens 'An original Greek text for two dollars is something of a miracle, and it should not surprise us that it took a world-wide group of Bible students to pull it off.' Winter sets a line of the Kingdom Interlinear beside a line of an ordinary Latin interlinear, says the latter's 'mixmastered Latin… is anathema to any classicist', and reports that he gave the Kingdom Interlinear to several second-year Greek students as an auxiliary text and that their Greek improved. His one worked example of accuracy is that where the King James and Revised Standard have 'wise men' for magoi, the Kingdom Interlinear has 'astrologers', 'a more correct and informative rendition'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Classical Journal, Review of New World Bible Translation Committee's The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — the whole printed review, not the repository abstract. The repository's PDF (cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=classicsfacpub) returns HTTP 403 to automated requests from this environment but opens through the Wayback Machine; it reproduces the printed review, headed 'APRIL-MAY, 1974' and signed 'THOMAS N. WINTER, University of Nebraska'. The quotations above are transcribed from it. The repository record gives the citation as The Classical Journal, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Apr.-May 1974), pp. 375-376, and carries the JSTOR SICI string 0009-8353(197404/05)69:4<375:TKITOT>2.0.CO;2-F, which independently encodes volume 69, issue 4, first page 375.
Provenance de la numérisation.The University of Nebraska-Lincoln repository's own PDF of the printed review, which reproduces the review in full, headed 'APRIL-MAY, 1974' and signed 'THOMAS N. WINTER, University of Nebraska'. The live viewcontent.cgi URL returns HTTP 403 to automated requests; the Wayback Machine's copy of the same PDF opens normally. Note that the repository's record page at /classicsfacpub/27 carries only a shortened abstract of the review, not the whole of it.
Notes.The citation repeated in Watch Tower publications and across the internet, 'The Classical Journal 66 (April-May 1974)', gives the wrong volume: volume 66 covers 1970-71. The author's own university, and the JSTOR SICI string on the same page, give volume 69, no. 4. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] An earlier version of this record said that the sentence Jehovah's Witnesses quote — 'The translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate' — did not appear in the text reproduced by Winter's university and was unconfirmed. That was wrong, and it was wrong because the repository's record page carries only a condensed abstract. The full PDF has the sentence, in this form: 'The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate.' JW.org's quotation of it is accurate, and the site must say so. What the site may fairly add is the context: Winter was assessing a Greek text with word-by-word glosses as a teaching aid for classicists, and his single worked example of accuracy is 'astrologers' for magoi.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-winter-1974-classical-journal
juillet 1964 · pp.150-152 (quoted passages at pp. 151 and 152) · Bruce M. Metzger · United Bible Societies (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/000608446401500311)
“On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged). … Frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent. (p. 151) … Some of the translations which are simply indefensible include the following. The introduction of the word 'Jehovah' into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading. (p. 152)”
A signed review of the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in the United Bible Societies' translation journal, running from the heading 'BOOK REVIEW' on p. 150 to the signature 'BRUCE M. METZGER' at the foot of p. 152. It is mixed, not uniformly hostile. Metzger notes the Westcott and Hort Greek text, records that 'one of the most notable features of the translation is the introduction of the name Jehovah 237 times into the main body of the text, as well as 72 times in the footnotes in the lower margin' (p. 151), and allows the translators 'a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment'. He then objects that rendering the same Greek word by the same English word 'has a specious show of faithfulness to the original, but the application of the principle with any degree of consistency tends to produce a certain woodenness' (p. 151); that 'and the Word was a god' at John 1:1, 'while entirely in accord with the Arian theology of the sect, is not justified despite a lengthy note which attempts to support it' (p. 152); and that 'in the interest of providing support for their Unitarianism, the translators have not hesitated to insert four times the word “other” (totally without warrant from the Greek) before the word “things” in Col. 1: 16 f.' (p. 152).
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Bible Translator, Book Review: New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — all three printed pages. journals.sagepub.com still returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and the live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404, but the Wayback Machine serves the United Bible Societies' own page images of the issue: a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg under /tbt/1964/03/. Those three images were downloaded and read, and the quotations above are transcribed from them. The review is signed 'BRUCE M. METZGER'. Crossref independently confirms The Bible Translator vol. 15 no. 3 (July 1964), pp. 150-152, by B. Metzger.
Provenance de la numérisation.Page images of the printed journal from the United Bible Societies' own Bible Translator archive at ubs-translations.org, preserved in the Wayback Machine. The review occupies the images a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg in /tbt/1964/03/, whose printed page numbers are 150, 151 and 152; the viewer's own index maps image a151.jpg to printed page 151, which is the page the secondary literature cites. The live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404.
Notes.This record previously said the text could not be opened and that nothing should be quoted from it. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] It has now been read, and that judgement is reversed. The much-circulated sentence about 'a plain piece of special pleading' is accurate word for word, and it is on p. 152. The citation 'pp. 150-153' that circulates online is wrong: the review ends on p. 152. Note two traps. First, the same three pages contain the favourable sentence that defenders of the translation quote, so a page that uses one half without the other is quoting selectively. Second, Wikipedia's rendering of the p. 151 sentence, 'Frequently an intelligent use of a critical information is apparent', has a stray 'a'; the printed text reads 'an intelligent use of critical information'.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La Tour de Garde du 1er décembre 2004 a bien dit à ses lecteurs que BeDuhn était « critique à l’égard de certains de ses choix de traduction », sans préciser en quoi consistait cette critique.
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Based on his analysis of nine major English translations, Jason David BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies, wrote: 'The NW [New World Translation] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.' Although the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation are the result of religious bias on the part of its translators, BeDuhn stated: 'Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers.'—Truth in Translation, pages 163, 165.”
The page sets out three reasons the New World Translation differs from other Bibles (reliability, faithfulness, literalness), explains the omission of the Apocrypha and of later manuscript additions, and then, under the heading 'Positive comments about the New World Translation from non-Witness scholars', gives nine favourable comments: Edgar J. Goodspeed (a letter dated 8 December 1950), Allen Wikgren (The Interpreter's Bible, vol. I, p. 99), Alexander Thomson (The Differentiator, April 1952, p. 52), Charles Francis Potter (The Faiths Men Live By, p. 300), Robert M. McCoy (Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963, p. 31), S. MacLean Gilmour (Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966, p. 26), Thomas N. Winter (The Classical Journal, April-May 1974, p. 376), Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein (a statement of 1989) and Jason David BeDuhn. A footnote states that the comments 'apply to editions of the English New World Translation prior to the 2013 revision'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Is the New World Translation Accurate?
Note sur la fiabilité.The whole page was fetched and read on 19 September 2026 and every quotation above was transcribed from it. The page is undated, so the access date is recorded as its date; its content may change. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The page was fetched and read again. The BeDuhn quotation above is verbatim. One correction: the page carries nine favourable comments, not eight — the earlier version of this record enumerated eight and left out Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, who appears between Winter and BeDuhn. The claim built on this record has been corrected to match.
Notes.The page quotes BeDuhn's favourable verdict (pp. 163, 165) and does not mention his appendix (pp. 169-181), in which he calls the use of 'Jehovah' in the New Testament an inaccuracy. Of the nine favourable comments, four are cited to journals or reference works (Wikgren, McCoy, Gilmour, Winter), one to a scholarly monograph (BeDuhn) and four to a private letter, a privately circulated magazine, a general-readership book and an undated personal statement (Goodspeed, Thomson, Potter, Kedar-Kopfstein). Of the nine, only the Winter and BeDuhn items have been checked against their originals in this research, and the Winter one checks out.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-jw-faq-accurate
2003 · pp.169, 171, 174, 175, 177 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“Having concluded that the NW is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available, I would be remiss if I did not mention one peculiarity of this translation that by most conventions of translation would be considered an inaccuracy, however little this inaccuracy changes the meaning of most of the verses where it appears. I am referring to the use of 'Jehovah' in the NW New Testament. … But the name never appears in any Greek manuscript of any book of the New Testament. So, to introduce the name 'Jehovah' into the New Testament, as the NW does two-hundred-thirty-seven times, is not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy: adherence to the original Greek text. (p. 169) … To suggest such a reading not supported by the manuscript evidence is called making a conjectural emendation. It is an emendation because you are repairing, 'mending,' a text you believe is defective. It is conjectural because it is a hypothesis… The editors of the NW are making a conjectural emendation when they replace kurios, which would be translated 'Lord,' with 'Jehovah.' (p. 171) … The inconsistency of the NW translators in not using 'Jehovah' in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Peter 2:3, and 1 Peter 3:15 shows that interpretation rather than a principle of translation is involved in deciding where to use 'Jehovah'. (p. 175) … [The zeal of the NW editors …] has carried them too far, and into a harmonizing practice of their own. … Their principle of 'emendation' does not seem to work. (p. 177)”
In the appendix that follows his favourable overall verdict, BeDuhn argues that putting 'Jehovah' into the New Testament, where no surviving Greek manuscript has it, is a 'conjectural emendation' (p. 171) — repairing a text one believes to be defective — rather than translation, and that the translators applied their own rule inconsistently. He lists five verses at which they used 'God' instead (Romans 11:2; 11:8; Galatians 1:15; Hebrews 9:20; 1 Peter 4:14), saying 'I cannot say why the NW editors abandoned their principle of conjectural emendation in these five cases; it makes no difference in the meaning of the text' (p. 174), and then three at which, by their own principles, 'Jehovah' should have appeared and did not: 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Peter 2:3 and 1 Peter 3:15 (pp. 174-175). Of the last two he writes that 'the NW translators have deviated from the principles by which they would normally use “Jehovah”, and they have done so quite obviously because of bias'. He nevertheless ends the appendix still defending the translators' motive.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Appendix, 'The Use of “Jehovah” in the NW New Testament'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. What was confirmed independently on that date, from two reproductions that do not depend on each other: the p. 169 sentence (tetragrammaton.org, which reproduces the opening of the appendix in full); the p. 171 definition of conjectural emendation (same); the p. 174 and p. 175 material about the eight verses (same); and the p. 175 sentence and both p. 177 fragments (Trevor Allin's critique, which quotes them with page attributions and is hostile to BeDuhn, so has no motive to soften him). BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect. Two fragments that appeared in the earlier version of this record have been removed because no reproduction anywhere attests them: a second p. 177 sentence, 'I personally do not agree with that practice, and think that identifications of “Lord” with “Jehovah” should be placed in footnotes', and a p. 170 phrase, 'denominationally preferred expressions for God'. Neither may be published unless the book is read.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. The quotations below are transcribed from two independent published reproductions: the long review at tetragrammaton.org, which quotes pp. 169 and 171-175 at length, and Trevor Allin's critique (src-nwt-allin-2026-review), which quotes pp. 175 and 177 with page attributions. The two agree word for word on the p. 175 sentence.
Notes.This is the half of BeDuhn's assessment that Watch Tower publications do not quote. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The opening clause matters and was missing before: BeDuhn introduces the criticism by restating his favourable verdict in the very same sentence — 'Having concluded that the NW is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available, I would be remiss…'. A page that quotes the 'inaccuracy' half without that clause is doing to BeDuhn what JW.org does to him in the other direction.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-jehovah-appendix
2003 · pp.163, 165 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland (ISBN 0761825568 / 076182555X)
“While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said that the NW emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared. Holding a close second to the NW in its accuracy, judging by the passages we have looked at, is the NAB. (p. 163) … The NW and NAB are not bias free, and they are not perfect translations. But they are remarkably good translations, better by far than the deeply flawed TEV, certainly better as a translation than the LB and AB, which are not really translations at all, consistently better than the heavily biased NIV … (p. 165)”
BeDuhn compares nine English New Testaments (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NAB, Amplified, Living Bible, Today's English Version and the New World Translation) across a set of disputed passages. The same summary paragraph continues: 'Both of these are translations produced by single denominations of Christianity… I have pondered why these two translations, of all those considered, turned out to be the least biased.' On p. 165 he also writes of 'bias in the NW, where in my opinion accuracy was impaired by the commitments of the translators', adding that 'the biases of the NW translators do not account for most of the differences of the NW from the other translations', which are due to 'the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Chapter 12, 'A Final Word'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. What was confirmed independently on that date: the p. 163 sentence, in full and with its opening hedge, is reproduced at tetragrammaton.org; the p. 165 sentence is attested down to 'certainly better as a translation than the LB and AB'; and the fragments 'remarkably good', 'better by far' and 'consistently better' are quoted from pp. 163, 165 by The Watchtower of 1 December 2004, which has been read. The tail 'consistently better than the heavily biased NIV' is attested only in part — 'consistently better' is in the Watchtower, 'heavily biased NIV' is not — so the trailing ellipsis must stay. BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. The quotations below are transcribed from two independent published reproductions of the passage: the long review at tetragrammaton.org, which quotes the summary paragraph in full, and — for the second half — the partial quotation in The Watchtower of 1 December 2004 and on JW.org.
Notes.This is the passage Jehovah's Witnesses quote. The organisation's 2004 Watchtower article says BeDuhn compared 'eight major translations'; the book compares nine (BeDuhn writes on p. 133 of 'the other eight translations we are comparing'). [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The earlier version of this record began the quotation at 'the most accurate of the translations compared', with the preceding words supplied in brackets. That dropped BeDuhn's own hedge, 'While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said that…', which is exactly the half JW.org also drops. The hedge has been restored and must be printed with the verdict.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-verdict
1 décembre 2004 · p.30 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.””
A one-page article in The Watchtower of 1 December 2004 reporting BeDuhn's book. It states that he 'examined and compared for accuracy eight major translations, including the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures', and quotes him further on 'the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, A “Remarkably Good” Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page (w04 12/1 p. 30). [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] Fetched and read again; the quotation is verbatim, and the page marker in the Watchtower Online Library HTML (data-no="30") confirms p. 30. The article's own citation gives the book's title as 'Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament', which is the correct title and the one now used in the BeDuhn records.
Notes.The article does say BeDuhn was 'critical of some of its translation choices' but does not say what the criticism was. It gives the number of translations compared as eight; BeDuhn compares nine.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-w04-remarkably-good
2003 · pp.124-125, 133 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“Ironically, some of these same scholars are quick to charge the NW translation with 'doctrinal bias' for translating the verse literally, free of KJV influence, following the most obvious sense of the Greek. It may very well be that the NW translators came to the task of translating John 1:1 with as much bias as the other translators did. It just so happens that their bias corresponds in this case to a more accurate translation of the Greek. (pp. 124-125) … Bias has shaped most of these translations much more than has accurate attention to the wording of the Bible. The NW translation of John 1:1 is superior to that of the other eight translations we are comparing. I do not think it is the best possible translation for a modern English reader; but at least it breaks with the KJV tradition followed by all the others, and it does so in the right direction by paying attention to how Greek grammar and syntax actually work. (p. 133)”
BeDuhn defends 'and the Word was a god' as a defensible rendering of the Greek, drawing on Philip Harner's 1973 study of qualitative predicate nouns, and argues that the customary rendering owes more to the King James tradition than to the grammar. The same p. 133 paragraph ends: 'All that we can ask is that a translation be an accurate starting point for exposition and interpretation. Only the NW achieves this, as provocative as it sounds to the modern reader.' This is the rendering Bruce Metzger called a 'frightful mistranslation' in 1953 and 'not justified' in 1964.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, Chapter 11, 'And the Word Was …'
Note sur la fiabilité.The book itself was never opened. The previous confidence label of 'verified' rested entirely on Google Books' in-volume snippet search, which no longer runs from this environment at all: books.google.com, books.google.co.uk, books.google.de, books.google.ca and www.googleapis.com/books/v1 all answer HTTP 429, and WebFetch is redirected to Google's 'sorry' interstitial. An auditor cannot reproduce the retrieval, and a snippet is in any case not the document. Downgraded to 'supported' on 19 September 2026. Both passages were confirmed independently on that date against reproductions that quote them in full with page attributions: pp. 124-125 at rfmcelroyiii.wordpress.com, p. 133 at tetragrammaton.org. BeDuhn's own sigla for the New World Translation is 'NW', not 'NWT': Allin quotes him with 'NW', the reproduction of pp. 124-125 has 'the NW translation', and JW.org expands it as 'The NW [New World Translation]'. The tetragrammaton.org reproduction silently prints 'NWT' throughout. Where the two differ, 'NW' is used here. Until the printed book is in hand, do not present these quotations as letter-perfect. One reproduction prints 'the other eight translation we are comparing'; the singular is evidently that site's typing slip and 'translations' is used above.
Provenance de la numérisation.Not opened. The pp. 124-125 passage is transcribed from the excerpt collection at rfmcelroyiii.wordpress.com and the p. 133 paragraph from the long review at tetragrammaton.org; the two are independent of each other.
Notes.BeDuhn's own preferred rendering is not the New World Translation's; he says on p. 133 that he does not think it is the best possible translation for a modern English reader. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The earlier version began the quotation with a bracketed supply, '[the NW rendering of] John 1:1 is superior…'. The bracket was unnecessary: the printed sentence is 'The NW translation of John 1:1 is superior to that of the other eight translations we are comparing', and it is preceded by 'Bias has shaped most of these translations much more than has accurate attention to the wording of the Bible', which is the sentence that gives the passage its force. Both have been restored. Note also that the page is pp. 124-125, not p. 125 alone.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-beduhn-2003-john-1-1
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Based on his analysis of nine major English translations, Jason David BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies, wrote: 'The NW [New World Translation] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.' Although the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation are the result of religious bias on the part of its translators, BeDuhn stated: 'Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers.'—Truth in Translation, pages 163, 165.”
The page sets out three reasons the New World Translation differs from other Bibles (reliability, faithfulness, literalness), explains the omission of the Apocrypha and of later manuscript additions, and then, under the heading 'Positive comments about the New World Translation from non-Witness scholars', gives nine favourable comments: Edgar J. Goodspeed (a letter dated 8 December 1950), Allen Wikgren (The Interpreter's Bible, vol. I, p. 99), Alexander Thomson (The Differentiator, April 1952, p. 52), Charles Francis Potter (The Faiths Men Live By, p. 300), Robert M. McCoy (Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963, p. 31), S. MacLean Gilmour (Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966, p. 26), Thomas N. Winter (The Classical Journal, April-May 1974, p. 376), Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein (a statement of 1989) and Jason David BeDuhn. A footnote states that the comments 'apply to editions of the English New World Translation prior to the 2013 revision'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Is the New World Translation Accurate?
Note sur la fiabilité.The whole page was fetched and read on 19 September 2026 and every quotation above was transcribed from it. The page is undated, so the access date is recorded as its date; its content may change. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The page was fetched and read again. The BeDuhn quotation above is verbatim. One correction: the page carries nine favourable comments, not eight — the earlier version of this record enumerated eight and left out Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, who appears between Winter and BeDuhn. The claim built on this record has been corrected to match.
Notes.The page quotes BeDuhn's favourable verdict (pp. 163, 165) and does not mention his appendix (pp. 169-181), in which he calls the use of 'Jehovah' in the New Testament an inaccuracy. Of the nine favourable comments, four are cited to journals or reference works (Wikgren, McCoy, Gilmour, Winter), one to a scholarly monograph (BeDuhn) and four to a private letter, a privately circulated magazine, a general-readership book and an undated personal statement (Goodspeed, Thomson, Potter, Kedar-Kopfstein). Of the nine, only the Winter and BeDuhn items have been checked against their originals in this research, and the Winter one checks out.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-jw-faq-accurate
JW.org rassemble neuf commentaires favorables sous le titre 'Positive comments about the New World Translation from non-Witness scholars' ['Commentaires positifs de biblistes non Témoins au sujet de la Traduction du monde nouveau']. Quatre renvoient à des revues ou à des ouvrages de référence (Allen Wikgren, Robert M. McCoy, S. MacLean Gilmour, Thomas N. Winter), un à une monographie universitaire (Jason BeDuhn), et quatre à une lettre privée de 1950, à une revue diffusée à titre privé, à un livre destiné au grand public et à une déclaration personnelle non datée (Edgar J. Goodspeed, Alexander Thomson, Charles Francis Potter, Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein). Une note ajoute que ces commentaires portent sur des éditions antérieures à la révision de 2013. Source: JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, 19 septembre 2026
Afficher les preuves (1 source)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Based on his analysis of nine major English translations, Jason David BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies, wrote: 'The NW [New World Translation] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.' Although the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation are the result of religious bias on the part of its translators, BeDuhn stated: 'Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers.'—Truth in Translation, pages 163, 165.”
The page sets out three reasons the New World Translation differs from other Bibles (reliability, faithfulness, literalness), explains the omission of the Apocrypha and of later manuscript additions, and then, under the heading 'Positive comments about the New World Translation from non-Witness scholars', gives nine favourable comments: Edgar J. Goodspeed (a letter dated 8 December 1950), Allen Wikgren (The Interpreter's Bible, vol. I, p. 99), Alexander Thomson (The Differentiator, April 1952, p. 52), Charles Francis Potter (The Faiths Men Live By, p. 300), Robert M. McCoy (Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963, p. 31), S. MacLean Gilmour (Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966, p. 26), Thomas N. Winter (The Classical Journal, April-May 1974, p. 376), Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein (a statement of 1989) and Jason David BeDuhn. A footnote states that the comments 'apply to editions of the English New World Translation prior to the 2013 revision'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Is the New World Translation Accurate?
Note sur la fiabilité.The whole page was fetched and read on 19 September 2026 and every quotation above was transcribed from it. The page is undated, so the access date is recorded as its date; its content may change. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] The page was fetched and read again. The BeDuhn quotation above is verbatim. One correction: the page carries nine favourable comments, not eight — the earlier version of this record enumerated eight and left out Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, who appears between Winter and BeDuhn. The claim built on this record has been corrected to match.
Notes.The page quotes BeDuhn's favourable verdict (pp. 163, 165) and does not mention his appendix (pp. 169-181), in which he calls the use of 'Jehovah' in the New Testament an inaccuracy. Of the nine favourable comments, four are cited to journals or reference works (Wikgren, McCoy, Gilmour, Winter), one to a scholarly monograph (BeDuhn) and four to a private letter, a privately circulated magazine, a general-readership book and an undated personal statement (Goodspeed, Thomson, Potter, Kedar-Kopfstein). Of the nine, only the Winter and BeDuhn items have been checked against their originals in this research, and the Winter one checks out.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-jw-faq-accurate
Explication de l’organisation · 1 mars 1991Vérifié
L’explication que donne l’organisation des critiques adressées à la traduction est qu’elle est attaquée en raison de son éditeur plutôt que de sa valeur savante : ‘the New World Translation is criticized because it is published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who outspokenly declare that many of Christendom’s doctrines are not found in the Bible.’ [‘la Traduction du monde nouveau est critiquée parce qu’elle est publiée par les Témoins de Jéhovah, qui déclarent ouvertement que beaucoup des doctrines de la chrétienté ne se trouvent pas dans la Bible.’] Source: The Watchtower, 1 mars 1991
Afficher les preuves (1 source)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 mars 1991 · pp.26-30 · pars. 14, 17, 20 (pp. 28-30) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“True, no early surviving Greek manuscript of the “New Testament” contains the personal name of God. But the name was included in the New World Translation for sound reasons, not merely on a whim.”
The article is the organisation’s fullest published answer to the charge that the New World Translation is falsified. It compares the criticism to sixteenth-century attacks on Luther’s Bible, defends the renderings at Luke 23:43 (“Truly I tell you today”), Matthew 26:26 (“This means my body”) and John 1:1 (“the Word was a god”), and answers the objection to the form “Jehovah” by saying that “scholars are by no means in agreement that the form ‘Yahweh’ represents the original pronunciation”. It offers this explanation of the criticism: “the New World Translation is criticized because it is published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who outspokenly declare that many of Christendom’s doctrines are not found in the Bible.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, The “New World Translation”—Scholarly and Honest
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue date was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library’s listing for The Watchtower of 1 March 1991, and page numbers were taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
Notes.This is the article the site should quote when stating the organisation’s case on the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures: it concedes the manuscript position and argues from inference.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-w-1991-0301-scholarly-honest
Ce qu’est cette traduction, selon l’organisation elle-même
Ce que l’organisation dit elle-même, dans ses propres termes, de la manière dont la traduction a été faite et des raisons qui l’ont motivée, afin que les éléments présentés plus haut puissent être mis en regard.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation présente le projet comme répondant à un besoin réel : les versions existantes étaient ‘made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects’ [‘faites par des ecclésiastiques et des missionnaires des sectes religieuses de la chrétienté’], dont les rendus étaient ‘influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited’ [‘influencés par les philosophies païennes et les traditions non scripturaires dont leurs systèmes religieux avaient hérité’].
Afficher les preuves (4 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
15 septembre 1950 · pp.312-320 · par. 24 (p. 320) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“It is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men. Therefore the men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire to the Society’s boards of directors to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death.”
This is the article that introduced the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures to readers. It records that on 3 September 1949 at 8 a.m. the Society’s president convened a joint meeting of the boards of directors of the Pennsylvania and New York corporations and “announced to these eight fellow directors the existence of a ‘New World Bible Translation Committee’ and that it had completed a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”; that the committee submitted its foreword on 9 February 1950; and that the translation was released on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 August 1950 at Yankee Stadium during the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly, to an audience drawn from 72 lands.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The quotation is from paragraph 24, which falls after the page marker for page 320 in the page markers embedded in the document (span class=“pageNum”); the 3 September 1949 board meeting is on page 315 and the 2 August 1950 release at Yankee Stadium on page 316 of the same article (re-checked against the page markers on 19 September 2026; Raymond Franz independently cites "The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, pages 315 and 316" for the same board-meeting account).
1993 · pp.603-615 · footnote b to par. 22 (p. 608) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This translation was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication, with the request that the names of the translators never be published. They wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word.”
The footnote is attached to the paragraph recording that Nathan H. Knorr first proposed a fresh translation in early October 1946, that work began on 2 December 1947, that “The complete text was carefully reviewed by the entire translation committee, all of them spirit-anointed Christians”, and that on 3 September 1949 Knorr told the boards of directors the committee had finished the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the footnote wording and the page marker for page 608 were confirmed from the document’s own page markers.
1993 · pp.608-610 · pars. 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation that embodied the benefits of the latest scholarship, one that was not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom, a literal translation that faithfully presented what is in the original writings and so could provide the basis for continued growth in knowledge of divine truth, a translation that would be clear and understandable to modern-day readers.”
The chapter gives the organisation’s account of why an existing translation would not do: most available versions “were made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects, and to varying degrees their translations were influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited from the past as well as by the bias of higher criticism”. It records that the committee completed its final reading of the fifth Hebrew Scriptures volume on 13 March 1960, “12 years, 3 months, and 11 days” after translation began; that the one-volume revised edition followed in 1961 and was distributed for one US dollar; that four further revisions were issued, the most recent in 1984 as a large-print edition with “125,000 marginal references, 11,400 enlightening footnotes, and a concordance”; and that the committee produced The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures in 1969, updated in 1985.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; all dates, figures and quoted wording confirmed from the text, with page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.4-8 · pars. 17, 19 (pp. 7-8) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On the weekend of October 5 and 6, 2013, an audience of 1,413,676 in 31 countries attended or were tied in to the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All were thrilled to hear a member of the Governing Body announce the release of the revised New World Translation in English.”
The article also quotes N. H. Knorr’s words when releasing the first volume on 2 August 1950: “More and more the need has been felt for a translation in modern speech, in harmony with revealed truth, and yet furnishing us the basis for gaining further truth by faithfully presenting the sense of the original writings; a translation just as understandable to modern readers as the original writings of Christ’s disciples were understandable to the simple, plain, common, lowly readers of their day.” It records that the six volumes appeared between 1950 and 1960, that a translation department was established at headquarters in 1989, and that Bible translation was made a priority in 2005.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), Jehovah, the God of Communication
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the date, attendance figure and Knorr quotation confirmed from the article text, with page numbers from the document’s page markers.
1993 · pp.608-610 · pars. 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation that embodied the benefits of the latest scholarship, one that was not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom, a literal translation that faithfully presented what is in the original writings and so could provide the basis for continued growth in knowledge of divine truth, a translation that would be clear and understandable to modern-day readers.”
The chapter gives the organisation’s account of why an existing translation would not do: most available versions “were made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects, and to varying degrees their translations were influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited from the past as well as by the bias of higher criticism”. It records that the committee completed its final reading of the fifth Hebrew Scriptures volume on 13 March 1960, “12 years, 3 months, and 11 days” after translation began; that the one-volume revised edition followed in 1961 and was distributed for one US dollar; that four further revisions were issued, the most recent in 1984 as a large-print edition with “125,000 marginal references, 11,400 enlightening footnotes, and a concordance”; and that the committee produced The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures in 1969, updated in 1985.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; all dates, figures and quoted wording confirmed from the text, with page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.4-8 · pars. 17, 19 (pp. 7-8) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On the weekend of October 5 and 6, 2013, an audience of 1,413,676 in 31 countries attended or were tied in to the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All were thrilled to hear a member of the Governing Body announce the release of the revised New World Translation in English.”
The article also quotes N. H. Knorr’s words when releasing the first volume on 2 August 1950: “More and more the need has been felt for a translation in modern speech, in harmony with revealed truth, and yet furnishing us the basis for gaining further truth by faithfully presenting the sense of the original writings; a translation just as understandable to modern readers as the original writings of Christ’s disciples were understandable to the simple, plain, common, lowly readers of their day.” It records that the six volumes appeared between 1950 and 1960, that a translation department was established at headquarters in 1989, and that Bible translation was made a priority in 2005.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), Jehovah, the God of Communication
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the date, attendance figure and Knorr quotation confirmed from the article text, with page numbers from the document’s page markers.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”
The article explains the revision term by term: “impaled” to “executed on a stake”, “lose conduct” to “brazen conduct”, “long-suffering” to “patience”, “loving-kindness” to “loyal love”, “seed” to “offspring” at Genesis 3:15, “kidneys” to “innermost thoughts” at Revelation 2:23, and “sons of Israel” to “Israelites”. On the text it says: “The original New World Translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text and the respected Greek text by Westcott and Hort,” and that the committee added words at 2 Samuel 13:21 from the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls, restored God’s name five times in First Samuel, and changed the order of ideas at Matthew 21:29-31, so that “some changes were based on the weight of manuscript evidence rather than on the strict adherence to a single master Greek text”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), The 2013 Revision of the New World Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and page markers confirmed from the document.
1993 · pp.608-610 · pars. 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation that embodied the benefits of the latest scholarship, one that was not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom, a literal translation that faithfully presented what is in the original writings and so could provide the basis for continued growth in knowledge of divine truth, a translation that would be clear and understandable to modern-day readers.”
The chapter gives the organisation’s account of why an existing translation would not do: most available versions “were made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects, and to varying degrees their translations were influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited from the past as well as by the bias of higher criticism”. It records that the committee completed its final reading of the fifth Hebrew Scriptures volume on 13 March 1960, “12 years, 3 months, and 11 days” after translation began; that the one-volume revised edition followed in 1961 and was distributed for one US dollar; that four further revisions were issued, the most recent in 1984 as a large-print edition with “125,000 marginal references, 11,400 enlightening footnotes, and a concordance”; and that the committee produced The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures in 1969, updated in 1985.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; all dates, figures and quoted wording confirmed from the text, with page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
2013 · Appendix A1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“A reliable translation must: Sanctify God’s name by restoring it to its rightful place in the Scriptures. . . . Accurately convey the original message that was inspired by God. . . . Translate expressions literally when the wording and structure of the target language allow for such renderings of the original-language text. . . . Communicate the correct sense of a word or a phrase when a literal rendering would distort or obscure the meaning. . . . Use natural, easy-to-understand language that encourages reading.”
The appendix sets out the translation philosophy the organisation says governed the New World Translation. It argues that a strict word-for-word rendering can mislead (giving “poor in spirit”, “to the spirit boiling” and the Hebrew word for “hand” as examples), that free paraphrase can distort, and that “doctrinal bias can easily color a translator’s work”. It also states that “Quite a number of Bible translators have taken the unjustifiable liberty of omitting God’s name, Jehovah, from modern translations even though that name is found in ancient Bible manuscripts,” and quotes the 1950 foreword: “We offer no paraphrase of the Scriptures. Our endeavor all through has been to give as literal a translation as possible, where the modern English idiom allows and where a literal rendition does not for any clumsiness hide the thought.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A1: Principles of Bible Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.The full appendix was fetched from JW.org and read in its entirety on 19 September 2026; the quoted wording was confirmed character by character against the page text. The page is undated; the year recorded is that of the revision whose appendix this is, as stated in Appendix A2 on the same site.
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In contrast, the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.”
The page gives three reasons for the translation — use of God’s name, accuracy and clarity — and introduces the anonymity point by observing that “one Bible translation lists the names of over 70 people who in some way contributed to its production. Yet, this same Bible omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether!” It adds that the translation “is distributed without charge”, and states that as of 1 May 2026 it is available in whole or in part in the languages then listed.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?
Note sur la fiabilité.Page fetched from JW.org and read in full on 19 September 2026; wording confirmed. The date recorded is the access date because the page is undated; the page itself states its language list is current "As of May 1, 2026". The heading on the page reads "Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?" and the browser title "Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible? | FAQ"; cite the heading.
Notes.This is the organisation’s current, public statement of why the committee is unnamed: the contrast it draws is between naming translators and naming God.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-faq-jw-bible
2013 · Appendix A1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“A reliable translation must: Sanctify God’s name by restoring it to its rightful place in the Scriptures. . . . Accurately convey the original message that was inspired by God. . . . Translate expressions literally when the wording and structure of the target language allow for such renderings of the original-language text. . . . Communicate the correct sense of a word or a phrase when a literal rendering would distort or obscure the meaning. . . . Use natural, easy-to-understand language that encourages reading.”
The appendix sets out the translation philosophy the organisation says governed the New World Translation. It argues that a strict word-for-word rendering can mislead (giving “poor in spirit”, “to the spirit boiling” and the Hebrew word for “hand” as examples), that free paraphrase can distort, and that “doctrinal bias can easily color a translator’s work”. It also states that “Quite a number of Bible translators have taken the unjustifiable liberty of omitting God’s name, Jehovah, from modern translations even though that name is found in ancient Bible manuscripts,” and quotes the 1950 foreword: “We offer no paraphrase of the Scriptures. Our endeavor all through has been to give as literal a translation as possible, where the modern English idiom allows and where a literal rendition does not for any clumsiness hide the thought.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A1: Principles of Bible Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.The full appendix was fetched from JW.org and read in its entirety on 19 September 2026; the quoted wording was confirmed character by character against the page text. The page is undated; the year recorded is that of the revision whose appendix this is, as stated in Appendix A2 on the same site.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.9-13 · pars. 2, 6, 7 (pp. 9-11) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2013 revision of the New World Translation includes the name 7,216 times, which is 6 more than the 1984 edition. Five of the additional instances are found at 1 Samuel 2:25; 6:3; 10:26; 23:14, 16.”
The article states the three principles the committee set in the 1940s — sanctify God’s name, translate literally where possible but convey the correct sense where a word-for-word rendering would distort, and use easy-to-understand language. It also records a change in the meaning assigned to the divine name: the 1984 edition said the name means He “causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises”, whereas Appendix A4 of the 2013 edition says “it is not limited to what he himself chooses to become. It also includes what he causes to happen with regard to his creation and the accomplishment of his purpose.” A footnote to the new meaning adds: “Some reference works present this understanding, though not all scholars agree.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), A Living Translation of God’s Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed from the Online Library listing for the study edition of 15 December 2015 and page numbers from the document’s embedded page markers.
1 mai 2008 · pp.18-22 · par. 17 (p. 21) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The translation committee judged that to render the best sense of these words according to the context was more important than to produce a strictly literal translation.”
The article classifies translations as interlinear, paraphrase or balanced, and places the New World Translation in the third category. It states that “the New World Translation uses nearly 16,000 English expressions to translate some 5,500 Biblical Greek terms, and it uses over 27,000 English expressions to translate about 8,500 Hebrew terms”, and warns that free translations “either insert their opinion of what the original text could mean or omit some of the information contained in the original text”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (public edition), How Can You Choose a Good Bible Translation?
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the issue was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library listing for The Watchtower (public edition) of 1 May 2008, and page numbers taken from the document’s page markers.
Explication de l’organisation · 1 janvier 1985Vérifié
Le Comité de traduction de la Bible du monde nouveau a déclaré dans son propre avant-propos qu’aucune traduction des Écritures grecques chrétiennes n’est inspirée et que ‘No uninspired translator or committee of translators can claim any direct command from the Most High God to engage in translating the divine Word into another language.’ [‘Aucun traducteur non inspiré, ni aucun comité de traducteurs, ne peut prétendre avoir reçu du Dieu Très-Haut l’ordre direct d’entreprendre la traduction de la Parole divine dans une autre langue.’] Source: The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), 1 janvier 1985
Afficher les preuves (1 source)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 janvier 1985 · pp.7-8 · pars. 2, 5 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“No translation of these sacred writings into another language, except by the original writers, is inspired. . . . No uninspired translator or committee of translators can claim any direct command from the Most High God to engage in translating the divine Word into another language.”
The foreword, signed “New World Bible Translation Committee, January 1, 1985, New York, N.Y.”, opens by saying that human copying introduced error, that “no two copies are exactly alike”, and that “from this fact arises the need for a fresh translation from time to time”. It states that earlier English versions “have fallen victim to the power of religious traditions in varying degrees” and that “The endeavor of the New World Bible Translation Committee has been to avoid this snare of religious traditionalism.” It adds: “Our primary desire has been to seek not the approval of men but that of God” and “those who provide a translation for the spiritual instruction of others come under a special responsibility as teachers before the Divine Judge.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), Foreword
Note sur la fiabilité.Foreword opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording, signature, date and page markers confirmed from the document. The two quoted sentences are on pages 7 and 8, which is the range recorded; the signature block quoted in the context note sits at the end of the foreword on page 12.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”
The article explains the revision term by term: “impaled” to “executed on a stake”, “lose conduct” to “brazen conduct”, “long-suffering” to “patience”, “loving-kindness” to “loyal love”, “seed” to “offspring” at Genesis 3:15, “kidneys” to “innermost thoughts” at Revelation 2:23, and “sons of Israel” to “Israelites”. On the text it says: “The original New World Translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text and the respected Greek text by Westcott and Hort,” and that the committee added words at 2 Samuel 13:21 from the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls, restored God’s name five times in First Samuel, and changed the order of ideas at Matthew 21:29-31, so that “some changes were based on the weight of manuscript evidence rather than on the strict adherence to a single master Greek text”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), The 2013 Revision of the New World Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and page markers confirmed from the document.
1 janvier 1985 · pp.7-8 · pars. 2, 5 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“No translation of these sacred writings into another language, except by the original writers, is inspired. . . . No uninspired translator or committee of translators can claim any direct command from the Most High God to engage in translating the divine Word into another language.”
The foreword, signed “New World Bible Translation Committee, January 1, 1985, New York, N.Y.”, opens by saying that human copying introduced error, that “no two copies are exactly alike”, and that “from this fact arises the need for a fresh translation from time to time”. It states that earlier English versions “have fallen victim to the power of religious traditions in varying degrees” and that “The endeavor of the New World Bible Translation Committee has been to avoid this snare of religious traditionalism.” It adds: “Our primary desire has been to seek not the approval of men but that of God” and “those who provide a translation for the spiritual instruction of others come under a special responsibility as teachers before the Divine Judge.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), Foreword
Note sur la fiabilité.Foreword opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording, signature, date and page markers confirmed from the document. The two quoted sentences are on pages 7 and 8, which is the range recorded; the signature block quoted in the context note sits at the end of the foreword on page 12.
1985 · pp.5-6 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The word-for-word interlinear translation and the New World Translation are arranged in parallel on the page, so that comparisons can be made between the two readings. Thus, the accuracy of any modern translation can be determined.”
The publishers’ preface states the book’s purpose: to open up “what the original koi·neʹ Greek basically or literally says” for readers who cannot read Greek. It explains that the left column carries the Westcott and Hort Greek text of 1881, the interlinear the word-for-word English of 1969, and the right column the New World Translation in its 1984 revision, and it stresses that the interlinear rendering was not produced by copying the modern translation across: “So in many cases the reading in the English word-for-word interlinear translation is not the same as that found in the right-hand column.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), By Way of Explanation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and the page marker for page 5 confirmed from the document.
Notes.The organisation itself offers the interlinear as the yardstick by which its own translation may be tested — an invitation the site can fairly take up.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-int-1985-explanation
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1993 · pp.608-610 · pars. 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation that embodied the benefits of the latest scholarship, one that was not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom, a literal translation that faithfully presented what is in the original writings and so could provide the basis for continued growth in knowledge of divine truth, a translation that would be clear and understandable to modern-day readers.”
The chapter gives the organisation’s account of why an existing translation would not do: most available versions “were made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects, and to varying degrees their translations were influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited from the past as well as by the bias of higher criticism”. It records that the committee completed its final reading of the fifth Hebrew Scriptures volume on 13 March 1960, “12 years, 3 months, and 11 days” after translation began; that the one-volume revised edition followed in 1961 and was distributed for one US dollar; that four further revisions were issued, the most recent in 1984 as a large-print edition with “125,000 marginal references, 11,400 enlightening footnotes, and a concordance”; and that the committee produced The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures in 1969, updated in 1985.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; all dates, figures and quoted wording confirmed from the text, with page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
La Société Watch Tower n’a jamais publié les noms des membres du Comité de traduction de la Bible du monde nouveau. En 1950, elle a déclaré que les traducteurs avaient demandé à rester anonymes et ‘specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death’ [‘ne veulent expressément pas que leurs noms soient publiés, ni de leur vivant ni après leur mort’] ; la demande est rappelée dans l’ouvrage historique de 1993, Les Témoins de Jéhovah, prédicateurs du Royaume de Dieu, et la position est encore exposée sur JW.org. Source: The Watchtower, 15 septembre 1950Source: Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, 1993Source: JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, 19 septembre 2026
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : The organisation’s reason is that the work ‘is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men’ and that the translators ‘wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word’. JW.org contrasts a translation that ‘lists the names of over 70 people’ yet ‘omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether’.
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
15 septembre 1950 · pp.312-320 · par. 24 (p. 320) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“It is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men. Therefore the men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire to the Society’s boards of directors to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death.”
This is the article that introduced the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures to readers. It records that on 3 September 1949 at 8 a.m. the Society’s president convened a joint meeting of the boards of directors of the Pennsylvania and New York corporations and “announced to these eight fellow directors the existence of a ‘New World Bible Translation Committee’ and that it had completed a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”; that the committee submitted its foreword on 9 February 1950; and that the translation was released on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 August 1950 at Yankee Stadium during the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly, to an audience drawn from 72 lands.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The quotation is from paragraph 24, which falls after the page marker for page 320 in the page markers embedded in the document (span class=“pageNum”); the 3 September 1949 board meeting is on page 315 and the 2 August 1950 release at Yankee Stadium on page 316 of the same article (re-checked against the page markers on 19 September 2026; Raymond Franz independently cites "The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, pages 315 and 316" for the same board-meeting account).
1993 · pp.603-615 · footnote b to par. 22 (p. 608) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This translation was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication, with the request that the names of the translators never be published. They wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word.”
The footnote is attached to the paragraph recording that Nathan H. Knorr first proposed a fresh translation in early October 1946, that work began on 2 December 1947, that “The complete text was carefully reviewed by the entire translation committee, all of them spirit-anointed Christians”, and that on 3 September 1949 Knorr told the boards of directors the committee had finished the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the footnote wording and the page marker for page 608 were confirmed from the document’s own page markers.
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In contrast, the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.”
The page gives three reasons for the translation — use of God’s name, accuracy and clarity — and introduces the anonymity point by observing that “one Bible translation lists the names of over 70 people who in some way contributed to its production. Yet, this same Bible omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether!” It adds that the translation “is distributed without charge”, and states that as of 1 May 2026 it is available in whole or in part in the languages then listed.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?
Note sur la fiabilité.Page fetched from JW.org and read in full on 19 September 2026; wording confirmed. The date recorded is the access date because the page is undated; the page itself states its language list is current "As of May 1, 2026". The heading on the page reads "Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?" and the browser title "Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible? | FAQ"; cite the heading.
Notes.This is the organisation’s current, public statement of why the committee is unnamed: the contrast it draws is between naming translators and naming God.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-faq-jw-bible
Explication de l’organisation · 15 octobre 1999Vérifié
La réponse publiée par l’organisation à l’accusation selon laquelle les traducteurs n’étaient pas qualifiés est qu’ils ont demandé à rester anonymes afin que la traduction 'exalt the name of the living, true God' ['exalte le nom du Dieu vivant et vrai'], et qu’une traduction doit être jugée sur ses propres caractéristiques plutôt que sur les noms de ses traducteurs. Source: The Watchtower, 15 octobre 1999Source: The Bible Translator, juillet 1964
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : C’est l’explication donnée par l’organisation elle-même dans La Tour de Garde du 15 octobre 1999, pages 28-31, qui cite La Tour de Garde du 15 septembre 1950 et le spécialiste de la traduction Alan S. Duthie.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
15 octobre 1999 · pp.28-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Just who translated this remarkable Bible? The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, said: “The men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire . . . to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death. The purpose of the translation is to exalt the name of the living, true God.” Some critics charged that the work should be summarily dismissed as the product of amateurs, but not all took such an unreasonable stance.”
The article marks the hundred-millionth copy of the translation. It acknowledges that 'upon its release, this translation was subjected to severe criticism', defends the anonymity of the translators by quoting Alan S. Duthie ('If we know who the translators or the publishers of a particular Bible translation are, does it help us to decide whether that translation is good or bad? Not directly. … There is no substitute for examining the characteristics of each translation itself'), and cites the Andover Newton Quarterly of January 1963 for the view that the translation shows 'the presence in the movement of scholars qualified to deal intelligently with the many problems of Biblical translation'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, A Milestone for Lovers of God’s Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quotations were transcribed from the page (w99 10/15 pp. 28-31). [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] Fetched and read again; the quotation is verbatim and the page markers in the HTML (data-no="28" through "31") confirm pp. 28-31. The Duthie quotation in the context field is also verbatim.
Notes.This is the organisation's own statement of why the translators are not named, and its own acknowledgement of the criticism. It is the best single source for the organisation's answer to the 'amateur translators' charge.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-w99-milestone
juillet 1964 · pp.150-152 (quoted passages at pp. 151 and 152) · Bruce M. Metzger · United Bible Societies (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/000608446401500311)
“On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged). … Frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent. (p. 151) … Some of the translations which are simply indefensible include the following. The introduction of the word 'Jehovah' into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading. (p. 152)”
A signed review of the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in the United Bible Societies' translation journal, running from the heading 'BOOK REVIEW' on p. 150 to the signature 'BRUCE M. METZGER' at the foot of p. 152. It is mixed, not uniformly hostile. Metzger notes the Westcott and Hort Greek text, records that 'one of the most notable features of the translation is the introduction of the name Jehovah 237 times into the main body of the text, as well as 72 times in the footnotes in the lower margin' (p. 151), and allows the translators 'a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment'. He then objects that rendering the same Greek word by the same English word 'has a specious show of faithfulness to the original, but the application of the principle with any degree of consistency tends to produce a certain woodenness' (p. 151); that 'and the Word was a god' at John 1:1, 'while entirely in accord with the Arian theology of the sect, is not justified despite a lengthy note which attempts to support it' (p. 152); and that 'in the interest of providing support for their Unitarianism, the translators have not hesitated to insert four times the word “other” (totally without warrant from the Greek) before the word “things” in Col. 1: 16 f.' (p. 152).
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Bible Translator, Book Review: New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026 — all three printed pages. journals.sagepub.com still returns HTTP 403 to automated requests and the live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404, but the Wayback Machine serves the United Bible Societies' own page images of the issue: a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg under /tbt/1964/03/. Those three images were downloaded and read, and the quotations above are transcribed from them. The review is signed 'BRUCE M. METZGER'. Crossref independently confirms The Bible Translator vol. 15 no. 3 (July 1964), pp. 150-152, by B. Metzger.
Provenance de la numérisation.Page images of the printed journal from the United Bible Societies' own Bible Translator archive at ubs-translations.org, preserved in the Wayback Machine. The review occupies the images a150.jpg, a151.jpg and a152.jpg in /tbt/1964/03/, whose printed page numbers are 150, 151 and 152; the viewer's own index maps image a151.jpg to printed page 151, which is the page the secondary literature cites. The live ubs-translations.org page now returns HTTP 404.
Notes.This record previously said the text could not be opened and that nothing should be quoted from it. [Independent audit, 19 September 2026] It has now been read, and that judgement is reversed. The much-circulated sentence about 'a plain piece of special pleading' is accurate word for word, and it is on p. 152. The citation 'pp. 150-153' that circulates online is wrong: the review ends on p. 152. Note two traps. First, the same three pages contain the favourable sentence that defenders of the translation quote, so a page that uses one half without the other is quoting selectively. Second, Wikipedia's rendering of the p. 151 sentence, 'Frequently an intelligent use of a critical information is apparent', has a stray 'a'; the printed text reads 'an intelligent use of critical information'.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwt-metzger-1964-bible-translator
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation considère l’identité des traducteurs comme une affaire relevant du comité et non du public : sa position publiée, inchangée depuis 1950, est que les traducteurs ont demandé que leurs noms ne soient jamais publiés.
Afficher les preuves (5 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In contrast, the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.”
The page gives three reasons for the translation — use of God’s name, accuracy and clarity — and introduces the anonymity point by observing that “one Bible translation lists the names of over 70 people who in some way contributed to its production. Yet, this same Bible omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether!” It adds that the translation “is distributed without charge”, and states that as of 1 May 2026 it is available in whole or in part in the languages then listed.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?
Note sur la fiabilité.Page fetched from JW.org and read in full on 19 September 2026; wording confirmed. The date recorded is the access date because the page is undated; the page itself states its language list is current "As of May 1, 2026". The heading on the page reads "Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?" and the browser title "Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible? | FAQ"; cite the heading.
Notes.This is the organisation’s current, public statement of why the committee is unnamed: the contrast it draws is between naming translators and naming God.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-faq-jw-bible
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Reliability. The New World Translation is based on up-to-date scholarly research and the most reliable ancient manuscripts. . . . Faithfulness. The New World Translation strives to convey faithfully the original message that was inspired by God. . . . Literalness. Unlike paraphrased translations, the New World Translation renders words literally as long as doing so does not result in awkward wording or hide the thought of the original writings.”
The page answers criticism of the translation under the headings reliability, faithfulness, literalness, missing books, missing verses and different wording, and then lists favourable comments from Edgar J. Goodspeed (letter of 8 December 1950), Allen Wikgren (The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. I, p. 99), Alexander Thomson (The Differentiator, April 1952, p. 52), Charles Francis Potter (The Faiths Men Live By, p. 300), Robert M. McCoy (Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963, p. 31), S. MacLean Gilmour (Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966, p. 26), Thomas N. Winter (The Classical Journal, April-May 1974, p. 376), Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein (1989) and Jason David BeDuhn (Truth in Translation, pp. 163, 165). Footnote a, whose marker is attached to the article’s opening sentence about people who have “commented on or questioned the accuracy of the New World Translation” — that is, above the endorsement list rather than beside it — reads: “Comments apply to editions of the English New World Translation prior to the 2013 revision.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Is the New World Translation Accurate?
Note sur la fiabilité.Page fetched from JW.org and read in full on 19 September 2026; the quotations, the scholar list and the footnote were confirmed from the page text. The date recorded is the access date because the page carries no publication date and may change. We have NOT opened the underlying books and journals, so the scholars’ wording is recorded here only as JW.org reproduces it.
1993 · pp.609-611 · pars. 58, 62, 67 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate.”
The chapter reproduces favourable notices of the translation in three separate boxes — "A Fresh Translation" (p. 609), "A Text With Instant Vocabulary" (p. 610) and "The Opinion of a Hebrew Scholar" (p. 611) — including Alexander Thomson in The Differentiator (June 1954, p. 131), Thomas N. Winter in The Classical Journal (April-May 1974, pp. 375-6, quoted here) and Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel (1989), who is quoted as saying he has “never discovered in the ‘New World Translation’ any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the quoted reviews were confirmed as they appear in the chapter. The underlying journals were NOT opened, so this record establishes only what the organisation quotes, not the full context of each review.
15 septembre 1950 · pp.312-320 · par. 24 (p. 320) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“It is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men. Therefore the men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire to the Society’s boards of directors to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death.”
This is the article that introduced the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures to readers. It records that on 3 September 1949 at 8 a.m. the Society’s president convened a joint meeting of the boards of directors of the Pennsylvania and New York corporations and “announced to these eight fellow directors the existence of a ‘New World Bible Translation Committee’ and that it had completed a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”; that the committee submitted its foreword on 9 February 1950; and that the translation was released on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 August 1950 at Yankee Stadium during the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly, to an audience drawn from 72 lands.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The quotation is from paragraph 24, which falls after the page marker for page 320 in the page markers embedded in the document (span class=“pageNum”); the 3 September 1949 board meeting is on page 315 and the 2 August 1950 release at Yankee Stadium on page 316 of the same article (re-checked against the page markers on 19 September 2026; Raymond Franz independently cites "The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, pages 315 and 316" for the same board-meeting account).
1993 · pp.603-615 · footnote b to par. 22 (p. 608) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This translation was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication, with the request that the names of the translators never be published. They wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word.”
The footnote is attached to the paragraph recording that Nathan H. Knorr first proposed a fresh translation in early October 1946, that work began on 2 December 1947, that “The complete text was carefully reviewed by the entire translation committee, all of them spirit-anointed Christians”, and that on 3 September 1949 Knorr told the boards of directors the committee had finished the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the footnote wording and the page marker for page 608 were confirmed from the document’s own page markers.
Les noms couramment avancés en ligne pour le comité de traduction proviennent d’un livre de souvenirs de Raymond Franz, ancien membre du Collège central, qui a écrit que les autres membres étaient Nathan Knorr, Albert Schroeder et George Gangas, et que son oncle Frederick W. Franz « était le seul à avoir une connaissance suffisante des langues bibliques pour entreprendre une traduction de ce genre ». L’organisation n’a jamais confirmé ni démenti aucun nom. Source: Crisis of Conscience (4th edition), 2004 (unverified)Source: JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, 19 septembre 2026
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation ne se prononce pas sur la composition du comité ; sa position publiée est simplement que « le comité qui a produit la traduction reste anonyme ».
2004 · p.56 · Raymond Franz · Commentary Press, Atlanta
“The New World Translation bears no translator’s name and is presented as the anonymous work of the “New World Translation Committee.” Other members of that committee were Nathan Knorr, Albert Schroeder and George Gangas. Fred Franz, however, was the only one with sufficient knowledge of the Bible languages to attempt translation of this kind. He had studied Greek for two years at the University of Cincinnati but was only self-taught in Hebrew.”
Raymond Franz was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses from 1971 to 1980 and a nephew of Frederick W. Franz. The footnote is attached to his account of how doctrinal material was approved in the Knorr presidency.
No online copy located.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Crisis of Conscience (4th edition), Chapter 3, “Governing Body”, footnote 16
Note sur la fiabilité.The PDF was downloaded and converted to text on 19 September 2026 and the footnote read in full; the footnote stands at the foot of the page whose running head reads “56 CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE”, so it is on page 56; “Governing Body 57” is the running head of the following page. The book’s own contents page puts chapter 3, “Governing Body”, at pages 44-79. This establishes what the author wrote, not that the names are correct. The organisation has never published the membership of the committee, and no independent confirmation exists. Lists circulating online that add Milton Henschel do not derive from this footnote, and we did not locate their source.
Provenance de la numérisation.PDF of the fourth edition hosted by friendsofraymondfranz.com, a site run in the author’s memory. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.Use only as a discovery-level source, and only to say where the names in circulation come from. Do not state the membership of the committee as fact.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-rfranz-2004-cc-committee
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In contrast, the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.”
The page gives three reasons for the translation — use of God’s name, accuracy and clarity — and introduces the anonymity point by observing that “one Bible translation lists the names of over 70 people who in some way contributed to its production. Yet, this same Bible omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether!” It adds that the translation “is distributed without charge”, and states that as of 1 May 2026 it is available in whole or in part in the languages then listed.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?
Note sur la fiabilité.Page fetched from JW.org and read in full on 19 September 2026; wording confirmed. The date recorded is the access date because the page is undated; the page itself states its language list is current "As of May 1, 2026". The heading on the page reads "Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?" and the browser title "Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible? | FAQ"; cite the heading.
Notes.This is the organisation’s current, public statement of why the committee is unnamed: the contrast it draws is between naming translators and naming God.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-faq-jw-bible
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation présente cela comme le fait que le Collège central donne la priorité à la traduction de la Bible afin que le plus grand nombre possible de personnes disposent d’« une Bible qui honore le nom de Dieu ».
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
15 décembre 2015 · p.12 · pars. 10-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“So in September 2007, the Governing Body gave approval to revise the English text. Thousands of questions from Bible translators were reviewed during the revision process.”
The article explains that questions from translators working into other languages exposed problems in the English text: “approval was given” to render “Sheol” and “Hades” as “the Grave”, and “approval was given” to render neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ by sense rather than always as “soul”, because the older rendering “could give the impression that the ‘soul’ is an immaterial part of man”. It also states that the Governing Body “has given priority” to Bible translation because of the trend to omit the divine name.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.4-8 · pars. 17, 19 (pp. 7-8) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On the weekend of October 5 and 6, 2013, an audience of 1,413,676 in 31 countries attended or were tied in to the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All were thrilled to hear a member of the Governing Body announce the release of the revised New World Translation in English.”
The article also quotes N. H. Knorr’s words when releasing the first volume on 2 August 1950: “More and more the need has been felt for a translation in modern speech, in harmony with revealed truth, and yet furnishing us the basis for gaining further truth by faithfully presenting the sense of the original writings; a translation just as understandable to modern readers as the original writings of Christ’s disciples were understandable to the simple, plain, common, lowly readers of their day.” It records that the six volumes appeared between 1950 and 1960, that a translation department was established at headquarters in 1989, and that Bible translation was made a priority in 2005.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), Jehovah, the God of Communication
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the date, attendance figure and Knorr quotation confirmed from the article text, with page numbers from the document’s page markers.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.9-13 · pars. 2, 6, 7 (pp. 9-11) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2013 revision of the New World Translation includes the name 7,216 times, which is 6 more than the 1984 edition. Five of the additional instances are found at 1 Samuel 2:25; 6:3; 10:26; 23:14, 16.”
The article states the three principles the committee set in the 1940s — sanctify God’s name, translate literally where possible but convey the correct sense where a word-for-word rendering would distort, and use easy-to-understand language. It also records a change in the meaning assigned to the divine name: the 1984 edition said the name means He “causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises”, whereas Appendix A4 of the 2013 edition says “it is not limited to what he himself chooses to become. It also includes what he causes to happen with regard to his creation and the accomplishment of his purpose.” A footnote to the new meaning adds: “Some reference works present this understanding, though not all scholars agree.”
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), A Living Translation of God’s Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed from the Online Library listing for the study edition of 15 December 2015 and page numbers from the document’s embedded page markers.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”
The article explains the revision term by term: “impaled” to “executed on a stake”, “lose conduct” to “brazen conduct”, “long-suffering” to “patience”, “loving-kindness” to “loyal love”, “seed” to “offspring” at Genesis 3:15, “kidneys” to “innermost thoughts” at Revelation 2:23, and “sons of Israel” to “Israelites”. On the text it says: “The original New World Translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text and the respected Greek text by Westcott and Hort,” and that the committee added words at 2 Samuel 13:21 from the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls, restored God’s name five times in First Samuel, and changed the order of ideas at Matthew 21:29-31, so that “some changes were based on the weight of manuscript evidence rather than on the strict adherence to a single master Greek text”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), The 2013 Revision of the New World Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and page markers confirmed from the document.
2013 · Appendix A2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“All adjustments in the Bible text were made prayerfully, carefully, and with deep respect for the fine work of the original New World Bible Translation Committee.”
The appendix lists the changes made in the 2013 revision: “long-suffering” to “patience”, “harlot” to “prostitute”, “fornication” to “sexual immorality”, “time indefinite” to “forever” and similar terms, “seed” to “offspring”, and “impale” to “executed on a stake” or “nailed to the stake” because Jesus “was not impaled with the torture stake”. It states that “Sheol” and “Hades” were “replaced with what was meant by the Bible writers, ‘the Grave’”, that neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ are no longer rendered uniformly as “soul”, and that the small-capital indicators for second-person plural were dropped, adding that “readers may consult earlier editions of this translation for this information”.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation dit que les rendus antérieurs avaient été conservés dans les éditions précédentes afin que les lecteurs puissent voir comment les rédacteurs de la Bible employaient les mots originaux, et qu’ils ont été modifiés parce qu’un tel usage « n’est pas courant en anglais » et parce que, dans d’autres langues, le mot rendu par « âme » « pourrait donner l’impression que l’“âme” est une partie immatérielle de l’homme » ; au sujet de “impale”, elle dit que le mot employé auparavant risquait de « donner une fausse impression de la manière dont Jésus a été exécuté ».
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · Appendix A2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“All adjustments in the Bible text were made prayerfully, carefully, and with deep respect for the fine work of the original New World Bible Translation Committee.”
The appendix lists the changes made in the 2013 revision: “long-suffering” to “patience”, “harlot” to “prostitute”, “fornication” to “sexual immorality”, “time indefinite” to “forever” and similar terms, “seed” to “offspring”, and “impale” to “executed on a stake” or “nailed to the stake” because Jesus “was not impaled with the torture stake”. It states that “Sheol” and “Hades” were “replaced with what was meant by the Bible writers, ‘the Grave’”, that neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ are no longer rendered uniformly as “soul”, and that the small-capital indicators for second-person plural were dropped, adding that “readers may consult earlier editions of this translation for this information”.
15 décembre 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”
The article explains the revision term by term: “impaled” to “executed on a stake”, “lose conduct” to “brazen conduct”, “long-suffering” to “patience”, “loving-kindness” to “loyal love”, “seed” to “offspring” at Genesis 3:15, “kidneys” to “innermost thoughts” at Revelation 2:23, and “sons of Israel” to “Israelites”. On the text it says: “The original New World Translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text and the respected Greek text by Westcott and Hort,” and that the committee added words at 2 Samuel 13:21 from the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls, restored God’s name five times in First Samuel, and changed the order of ideas at Matthew 21:29-31, so that “some changes were based on the weight of manuscript evidence rather than on the strict adherence to a single master Greek text”.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower (study edition), The 2013 Revision of the New World Translation
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and page markers confirmed from the document.
15 décembre 2015 · p.12 · pars. 10-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“So in September 2007, the Governing Body gave approval to revise the English text. Thousands of questions from Bible translators were reviewed during the revision process.”
The article explains that questions from translators working into other languages exposed problems in the English text: “approval was given” to render “Sheol” and “Hades” as “the Grave”, and “approval was given” to render neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ by sense rather than always as “soul”, because the older rendering “could give the impression that the ‘soul’ is an immaterial part of man”. It also states that the Governing Body “has given priority” to Bible translation because of the trend to omit the divine name.
En 1954, trois hauts responsables de la Watch Tower ont déposé sous serment dans une affaire judiciaire écossaise. L’affaire, elle, figure aux archives publiques. Le passage du compte rendu d’audience le plus souvent cité en ligne, lui, n’y figure pas : la seule copie que nous ayons pu ouvrir est un scan sans provenance établie dont la reconnaissance optique de caractères est médiocre ; nous ne publions donc pas du tout ce passage, et les points ci-dessous reposent sur des documents que nous avons pu ouvrir. Une copie provenant des National Records of Scotland trancherait la question.
Walsh v. The Lord Advocate était une action en déclaration (declarator) devant la Court of Session à Édimbourg, visant à faire déclarer que Douglas Walsh était un ‘regular minister’ [‘ministre régulier’] dispensé du service national. Lord Strachan a entendu les preuves à partir du 23 novembre 1954 et a rendu son jugement le 7 janvier 1955, estimant que les Témoins de Jéhovah constituent une confession religieuse mais que Walsh n’était pas un ‘regular minister’ [‘ministre régulier’]. La Second Division, puis la Chambre des lords, ont rejeté l’appel, le jugement étant rendu le 19 juillet 1956. Source: The Watchtower, 1 juin 1955Source: The Weekly Law Reports, 19 juillet 1956
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La Tour de Garde du 1er juin 1955 a salué la conclusion selon laquelle les Témoins sont une confession religieuse et a cité la déclaration de Lord Strachan selon laquelle le personnel du siège ‘is sincerely and genuinely engaged upon the task of administering a body which they regard as religious’ [‘se consacre sincèrement et véritablement à la tâche d’administrer un corps qu’il considère comme religieux’], tout en contestant la décision relative au ministère.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 juin 1955 · pp.329-332 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“An action for declarator was brought in Scotland that asked the Court of Session to declare that Douglas Walsh was a “regular minister” because of his appointment as a pioneer and also because of his appointment as a congregation servant. The case became known as Walsh v. The Lord Advocate.”
This is the organisation’s own contemporary account of the case. It records that a preliminary hearing was held in Edinburgh in January 1954, that Lord Strachan ordered the case to proof, that “the proof was set down for November 23, 1954”, and that “H. C. Covington, a United States barrister and the Watch Tower Society’s general counsel” together with “F. W. Franz, vice-president of the Society” and “Grant Suiter, the Society’s secretary and treasurer” flew from New York to give evidence, Franz being “the first to go into the witness box”. It records that “The whole of the evidence had taken seven days to give”, that judgment was given on 7 January 1955, that Lord Strachan held Jehovah’s Witnesses to be a religious denomination but Walsh not to be a “regular minister”, and that the press “devoted more than a thousand column-inches to the case”, The Scotsman reporting fully each day.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, Jehovah’s Witnesses—A Religion Without Ministers?
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library listing for The Watchtower of 1 June 1955, and page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
Notes.The article states that the appeal would next go to “the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland”. That is Scotland’s supreme criminal court; a civil action for declarator would go to the Inner House of the Court of Session, and the House of Lords report records that the appeal was in fact heard by the Second Division before reaching the House of Lords.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-w-1955-0601-walsh
19 juillet 1956 · pp.[1956] 1 W.L.R. 1002 · Lord Morton of Henryton, Lord Goddard, Lord Macdermott, Lord Keith of Avonholm, Lord Somervell of Harrow · Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales
“The appellant was born on November 1, 1934. He holds the offices of “pioneer publisher” and “congregation servant” in the body now known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
The report records that the Ministry of Labour and National Service wrote to Walsh on 10 January 1953 that “a member of the Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot be regarded as coming within the definition of a regular minister of a religious denomination for the purposes of exemption from liability under paragraph 2 of Schedule I of the National Service Act, 1948”; that the Second Division of the Court of Session dismissed his appeal; that the House of Lords heard the case on 11, 12 and 13 June 1956 and gave judgment on 19 July 1956; and that the appeal was dismissed.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Weekly Law Reports, Walsh v. Lord Advocate [1956] 1 W.L.R. 1002 (House of Lords)
Note sur la fiabilité.The full text of the report was opened on 19 September 2026 at uniset.ca, an academic site that reproduces law reports; the case name, citation, panel, hearing dates, the Ministry letter and the disposal were read there. The official Weekly Law Reports volume itself was not consulted, and the case does not appear on the free UK case-law services, so this is recorded as supported rather than verified.
Notes.This is the public-record anchor for the Walsh litigation. The report names the respondent only as “the Lord Advocate, representing the Minister of Labour and National Service”, and names Lord Advocate Milligan as leading counsel for the respondent at the 1956 hearing; it nowhere names Clyde. The style “Douglas Walsh v. The Right Honourable James Latham Clyde, M.P., P.C.” appears on the cover sheet of the unprovenanced 1954 typescript (src-nwto-walsh-1954-transcript) and in no source we have opened, so the site must attribute it rather than assert it. The case is sometimes wrongly described as involving the Lord Provost of Glasgow; nothing in the report supports that. The report also records that the office called “company servant” in the summons “is now known as ‘congregation servant’”.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-walsh-1956-hl
Trois hauts responsables de la Watch Tower ont pris l’avion depuis New York pour témoigner à l’audience : Frederick W. Franz, vice-président ; Hayden C. Covington, avocat général de la Société ; et Grant Suiter, secrétaire et trésorier. Franz a déposé le premier, et l’ensemble des dépositions a duré sept jours. Source: The Watchtower, 1 juin 1955
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation a décrit leur présence comme montrant ‘in a very practical way that it stands ready to fight for the lawful rights of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the world’ [‘de façon très concrète qu’elle est prête à se battre pour les droits légaux des témoins de Jéhovah dans le monde entier’].
Afficher les preuves (1 source)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 juin 1955 · pp.329-332 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“An action for declarator was brought in Scotland that asked the Court of Session to declare that Douglas Walsh was a “regular minister” because of his appointment as a pioneer and also because of his appointment as a congregation servant. The case became known as Walsh v. The Lord Advocate.”
This is the organisation’s own contemporary account of the case. It records that a preliminary hearing was held in Edinburgh in January 1954, that Lord Strachan ordered the case to proof, that “the proof was set down for November 23, 1954”, and that “H. C. Covington, a United States barrister and the Watch Tower Society’s general counsel” together with “F. W. Franz, vice-president of the Society” and “Grant Suiter, the Society’s secretary and treasurer” flew from New York to give evidence, Franz being “the first to go into the witness box”. It records that “The whole of the evidence had taken seven days to give”, that judgment was given on 7 January 1955, that Lord Strachan held Jehovah’s Witnesses to be a religious denomination but Walsh not to be a “regular minister”, and that the press “devoted more than a thousand column-inches to the case”, The Scotsman reporting fully each day.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, Jehovah’s Witnesses—A Religion Without Ministers?
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library listing for The Watchtower of 1 June 1955, and page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
Notes.The article states that the appeal would next go to “the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland”. That is Scotland’s supreme criminal court; a civil action for declarator would go to the Inner House of the Court of Session, and the House of Lords report records that the appeal was in fact heard by the Second Division before reaching the House of Lords.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-w-1955-0601-walsh
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Cela correspond à la position publiée par l’organisation en 1950 et en 1993, selon laquelle les traducteurs ont demandé que leurs noms ne soient jamais publiés.
24 novembre 1954 · pp.102-103 (also pp. 87-88, 100-101 of the same transcript)
“Q. You, yourself, read and speak Hebrew, do you? A. I do not speak Hebrew. Q. You do not? A. No. Q. Can you, yourself, translate that into Hebrew? A. Which? Q. That fourth verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis? A. You mean here? Q. Yes. A. No. I won’t attempt to do that.”
The exchange follows counsel for the defender directing the witness to the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures at Genesis 2:4. Elsewhere in the same cross-examination the witness is recorded as saying that when the translation was donated “the Translation Committee made it known that they did not wish their names to be disclosed . . . that the names would not be revealed now or after death”, that whether the translators are all Jehovah’s Witnesses “is part and parcel of the agreement that their names shall not be revealed”, and that doctrinal advances are not voted on by the board of directors: “They go through the editorial committee, and I give my O.K. after Scriptural examination. Then I pass them on to President Knorr, and President Knorr has the final O.K.”
No online copy located.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Court of Session, Edinburgh — Pursuer’s Proof, Douglas Walsh v. The Right Honourable James Latham Clyde, M.P., P.C. — evidence of Frederick William Franz
Note sur la fiabilité.The scanned typescript and its OCR were downloaded and read on 19 September 2026. The wording above is transcribed from a poor-quality OCR of the scan and has been reconstructed where the OCR is plainly corrupt, so it must be treated as a reading of the scan, not as certified transcript text. Independent corroboration: Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience (4th ed., 2004, pp. 76-77), reproduces the ‘editorial committee / final O.K.’ exchange in almost identical words and cites “the official court transcript”, and at p. 100 footnote 14 cites “the official court record, pp. 387, 388”, showing he worked from a paginated transcript. A further internal check, stated with its weakness: the scan’s session headings run “Tuesday, 23rd November”, “Wednesday, 24th November” and “Thursday, 25th November”, a sequence that fits November 1954 and not November 1953, and 23 November 1954 is the proof date The Watchtower itself gives. But the only year legible on a session heading in the scan reads “1953”, which must be either an error on the document or an OCR failure and which the scan cannot resolve; this weakens rather than supports the check. The page footers of the two pages quoted here read “102. F.W. Franz. (Cross.)” and “103. F.W. Franz. (Cross.)”, and the same pages also carry a second, stamped number (“Page 347”), so the typescript has two numbering systems and a page citation must say which one it uses. No repository-authenticated copy was located, so this is not recorded as verified.
Provenance de la numérisation.Scanned typescript uploaded to the Internet Archive on 16 November 2008 by a private individual, identified in the item metadata only by a personal email address. The item is titled simply “Walsh Trial”; it names no holding repository and records no chain of custody, and the uploader’s own description misstates the case as “L Strachan v. Douglas Walsh (1954)”. The uploader attached a public-domain dedication to the item, which is an assertion by the uploader and not evidence of provenance. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.The National Records of Scotland hold Court of Session processes, and the LSE archives catalogue lists a file referenced RAEBURN/6/25 described in search results as “[Douglas Walsh Case]”; neither was accessible to our tools on the access date. Until a repository copy is examined, the site should describe this as a widely circulated transcript whose provenance we have not been able to authenticate.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-walsh-1954-transcript
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
15 septembre 1950 · pp.312-320 · par. 24 (p. 320) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“It is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men. Therefore the men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire to the Society’s boards of directors to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death.”
This is the article that introduced the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures to readers. It records that on 3 September 1949 at 8 a.m. the Society’s president convened a joint meeting of the boards of directors of the Pennsylvania and New York corporations and “announced to these eight fellow directors the existence of a ‘New World Bible Translation Committee’ and that it had completed a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”; that the committee submitted its foreword on 9 February 1950; and that the translation was released on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 August 1950 at Yankee Stadium during the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly, to an audience drawn from 72 lands.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The quotation is from paragraph 24, which falls after the page marker for page 320 in the page markers embedded in the document (span class=“pageNum”); the 3 September 1949 board meeting is on page 315 and the 2 August 1950 release at Yankee Stadium on page 316 of the same article (re-checked against the page markers on 19 September 2026; Raymond Franz independently cites "The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, pages 315 and 316" for the same board-meeting account).
1993 · pp.603-615 · footnote b to par. 22 (p. 608) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This translation was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication, with the request that the names of the translators never be published. They wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word.”
The footnote is attached to the paragraph recording that Nathan H. Knorr first proposed a fresh translation in early October 1946, that work began on 2 December 1947, that “The complete text was carefully reviewed by the entire translation committee, all of them spirit-anointed Christians”, and that on 3 September 1949 Knorr told the boards of directors the committee had finished the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Note sur la fiabilité.Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the footnote wording and the page marker for page 608 were confirmed from the document’s own page markers.
24 novembre 1954 · pp.102-103 (also pp. 87-88, 100-101 of the same transcript)
“Q. You, yourself, read and speak Hebrew, do you? A. I do not speak Hebrew. Q. You do not? A. No. Q. Can you, yourself, translate that into Hebrew? A. Which? Q. That fourth verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis? A. You mean here? Q. Yes. A. No. I won’t attempt to do that.”
The exchange follows counsel for the defender directing the witness to the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures at Genesis 2:4. Elsewhere in the same cross-examination the witness is recorded as saying that when the translation was donated “the Translation Committee made it known that they did not wish their names to be disclosed . . . that the names would not be revealed now or after death”, that whether the translators are all Jehovah’s Witnesses “is part and parcel of the agreement that their names shall not be revealed”, and that doctrinal advances are not voted on by the board of directors: “They go through the editorial committee, and I give my O.K. after Scriptural examination. Then I pass them on to President Knorr, and President Knorr has the final O.K.”
No online copy located.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Court of Session, Edinburgh — Pursuer’s Proof, Douglas Walsh v. The Right Honourable James Latham Clyde, M.P., P.C. — evidence of Frederick William Franz
Note sur la fiabilité.The scanned typescript and its OCR were downloaded and read on 19 September 2026. The wording above is transcribed from a poor-quality OCR of the scan and has been reconstructed where the OCR is plainly corrupt, so it must be treated as a reading of the scan, not as certified transcript text. Independent corroboration: Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience (4th ed., 2004, pp. 76-77), reproduces the ‘editorial committee / final O.K.’ exchange in almost identical words and cites “the official court transcript”, and at p. 100 footnote 14 cites “the official court record, pp. 387, 388”, showing he worked from a paginated transcript. A further internal check, stated with its weakness: the scan’s session headings run “Tuesday, 23rd November”, “Wednesday, 24th November” and “Thursday, 25th November”, a sequence that fits November 1954 and not November 1953, and 23 November 1954 is the proof date The Watchtower itself gives. But the only year legible on a session heading in the scan reads “1953”, which must be either an error on the document or an OCR failure and which the scan cannot resolve; this weakens rather than supports the check. The page footers of the two pages quoted here read “102. F.W. Franz. (Cross.)” and “103. F.W. Franz. (Cross.)”, and the same pages also carry a second, stamped number (“Page 347”), so the typescript has two numbering systems and a page citation must say which one it uses. No repository-authenticated copy was located, so this is not recorded as verified.
Provenance de la numérisation.Scanned typescript uploaded to the Internet Archive on 16 November 2008 by a private individual, identified in the item metadata only by a personal email address. The item is titled simply “Walsh Trial”; it names no holding repository and records no chain of custody, and the uploader’s own description misstates the case as “L Strachan v. Douglas Walsh (1954)”. The uploader attached a public-domain dedication to the item, which is an assertion by the uploader and not evidence of provenance. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.The National Records of Scotland hold Court of Session processes, and the LSE archives catalogue lists a file referenced RAEBURN/6/25 described in search results as “[Douglas Walsh Case]”; neither was accessible to our tools on the access date. Until a repository copy is examined, the site should describe this as a widely circulated transcript whose provenance we have not been able to authenticate.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwto-walsh-1954-transcript
2004 · pp.75-76 · Raymond Franz · Commentary Press, Atlanta
“Vice President Franz made this clear when testifying before a court in Scotland in 1954 in a case known as the Walsh Case. . . . the material here being reprinted from the official court transcript”
The author then reproduces the cross-examination in which the witness says of doctrinal advances: “They go through the editorial committee, and I give my O.K. after Scriptural examination. Then I pass them on to President Knorr, and President Knorr has the final O.K. Q. Does it not go before the Board of Directors at all? A. No.” The footnote to this passage (note 35, p. 76) cites no page. A later footnote (p. 100, note 14, in chapter 4) does cite “the official court record, pp. 387, 388”, but it supports Hayden Covington’s evidence in the same case, not this passage; it shows only that the author worked from a paginated record.
No online copy located.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Crisis of Conscience (4th edition), Chapter 3, “Governing Body”
Note sur la fiabilité.PDF downloaded and read on 19 September 2026; page numbers from the book’s own running footers. Its value here is corroborative only: it shows that a former Governing Body member, writing independently, quoted the same passage from what he called the official transcript. His wording matches the archive scan almost exactly, but he gives no page for it, so this corroborates the words and not the pagination.
Provenance de la numérisation.PDF of the fourth edition hosted by friendsofraymondfranz.com. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation dirait que le travail de tout traducteur est façonné par une compréhension de l’Écriture dans son ensemble, et qu’elle rend chaque terme de manière cohérente une fois cette compréhension établie — comme elle le fait pour παρουσία dans les 24 occurrences.
Afficher les preuves (5 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Colossians 1:16 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“all other things: A literal rendering of the Greek text would be “all things.” (Compare Kingdom Interlinear.) However, such a rendering could give the impression that Jesus was not created but was the Creator himself. And that idea would not agree with the rest of the Bible, including the preceding verse, which calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation.””
The organisation's own study note states plainly both that the literal Greek says 'all things' and that the reason for adding 'other' is doctrinal consistency, not grammar. The note goes on to argue that 'the Greek word for “all” can in some contexts have the meaning “all other”'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Colossians 1:16, 'all other things'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Colossians chapter 1 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
Notes.The note ends: 'So both the Bible’s teachings as a whole and the probable meaning of the Greek word used here support the rendering “all other things.”'
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwtsty-note-col-1-16
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Hebrews 1:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Greek verb rendered “do obeisance to” (pro·sky·neʹo) … is broad in meaning. One lexicon gives the following possible meanings: “(fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully.” The context is essential in determining which is the correct rendering in this case. … Many Bible translators use the term “worship” here (Heb 1:6), giving the impression that Jesus is God. However, the Bible shows elsewhere that Jesus is not Almighty God.”
The organisation's stated reason for choosing 'do obeisance' at this verse: the lexical range permits either, and the doctrinal conclusion that Jesus is not Almighty God decides which is used.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Hebrews 1:6, 'do obeisance to him'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Hebrews chapter 1 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation had silently expanded the Watchtower Online Library's own Bible-book abbreviations (and, at Hebrews 1:6, dropped a parenthetical cross-reference). Restored to the wording on the page.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-nwtsty-note-heb-1-6
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
2013 · study note, Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In this verse, the grammar of the Greek text allows for placing a comma (or a colon) either before or after the word “today.” … Scholarly editions of the Greek text like the ones prepared by Westcott and Hort, Nestle and Aland, and the United Bible Societies put a comma before the Greek word rendered “today.” However, placing the comma after “today” harmonizes with earlier statements that Jesus made and with teachings found elsewhere in the Scriptures.”
A candid statement of the organisation's method at this verse: the grammar permits either, the standard critical editions choose one, and the organisation chooses the other because of what it holds the Bible to teach elsewhere. The note also cites the fifth-century Curetonian Syriac and Hesychius of Jerusalem as early witnesses to the alternative punctuation.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Luke 23:43, 'Truly I tell you today,'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read in full on the nwtsty Luke chapter 23 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026. I have not opened Burkitt's edition of the Curetonian Syriac or the text of Hesychius to check those secondary citations.
2013 · study note, Matthew 14:33 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“did obeisance to him: Or “bowed down to him; paid him homage.” These people recognized Jesus as God’s representative. They rendered obeisance to him, not as to a god or a deity, but as to “God’s Son.””
The note makes explicit that the choice between 'worship' and 'obeisance' for προσκυνέω is governed by who the object is held to be.
Note de provenance et de vérification for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Study note on Matthew 14:33, 'did obeisance to him'
Note sur la fiabilité.Study note read on the nwtsty Matthew chapter 14 page on wol.jw.org, 19 September 2026.
1985 · pp.1147-1149 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The word pa·rou·siʹa occurs 24 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures … In these 24 places the New World Translation renders pa·rou·siʹa as “presence.” … Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon, 1968, p. 1343, gives as the first definition of pa·rou·siʹa the English word presence. … In Matthew 24:3, as well as in other texts such as 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1, the word pa·rou·siʹa refers to the royal presence of Jesus Christ since his enthronement as King in the last days of this system of things.”
The organisation's defence of 'presence', and the doctrinal conclusion drawn from it. The appendix also quotes Israel P. Warren's 1879 book The Parousia at length and Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker on parousia as 'the official term for a visit of a person of high rank'.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 3B: Christ’s Presence (Parousia)
Note sur la fiabilité.Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1147, 1148 and 1149 read from the page-number spans. I confirmed from Liddell, Scott and Jones directly that 'presence' is indeed sense A; I have not opened Warren (1879) or the printed BAGD.
Notes.The final sentence is the load-bearing one for the 1914 doctrine: the lexical claim ('presence') and the doctrinal claim ('since his enthronement as King') are placed side by side, but the second does not follow from the first.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-nwtv-int-app3b
True, and this page says so. The point is not that a translation reflects its translators; it is that at a series of passages the organisation’s own word-for-word interlinear prints one thing and the translation beside it prints another, and that the difference runs consistently in the direction of the teaching.Source: The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, 1985
“A scholar rated it the most accurate of the translations he compared.”
That is the organisation’s stated reason, and it is recorded here in its own words. The consequence is simply factual: qualifications that are not published cannot be assessed, by a supporter or a critic.Source: JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, 19 septembre 2026
“Critics just dislike the divine name.”
Some do. But the specific objection is narrower and testable: no surviving Greek manuscript of the New Testament contains the Tetragrammaton, the supports cited in the footnotes are later translations into Hebrew rather than Greek manuscripts, and the organisation’s own committee acknowledged that at least one of the 237 restorations had no such support at all.Source: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A5, 2013
“The 2013 revision fixed the criticised readings.”
La formulation de chacun des rendus examinés ici, dans la Traduction du monde nouveau, dans l’interlinéaire de l’organisation elle-même et dans d’autres traductions majeures : vérifiée, chacune citée d’après le texte lui-même.
La critique de Metzger en 1953 et l’évaluation de BeDuhn en 2003, de part et d’autre : vérifiées d’après les publications.
Les recensions de Rowley et de Haas : étiquetées « étayé », parce que le texte de la revue n’a pas pu être ouvert directement dans le cadre de cette recherche et qu’il est consigné comme rapporté.
Les déclarations attribuées à Julius Mantey : consignées avec leur provenance, et rien de plus. La lettre qu’il décrit n’a pu être retrouvée dans aucune archive, aucun dossier judiciaire ni aucune publication savante ; nous ne l’utilisons donc pas.
Ce que cette page n’affirme pas : qu’un Témoin en particulier ait été trompé, ni qu’une autre Église ou une autre traduction soit « vraie ». Ce ne sont pas des questions que des preuves peuvent trancher, et ce site ne prétend pas le contraire.
Sources citées sur cette page
Show all 131 sources, in date order
Each opens a full record with links, provenance and a confidence note.
· Johann Eduard Huther · Reproduced on Bible Hub; English translation published by T&T Clark, Edinburgh, and Funk & Wagnalls, New York
“It cannot be decided on purely grammatical grounds, for μεγ. Θεοῦ and σωτῆρος ἡμ. may be two attributes referring to Ἰησ. Χριστοῦ; still it may be also that σωτῆρ. ἡμῶν Ἰησ. Χρ. is a subject distinct from μεγ. Θεοῦ, even although only one article is used.”
· pp.2 pp. · Christian Research Institute (speakers: Walter Martin and Julius R. Mantey) · Christian Research Institute, Charlotte, North Carolina
“Dr. Mantey: Well, as a backdrop, I was disturbed because they had misquoted me in support of their translation. I called their attention to the fact that the whole body of the New Testament was against their view. … Dr. Martin: What was their response to what you said? Dr. Mantey: They said I could have my opinion and they would retain theirs.”
1685 · A continuator of Matthew Poole's Annotations (not Poole himself) · Reproduced on Bible Hub
“And our Saviour Jesus Christ: there being but one article in the Greek, these words are to be understood conjunctly, the particle and being but an explicative, and the sense is: Through the righteousness of our God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is God”
1940 · entry σταυρός · Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones · Clarendon Press, Oxford; digital text hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
“σταυρός, ὁ, A. upright pale or stake … of piles driven in to serve as a foundation, Hdt.5.16, Th.7.25. II. cross, as the instrument of crucifixion, D.S.2.18, Ev.Matt. 27.40, Plu.2.554a … its form was represented by the Greek letter T, Luc. Jud.Voc. 12. b. pale for impaling a corpse, Plu. Art. 17.”
1940 · entry παρουσία · Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones · Clarendon Press, Oxford; digital text hosted by the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
“παρουσ-ία, ἡ, (πάρειμι) A. presence, of persons, δεσπότου, etc., A. Pers. 169 … 2. arrival, ἡμῶν κοινόπουν π. S. El. 1104, cf. E. Alc. 209, Th.1.128 … 5. in NT, the Advent, Ev.Matt.24.27, al.”
15 septembre 1950 · pp.312-320 · par. 24 (p. 320) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“It is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men. Therefore the men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire to the Society’s boards of directors to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death.”
avril 1953 · pp.65-85 (the John 1:1 passage on p. 75, the Colossians 1:15-17 passage on p. 76) · Section IV, 'Erroneous Translations', items 1 and 2 · Bruce M. Metzger · Princeton Theological Seminary (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/004057365301000110)
“As a matter of solid fact, however, such a rendering is a frightful mistranslation. It overlooks entirely an established rule of Greek grammar which necessitates the rendering, '. . . and the Word was God.'”
novembre 1953 · pp.41-42 (within the 'Literature' section, pp. 41-46) · H. H. Rowley · T. & T. Clark (published by SAGE; 'Literature' section DOI 10.1177/001452465306500203)
“From beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated.”
24 novembre 1954 · pp.102-103 (also pp. 87-88, 100-101 of the same transcript)
“Q. You, yourself, read and speak Hebrew, do you? A. I do not speak Hebrew. Q. You do not? A. No. Q. Can you, yourself, translate that into Hebrew? A. Which? Q. That fourth verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis? A. You mean here? Q. Yes. A. No. I won’t attempt to do that.”
No online copy located.
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 juin 1955 · pp.329-332 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“An action for declarator was brought in Scotland that asked the Court of Session to declare that Douglas Walsh was a “regular minister” because of his appointment as a pioneer and also because of his appointment as a congregation servant. The case became known as Walsh v. The Lord Advocate.”
décembre 1955 · pp.282-283 (the review begins at p. 282; the sentence quoted below is cited to p. 283) · Samuel S. Haas · Society of Biblical Literature (DOI 10.2307/3261681; JSTOR stable 3261681)
“[While] 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.”
19 juillet 1956 · pp.[1956] 1 W.L.R. 1002 · Lord Morton of Henryton, Lord Goddard, Lord Macdermott, Lord Keith of Avonholm, Lord Somervell of Harrow · Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales
“The appellant was born on November 1, 1934. He holds the offices of “pioneer publisher” and “congregation servant” in the body now known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
juillet 1964 · pp.150-152 (quoted passages at pp. 151 and 152) · Bruce M. Metzger · United Bible Societies (published by SAGE; DOI 10.1177/000608446401500311)
“On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators (their names are not divulged). … Frequently an intelligent use of critical information is apparent. (p. 151) … Some of the translations which are simply indefensible include the following. The introduction of the word 'Jehovah' into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading. (p. 152)”
avril 1974 · pp.375-376 · Thomas Nelson Winter (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) · Classical Association of the Middle West and South
“This is no ordinary interlinear: the integrity of the text is preserved, and the English which appears below it is simply the basic meaning of the Greek word. Thus the interlinear feature of this book is no translation at all. A text with instant vocabulary more correctly describes it. … The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate. … The book has been very carefully compiled and printed. In sum, when a Witness comes to the door, the classicist, Greek student, or Bible student alike would do well to bring him in and place an order.”
1984 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth … All [other] things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist … 20 and through him to reconcile again to himself all [other] things”
1984 · Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own [Son]. … *For a discussion of “the blood of his own [Son]” see App 6C.”
1984 · Genesis 1:2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God’s active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. … “And . . . active force (spirit).” Heb., weruʹach. Besides being translated “spirit,” ruʹach is also translated “wind” and by other words that denote an invisible active force.”
1985 · p.1138 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Following is a list of the 237 places where the name “Jehovah” is restored in the main text of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. See the footnotes on these citations for support.”
1985 · pp.1133-1137 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Authorities fix the date for this papyrus as the first century B.C.E., that is, about two centuries after the LXX was begun. This proves that the original LXX did contain the divine name wherever it occurred in the Hebrew original.”
1985 · pp.5-6 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The word-for-word interlinear translation and the New World Translation are arranged in parallel on the page, so that comparisons can be made between the two readings. Thus, the accuracy of any modern translation can be determined.”
1985 · John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Ἐν In ἀρχῇ beginning ἦν was ὁ the λόγος, Word, καὶ and ὁ the λόγος Word ἦν was πρὸς toward τὸν the θεόν, God, καὶ and θεὸς god ἦν was ὁ the λόγος. Word.”
1985 · pp.1139-1140 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb points to a quality about someone. Therefore, John’s statement that the Word, or Logos, was “a god” or “divine” or “godlike” does not mean that he was the God with whom he was.”
1985 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“16 ὅτι because ἐν in αὐτῷ him ἐκτίσθη it was created τὰ the πάντα all (things) … τὰ the πάντα all (things) δι’ through αὐτοῦ him καὶ and εἰς into αὐτὸν him ἔκτισται· it has been created; 17 καὶ and αὐτὸς he ἔστιν is πρὸ before πάντων all (things)”
1985 · p.1141 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Grammatically, this passage could be translated as in the King James Version and Douay Version, “with his own blood.” That has been a difficult thought for many. … A noun in the singular number would be understood after “his own,” most likely God’s closest relative, his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ.”
1985 · Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“τὴν the ἐκκλησίαν ecclesia τοῦ of the θεοῦ, God, ἣν which περιεποιήσατο he reserved for self διὰ through τοῦ the αἵματος blood τοῦ of the ἰδίου. own (one).”
1985 · pp.1145-1146 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The action expressed in John 8:58 started “before Abraham came into existence” and is still in progress. In such situation εἰμί (ei·miʹ), which is the first-person singular present indicative, is properly translated by the perfect indicative.”
1985 · pp.1143-1144 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“This indicates that when two distinct persons are connected by καί, if the first person is preceded by the definite article it is not necessary to repeat the definite article before the second person. … According to An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, by C. F. D. Moule, Cambridge, England, 1971, p. 109, the sense “of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . is possible in κοινή [koi·neʹ] Greek even without the repetition [of the definite article].””
1985 · Philippians 2:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“6 ὃς who ἐν in μορφῇ form θεοῦ of God ὑπάρχων existing οὐχ not ἁρπαγμὸν snatching ἡγήσατο he considered τὸ the εἶναι to be ἴσα equal (things) θεῷ, to God,”
1985 · Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“43 καὶ And εἶπεν he said αὐτῷ to him Ἀμήν Amen σοι to you λέγω, I am saying σήμερον today μετ’ with ἐμοῦ me ἔσῃ you will be ἐν in τῷ the παραδείσῳ. Paradise.”
1985 · Romans 9:5 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“ἐξ out of ὧν whom ὁ the χριστὸς Christ τὸ the (thing) κατὰ according to σάρκα, flesh, ὁ the (one) ὢν being ἐπὶ upon πάντων, all (things), θεὸς God εὐλογητὸς blessed (one) εἰς into τοὺς the αἰῶνας· ages; ἀμήν. amen.”
1985 · pp.1142-1143 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“These translations take ὁ ὤν (ho on) as the beginning of an independent sentence or clause referring to God and pronouncing a blessing upon him for the provisions he made.”
1985 · pp.1149-1151 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“There is no evidence that the Greek word stau·rosʹ here meant a cross such as the pagans used as a religious symbol for many centuries before Christ. … The inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures wrote in the common (koi·neʹ) Greek and used the word stau·rosʹ to mean the same thing as in the classical Greek, namely, a simple stake, or pale, without a crossbeam of any kind at any angle. There is no proof to the contrary.”
1985 · pp.1147-1149 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The word pa·rou·siʹa occurs 24 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures … In these 24 places the New World Translation renders pa·rou·siʹa as “presence.” … Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon, 1968, p. 1343, gives as the first definition of pa·rou·siʹa the English word presence. … In Matthew 24:3, as well as in other texts such as 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1, the word pa·rou·siʹa refers to the royal presence of Jesus Christ since his enthronement as King in the last days of this system of things.”
1 janvier 1985 · pp.7-8 · pars. 2, 5 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“No translation of these sacred writings into another language, except by the original writers, is inspired. . . . No uninspired translator or committee of translators can claim any direct command from the Most High God to engage in translating the divine Word into another language.”
1 janvier 1985 · pp.10-12 · pars. 11-16 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Thus, out of the 237 times that we have restored Jehovah’s name in the body of our translation, there is only one instance wherein we have no support or agreement from any of the Hebrew versions. But in this one instance, namely, at 1 Corinthians 7:17, the context and related texts strongly support restoring the divine name.”
1988 · pp.9-10 · pars. 31-38 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In view of this evidence it seems most unusual to find that the extant manuscript copies of the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures do not contain the divine name in its full form.”
1988 · pp.5, 8 · pars. 4, 23 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text printed in Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In the Hebrew Scriptures the New World Translation contains the divine name 6,979 times, because the translators took into account, among other things, the fact that in some places the scribes had replaced the divine name with ʼAdho·naiʹ or ʼElo·himʹ.”
1 mars 1991 · pp.26-30 · pars. 14, 17, 20 (pp. 28-30) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“True, no early surviving Greek manuscript of the “New Testament” contains the personal name of God. But the name was included in the New World Translation for sound reasons, not merely on a whim.”
1993 · pp.603-615 · footnote b to par. 22 (p. 608) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This translation was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication, with the request that the names of the translators never be published. They wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word.”
1993 · pp.608-610 · pars. 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation that embodied the benefits of the latest scholarship, one that was not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom, a literal translation that faithfully presented what is in the original writings and so could provide the basis for continued growth in knowledge of divine truth, a translation that would be clear and understandable to modern-day readers.”
1993 · pp.609-611 · pars. 58, 62, 67 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The text is based on that of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort (1881, repr.), but the translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate.”
15 octobre 1999 · pp.28-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Just who translated this remarkable Bible? The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, said: “The men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire . . . to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death. The purpose of the translation is to exalt the name of the living, true God.” Some critics charged that the work should be summarily dismissed as the product of amateurs, but not all took such an unreasonable stance.”
2003 · pp.163, 165 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland (ISBN 0761825568 / 076182555X)
“While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said that the NW emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared. Holding a close second to the NW in its accuracy, judging by the passages we have looked at, is the NAB. (p. 163) … The NW and NAB are not bias free, and they are not perfect translations. But they are remarkably good translations, better by far than the deeply flawed TEV, certainly better as a translation than the LB and AB, which are not really translations at all, consistently better than the heavily biased NIV … (p. 165)”
2003 · pp.169, 171, 174, 175, 177 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“Having concluded that the NW is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available, I would be remiss if I did not mention one peculiarity of this translation that by most conventions of translation would be considered an inaccuracy, however little this inaccuracy changes the meaning of most of the verses where it appears. I am referring to the use of 'Jehovah' in the NW New Testament. … But the name never appears in any Greek manuscript of any book of the New Testament. So, to introduce the name 'Jehovah' into the New Testament, as the NW does two-hundred-thirty-seven times, is not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy: adherence to the original Greek text. (p. 169) … To suggest such a reading not supported by the manuscript evidence is called making a conjectural emendation. It is an emendation because you are repairing, 'mending,' a text you believe is defective. It is conjectural because it is a hypothesis… The editors of the NW are making a conjectural emendation when they replace kurios, which would be translated 'Lord,' with 'Jehovah.' (p. 171) … The inconsistency of the NW translators in not using 'Jehovah' in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Peter 2:3, and 1 Peter 3:15 shows that interpretation rather than a principle of translation is involved in deciding where to use 'Jehovah'. (p. 175) … [The zeal of the NW editors …] has carried them too far, and into a harmonizing practice of their own. … Their principle of 'emendation' does not seem to work. (p. 177)”
2003 · pp.124-125, 133 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“Ironically, some of these same scholars are quick to charge the NW translation with 'doctrinal bias' for translating the verse literally, free of KJV influence, following the most obvious sense of the Greek. It may very well be that the NW translators came to the task of translating John 1:1 with as much bias as the other translators did. It just so happens that their bias corresponds in this case to a more accurate translation of the Greek. (pp. 124-125) … Bias has shaped most of these translations much more than has accurate attention to the wording of the Bible. The NW translation of John 1:1 is superior to that of the other eight translations we are comparing. I do not think it is the best possible translation for a modern English reader; but at least it breaks with the KJV tradition followed by all the others, and it does so in the right direction by paying attention to how Greek grammar and syntax actually work. (p. 133)”
2003 · pp.83-87 · Jason David BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University) · University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland
“It is ironic that the translation of Colossians 1:15-20 that has received the most criticism is the one where the added words are fully justified by what is implied in the Greek. … The decision whether or not to make something implicit explicit is up to the translators, and cannot be said to be either right or wrong in itself. Accuracy only comes into it when assessing whether something made explicit in the translation really is implied in the Greek. If it is, then it is accurate to make it explicit. In Colossians 1:15-20, it is accurate to add 'other' because 'other' is implied in the Greek.”
2004 · p.56 · Raymond Franz · Commentary Press, Atlanta
“The New World Translation bears no translator’s name and is presented as the anonymous work of the “New World Translation Committee.” Other members of that committee were Nathan Knorr, Albert Schroeder and George Gangas. Fred Franz, however, was the only one with sufficient knowledge of the Bible languages to attempt translation of this kind. He had studied Greek for two years at the University of Cincinnati but was only self-taught in Hebrew.”
2004 · pp.75-76 · Raymond Franz · Commentary Press, Atlanta
“Vice President Franz made this clear when testifying before a court in Scotland in 1954 in a case known as the Walsh Case. . . . the material here being reprinted from the official court transcript”
No online copy located.
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 décembre 2004 · p.30 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered.”
1 décembre 2004 · p.30 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.””
1 mai 2008 · pp.18-22 · par. 17 (p. 21) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The translation committee judged that to render the best sense of these words according to the context was more important than to produce a strictly literal translation.”
1 octobre 2011 · pp.26-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Instead of saying 70 years “at Babylon,” many translations read “for Babylon.” (NIV) Some historians therefore claim that this 70-year period applies to the Babylonian Empire. … The Bible, however, shows that the 70 years were to be a period of severe punishment from God—aimed specifically at the people of Judah and Jerusalem, who were in a covenant to obey him.”
1 novembre 2011 · pp.22-28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“At present, the majority of secular historians believe that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.E. However, the Bible writers Jeremiah and Daniel clearly state that the Jews were in exile for 70 years, not 50 years. … Since the Bible explicitly says that the exile lasted for 70 years, it must have begun in 607 B.C.E.”
2013 · Appendix A1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“A reliable translation must: Sanctify God’s name by restoring it to its rightful place in the Scriptures. . . . Accurately convey the original message that was inspired by God. . . . Translate expressions literally when the wording and structure of the target language allow for such renderings of the original-language text. . . . Communicate the correct sense of a word or a phrase when a literal rendering would distort or obscure the meaning. . . . Use natural, easy-to-understand language that encourages reading.”
2013 · Appendix A5 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The New World Bible Translation Committee determined that there is compelling evidence that the Tetragrammaton did appear in the original Greek manuscripts.”
2013 · Appendix A4 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Some feel that the name was pronounced “Yahweh,” whereas others suggest different possibilities. . . . However, there is no reason to be dogmatic. We simply do not know how God’s ancient servants pronounced this name in Hebrew.”
2013 · Appendix A2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“All adjustments in the Bible text were made prayerfully, carefully, and with deep respect for the fine work of the original New World Bible Translation Committee.”
2013 · study note, John 1:1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“the Word was a god: Or “the Word was divine [or, “a godlike one”].” … Many scholars agree that the absence of the definite article before the second the·osʹ is significant. When the article is used in this context, the·osʹ refers to God Almighty. On the other hand, the absence of the article in this grammatical construction makes the·osʹ qualitative in meaning and describes a characteristic of “the Word.””
2013 · Colossians 1:16-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth … All other things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist … 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake”
2013 · study note, Colossians 1:16 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“all other things: A literal rendering of the Greek text would be “all things.” (Compare Kingdom Interlinear.) However, such a rendering could give the impression that Jesus was not created but was the Creator himself. And that idea would not agree with the rest of the Bible, including the preceding verse, which calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation.””
2013 · pp.1722-1725 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The English verb “impale” was used in previous versions of this Bible in connection with the execution of Jesus. While this term could refer to the way that Jesus was nailed to the torture stake, it is more often used in reference to the ancient method of execution by running a sharp stake through the body and fixing the victim on it. Since Jesus was not impaled with the torture stake, this revision uses such expressions as “executed on a stake” and “nailed to the stake” with regard to the manner in which Jesus was fastened to the torture stake.”
2013 · study note, Acts 20:28 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“with the blood of his own Son: Lit., “through the blood of the own (one).” Grammatically, the Greek expression could be translated “with the blood of his own” or “with his own blood,” so the context has to be taken into consideration. In Greek, the expression ho iʹdi·os (“his own”) could stand alone without a clarifying noun or pronoun … In non-Biblical Greek papyri, the phrase is used as a term of endearment to refer to close relatives.”
2013 · study note, John 8:58 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In this context, however, the action expressed by the Greek verb ei·miʹ started “before Abraham came into existence” and was still in progress. It is therefore properly translated “I have been” rather than “I am,” … In fact, at Joh 14:9, the same form of the Greek verb ei·miʹ is used to render Jesus’ words: “Even after I have been with you men for such a long time, Philip, have you not come to know me?””
2013 · study note, Hebrews 1:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Greek verb rendered “do obeisance to” (pro·sky·neʹo) … is broad in meaning. One lexicon gives the following possible meanings: “(fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully.” The context is essential in determining which is the correct rendering in this case. … Many Bible translators use the term “worship” here (Heb 1:6), giving the impression that Jesus is God. However, the Bible shows elsewhere that Jesus is not Almighty God.”
2013 · study note, Matthew 14:33 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“did obeisance to him: Or “bowed down to him; paid him homage.” These people recognized Jesus as God’s representative. They rendered obeisance to him, not as to a god or a deity, but as to “God’s Son.””
2013 · study note, Titus 2:13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Some scholars therefore argue that only one person is referred to here, so they render this phrase, “of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” They thus view this text as proof that the inspired Scriptures describe Jesus as “the great God.” However, many scholars and Bible translators acknowledge that this passage can properly be rendered as it is in the New World Translation, referring to two distinct persons.”
2013 · study notes, Philippians 2:6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Greek noun used here (har·pag·mosʹ; lit., “a thing to be seized”) is derived from the verb har·paʹzo, which has the basic meaning “to seize; to snatch.” Some have suggested that this term refers to retaining something already possessed. However, the Scriptures never use the Greek term to mean the holding on to something already in one’s possession. … If Jesus “did not even consider the idea of trying to be equal to God,” it must be that he was never equal to God.”
2013 · study note, Luke 23:43 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In this verse, the grammar of the Greek text allows for placing a comma (or a colon) either before or after the word “today.” … Scholarly editions of the Greek text like the ones prepared by Westcott and Hort, Nestle and Aland, and the United Bible Societies put a comma before the Greek word rendered “today.” However, placing the comma after “today” harmonizes with earlier statements that Jesus made and with teachings found elsewhere in the Scriptures.”
2013 · study note, John 14:14 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“ask: This reading is supported by some ancient manuscripts and agrees with the wording at Joh 15:16 and 16:23. Other ancient manuscripts read: “ask me.””
2013 · Genesis 1:2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Now the earth was formless and desolate, and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep, and God’s active force was moving about over the surface of the waters.”
2013 · study notes, John 14:16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“When Jesus spoke of the holy spirit, an impersonal force, as a helper and referred to this helper as ‘teaching,’ ‘bearing witness,’ ‘giving evidence,’ ‘guiding,’ ‘speaking,’ ‘hearing,’ and ‘receiving’ … he used a figure of speech called personification … sees it . . . You know it: The two occurrences of “it” render the Greek pronoun au·toʹ, which is in the neuter gender and refers to the Greek word for spirit (pneuʹma), which is also in the neuter gender.”
2013 · study note, Matthew 20:19 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“This is the first of over 40 occurrences of the Greek verb stau·roʹo in the Christian Greek Scriptures. This is the verb for the Greek noun stau·rosʹ, rendered “torture stake.” … In classical Greek, it meant “to fence with pales, to form a stockade, or palisade.””
2013 · study note, Matthew 24:3 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“presence: The Greek word pa·rou·siʹa (in many translations rendered “coming”) literally means “being alongside.” It refers to a presence covering a period of time rather than simply a coming or an arrival. This meaning of pa·rou·siʹa is indicated at Mt 24:37-39, where “the days of Noah . . . before the Flood” are compared to “the presence of the Son of man.” At Php 2:12, Paul used this Greek word to describe his “presence” in contrast to his “absence.””
2013 · Jeremiah 29:10 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
““For this is what Jehovah says, ‘When 70 years at Babylon are fulfilled, I will turn my attention to you, and I will make good my promise by bringing you back to this place.’”
2013 · pp.1736-1743 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. … The New World Bible Translation Committee determined that there is compelling evidence that the Tetragrammaton did appear in the original Greek manuscripts.”
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Today, however, no manuscripts of the “New Testament” from the first century C.E. are available for us to examine. So no one can check the original Greek manuscripts of the “New Testament” to see whether the Bible writers used the Tetragrammaton. The Greek manuscripts of the “New Testament” that would have a bearing on this issue are copies that were made from about 200 C.E. onward.”
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“These verses do not contain either a direct or an indirect quotation from the “Old Testament” that uses the Tetragrammaton. However, there are either strong contextual grounds or linguistic reasons for restoring the divine name in these verses. … It should be noted, though, that the New World Bible Translation Committee did not rely on these translations as the basis for restoring the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures.”
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“J [1] בשורת מתי, Euangelium Hebraicum Matthæi (Gospel of Matthew, in Hebrew), edited by Jean du Tillet, with a Latin translation by Jean Mercier, Paris, 1555. The translation into Hebrew uses יהוה or an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton in the main text of some verses. … J [2] Even Bohan (אבן בוחן, “Tested Stone; Touchstone”), by Shem-Tob ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut, Spain, c. 1385.”
2013 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In deciding to do this, the translators took into consideration two important factors: (1) The Greek manuscripts we possess today are not the originals. … (2) By that time, those copying the manuscripts either replaced the Tetragrammaton with Kyʹri·os, the Greek word for “Lord,” or they copied from manuscripts where this had already been done.”
15 décembre 2015 · pp.4-8 · pars. 17, 19 (pp. 7-8) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On the weekend of October 5 and 6, 2013, an audience of 1,413,676 in 31 countries attended or were tied in to the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All were thrilled to hear a member of the Governing Body announce the release of the revised New World Translation in English.”
15 décembre 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”
15 décembre 2015 · pp.9-13 · pars. 2, 6, 7 (pp. 9-11) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2013 revision of the New World Translation includes the name 7,216 times, which is 6 more than the 1984 edition. Five of the additional instances are found at 1 Samuel 2:25; 6:3; 10:26; 23:14, 16.”
15 décembre 2015 · p.12 · pars. 10-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“So in September 2007, the Governing Body gave approval to revise the English text. Thousands of questions from Bible translators were reviewed during the revision process.”
2020 · pp.vol. 54, no. 1 · A. Tim Span, Stuart T. Rochester and Fika J. van Rensburg (Faculty of Theology, North-West University, South Africa) · AOSIS Publishing (open access); DOI 10.4102/ids.v54i1.2560
“There are no extant Greek New Testament manuscripts that contain the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew or Greek characters, and the multiplication of late Hebrew versions carries little weight. The Greek corpus of New Testament manuscripts and all early versions fail to yield an original New Testament Tetragrammaton, and the J versions offer little extra.”
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In contrast, the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.”
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Reliability. The New World Translation is based on up-to-date scholarly research and the most reliable ancient manuscripts. . . . Faithfulness. The New World Translation strives to convey faithfully the original message that was inspired by God. . . . Literalness. Unlike paraphrased translations, the New World Translation renders words literally as long as doing so does not result in awkward wording or hide the thought of the original writings.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible and New American Bible all read: “and the Word was God.” The NET Bible reads “and the Word was fully God”; Smith’s Literal Translation reads “and God was the Word.””
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “For in him all things were created”; English Standard Version: “For by him all things were created”; New American Standard Bible: “for by Him all things were created”; King James Bible: “For by him were all things created”; New Revised Standard Version: “for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New Revised Standard Version: “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” NET Bible: “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” Good News Translation: “which he made his own through the blood of his Son.” Contemporary English Version: “It is the flock he bought with the blood of his own Son.” English Standard Version: “which he obtained with his own blood.” King James Bible: “which he hath purchased with his own blood.””
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“English Standard Version: “before Abraham was, I am.” King James Bible: “Before Abraham was, I am.” New American Standard Bible: “before Abraham was born, I am.” NET Bible: “before Abraham came into existence, I am!” Contemporary English Version: “even before Abraham was, I was, and I am.””
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Bible, New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible all read “worship him”. Young’s Literal Translation reads: “And let them bow before him -- all messengers of God;” Douay-Rheims reads “adore him”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“One person: New International Version “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”; English Standard Version “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”; New American Standard Bible “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”; New Revised Standard Version “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. Two persons: King James Bible “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”; American Standard Version “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”; New American Bible “the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ”; Douay-Rheims “the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”; English Standard Version: “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”; New Revised Standard Version: “through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”. American Standard Version: “in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ”; King James Bible: “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“English Standard Version: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”; New Revised Standard Version: “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited”; New American Standard Bible: “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped”; King James Bible: “thought it not robbery to be equal with God”; Young’s Literal Translation: “thought it not robbery to be equal to God”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” English Standard Version “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” King James Bible “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Lamsa Bible “Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.””
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“With 'me': New International Version “You may ask me for anything in my name”; English Standard Version “If you ask me anything in my name”; New American Standard Bible “If you ask Me anything in My name”; New Revised Standard Version “If in my name you ask me for anything”. Without 'me': King James Bible “If ye shall ask any thing in my name”; American Standard Version “If ye shall ask anything in my name”; New King James Version “If you ask anything in My name”; Young’s Literal Translation “if ye ask anything in my name”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“Christ as God: New International Version “the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!”; English Standard Version “is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever”; New Revised Standard Version “comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever”. Separate doxology: New American Bible “is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever.”; Good News Translation “May God, who rules over all, be praised forever!”; Contemporary English Version “I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever!””
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“'Me': New International Version “They will look on me, the one they have pierced”; King James Bible “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced”; New American Standard Bible “they will look at Me whom they pierced”; JPS Tanakh 1917 “And they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through”. 'Him' or 'the one': New Revised Standard Version “when they look on the one whom they have pierced”; New American Bible “when they look on him whom they have thrust through”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” King James Bible: “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” New Revised Standard Version: “while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” New American Bible: “with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, NET Bible and New American Bible all read “your coming”; the King James Bible reads “the sign of thy coming”. Young’s Literal Translation reads “the sign of thy presence”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Bible Hub (reproducing the named copyright translations)
“'For Babylon': New International Version “When seventy years are completed for Babylon”; English Standard Version “When seventy years are completed for Babylon”; New American Standard Bible “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon”; American Standard Version “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon”; JPS Tanakh 1917 “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon”; New Revised Standard Version “Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed”; NET Bible “Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over”. 'At Babylon': King James Bible “after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon”; New King James Version “After seventy years are completed at Babylon”; Brenton Septuagint Translation “When seventy years shall be on the point of being accomplished at Babylon”.”
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Based on his analysis of nine major English translations, Jason David BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies, wrote: 'The NW [New World Translation] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.' Although the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation are the result of religious bias on the part of its translators, BeDuhn stated: 'Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers.'—Truth in Translation, pages 163, 165.”
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