New World Translation

The Jehovah's Witnesses "Bible"

The Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their distinctive beliefs.  Christians often wonder how they can read theBible and come up with such different answers.  One reason is that they read through the "lens" of Watchtower publications.  Another reason is  that they use their own version of the Bible, known as the New World Translation.


An article on the Watchtower website says, "some people have commented on or questioned the accuracy of the New World Translation because in places it differs from other translations of the Bible".  No, we criticise it because it is a bad translation, not because it differs from other Bibles - which is why we have no issue with versions like "The Message" which stick to the meaning of the original texts.

They go on to make claims that their Bible is an accurate, unbiased translation.  They cite scholars who said it was good, but just google the scholars and you find they said no such thing, or their words were taken out of context.

The NWT has been altered to fit what the Watchtower teaches.  This is most obvious when looking at passages dealing with Jesus' deity. Take Colossians as an example.  By inserting the word "other", they have changed the meaning.  

In the NWT Colossians 1:16-17 you can see that the word "other" has been inserted 4 time's.  It is true that it is sometimes necessary to use words not in the original, but surely this is to clarify meaning, not change it.  Read this passage without the word "other".  Now the passage's meaning is the same as it is in every other translation.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is a created being, through whom God created everything else.  Therefore he couldn't create "all things", because he couldn't create himself!  To solve the problem, the Watchtower edited their Bibles.

The Watchtower used to publish the Greek text of the Bible, known as the Kingdom Interlinear Translation.  This made them seem more scholarly - but right there, for all the world to see (or not see in this case!), the word "other" isn't in the Greek.

The Kingdom Interlinear Translation.  Image: CARM

To make matters worse for themselves, they forgot to fully edit John 1:1-3.  They infamously changed John 1:1 to read "a god" rather than "God".  But in verses 2 and 3 we have a parallel passage to Colossians 1:16-20.  In the NWT the passage reads:

"In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.  This one was in [the] beginning with God.  All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence." (emphasis mine)

Oops.  Now their translation of Colossians not only contradicts the Greek text,  it contradicts their own translation.  To make it fit they need to add the word "other" twice here too.  

I don't mind people disagreeing on theology.  If you want to argue that Jesus is not God, fine.  But I do have a problem with blatant dishonesty.  It is dishonest to alter the Bible to fit your beliefs, and then use that to show people "what the Bible really says".  

If the Watchtower can't be trusted on Bible translation, it certainly cannot be trusted with Biblical interpretation.  

Images: Google Images/CARM
[Update May 2014 - See also my article on the 2013 revision of the New World Translation]