How true is the New World Translation from Jehovah Witnesses?

Answer 1

It is an inaccurate translation and reflects their peculiar beliefs, not what the original words actually say. Obviously, you would get a different answer from a Jehovah's Witness.

Answer from one of Jehovah's Witnesss

The New World Translation has indeed broken with tradition in many of its renditions of verses, but has done so respecting the original meanings of the Hebrew/Greek text. It is a semi-literal translation meaning it tries to stay as close as possible to the original language while staying understandable to the modern reader. How "true" it is is best addressed by qualified bible scholars, a number of whole reviews can be found below:

** The New Catholic Encyclopedia (Refering to the NWT reference edition): "[Jehovah's Witnesses'] translation of the Bible [has] an impressive critical apparatus. The work is excellent [...]"

**Jason BeDuhn, an associate professor of religious studies, Northern Arizona University : "..the general public and many Bible scholars assume that the differences in the New World Translation (NW) are due to religious bias on the part of its translators. However, he states: "Most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation." While BeDuhn disagrees with certain renderings of the New World Translation, he says that it emerges as "the most accurate of the translations compared," calling it a "remarkably good" translation. Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2004.

**New World Translation has been found to be "one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available" and is "the most accurate of the [8 major] translations compared."-Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament by Jason BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, Arizona

**Andover Newton Quarterly of January 1963 said: "The translation of the New Testament is evidence of the presence in the movement of scholars qualified to deal intelligently with the many problems of Biblical translation."

**As Theologian C. Houtman explains regarding the unorthodoxy of the New World Translation: "Various traditional translations of important terms from the original text have been discarded, apparently in order to arrive at the best possible understanding."

**REGARDING the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Edgar J. Goodspeed, translator of the Greek "New Testament" in An American Translation, wrote in a letter dated December 8, 1950: "I am interested in the mission work of your people, and its world wide scope, and much pleased with the free, frank and vigorous translation. It exhibits a vast array of sound serious learning, as I can testify."

**Professor Benjamin Kedar, a Hebrew scholar in Israel, said in 1989: "In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translations, I often refer to the English edition of what is known as the New World Translation. In so doing, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible."

**Hebrew and Greek scholar Alexander Thomson wrote: "The translation is evidently the work of skilled and clever scholars, who have sought to bring out as much of the true sense of the Greek text as the English language is capable of expressing."-The Differentiator, April 1952, pages 52-7.

** "I have never discovered in the 'New World Translation' [of the Hebrew Scriptures] any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain" -- Professor Benjamin Kedar, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

** In its review of Bible translations released from 1955 to 1985, The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary listed the New World Translation as one of the major modern translations.