Jehovah's witnesses, watchtowerites?

Question

Why does the New World Translation insert the word Jehovah in the New Testament when there are absolutely no Greek manuscripts that have it in there? Isn’t this playing with the text?

carm.org

huh? not sure how that makes the kjv the only reliable version.

1918 "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection." Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 89.

1922 "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914." The Watchtower 9/1/22, page 262.

1923 "Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge." The Watchtower, page 106 4/1/23.

Answer 1

Absurelutely!

They also deleted verses where the Greek Text doesn't have them deleted.

Looks like they are "adding unto" and "taking away from" the word of God.

Answer 2

I think it's so funny how some people claim that The New World Translation is a bible that Jehovah Witnesses made up and that the King James version or any bible is much more reliable. Most people that say that are not doing research themselves on the difference between all the varieties of bibles that are available and how they were translated. Jehovah's Witnesses use The New World Translation and many other bibles and before the New World Translation came about what bible do you think they used? They used the King James Version as well as other bibles that were available, because all bibles are TRANSLATIONS. The King James Version as well as many other bibles have been updated many times due to the fact that it is not an easy task to translate a word from one language to another and have them both mean the exact same thing. They basically are all saying the same thing, they are all just slightly translated in different words, the words that the translator of each individual bible felt were more appropriate or closest in meaning in english.

** About inserting the word Jehovah in the bible I have found some detailed information for you to read on why Jehovah's Organization placed the word Jehovah into the scriptures and how they got that name. This information is taken from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia. Please read under the sub-title "Jehovah in the Old Testament" and "Jehovah in the New Testament", that should answer your question. I believe the answer that you are looking for is in the "Jehovah in the New Testament" section.

Click the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Translation_of_the_Holy_Scriptures


If you want to know the TRUE facts about a question that you are asking, it would make better sense to do the research yourself and see the PROOF rather then ask someone and get an opinion that might sound good but in truth not be a fact at all. Don't you think?

Answer 3

Jehovah; Definition: The personal name of the only true God.His own self-designation.Jehovah is translated from a Hebrew Tetragrammaton, which means "He Cause to Become" These 4 Hebrew letters r represented in many languages by the letters JHVH or YHWH.The New English Bible: The name Jehovah appears @Ex3:15; 6:3; Ge22:14; Ex17:15; Ju6:24; Ez48:35.(But if this & other translations use "Jehovah" in several places, why not be consistent in using it @ every place where the Tetragrammaton appears in the Hebrew text?) Revised Standard Edition: A footnote on Ex3:15 says: "The word LORD when spelled w/ capital letters,stands for the divine name,YHWH". Today's English Version: A footnote on Ex6:3 states: "The LORD:...Where the Hebrew text has Yahweh,traditionally transliterated as Jehovah,this translation employs LORD w/ capital letters,following a usage which is widespread in English versions." King James Version: The name Jehovah is found @ Ex6:3; Ps83:18; Isa12:2;26:4;Ge22:14;Ex:17:5;Ju6:24. American Standard Version: The name Jehovah is used consistently in the Hebrew Scriptures in this translation, beginning w/ Ge2:4. Douay Version: A footnote on Ex6:3 says: " 'My name Adonai'. The name, which is in the Hebrew text,is that most proper name of God, which signifieth his 'eternal,self-existing being',(Ex 3,14,) which the Jews out of reverence never pronounce; but, instead of it, whenever it occurs in the Bible, they read 'Adonai', which signifies "the Lord'; and, therefore,they put the points or vowels,which belong to the name 'Adonai', to the 4 letters of that other ineffable,Jod,He,Vau,He. Hence some moderns have framed the name Jehovah, unknown to all ancients,whether Jews or Christians; for the true pronunciation of the name, which is in the Hebrew text, by long disuse is now quite lost." (It is interesting that the Catholic Encyclopedia[1913,Vlo.VIII,p. 329] states: "Jehovah, the proper name of God in the Old Testament; hence the Jews called it 'the name' by 'excellence' the great name, the only name.") The Jerusalem Bible: The Tetragrammaton is translated Yahweh,starting w/ its 1st occurence, @ Ge2:4. New World Translation: The name Jehovah is used in both the Hebrew & the Christian Greek Scriptures in this translation, appearing 7,210 times. The Bible in Living English,S.T. Byington: The name Jehovah is used throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The 'Holy Scriptures' translated by J.N.Darby: The name Jehovah appears throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, also in many footnotes on Christian Greek scripture texts, beginning w/ Matt 1:20.

Answer 4

Because Jehovah Is Gods name.
Psalms 83:18: That people may know that you, WHOSE NAME IS JEHOVAH, You alon are the Most High over all the earth.
How would you feel if nobody knew your name, or denied that your name is your name?
We do not add, or take away from the Bible, and it is a translation, just like the King James version is a TRANSLATION.
The King James version was wriiten back in the day of King James. Do we go around saying, thou, hast, shalt? I don't. And I don't know of anyone else who does either.
Before I became on of Jehovah's Witnesses, I had 3 different Bibles in my hand. New World Translation, KJV, and an NIV. They all said the same thing, only in different words. Nothing was twisted about any of the Bibles. And, for those of you who think that the NWT is the only Bible we use, heres the shocker, we use the KJV, too. We carry them around in our service cases, so that if we do come across hard core KJV users, we've got them too!

Answer 5

How do the KJV and others justify the removal of Jehovah's Name יחוח from the "Old Testament" from the nearly 7,000 times it was plainly there?

“Is it not the heavens and the earth that I myself actually fill?” is the utterance of Jehovah. “I have heard what the prophets who are prophesying falsehood in my own name have said, saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ How long will it exist in the heart of the prophets who are prophesying the falsehood and who are prophets of the trickiness of their own heart? ►►►They are thinking of making my people forget my name◄◄◄ by means of their dreams that they keep relating each one to the other, just as their fathers forgot my name by means of Ba′al. The prophet with whom there is a dream, let him relate the dream; but the one with whom my own word is, let him speak forth my word truthfully.” - Jeremiah 23:24-28.

Answer 6

In all the original Pagan texts, you find the proper name of deities before they were merged. Abraham, for example, refers to his god is El. Mosses refers to his god as Yahweh. Jehovah is another alternative on translating a proper noun.

Answer 7

How about the opinion of someone else
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/11/robertson_says.html

Answer 8

At Revelation 19:1-6, nearly every edition of the so-called "New Testament" includes "Jah", the shortened form of the Divine Name "Jehovah". Some bibles refuse to translate these expressions correctly as "Praise Jah", leaving the untranslated "Hallelu-jah" or "Hallelujah" without its obvious connection to "Jah Jehovah".

(Isaiah 12:2) Jah Jehovah is my strength and my might

(Isaiah 26:4) Trust in Jehovah, you people, for all times, for in Jah Jehovah is the Rock of times indefinite.


Like the prophets Isaiah and Moses (e.g. Ps 83:18), Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus, the apostles, and the other Christian bible writers must have used the divine name in their speech and in their writings. Sadly, the original Greek manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures (the so-called "New Testament") have never been found.

(John 17:26) [Jesus said] I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them

(Matthew 6:8,9) God your Father knows what things you are needing before ever you ask him. 9 “You must pray, then, this way: “‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.


Think about it: Jesus and his apostles must have been extraordinarily familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures (the "Old Testament"), and the evidence is that they frequently quoted from these writings. The Hebrew Scriptures use the divine name SEVEN THOUSAND TIMES; would Jesus and his apostles have skipped over "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" when it appeared in the text they were quoting?

Perhaps the most revealing passage is to note the way that Luke 4:18,19 quotes from Isaiah 61:1,2. Scholars universally concede that the passage in Isaiah uses the divine Name and even repeats that Name; Jesus and his audience all understood Hebrew and the scroll was almost certainly in Hebrew (although that is immaterial). Clearly, when Jesus actually read the Isaiah passage he would hardly have replaced his Father's personal name with a generic term (such as the corrupters of Luke's Gospel have done).

(Luke 4:16-21) [Jesus] entered into the synagogue, and he stood up to read. 17 So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, 19 to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.” 20 With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were intently fixed upon him. 21 Then he started to say to them: “Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.”

(Isaiah 61:1,2) The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening of the eyes even to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah


As in Luke chapter 4, the New World Translation is quite careful to ONLY render the divine name when a verse or phrase in the Christian Greek (NT) Scriptures seems to quote or refer to a Hebrew (OT) Scripture with the divine Name. That is why the OT has almost 7000 occurrences of "Jehovah" while the NT has less than 300.

An additional example is the way the Apostle Paul at Romans 10:13 quotes Joel 2:32.

(Romans 10:13) For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved"

(Joel 2:32) And it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe (see also Zeph 3:9)


Essentially, the New World Bible Translation Committee believed that it is preferable to err (if that is what they did) on the side of magnifying the divine name, rather than share in perpetuating a superstition that hides it.

The name "Jehovah" is an English translation of the Hebrew name pronounced as or similar to "Yahweh" or "Yehowah"; the exact original pronunciation is unknown. The four Hebrew characters corresponding to the letters "YHWH" are well-recognized as the biblical personal name of Almighty God, and are universally designated as "the Tetragrammaton" or "the Tetragram".

For centuries, most Jews have superstitiously refrained from pronouncing aloud any form of the divine Name. They base that superstition on the third of the Ten Commandments given to Moses:
(Exodus 20:7) You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way
http://watchtower.org/e/bible/ex/chapter_020.htm?bk=Ex;chp=20;vs=7;citation#bk7

Over the centuries, that Jewish superstition has expanded to also forbid writing or engraving any form of "YHWH", even when simply copying from one of the nearly 7000 occurrences in the Hebrew Scriptures. In recent centuries, some superstitious Jews have even forbade unabbreviated EUPHEMISMS for "YHWH"; capitalized terms such as "Tetragrammaton" and (amazingly) even "the Name" are forbidden by such superstitions, and they even insist that "God" must be written as "G~d".

Naturally, the religious and superstitious practices of a person are between him and his Creator. However, in recent decades these superstitious Jews have worked to impose their superstitious sensibilities beyond their religious communities, and onto the entire populace. Thus, although "YHWH' is unanimously recognized as the personal name of God, few today use any form of it in their writings and conversation.

Interestingly, Christendom has largely joined with superstitious Jews in suppressing the use of "Yahweh" and "Jehovah". However, it seems that Christendom's anti-YHWH bias largely devolves from their hatred of Jehovah's Witnesses, the religion almost single-handedly responsible for the growing public recognition that the Almighty God of Judaism and Christianity actually does have a personal name.

It seems that too many are more interested in coddling superstition than in allowing intellectual honesty and respect for the Almighty.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/na/index.htm?article=article_06.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20040122/

Answer 9

How can Jehovah’s visible organization in our day be identified?

(1) It truly exalts Jehovah as the only true God, magnifying his name.—Matt. 4:10; John 17:3.

(2) It fully recognizes the vital role of Jesus Christ in Jehovah’s purpose—as the vindicator of Jehovah’s sovereignty, the Chief Agent of life, the head of the Christian congregation, the ruling Messianic King.—Rev. 19:11-13; 12:10; Acts 5:31; Eph. 1:22, 23.

(3) It adheres closely to God’s inspired Word, basing all its teachings and standards of conduct on the Bible.—2 Tim. 3:16, 17.

(4) It keeps separate from the world.—Jas. 1:27; 4:4.

(5) It maintains a high level of moral cleanness among its members, because Jehovah himself is holy.—1 Pet. 1:15, 16; 1 Cor. 5:9-13.

(6) It devotes its principal efforts to doing the work that the Bible foretold for our day, namely, the preaching of the good news of God’s Kingdom in all the world for a witness.—Matt. 24:14.

(7) Despite human imperfections, its members cultivate and produce the fruits of God’s spirit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control—doing so to such a degree that it sets them apart from the world in general.—Gal. 5:22, 23; John 13:35.



How can a person know which religion is right?

(1) On what are its teachings based? Are they from God, or are they largely from men? (2 Tim. 3:16; Mark 7:7) Ask, for example: Where does the Bible teach that God is a Trinity? Where does it say that the human soul is immortal?

(2) Consider whether it is making known the name of God. Jesus said in prayer to God: “I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world.” (John 17:6) He declared: “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Matt. 4:10) Has your religion taught you that ‘it is Jehovah you must worship’? Have you come to know the Person identified by that name—his purposes, his activities, his qualities—so that you feel you can confidently draw close to him?

(3) Is true faith in Jesus Christ being demonstrated? This involves appreciation of the value of the sacrifice of Jesus’ human life and of his position today as heavenly King. (John 3:36; Ps. 2:6-8) Such appreciation is shown by obeying Jesus—sharing personally and zealously in the work that he assigned to his followers. True religion has such faith that is accompanied by works.—Jas. 2:26.

(4) Is it largely ritualistic, a formality, or is it a way of life? God strongly disapproves of religion that is merely a formalism. (Isa. 1:15-17) True religion upholds the Bible’s standard of morality and clean speech instead of weakly going along with popular trends. (1 Cor. 5:9-13; Eph. 5:3-5) Its members reflect the fruits of God’s spirit in their lives. (Gal. 5:22, 23) So, those who adhere to true worship can be identified because they sincerely endeavor to apply Bible standards in their lives not only at their places of meeting but in their family life, at their secular work, in school, and in recreation.

(5) Do its members truly love one another? Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:35) Such love reaches across racial, social, and national boundaries, drawing people together in genuine brotherhood. So strong is this love that it sets them apart as being truly different. When the nations go to war, who have enough love for their Christian brothers in other lands that they refuse to take up arms and kill them? That is what early Christians did.

(6) Is it truly separate from the world? Jesus said that his true followers would be “no part of the world.” (John 15:19) To worship God in a manner that he approves requires that we keep ourselves “without spot from the world.” (Jas. 1:27) Can that be said of those whose clergy and other members are involved in politics, or whose lives are largely built around materialistic and fleshly desires?—1 John 2:15-17.

(7) Are its members active witnesses concerning God’s Kingdom? Jesus foretold: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) What religion is really proclaiming God’s Kingdom as the hope of mankind instead of encouraging people to look to human rulership to solve their problems? Has your religion equipped you to share in this activity, and to do it from house to house as Jesus taught his apostles to do?—Matt. 10:7, 11-13; Acts 5:42; 20:20.

Answer 10

Oh...gosh forgive you..you do not know about your question.