Those of you on R&S whom are fluent in Hebrew and Greek... what do you think of the JWs NWT bible?

Question

I find it interesting that scholars are unimpressed with it and say there are many errors, yet the JWs believe they have restored the bible....

What do you think?

sandy..... not a JW lol but they do have a few who ask questions on here looking for praising answers... so I understand why you would think that....therefore I will forgive you.

Also... Jason Debuhn doesn't appear very reputable... although he DID say that YHWH is not in the NT in the manuscripts anywhere

claret..... I had forgotten about Crisis of Conscience... my husband read this a few years ago but I did not. I just grabbed it real quick and found on p 27 that Fred Franz had indicated that he used bias in translating Acts 14:23..if that is true, where else does his bias show?

Answer 1

Hello Anna,

I'm not fluent in Hebrew or Greek, but I think it's to be expected that you will find both favorable and unfavorable comments among Bible translators as regards any translation. A "critic" might praise one aspect of a translation, while giving it an overall dismal review. Or vice versa.

Such may be the case concerning the very small portion of the letter quoted from Edgar Goodspeed.

According to one internet website , a man named Bill Centnar who was working at the WT Bethel in 1954 was assigned to interview Mr. Goodspeed and asked for an evaluation and recommendation of the NWT of the Hebrew Scriptures to which Mr. Goodspeed replied that he couldn't do that because "the grammar is regrettable".

I am also aware of other comments made by translators - some negative, some positive. It seems that one who likes the NWT only quotes the positves, and those who don't like it only quote the negatives.

Answer 2

The alleged translation took place between 1950 and 1960. The so called translation committee was made up of either four or five people, amongst them was the then president. Nathan Knorr and the vice president of the organisation, Fred Franz. The only qualification the " translation" committee had between them was that the vice president, Fred Franz had done a two year course studying Greek at Cincinnati University. A translation could not possibly have been carried out. It could only have been a revision of one of the existing translations. Ray Franz, who was a member of the Governing body and nephew of Fred Franz points this out clearly in his book " Crisis of Conscience " and also other former members of the Bethel " family " in Brooklyn New York City have since confirmed this.

Answer 3

The vatican manuscript in greek show how accurate is NWT, if you see it you will see John 1:1 the way was original written "God" the first time and "god" the second time I can send you a xerox copy if you wish.

Jason David BeDuhn, Ph.D. is an historian of religion and culture, currently Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Northern Arizona University. He first gained brief national attention at the age of 18 when remarks he made in a speech to the high school graduating class of Rock Island, Illinois, sharply critical of oppressive attitudes towards youth by older generations of Americans, were widely reported in the American press.
He subsequently wrote Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament (ISBN 0-7618-2556-8), which generated controversy when he found the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (published by Jehovah's Witnesses) and the New American Bible (published by the American Catholic Church) to be more accurate than other respected translations linked to Protestant constituencies. He had criticisms for every translation he reviewed, finding a consistent pattern of anachronistically imposing modern Christian views onto the biblical text.

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

Answer 4

Anna, I think you need to get a better source of scholars:

“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.”—Letter, December 8, 1950, from Edgar J. Goodspeed, translator of the Greek “New Testament” in An American Translation.

“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.”—Hebrew and Greek scholar Alexander Thomson, in The Differentiator, April 1952, pages 52-7.

“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.”—Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963.

“The New Testament translation was made by a committee whose membership has never been revealed—a committee that possessed an unusual competence in Greek.”—Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966.

“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. . . . After examining a copy, I equipped several interested second-year Greek students with it as an auxiliary text. . . . The translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate. . . . 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.”—From a review of The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, by Thomas N. Winter of the University of Nebraska, appearing in The Classical Journal, April–May 1974.
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in 1973 the New World Translation was rated by a British Bible handbook compiler as one of 14 main English translations of the 20th century.

How To Choose Your Bible Wisely, A.S.Duthie.

rates the NWT as one of the three bibles serious bible readers should have.

He also stated that the percentage of error was less than .01 % Not 1%

but less than point zero one % (.01%) or less than one word in every 10,000 words. if my math is correct.

Answer 5

One does not have to be "fluent" in Hebrew and Greek.
One merely has to posses a King James 1611, and a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to research any trans.
I personally challenge any doubter of the validity of the NWT, to utilize the KJV and the Strong's, to compare their favorite trans to the NWT, and am totally confident that they will find the NWT to be more consistent that any other modern English (or any other lang.) trans.

This confidence I have is based upon actual experience.
I personally tested the NWT, the Todays English, the Revised Standard, and about 6 other English translations, and found the NWT, to be the most consistent and easily read of all translations.
The faithfullness in translating words consistently really towers above all other translations, making it seem as if the other translators, had some sort of hidden agenda.

Answer 6

What has been "restored"? Personally, I have not found it attractive.

However, I will admit that I do not use it in comparative studies with other translations and so my knowledge of how it translates large portions is limited. The differences that I know about are made because of theological presuppositions and because they do not necessarily work with normal Greek syntax (John 1).

Answer 7

Anna...after you finish Chrisis of conscience...you are going to have a bunch more questions...it will be Good..It is a fabulous book....It reveals what realy goes on at Bethel and with the Governing body...where all the money goes etc.....

Answer 8

What's the odds of a bunch of guys from Brooklyn "restoring" something that was never lost, in the first place?

Answer 9

Ok Miz Jw:)... don't even deny that you're not one :)
Your Mr Taze Russel was an open vessel for all the lies of satan. He went about translating the holy Word of God and omitting crucial things from it. Speaking of the Holy Spirit as " IT" in one portion and then saying " he" in another portion.. Calling Jesus ' a god" ... i mean.whats wrong with Taze Russel..

What does he do with verses that PROVE that man has a human spirit.. huh?
vss like

He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit

For the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace

That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.. ( we see God's Spirit and man's spirit in this one verse)

And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...

Go look these verses up in your NWT and see how crappy russel's translation was
and WHO are these people you say find his version credible? Name them please.. and they'd better NOT be fellow JW's

Answer 10

None of the members of the "translation committee" of the WTS have credentials as translator, that must tell us something....