Are the Jehovah's Witness Translators Of New World Translation Knowledgeable Of Hebrew and Greek?

Question

The Jehovah's Witness Governing Body Translators Of NWT:

1. Nathan Knorr - not knowledgeable of bible language.
2. Albert Schroeder - not knowledgeable of bible language.
3. George Gangas - not knowledgeable of bible language.
4. Fred Franz - self-study
5. M. Henschel - not knowledgeable of bible language.

A JW will surely go to a credible doctor who is an expert in his field of study to check his/her physical body. But it is surprising that they choose to ignore the credentials of those who translated the NWT which concerns their spiritual body. Will you trust their New World Translation as accurate even if their translators were not formally educated in the ancient biblical language? Why not compare their NWT with the other Bible versions translated by the foremost evangelical Bible scholars. (John 1:1; Phil. 2:5-7)

Answer 1

ALL that "Really Matters" is that JEOPARDY says tHE "New World Translation IS the (MOST) "Accurate" Translation.

The END RESULT is "All" that REALLY Counts !

p.s. Oh, Oh, "EYES" Almost Forgot: PLEASE; tell Us what "Your" CREDENTIALS are 4 (Judging) "Other" Peoples Credentials R ! ! !@

he

Answer 2

Not defending the New World translation, but when translating, there is always a danger of not getting it "just right" to get the message across. Sometimes things can be translated with absolute correctness, but with a totally different meaning to the person reading it. And this is what we get today with different theological views of different verses -- the problem doesn't belong to just the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I think the New World translation simply presents the Bible in a way that Jehovah's Witnesses can understand it as applying more closely to their faith. This does not mean that the JW's are correct! It just means that with the NWT behind them as a version that supports their beliefs, they can move to other translations and translate them the same way that the NWT presents it.

Answer 3

Odd! Though to my knowledge, no one has ever said precisely whom were the translators or the writing committee members.

I doubt the heads of current corporations could put together all the products their companies manufacture especially as most are done overseas. It isn't necessary for them to know all the nuts and bolts, just be able to get all to move in the same direction.

I don't read Hebrew or Greek. Does that mean I am not allowed to read any translation? From what I've read in the past, using several translations, the only difference is the NWT is in modern English and faithful to the oldest translations I have seen. Of course, I actually read the NWT and wasn't just trying to discredit it from the beginning, so you must excuse me from not spewing venom.

Answer 4

The translators, who chose to remain anonymous, of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures have done an outstanding job of producing a faithful rendering of the Holy Scriptures. So which ones weren't qualified to work on the translation? Jehovah's Witnesses are known to be bible students and understanding the bible is part of their life's work so do you think they aren't intelligent enough to compare translations and ask questions and do extensive research? Perhaps you should take a close look at the teaching version of the NWT and then come back with any improvements you think it should have. By the way, you haven't even mentioned one particular error that the translators made. Maybe you could also tell us about yourself and which bibles you translated. As it stands, your negative statements about the NWT prove nothing.

[ A recent book by Dr. Jason BeDuhn[26] states: “While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said the NW[T] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.”]

Answer 5

You really have NO clue, do you? If you compare the NWT with other translations, you will see they are all the SAME!

You can't tell me they are not, because I use these translations...KJV, Living Bible, Philips, Revised Standard, Today's English, New International, Jerusalem Bible, New English, The Amplified and a Greek Interlinear which translates word for word the original greek into english. Contrary to what you say, they all have the same message. In fact the worst of them all is the King James.

Maybe YOU will educate yourself in the teachings of JW's, and not go off hearsay of others. I have been a JW for over 20 years, I know what they teach.

Get a clue.

Answer 6

Frankly, it is uncertain that ANY Jehovah's Witnesses were on the New World Translation Committee.

The committee which oversaw the translation work requested anonymity 'en perpetuity', but are likely all dead since the primary work was completed 45 years ago. Guesses at specific names have always been merely guesses. Since the same manuscripts used by the NWT translators are still widely available for study, and since there are dozens of alternate translations for comparison, anyone who chooses to use NWT does so informedly.


Incidentally, by 2007 Jehovah's Witnesses had distributed more than 145 million copies of "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures", in dozens of languages.
http://watchtower.org/languages.htm

The entire text of NWT is freely available at the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a personal printed copy can be requested at no charge:
http://watchtower.org/bible/
https://watch002.securesites.net/contact/submit.htm
http://watchtower.org/how_to_contact_us.htm


Jehovah's Witnesses certainly like NWT, but they are happy to use any translation which an interested person may prefer, and in fact Jehovah's Witnesses themselves distribute other translations besides NWT. Jehovah's Witnesses attach no particular infallibility or inspiration to NWT.

It seems that the vast majority of the criticism against the New World Translation is actually as a proxy for blind hatred against Jehovah's Witnesses. The hatred must be "blind" since secular experts of biblical Hebrew and Greek have consistently refused to condemn any particular verse or phrase as an unacceptable translation. Instead, it is religionists with preconceived theologies who bigotedly insist upon particular wordings, since these are necessary to prop up the shaky tenets of their false worship.

(2 Timothy 4:3-5) For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, whereas they will be turned aside to false stories. You, though, keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.

It seems significant that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are the ones best known for their worldwide preaching work. Yet Jesus commanded that ALL who would call themselves "Christian" perform this public work:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20000622/
http://watchtower.org/e/na/
http://watchtower.org/e/20020915/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050715/article_02.htm

Answer 7

Are you sure with that information?

Some Comments by Greek Scholars on The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures

“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.

In 1989, Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel said: “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. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew. . . . Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain.”

Answer 8

When Witnesses come to your door, ask them to put away their NWTs and use yours.

If they can still find verses and explain about God's Kingdom, as well as answer your questions from YOUR Bible, then we'll finally put this issue to rest, shall we?

EDIT: Anyone see a Noisy Goat run by here?

Answer 9

The translators of the NWT were anonymous. No one knows for sure if any of the people you mentioned even had a part in translating. Also, notice that it is a TRANSLATION.... as opposed to a VERSION...

Answer 10

Maybe I can help explain as a former JW. JW's do not refer to their governing body in the same way as a priest or a prophet. The bible stands alone as the testament of the Hebrew God Yaweh or Jehovah. The bible they use, the NWT is actually the King James version. If you have a King James version of the bible I would encourage you to open it up to Psalms 83:18. In the King James version, which is predominantly used by Catholics, the name Jehovah is right there in black and white. I always found it odd that no one knows this.

Answer 11

New Testament Christian writers themselves, with the exception of Paul, were also described as unlettered and ordinary men. Peter and John were mere fishermen—not trained scribes. And, of course, they were also similarly held in contempt by the intellectual God-haters of their day. Yet, by Jehovah's guiding spirit they produced part of the Bible that we base our faith upon today.