2001_New World Translation and Hebrew Versions.pdf

T HE N EW W ORLD

T RANSLATION

AND H EBREW V ERSIONS

Book I

A study of the divine name in the Hebrew Versions

J 17 and J 18 which are used as “J” references in the

New World Translation Greek Scriptures.

J 17 and J 18 are frequently cited as “J” references in the New

World Translation. According to their title pages, both of

these Hebrew versions were produced by T HE S OCIETY FOR

D ISTRIBUTING THE H OLY S CRIPTURES TO THE J EWS . J 18 is

further identified as being published by T HE T RINITARIAN

B IBLE S OCIETY . Both groups are based in London, England and

apparently work cooperatively.

This book asks two questions: The first is a rhetorical

question, "Why did the New World Bible Translation

Committee choose Hebrew versions produced by a Trinitarian

Bible publisher as support for their New World Translation ?”

It is a question that increasingly comes to mind when we study

these Hebrew versions. However, it cannot be answered

because the Translation Committee did not tell us why they

made that choice. On the other hand, this book can answer

the second question, “What translation bias will we find in a

'New Testament' published by a Trinitarian Bible publisher?"

because we can readily examine the Hebrew vocabulary used

in these two Hebrew versions.

C ONTENTS

Chapter 1: The New World Translation

Chapter 2: "J" References From Hebrew Versions

Chapter 3: Th e NWT's Use of Trinitarian

Hebrew Versions

Chapter 4: The Hebrew Versions' Translation

Preference

Chapter 5: Saul on the Road to Damascus

Chapter 6: A Brief Summary

Appendix: HaAdohn in J 17 —First Corinthians

This and other books are available for free downloading from

www.tetragrammaton.org

First printing, 2001 — 25,000 copies

Release for worldwide internet distribution, 2001

This book is not copyrighted.

Material that is quoted from other sources belongs solely to the

All general Scripture quotations are from the

New World Translation

published by the

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

of New York

Chapter 1: T HE N EW W ORLD T RANSLATION

n October, 1946, Watch Tower Society president Nathan H. Knorr

proposed that the Watch Tower Society produce a translation of

the Christian Greek Scriptures. The work began in December, 1947.

The Christian Greek Scripture portion of the New World

Translation was released for general use on August 2, 1950 before an

assembly of 82,075 of Jehovah's Witnesses in New York's Yankee

Stadium. 1

The foremost feature of the New World Translation

On page 6 of the New World Translation Reference Edition, 1984,

the New World Bible Translation Committee states,

The foremost feature of this translation is the restoration of the

divine name to its rightful place in the English text. It has been

done, using the commonly accepted English form "Jehovah"

6,973 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and 237 times in the

Christian Greek Scriptures.

As we would therefore expect, a unique feature of the Christian

Greek Scriptures within the New World Translation is the use of t h e

divine name Jehovah 237 times.

Hebrew versions

As most readers know, an important basis for reinstating Jehovah

into the Christian Greek Scriptures is the presence of t h e

Tetragrammaton in 25 2 Hebrew versions.

In Appendix 1D of the New World Translation, Reference Edition,

pages 1564-1565, the Translation Committee states,

To know where the divine name was replaced by the Greek

words Kuvrio" [Lord] and Qeov" [God], we have determined where

the inspired Christian writers have quoted verses, passages and

expressions from the Hebrew Scriptures and then we have

referred back to the Hebrew text to ascertain whether the divine

1 See "All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial," 1990, page 324.

2 A total of 27 "J" references are listed. Two, however, are not Hebrew

versions: J 20 is a concordance, and J 21 The Emphatic Diaglott is a Greek-

English interlinear translation.

The New World Translation and Hebrew Versions

name appears there. In this way we determined the identity to

give Kuvrio" [Lord] and Qeov" [God] and the personality with which

to clothe them.

To avoid overstepping the bounds of a translator into the field

of exegesis, we have been most cautious about rendering the

divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures, always carefully

considering the Hebrew Scriptures as a background. We have

looked for agreement from the Hebrew versions to confirm our

rendering.

In the quotation above, the reader must note that t h e

"agreement...which confirms our rendering," does not come from t h e

Hebrew Scriptures, but rather from Hebrew versions (translations). 3

Certainly this brief introduction suggests that these Hebrew

versions should be of interest to us as readers of the New World

Translation. The purpose of this short book is to evaluate selections

from the Hebrew version identified as J 18 with brief reference to

selections from J 17 .

When we look at the title page of certain of these Hebrew versions

we see they are either produced by—or are published in cooperation

with—an organization in England identified as T HE T RINITARIAN

B IBLE S OCIETY . Why is a Trinitarian Society publishing Hebrew

language "New Testaments"? Orthodox Jews who deny that Jesus i s

their Messiah certainly do not publish “New Testaments”! On t h e

other hand, what common ground does a Messianic 4 Jewish translator

have with a Trinitarian Bible Society? One does not need to probe

deeply to realize that the Jewish convert has adopted a view of Jesus

that meets with extreme animosity among Orthodox Jews. Jewry does

not deny the historic events of Jesus' life, nor the influence he had on

his own society and subsequent history. Orthodox Jewry simply denies

that Jesus was their promised Messiah. Messianic Jews generally

accept that Messiah came being in nature, Jehovah God himself.

So why is a Jewish translator producing a "New Testament" which

is published by a Trinitarian Society? We may well surmise that this

3 This information is developed more clearly in the book The Tetragrammaton in

Hebrew Versions where is it shown that only 112 of the 237 Jehovah

references come from Hebrew Scripture passages. This downloadable book

is available at www.tetragrammaton.org and other web sites.

4 A Messianic Jew is one who has acknowledged that Jesus is Messiah. We

use this term rather than "Christian" recognizing that the Jewish believer does

not need to leave his cultural heritage and adopt institutional Christianity in

order to acknowledge Jesus as Israel's Messiah.

The New World Translation

Jewish translator is attempting to provide a "New Testament" which

will convince his fellow Jews that Jesus is Messiah. This he would

undoubtedly attempt by closely identifying Jesus with titles and

characteristics attributed to Jehovah because that to many Messianic

Jews is who Messiah is foretold to be.

Though we cannot automatically assume all of the above, we must

cautiously evaluate any Hebrew version to see if there is a translation

bias that closely identifies Jesus with Jehovah.

That is what we will attempt to do in this book. We want to

examine two Hebrew versions to see whether or not they use

terminology that either unites Jesus with Jehovah or differentiates

between Jesus and Jehovah.

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