The New World Translation-a translation of the Holy Bible primarily used by Jehovah's Witnesses-has been considered by many renowned Bible scholars to be one of the most accurate modern-day translations of the Bible today. Some have even said it is the most accurate.
However,not all agree. Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society have argued that it is not. Some have claimed that the New World Translation has been "tampered with" or "doctored up" to make it "fit" the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses. In fact, a common rebuttal Witnesses have faced in their Christian ministry has often been "You people have your own Bible. You have changed the words around to make it say what you want it to say".
But is this really true? Have Jehovah Witnesses really 'changed the Bible around' as their critics have claimed? In order to answer that question, we need to understand how the New World Translation came into existence in the first place and why its translators deemed it neccessary so that sincere persons can come "to an accurate knowledge of truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).
Anyone who has an accurate understanding of the modern-day history of Jehovah's Witnesses would know that they had not always used the New World Translation in their ministry and Bible study. In fact, in the early days of the Watchtower Society, the Bibles they mainly used was the much-loved "King James Version", the American Standard Bible and others. And yet they were still able to grasp basic Bible truths, despite not having the New World Translation.
For example, through the above versions of the Bible, they learned that God was not a Trinity (John 14:28;20:13, 1 Cor.11:3); that Hell is not a hot place or eternal punishment (Eccl.3:19,20;9:5,10;Rev.20:13); that the Human Soul is not immortal but mortal (Ezek..18:4,20; Jas.5:20), among other religious misconceptions. And yet they learned this from popular versions of the Bible. Why couldn't Christendom's churches do the same?
Ecclessiates 10:10 says that in effect like a blunt iron tool being sharpened, the "using of wisdom to success means advantage". In this spirit, in time the Watchtower Society, while recognizing the truth-transforming power of God's Word, found that many sincere persons found it difficult to understand the obscure words of the King James Version, for example. And because it was written in the 17th Century,many of the terms that were common in King James' day were no longer commonly used, words like "thee", "thou", "thine" "mayest" and the like. Therefore, they determined in order to teach sincere persons Bible truths mere effectively, God's word had to be 'sharpened', its words made more clearer and understandable.
So in 1947, it was determined by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses that a new,modern-day translation of the Holy Bible be drafted and written. Hence, a "New World Translation Commitee " was formed and announced to the Brooklyn Bethel Family in September of 1949. Some critics of the Witnesses have also contended that no one knows who those committee members were, since they chose to remain anonymous. They claim that this was deceptive, secretive on the Witnesses' part.
However, Jehovah's Witnesses is not the only religious society in which its Bible Translation commitee has chosen anonminity. For example, in 1971, when the New American Standard Bible Reference Edition was written, in its jacket it stated "We have not used any scholar's name for reference or recommendations because it is our belief God's Word should stand on its merits." But was the American Standard Bible Society accused of being secretive or deceptive? Similarly, the New World Translation Committee took the same position stating that they did not want to be known because they were not seeking prominence for themselves but wanted the translation to "stand on its merits" and more importantly, to honor the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures.
Has the New World Translation stood on its merits? It certainly has. The New World Translation has had a profound effect on the thinking of millions. Originally published in sections from 1950 to 1960, it slowly began to transform the thinking of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, thereby enabling them to be more effective in teaching sincere persons God's Word (2 Tim.2:15). In fact, when it was first released at their "Theocracy's Increase" International Assembly in 1950, the Watchtower Society's then-president, Nathan H.Knorr, encouraged the Witnesses and their invitees to "Take this translation." "Read it through, a thing that will be done with enjoyment." "Study it, for it will help you to better your understanding of God's Word." "Put it in the hands of others." "We encourage you to read the Bible daily, for its message can help you to "Stand complete and with firm conviction in all the will of God."-Col.4:12
In 1961, at their "United Worshippers" Assembly, Jehovah's Witnesses received the New World Translation as one whole book for the very first time. As they began to employ the use of this new, remarkable translation, it in effect became their "calling card" as they began to be known as the 'People with the green Bible' (The New World translation was originally green in color for many years until the Watchtower Society began to come out with different color varieties in the 1970's).
On what is the New World Translation based? It is based on well-known Biblical sources such as renowned Bible Scholar Rudolf Kittel's Biblia Hebraica, 1951-1954 edition and the updated version of the same work,namely the Blblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia in 1977 for the NWT's 1984 edition. For the Christian Greek Scriptures, often mistakenly called "The New Testament", Westcott and Hort was mainly used, as well as other master texts were consulted as well as numerous early versions in other languages.
Unlike most modern Bibles, the NWT is not a loosely-written paraphrase, in which the writers tend to be too loose and too free in their expressions, taking away from the dignity of the Scriptures. Instead, it is an actual translation-a transliteration of the original languages of the Bible. Also unlike most Bibles, the New World Translation has extensive footnotes and references,in which expressions can be legitimately rendered in more than one way as well as a listing of the specific ancient manuscripts on which certain renderings are based.
What are the benefits of the NWT from other Bibles? An obvious benefit is it clearly much more easier to understand than most of even today's Bibles. Most importantly, it has restored the personal name of Almighty God, Jehovah, back into its proper place. In its original Hebrew language, the name was found over 7,000 times! Yet,because of religious ignorance, superstition and prejudice the name was removed altogether. But thanks to the New World Translation, the name "Jehovah" has once again become a household one.
The New World translation has received high acclaim,often from scholars who are not Jehovah's Witnesses. For example, Jason BeDunh, associate professor of religious studies at Flagstaff, Arizona, called it "A remarkably good translation", "better by far" and "consistently better" than some of the other Bible versions considered. He concluded the the New World Translation "Is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available" and "the most accurate of the translations compared"-Truth in Translation:Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.
DeBunh's commendations is but one of numerous comments made about the accuracy of the New World Translation, too numerous to mention here, but if one wants to know all the positive comments and reviews about the New World Translation, they can look it up in the Watchtower Index 2001-2005, published by Jehovah's Witnesses, under the subheading "Comments By-".
So based on the evidence above, is the New World Translation an accurate one? As the above statement has confirmed, it 'stands on its own merits.'