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The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a modern-language translation of the Bible published by Jehovah's Witnesses. First published in 1950, it was not the first Bible to be published by them, but it was their first original translation of ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic Biblical texts. Harper's Bible Dictionary lists the New World Translation as being one of the major modern bible translations.

History

Until the release of the NWT in 1950, Jehovah's Witnesses in English-speaking countries generally used the King James Version or American Standard Version of the Bible. In the literature they have produced, Jehovah's Witnesses have quoted liberally from the King James Version and many other translations of the Bible over the years.

According to the publishers, one of the main reasons for producing a new translation was that the majority of existing Bible versions in common use employed archaic language. The English language has undergone significant changes since 1611, when the Authorised (King James) Version was first published and many words in the KJV are no longer in common use today, or are used in a sense different from that in which the translators intended them. The stated intention was to produce a fresh translation, free of archaisms.

Additionally, over the centuries since the King James version was produced, more copies of earlier manuscripts of the original texts in the Hebrew and Greek languages have become available. In the publishers' view, better manuscript evidence has made it possible to determine with greater accuracy what the original writers intended, particularly in more obscure passages. Additionally, they feel that certain aspects of the original Hebrew and Greek languages are perhaps better understood by linguists today than they were previously.

In October 1946, the president of the Watch Tower Society, Nathan H. Knorr, proposed a fresh translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Work got under way on December 2, 1947 when the "New World Bible Translation Committee" was formed. On September 3, 1949, Knorr convened a joint meeting of the board of directors of both the Watch Tower Society's New York and Pennsylvania corporations to announce that work on a modern-language English translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was completed and had been turned over to the Society for printing. It was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication.

The translators wished to remain anonymous, their stated intent being "to honor Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word". Although this is usually the case with any Watch Tower Society Publication, this fact is very frequently cited by critics of the translation in order to suggest that its scholarship is of inferior quality, as the credentials of the translators could never be verified.

The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) was released at a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York, on August 2, 1950. The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) was released in five volumes in 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, and 1960, and the complete New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released as a single volume in 1961. Since then, it has undergone minor revisions on a number of occasions, most recently in 1984. The 1984 edition is in much the same style as previous editions, the primary difference being the revised marginal (cross) references. These had been included in the six volumes released between 1950 - 1960 but were not included in the single volume editions from 1961 onward. The basic layout style much resembles the American Standard Version 1901 edition.

Characteristics of the translation

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Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview Organizational structure Governing Body Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society Corporations History Bible Student movement Leadership dispute Splinter groups Doctrinal development Unfulfilled predictions Demographics By country
Beliefs Practices God's name 144,000 Salvation Eschatology Faithful and discreet slave Memorial of Jesus' Death Blood Discipline Hymns Literature The Watchtower Awake! New World Translation Bibliography Places Kingdom Hall Gilead School
People Watch Tower presidents W. H. Conley C. T. Russell J. F. Rutherford N. H. Knorr F. W. Franz M. G. Henschel D. A. Adams R. L. Ciranko Formative influences William Miller Henry Grew G. W. Stetson George Storrs N. H. Barbour J. N. Darby Notable former members R. V. Franz O. R. Moyle Notable scholars George Chryssides James Penton Zoe Knox
Criticism Handling child sex abuse Unfulfilled predictions
Opposition Persecution in Nazi Germany Supreme Court cases by country
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The Old Testament as found in the New World Translation is based on Codex Leningradensis B 19A as published in Rudolf Kittel's Biblia Hebraica (7th, 8th, and 9th ed.), while the New Testament is based on Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in the Original Greek. Also considered were texts by Bover, Merk, and Nestle. Newer editions make use of newer texts, such as Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (1967/1977) and Novum Testamentum Graece (1983), as well as newer lexicons and dictionaries such as Zorell's Lexicon Hebraicum Veteris Testamenti (1984).

The New World Translation is a formal equivalence translation rather than a paraphrase. To a very great extent, one English word has been selected for each Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic word and effort has been made to adhere to this rendering, context allowing. Some maintain that this makes the translation sound wooden, stiff or verbose, whereas others feel that it favors accuracy, facilitates cross-reference work and helps preserve the flavor of the original texts.

The translation does not contain any of the Apocryphal books, as Jehovah's Witnesses believe that any claim for canonicity on the part of these writings is without solid foundation. But it does give additional information proceeding Job 42:17 which is in the Greek Septuagint version. This additional information is only available in the reference version of the New World Translation. All the disputed parts of the New Testament are contained, such as the long and short conclusion following Mark 16:8 and the woman caught in adultery at John 7:53 - 8:1-11. Most Bibles alert the reader of the spurious nature of these two passages mentioned and the NWT is no different in that regard.

Also, the translation refers to the Old Testament as "Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures", and the New Testament as "Christian Greek Scriptures", the latter terminology is used in order not to get confused with the Septuagint or Greek Bible. Unlike mainstream Bibles, it goes immediately into Matthew (first book of the New Testament) without any page breaks.

Jehovah in the Old Testament

The unique, personal name of God, the Tetragrammaton ("YHWH or JHVH"), is found in Masoretic versions of the Old Testament 6,828 times. Most English translations of the Old Testament follow the standard convention of rendering the Tetragrammaton, in most occurrences, as "the LORD". The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) differs significantly here from most other English Bibles by consistently rendering the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (divine name) as "Jehovah" in 6,827 instances. They chose the translation "Jehovah" because they believe that "Jehovah is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name."

In addition to the 6,827 times the Tetragrammaton is translated "Jehovah", the NWT translators cite 146 more instances where they believe the Tetragrammaton was originally found. They cite the works of C.D. Ginsburg (1831-1914) as authority for 141 instances. The other 5 instances are based on readings in the LXX and footnotes in BHK and BHS. Thus, God's personal name appears 6,973 times in the Hebrew text portion of the NWT.

Such use of the name is intended to show deep respect for the "Author of our salvation".

Jehovah in the New Testament

Although no ancient Greek text of the New Testament contains the Tetragrammaton, the New World Translation's New Testament uses Jehovah frequently where Greek source texts read "the Lord". The New World Bible Translation Committee built on the theory that the divine name was removed from NT manuscripts after the first century. This view remains controversial until an early Greek, Syriac, Coptic, or Latin text can be found to support it. However, Professor George Howard, of the University of Georgia, U.S.A., made this comment: "When the Septuagint which the New Testament church used and quoted contained the Hebrew form of the divine name, the New Testament writers no doubt included the Tetragrammaton in their quotations." With this in mind, they used the divine name 237 times in the New Testament. In 223 of the 237 Jehovah references the Greek word Kyrios is used. In 13 other instances the word is Theos. The Committee cited several reasons as justification for the inclusion:

• Passages where the NT writers quote Old Testament Scriptures that contain the divine name. There are seventy-eight passages where this occurs.
• New Testament scriptures that suggest, according to Jehovah's Witnesses, that the name would be there if 1st century manuscripts were discovered, most notably Jesus' words as recorded at John 17:6, "I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world..."
• A first century B.C. Septuagint copy of the Book of Deuteronomy contains the Tetragrammaton in paleo-Hebraic script within the Greek text. The Name was indeed known by some Greek speaking Jews of the time, albeit not readable to the average Greek reader.
• The Watchtower cites 28 Hebrew translations (ranging from 1533 A.D. to present) of the New Testament that contain the Divine name, commonly known as the "J texts". Because the practice of using the tetragrammaton (YHWH) in the New Testament was particularly common in translations of the NT into Hebrew, these texts are cited to show where other translators also believed the tetragrammaton should belong in the New Testament.
• Four instances in the book of Revelation contain a transliterated Hebrew word: "Hallelujah!" (Literally: "Praise Jah!") (Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6). "Hallelujah" does not contain the full tetragrammaton (YHWH), although "Jah" (YH) is the abbreviated form of "Jehovah".

The Watchtower Society's view is that the perpetuation of "Jewish superstition" to render the proper name as an ambiguous title culminates into the quasi-consistent use of "God" (or "LORD") throughout the Old and New Testaments of other Bible translations. "Quasi-consistent" means that many of these mainstream translations do render the name, in some form, in a handful of Old Testament passages, thus they are not entirely consistent in either usage. Dr. BeDuhn (Truth in Translation pg. 170) wrote of the mainstream practice of making the Old Testament conform to the New in its use of "Lord" and of the NWT practice of making the New Testament conform to the Old in it use of "Jehovah": "Both practices violate accuracy in favor of denominationally preferred expressions for God."

See also: Tetragrammaton in the New Testament and List of Hebrew versions of the New Testament that have the Tetragrammaton.

Other characteristics

• It translates the word "staurós", rendered as "cross" in almost all other translations of the New Testament, as "torture stake". (Jehovah's Witnesses, and certain scholars, maintain that "staurós" refers to a single piece of timber or pole rather than a cross.).
• It leaves untranslated the words "sheol", "hades", "gehenna", and "tartarus", where other translations predominantly use "hell" for some, or all, of the above.
• It uses "presence" as the equivalent of Greek Παρουσία Parousia.
• It consistently uses "soul" for the Hebrew word ne'phesh and the Greek word ψυχή psykhē.
• It consistently uses "congregation" where other translations use "church" for the Greek word έκκλησία ecclesia.
• It uses "system of things" where other translations use "world" for the Greek word αίών aion, but it uses "world" for the Greek word κόσμος cosmos.
• Unlike many Bibles, it does not use subheadings. Only running heads used at the top of the pages are given.
• Because the word "you" in English can be both singular and plural, the New World Translation uses "YOU" printed in small capitals for the plural form and "you" in lower case for the singular form.

Editions and languages

As of 2007 the NWT has been published in 69 languages. Translation into other languages is based on the English text, possible because of the literal nature of the English translation itself, supplemented by comparison with the Hebrew and Greek.

The complete translation the Holy Scriptures is available in Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Cebuano, Chinese (Standard, Simplified, Pinyin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (also Braille), Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Igbo, Iloko, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (also Braille), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic and Latin scripts), Sesotho, Shona, Slovakian, Spanish (also Braille), Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, Yoruba, and Zulu.

The Christian Greek Scriptures (commonly known as the New Testament) is available in American Sign Language, Armenian, Bulgarian, Chichewa, Cibemba, Efik, Hiligaynon, Italian Braille, Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Malagasy, Maltese, Ossetic, Samoan, Sepedi, Sinhala, Slovenian, Sranantongo, Thai, Turkish, Twi, and Ukrainian.

Criticism

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The New World Translation is claimed by Jehovah's Witnesses to be the most accurate translation of ancient biblical texts to date. . However, Drs. John Ankerberg and John Weldon write, “the scholarly Christian community has rendered its verdict on the NWT: such a translation must not be trusted to accurately convey God’s Word because of its unrelenting biases in translation.”. Reviewing the New World Translation, Dr. Bruce Metzger writes, “The introduction of the word ‘Jehovah’ into the New Testament text, in spite of much ingenuity in an argument filled with a considerable amount of irrelevant material (pp. 10-25), is a plain piece of special pleading.” Scholar H. H. Rowley says of the translation, “From beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated”. In contrast, a recent book by Dr. Jason BeDuhn states (in regards to the New Testament of the NWT): “While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said the NW emerges as the most accurate of the translations ... judging by the passages we have looked at.”

An example of the differences between the NWT and other translations is in the 1st verse of John's Gospel, considered a proof text for the divinity of Christ by most Christians. Classically, it is rendered "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The NWT renders the text, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god."

In regards to this passage, critics claim:

1) That this was purposefully translated in order to deny the traditional view that Jesus is God. Witnesses are quick to point out that the passage is expressing a divine quality about Jesus ; Christian scholars agree with a qualitative (descriptive) nuance of theos in John 1:1c.

2) That the addition of a second smaller "god" (Jesus) to the bigger "Jehovah God" (the Father) in the translation introduces polytheism into the New Testament (Martin and Bruce Metzger). Witnesses deny the "polytheist" label and point out that the NWT is a literal translation that mandates a rendering of "a god" with an interpretation of "Godlike" or "Divine".

3) That the predicate nominative inflection for the word "God" and the sequence of the words in the Greek sentence "and God was the Word" require the traditional translation in English "and the Word was God".

4) That the word for God (theos) without the article is used only a few verses later in the text in both the accusative and nominative cases, which the NWT translates without an indefinite article both times "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten god..." BeDuhn explains the fallacy of this assertion, and Martin's fundamental misunderstanding of basic Koine Greek, by pointing out that the passages are not comparable.

As can be seen in the preceding points and counter-points, both sides agree that the anarthrous nominative theos can be taken in a qualitative sense -- something like "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Deity, and Deity was the Word." and The contention involves the underlying doctrines behind the two sides. For one side "a god" is taken qualitatively. For the other side "God" is taken qualitatively.

Severe criticism of the NWT by recognized experts such as Dr. Bruce Metzger has stirred additional criticism by virtue of the Watchtower organization’s promise not to publish the names of its translators. Questioning the veracity of many translated passages, critics have requested the qualifications of translators of the NWT. The Watchtower organization has never expressed an obligation to refrain from providing credentials of NWT translators, but it has refused this request nevertheless. Previous Watchtower staff members have expressed names and credentials of NWT translators, but the Watchtower organization has never confirmed or denied the information. Rather than offering their credentials, the Watchtower organizations states "the particulars of their university or other educational training are not the important thing" and that the translation testifies to their qualification. Critics claim anonymity of the NWT translators is to avoid disclosing a lack of training in biblical language and translation. Undisputed is that Frederick Franz was Editor of the NWT. Specifically the Watchtower organization’s Board of Directors tasked him to examine the NWT and determine its accuracy and acceptability as it was submitted for publication. Frederick Franz’s credentials of record show very little if any formal training in biblical languages. Lack of expressed credentials for NWT translators and lack of formal training for the NWT Editor has moved critics to conclude translators were tampering with the biblical text rather than bringing trained scholarship to bear in translating certain passages within the NWT.

References

1. Jason David Beduhn, Truth in Translation - Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament...Also see All Scripture Is Inspired by God and Beneficial published in 1990 pg. 326 pars. 32-33 Study Number 7—The Bible in Modern Times: New World Translation A Literal Translation....This requires an almost word-for-word correspondency between the rendering in English and the Hebrew and Greek texts...the degree of literalness should be as high as the original-language idiom permits... There have been occasional departures from the literal text, for the purpose of conveying in understandable terms the difficult Hebrew or Greek idioms. However, in the reference edition of the New World Translation, these have been called to the reader’s attention by means of footnotes that give the literal rendering.
2. Using the not-for-profit corporations Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. and the International Bible Students Association of Brooklyn, New York
3. "English Bible, The", Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. Harper's Bible dictionary (1st ed.). Harper & Row: San Francisco 1985.
4. http://www.pronetisp.net/~diana/wcm.html list of KJV words and their modern meanings or counterparts.
5. Foreword, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1984.
6. Introduction to the NWT Reference Edition page 7.
7. One of the exceptions is the translation of "this is my body" in Mark 15:22 and in the parallel places in Matthew, Luke and 1 Corinthians as "this means my body".
8. Rowley, H.H., Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Translation of the Bible, The Expository Times, 1956; 67; 106
9. See “Jehovah” (or “Yahweh”) in The Catholic Encyclopaedia, The Jewish Encyclopedia, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, The Zondervan Pictiorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
10. J. M. Powis Smith's and Edgar J. Goodspeed's translation of the Bible in 1935, explained in a preface: “In this translation we have followed the orthodox Jewish tradition and substituted ‘the Lord’ for the name ‘Yahweh’ and the phrase ‘the Lord God’ for the phrase ‘the Lord Yahweh.’ In all cases where ‘Lord’ or ‘God’ represents an original ‘Yahweh’ small capitals are employed.”
11. The preface to the Revised Standard Version: “For two reasons the Committee has returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version : (1) the word ‘Jehovah’ does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew; and (2) the use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom he had to be distinguished, was discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.”
12. Alden Robert comments on that fact: "Most translations use all capital letters to make the title “LORD.” Exceptions are the ASV and New World Translation which use “Jehovah,” Amplified which uses “Lord,” and JB which uses “Yahweh.” (Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. 1999, c1980. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.) . Moody Press: Chicago). Other translations that similarly use God's name are the Young's Literal Translation, the Rotherham's Emphasized Bible, the Darby and the Jay Green's Modern KJV.
13. New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures with References (1984) Appendix 1A, p. 1561, par. 8.
14. Insight on the Scriptures Vol 2 p. 5
15. New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures with References (1984) Appendix 1B, p. 1562.
16. New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures with References (1984) Appendix 1A, p. 1561, par. 9, 10.
17. The Watchtower, January 1, 2004 pg 9 para 3
18. http://watchtower.org/e/bible/re/chapter_019.htm?bk=Re;chp=19;vs=1;citation#bk1
19. (Biblical Archaeology Review, March 1978, page 14)
20. BeDuhn, Truth in Translation, pg. 174: "There are actually seventy-eight passages where a New Testament author rather directly quotes an Old Testament passage in which YHWH appears in the original Hebrew."
21. New World Translation w/ References, Appendix 1D pg. 1564
22. LXXP (Septuagint) Fouad Inv. 266 renders the divine name by the Tetragrammaton written in square Hebrew characters 49 times in identified places in Deuteronomy. In addition, in this collection the Tetragrammaton occurs three times in unidentified fragments, namely, in fragments 116, 117 and 123. This papyrus, found in Egypt, was dated to the first century B.C.E.
23. In the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures — With References, 1984, p. 1565, the translators state: "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." (Italics added.)
24. Smith's Bible Dictionary for "Jah": "“Jah” means Jehovah - Jah: the abbreviated form of Jehovah, used only in poetry."
25. American Standard Version, Preface, paragraph 8; Awake!, 22 April 2005, p. 6
26. The standard lexicographical work of the Greek language indicates that the basic meaning of the word as used by Greek writers of three or more centuries before Christ (Homer, Thucydides, Xenophon, Herodotus) was an "upright pale or stake" or a "pile" driven in to serve as a foundation, but indicates that by the first century before Christ it meant "cross" in the writings of Diodorus Siculus (c. 90 - c.27 B.C.) and that this is the meaning in Matthew 27:40 (see Liddell and Scott: Template:Polytonic.
27. John Denham Parsons - The Non-Christian Cross. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "STAUROS denotes, primarily, an upright pole or stake...Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pole, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two-beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea (Babylon), and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name)...By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross piece lowered, was adopted..."
28. Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (1993) Chap. 27 p.611 subheading Translation Into Other Languages.
29. 1987 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 10
30. See Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, 2003, The New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, accessible from this site, which quotes a number of scholars regarding alleged theological bias of the New World Translation.
31. Metzger, Bruce M, The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, The Bible Translator 15/3 (July 1964), pp. 150-153.
32. Rowley, H.H., How Not To Translate the Bible, The Expository Times, 1953; 65; 41
33. BeDuhn, Jason D. Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2004
34. Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, p.163
35. http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/john/john1.htm
36. http://www.watchtower.org/bible/joh/chapter_001.htm
37. New World Translation w/ References, App. 6A
38. Dr. BeDuhn, Truth In Translation (ISBN 0761825568), Pg.132: “A lexical (“interlinear”) translation of the controversial clause would read: “And a god was the Word.” A minimal literal (“formal equivalence”) translation would rearrange the word order to match proper English expression: “And the Word was a god.” The preponderance of evidence, from Greek grammar, from literary context, and from cultural environment, supports this translation, of which “the Word was divine” would be a slightly more polished variant carrying the same basic meaning.”
39. Wallace's NET Bible, John 1:1 ft.3 - “From a technical standpoint, though, it is preferable to see a qualitative aspect to anarthrous θεός in John 1:1c (ExSyn 266-69). Translations like the NEB, REB, and Moffatt are helpful in capturing the sense in John 1:1c, that the Word was fully deity in essence (just as much God as God the Father). However, in contemporary English “the Word was divine” (Moffatt) does not quite catch the meaning since “divine” as a descriptive term is not used in contemporary English exclusively of God”
40. Interestingly, the Greek Orthodox Bible comments on John 1:1, 2: "This second theos could also be translated ‘divine’ as the construction indicates a qualitative sense for theos. The Word is not God in the sense that he is the same person as the theos mentioned in 1:1a; he is not God the Father (God absolutely) or the trinity. The point being made is that he is of the same uncreated nature or essence as God the Father, with whom he eternally exists. This verse is echoed in the Nicene Creed: “God (qualitative or derivative) from God (personal)… True God from True God… homoousion with the Father”.
41. http://www.watchtower.org/e/20050915/article_02.htm
42. NWT w/ References App. 6a
43. Bill Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek, Pgs. 27-28
44. New World Translation, John 1:18
45. Kingdom Interlinear Translation, John 1:18
46. Truth in Translation pg. 117, While this may be true of anarthrous theos in the genitive or dative cases, two forms that freely dispense with the article in a number of uses, it is not the case for anarthrous theos in the nominative case, the form used in John 1:1c.”
47. NWT w/ References App. 6a
48. Greek Grammar, Beyond the Basics, page 290: "The history of NT studies involves many ironies. One has to do with the syntax of the article: On the one hand, Colwell's rule, as applied to John 1:1, has been played as a trump card by Trinitarians in many christological debates, even though the rule really says nothing about the definiteness of theos. Indeed, an examination both of pre-verbal anarthrous predicate nominatives and of the Christology of the Fourth Gospel strongly suggest a qualitative force to theos (a view which affirms the deity of Christ just as strongly but for different reasons)."
49. Metzger, Bruce M, The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, The Bible Translator 15/3 (July 1964), pp. 150-153.
50. A Closer Look at the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, The Jehovah's Witnesses Bible, North American Mission Board SBC, 2000. The New World Translation is not unique in refraining from publishing the names of its translators. But it is unique in keeping the names anonymous upon separate request, and it is also unique by not going on record stating its translators’ credentials to translate ancient biblical languages into modern English.
51. Spencer M, The New World Translation: God's Word?, Spiritwatch Ministries
52. The Watchtower, September 15, 1950, p. 320. Specifically the New World Translation Committee did not want their names published.
53. Franz R, Crisis of Conscience, Third Edition, 2000. Raymond Franz was a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body from October 1971 to May 1980. (pp. 30-32) He names Frederick Franz, Nathan Knorr, Albert Schroeder and George Gangas as members of the New World Translation Committee. (p. 54) Raymond Franz was disfellowshipped by the Watchtower organization in 1981.
54. Gruss E, We Left Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974. Gruss quotes William Cetnar naming Frederick Franz, Nathan Knorr, Albert Schroeder, George Gangas and Milton Henschel as members of the New World Translation Committee. (pp. 70-75) During the period the NWT Committee offered its translation for publication the Watchtower organization acknowledges William Cetnar held a special appointment of great responsibility at its world headquarters. (See Watchtower Yearbooks 1952, p. 39 and 1958 p. 49) William Centar was disfellowshipped by the Watchtower organization.
55. The Watchtower, December 15, 1974, p. 768
56. A Closer Look at the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, The Jehovah's Witnesses Bible, North American Mission Board SBC, 2000
57. Walsh vs Honorable James Latham, Court of Session Scotland, 1954, cross examination of Frederick Franz pp. 87-88
58. Walsh vs Honorable James Latham, Court of Session Scotland, 1954, cross examination of Frederick Franz p. 88
59. University of Cincinnati transcript of Frederick W. Franz. Franz failed to earn either a postgraduate or graduate degree. He took 15 hours of Latin, 21 hours of classical Greek, and a single 2-hour credit class in a course titled “The New Testament—A course in grammar and translation.” The Greek studied by Franz is a different system of grammar than biblical Greek.
60. Rowley H, The Expository Times, 1953; 65; 41

Further information

• New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures - online edition available from Watchtower Society official web site

Supportive

• Stafford, Greg: Jehovah's Witnesses Defended.
• Furuli, Rolf: The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation: With a special look at the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1999.
• Byatt, Anthony and Flemings, Hal (editors): ‘Your Word is Truth’, Essays in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1950, 1953), 2004.
• In Defense of The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
• The Coptic Evidence

Neutral

• BeDuhn, Jason: Truth in Translation - Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament
• The Names of God. Their Pronunciation and Their Translation. A Digital Tour of Some of the Main Witnesses.
• Tetragrammaton in the New Testament

Critical

• Robert Countess: Jehovah's Witnesses' New Testament: A Critical Analysis,
• NWT and the Deity of Christ - A table showing NWT changes to key Christological passages, written from an evangelical perspective
• Article critical of the Kingdom Interlinear Translation
• The New World Translation on Trial in the Watchtower's Own Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from January 2008
• 1950 books
• Bible versions and translations
• Jehovah's Witnesses literature