Story Of The Text ...10
The utterly brazen gall of the so-called "translators" of the Jehovah's Witness (?) New World Translation (?) is apparent to a neophyte who will read and think; and it is easy to see why reputable scholars consider it unworthy of serious review. Yet, hundreds of "Witnesses" think this unknown committee (I have yet to find anyone who knows or will reveal their names, much less their qualifications) has given the world the truth of God.
When one reads JW literature he sees that their distinctive doctrines show an almost fanatical concern with the tetragrammaton calling God "Jehovah"; plus erroneous and sometimes childish arguments about the soul, eternal torment, the "kingdom," etc. They deny the "trinity" concept of God, saying the Son was "a" God, but not equal with God.
Now turn to their New World Translation (?) and note that footnotes, cross-references, appendix, AND THE TEXT ITSELF are tuned to suit their taste in these matters. It is the most arrogantly unscientific approach to "translation" (?) I have ever seen.
The word "Jehovah" is used 241 times in their N. T.; plus 72 more in the footnotes. I checked the 18 times they used "Jehovah" in Matthew, and in each case they reject such sources as the Sinaitic and Vatican mms. to receive such proofs (?) as translations from (what) Greek to Hebrew made in 1930:. A 19th. century Jewish scholar who decides to use "Jehovah" to translate the Greek "kurion"(Lord) certainly has no true critical weight against 4th. century manuscripts Yet about half of their footnote "authorities" are in this category.
JW doctrine decrees that the Son is not God (but is Michael the archangel) so Jn. 1:1 is translated "the Word was a god." They say it is "unreasonable" for the Word to "be with the God and at the same time be that same God." (As though divinity was subject to human "reason.") Titus 2: 15 is made to read "manifestation of the great God and of Our Saviour --If making two objects manifested instead of one "God and Saviour" as chief mms. and grammarians agree. A like effort to erase Christ as God is made in 2 Pet. 1:1 and elsewhere.
N.W.T. adds "Son" to Acts 20:28 to avoid God purchasing the church with "His own" blood. Of course Paul calls Jesus "God" in many other ways: Rom. 9:5, Col.1:15-20, Phil. 2:5-11, etc.; but the JW folk have tampered with these texts also.(In Col.2:9 they ignore a plain adverb "bodily" and make it "for the body"; albeit there must have been some twinge of conscience for they admit its adverbial form in the footnotes.
If you think I have been too hard on these so-called "translators" just spend a few days comparing their work with any standard text. Make note of each change, and see how these easily classify according to JW doctrines as published in Watchtower publications. I have but scratched the surface of this prejudicial "New World Translation" -- so unworthy of being considered a "translation" of God's word. There is something wrong with a tree that produces such fruit. (Matt.7: 15-f)