Jehovah the God of Communication

NEED FOR A NEW BIBLE TRANSLATION

When early in the last century a small group  of diligent Bible students was appointed as "the faithful and discreet slave," much of their communication with the "domestics" was in English.  (Matthew 24:45)  That "slave" has put forth great effort to make spiritual food available in more and more languages; the number has now risen to over 700. Like Koine Greek in the first century, English has been a practical base language for translation because it is widely used as a language of commerce and education.  

The basis of the spiritual food is the Bible.  In the mid-20th century, the King James version of 1611 was the most widely used English Bible. However, the language in it was largely outdated. And God's name appeared only a few times  in the text, whereas ancient Bible manuscripts contained the divine name thousands of times. That version contained some translation errors as well as spurious verses that were not found in authoritative ancient manuscripts. Other available English Bible translations likewise had shortcomings. 

There was a need for a Bible that would accurately convey in modern speech the intent of the original writings. The New World Bible Translation Committee was formed, and over a ten year period from 1950 to 1960, their translation  was released in six volumes. When releasing the first volume on August 2, 1950, Brother N.H. Knorr told a  convention audience:  "More and more the need has been felt for a translation in modern speech, in harmony with revealed truth, and yet furnishing us the basis for gaining further truth by faithfully presenting the sense of the original writings; a translation just as understandable to modern readers as the original writings of Christ's disciples were understandable to the simple, plain, common, lowly readers of their day."  He expressed the hope that this translation would spread  its spiritual help to millions of people.

That hope was realized in a significant a way by 1963 when the New World Translation of the Greek Scriptures was produced in six more languages-Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. In 1989  the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses put in place a department at headquarters to facilitate Bible translation. Then in 2005, Bible translation was made a  priority for the languages in which this journal was produced. As a result, the New World Translation in now available in whole or in part in over 130 languages.

As time passed, it became evident that the English edition of the New World Translation needed to be updated to reflect changes  in the English languages. On the weekend of October 5 and 6, 1013, an audience of 1,413,676 in 31 countries attended or were tied in to the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All were thrilled to hear a member of the Governing Body announce  the release of the revised New World Translation in English. Many were moved to tears as the attendants passed out copies of the revised Bible. As the verses were read from the revised text, the audience discovered that the rendering of God's Word into English has never been better.  The following article will discuss details about this revision, as well as its translation into other languages.  

Next time: A Living Translation of God's Word

From The Watchtower magazine