New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

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The New World Translation of Scripture ( NWT ) is a translation of the Bible published by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The New Testament section was released in 1950, as the Greek Christian Bible of the New World Translation , with the full Bible released in 1961; this is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. Although it was not the first Bible published by the group, it was their first original translation of the Hebrew Classical, Koine, and ancient biblical Aramaic texts. In October 2017, the Watchtower Society has published 222 million copies of the New World Translation in whole or in part in 164 languages.

Video New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

History

Until the liberation of NWT, Jehovah's Witnesses in English-speaking countries primarily use the King James Version . According to publishers, one of the main reasons for generating new translations is that most of the commonly used versions of the Bible, including the Authorized Version (King James), use the ancient language. The stated intention is to produce a new translation, free of archaisms. Moreover, for centuries since the King James Version has been produced, more copies of earlier manuscripts from the original Hebrew and Greek texts are available. According to the publisher, the evidence of a better manuscript has made it possible to more accurately determine what the original authors intended, especially in the less obvious. They say linguists better understand certain aspects of the original Hebrew and Greek languages ​​than ever before.

In October 1946, Watchtower Society president Nathan H. Knorr proposed a new translation of the New Testament, usually called Jehovah's Witnesses as the Christian Greek Scriptures . The work began on December 2, 1947 when the "New World Bible Translation Committee" was formed, consisting of Jehovah's Witnesses who claimed to be anointed. The Watchtower Society is said to have "become aware" of the existence of the committee a year later. The Committee agreed to submit its translation to the Society for publication and on September 3, 1949, Knorr held a joint meeting of the board of directors of New York and Pennsylvania companies at the Watchtower Society where he once again announced to the directors of his whereabouts. of the committee and that it can now print its new modern English translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Some translation chapters are read to directors, who then choose to accept them as gifts.

The Greek Christian Bible Translation of the New World was released at a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York, on August 2, 1950. The Old Testament translation, called by Jehovah's Witnesses as the > Hebrew Scriptures , was released in five volumes in 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, and 1960. Complete New World Translation of Scripture was released as a volume in 1961, and has since experienced small revisions. The cross references that appear in six separate volumes have been updated and included in full volume in the 1984 revision.

In 1961, the Watchtower Society began translating the New World Translation into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish; The New Testament in these languages ​​was released simultaneously in July 1963 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1989, New World Translation was translated into eleven languages, with over 56,000,000 printed prints.

Translator

The New World Translation was produced by the New World Bible Translation Committee, formed in 1947. The committee is said to have consisted of unnamed members of a multinational background. The committee requested that the Watchtower not publish the names of its members, stating that they did not want to "advertise themselves but let all the glory go to Scripture Writers, God," adding that the translation, "should lead the reader... to.. Jehovah God ". Publishers believe that "the privilege of a university [member of the New World Bible Translation Committee] or other educational training is not important" and that "the translation proves their qualifications".

The former high-ranking staff of the Watchtower has identified various members of the translation team. Former member of the governing body of Raymond Franz listed Nathan H. Knorr, Fredrick W. Franz, Albert D. Schroeder, George D. Gangas, and Milton G. Henschel as members of the translation team, adding that only Frederick Franz had sufficient knowledge in language- the biblical language.. Referring to the identified members, evangelical minister Walter Ralston Martin said, "The New World Bible translation committee does not have a translator known for a recognized title in Greek or Hebrew exegesis or translation... None of these people have university education except Franz, who left school after two years, never completed even a bachelor's degree. "Franz stated that he not only knew Hebrew, but also Greek, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, German and French for the purpose of Bible translation.

Translation Services Department

In 1989, the Translation Services Department was established at the worldwide headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses, overseen by the Writing Committee of the Governing Body. The purpose of the Translation Services Department is to speed up Bible translation with the help of computer technology. Previously, several Bible translation projects lasted for twenty years or more. Under the direction of the Translation Services Department, the translation of the Old Testament in a particular language can be completed within two years. During the period 1963 to 1989, New World Translation became available in ten additional languages. Since the establishment of the Translation Services Department in 1989, there has been a significant increase in the number of languages ​​where New World Translation is available.

revision 2013

At the Watch Tower Society's annual meeting on October 5, 2013, a revised translation has been significantly released. Many obsolete terms are replaced with modern English. The Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53 - 8:11) and the Short and Long Conclusion of Mark 16 (Mark 16: 8-20) - balanced from the main text in the previous edition - are removed. The new revision was also released as part of an application called JW Library .

Maps New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

Translation

According to the Watchtower Society, New World Translation tries to convey the desired meaning of the original language words according to the context. The New World Translation employs nearly 16,000 English expressions to translate about 5,500 biblical Greek terms, and over 27,000 English expressions to translate about 8,500 Hebrew terms. The translators state that, if possible in the target language, New World Translation prefers a literary translation and does not interpret the original text.

Textual base

The main text used to translate the Old Testament into English is Biblia Hebraica Kittel. The Hebrew texts, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and Biblia Hebraica Quinta, are used to prepare the latest version of this translation. Other works consulted in preparing translations include the Aramaic Targum, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Torah, the Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Masoretic Text, the Cairo Codex, the Aleppo Codex, the David Hebrew Christian Hebrew Text, and the Leningrad Codex..

• Representation of basic textual diagrammatics

The Greek master text by Cambridge University scholars B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort (1881) was used as a basis for translating the New Testament into English. The committee also referred to the Novum Testamentum Graece (18th edition, 1948) and worked by Jesuit Catholic Jesuit scholars JosÃÆ'Â © M. Bover (1943) and Augustinus Merk (1948). The United Bible Societies (1975) and Nestle-Aland (1979) texts were used to update footnotes in the 1984 version. Additional work consulted in preparing the New World Translation included the Armenian Version, Coptic Version, Latin Vulgate , Sixtine and Clementine Revised Latin Texts, Textus Receptus, Greek texts Johann Jakob Griesbach, Emphatic Diaglott, and various papyrus.

Other languages ​​

Translations into other languages ​​are based on English text, plus comparisons with Hebrew and Greek. The complete translation of New World Translation has been published in more than a hundred languages ​​or scripts, with the New Testament available in more than fifty additional languages.

When the Writing Committee approves the translation of the Bible into a new language, it refers to a group of baptized Jehovah's Witnesses to serve as a team of translators. Translators are given a list of words and phrases commonly used in English New World Translation with related English words grouped together (eg redeeming , redemption > or propitiation ). The list of language equivalents is then compiled. The Greek and Hebrew terms database is available if the translator has difficulty translating a paragraph. The term language is then applied to the text in the target language. Subsequent edits and translations are then performed to produce the final version.

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Features

The layout resembles the 1901 edition of American Standard Version . The translators use the terms "Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures" and "Christian Greek Scriptures" rather than "Old Testament" and "New Testament", which states that the use of "covenant" is based on a misunderstanding of 2 Corinthians 3:14. The title is inserted at the top of each page to aid in finding text; this has been replaced in the 2013 revision by "Outline of Contents" which introduces every book of the Bible. There is also a list of scripture indexes based on the subject.

The [] brackets are added around the words that are inserted editorialally, but are deleted in printing in 2006. Double brackets are used to indicate texts that are considered dubious. The pronoun "you" is printed in small capital letters (ie, YOU ) to denote plurality, as well as some verbs when plurality may be unclear. These features are discontinued in the 2013 release. The New World Translation tries to show progressive actions rather than the finished ones, such as "continue to rest" in Genesis 2: 2 instead of "resting". The 2013 launch shows progressive verbs only when deemed important contextually.

Usage Jehovah

The name Jehovah is the Tetragrammaton translation (Hebrew: ???? ?, Transcribed as YHWH ), although the original pronunciation is unknown. The New World Translation uses the name Jehovah 6.979 times in the Old Testament. The Watchtower Society noted that the Tetragrammaton appears in "the oldest part of the Greek Septuagint". Referring to the Septuagint , biblical scholar Paul E. Kahle stated, "We now know that the Greek Biblical text as far as the Jews wrote to the Jews does not translate the Divine name by Kyrios, but the Tetragrammaton written in Hebrew or Greek letters is stored in such MSS (manuscripts). The Christians who succeeded the Tetragrammaton by Kyrios, when the divine name written in Hebrew is no longer understood. "

The New World Translation also uses the name Jehovah 237 times in the New Testament where the remaining texts use only the Greek words kurios Tuan ) and theos ( God ). Walter Martin, an evangelical minister, writes, "This can be shown from thousands of copies of the Greek New Testament that never appear tetragrammaton." However, translators of the New World Translation believe that the name of Jehovah is present in the original New Testament text when quoted from the Old Testament, but replaced with another. term by later copyists. For this reason, the translators "restore the divine name", though not in the existing manuscripts.

The use of Jehovah in the New Testament is not unique to NWT; translations in English with similar renderings including Literal Translation of the New Testament... From the Text of the Vatican Text (Heinfetter, 1863); The Emphatic Diaglott (Benjamin Wilson, 1864); The Epistles of Paul in Modern English (George Stevens, 1898); St. Paul's letter to the Romans (Rutherford, 1900); The Christian Bible - The New Testament (LeFevre, 1928) and New Testament Letters (Stick, 1946).

Edition

The New World Translation is available as a standard edition, and the Reference edition. The regular edition includes several attachments containing arguments for various translation decisions, maps, diagrams and other information; and over 125,000 cross-references. The reference edition contains cross-references and adds footnotes about translation decisions and additional attachments that provide further details regarding specific translation decisions and doctrinal views.

Kingdom of Interlinear

The New World Bible Translation Committee included the English text of the NWT in the 1969 and 1985 editions of the Kingdom Interpretation Translation of the Greek Scriptures. It also incorporates the Greek texts published by Westcott and Hort in the New Testament in Native Greek and a literal word-for-word translation.

Non-print edition

In 1978, the Watchtower Society began producing NWT tapes on audio cassettes, with the New Testament released in 1981 and the Old Testament in three albums released in 1990. In 2004, NWT was released on compact discs in most MP3 formats. language. Since 2008, NWT audio downloads have been available in 18 languages ​​in MP3 and AAC formats, including support for Podcasts.

In 1983, the Braille English edition of the NWT New Testament was released; a complete Braille English edition was released in 1988. The NWT edition has been available in some additional Braille scripts. The production of NWT in American Sign Language began in 2006, with the complete New Testament available in 2010; signed language editions are also available for download.

In 1992 a digital edition of New World Translation of the Bible - With Reference was released on a floppy disk. Since 1994, the New World Translation of Scripture - Reference has been included in the Watchtower Library on CD-ROM , available only to baptize Jehovah's Witnesses. Both editions of New World Translation are available online in various languages ​​and digital formats.

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Critical review

Overview

In its review of Bible translations released from 1955 to 1985, The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary listed the New World Translation as one of the major modern translations.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia says about the NWT reference edition: "The Jehovah Witnesses [Bible translation] has an impressive critical tool.This work is remarkable except when scientific knowledge contradicts the accepted motion doctrine." It criticizes the lowly NWT of Kyrios as "Jehovah" in 237 examples in the New Testament.

Old Testament

Samuel Haas, in 1955, discussed the first volume of 1953 of the New World Book of the Hebrew Scriptures, in the Journal of the Biblical Literature, states that although "this work shows much effort and thought and a sizable scholarship, it is regrettable that religious bias is allowed to color many parts. "

According to the Watchtower Society, the Hebrew scholar Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, a professor emeritus at Haifa University, said in 1989: "In my linguistic research with respect to the Hebrew Bible and translations, I often refer to the English edition of what is known as Translation of the New World Thus, I find my feelings repeatedly assert that this [Old Testament] work reflects an honest effort to achieve the most accurate textual understanding possible... Providing proof of that command wide of the original language, it makes the original words into a second language understandable without straying unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew language.... Each language statement allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So linguistic solutions in certain cases can be open to be debated. But I never find in the New World Translation [Lam Appointment a] any biased intention to read something into the text does not contain ".

Regarding the use of English NWT in 1953 the first volume of NWT ( Genesis to Ruth ), Baptist Bible scholar Harold Henry Rowley criticized what he called "wooden literalism" and "harsh construction." He characterizes this as "an affront to God's Word," citing Genesis verses as an example. Rowley concludes, "From the beginning to the end of this volume [first] is a brilliant example of how the Bible should not be translated."

New Testament

Theologians and televangelists, John Ankerberg, accused translators of NWT translations in accordance with their "unbranded and unbiblical theology". John Weldon and Ankerberg cite some examples where they consider the NWT to support a theological view that overrides the appropriate translation. Ankerberg and Weldon quoted Julius R. Mantey, one of the authors of the Greek Grammar Manual and Greek Hellenistic Reader, who also criticized the NWT, calling it "a surprising translation."

Theologian William Barclay concludes that "the deliberate deviation of truth by this sect is seen in the New Testament translation... It is very clear that a sect that can translate such a New Testament is intellectually dishonest."

A 2003 study by Jason BeDuhn, a historian of religious studies, of the nine "most widely used Bibles in the English-speaking world," including the New American Bible, The King James Bible and New International Version , examines some parts of the New Testament where "biases are likely to interfere with translations." For each part, he compares Greek texts with translations of English translations, and seeks a biased attempt to change their meaning. BeDuhn reports that New World Translation is "unbiased-free", but appears "as the most accurate of translations", and thus "excellent translations," adding that "most of the differences are due to more accuracy great from NW as literal and conservative translations ". BeDuhn says that the introduction of Jehovah's name into the New Testament as much as 237 times is "an inaccurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy", and that it "violates the accuracy in favor of the preferred denominational expressions for God", adding that for NWT to gain wider acceptance and to prove that the translator may have to ignore the use of "Jehovah" in the New Testament. In a statement appearing on the Watchtower, BeDuhn said The Kingdom's Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures is "The best available Interlinear English Agreement" adds that "accurate and consistent" to the extremes that force the reader to reconcile with the linguistic, cultural, and conceptual divide between the Greek-speaking world and our own world. "

Edgar J. Goodspeed, a New Testament translator in American Language Translation , wrote in a letter to the Watchtower Society: "I am interested in your people's mission work, and the vast scope of the world, free, honest and powerful translations This shows a large series of serious learning, as I can testify. "

In his review in Andover Newton Quarterly Robert M. McCoy reports, "The New Testament translation is a proof of presence in the movement of qualified scholars to deal intelligently with many Bible translation problems One can question why translators living closer to the original meaning, as most translators do... In some instances, the New World Translation does not contain the parts that should be regarded as 'theological translations' This fact is very clear in passages expressing or implying divinity Jesus Christ. "

Former American Bible Society member Bruce M. Metzger concludes that "overall, a person gets a good impression of the translator's scientific equipment," but identifies instances where translations have been written to support the doctrine, with "some very erroneous renderings from Greece. "Metzger notes a number of" untenable "translation characteristics, including the use of" Jehovah "in the New Testament.

Unitarian theologian Charles F. Potter states of the NWT: "Apart from some semantic oddities such as translating the Greek word stauros, as" pegs "rather than" crosses ", and the daily use of everyday language that is often surprising and colloquially, an anonymous translator has of course made the best text, both Greek and Hebrew, with scientific ability and discernment. "

Religious writer and editor Alexander Thomson said of the NWT: "This translation is clearly the work of intelligent and intelligent scholars who have tried to bring up as much of the true meaning of the Greek text as can be expressed by the English language.. We sincerely recommend < i> The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures , published in 1950 by the Watchtower Society and the Watchtower Society. "

Thomas Winter, a Greek instructor at the University of Nebraska and former president of the Lincoln Unitarian Church, considers the English translation of the Interlinear Scriptures as "a very useful aid to Greek (and classical) Greek mastery", adding that the translation "completely up-to-date and consistently accurate."

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See also

• Bible translation by language
• the publication of Jehovah's Witnesses
• List of Watchtower publications

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References

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More information

Online edition

• New World Translation - Study Edition - Watch Tower Online Library
• Online Bible (1984 and 2013)

Support

• Stafford, Greg: Jehovah's Witnesses Defended . ISBN: 0-9659814-7-9
• 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. ISBN: 0-9659814-9-5
• Byatt, Anthony and Flemings, Hal (editor): ' Your Word is Truth', Essay in the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the New World Translation of Sacred Scripture (1950, 1953) , 2004. ISBNÃ, 0-9506212-6-9
• Coptic Evidence
• In Defense of the New World Translation in Wayback Machine (archived December 18, 2007)

Neutral

• BeDuhn, Jason: Truth in Translation - Accuracy and Bias in English translation of the New Testament ISBNÃ, 0-7618-2556-8
• The names of God. Their Pronunciation and Their Translation. Digital Tour for Some Main Witnesses.

Critical

• Metzger, Bruce Manning, Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ: A Bible and Theological Review (Theology of Today (April 1953), pp. 65-85).
• "New World Translation: What Scholars Really Say" (www.forananswer.org)
• Tetragrammaton in the New Testament
• Kenneth J. Baumgarten, Criticism of the New World Translation of Christian Greek Scriptures ' Treatment of Nine Text Hire ???? In Reference to Jesus Christ, South African Theological Seminary 2007.
• Robert Countess: Jehovah's New Testament: Critical Analysis , ISBNÃ, 0-87552-210-6

Source of the article : Wikipedia