Editing New World Translation (section)

== Features ==

The layout resembles the 1901 edition of the [[American Standard Version]]. The translators use the terms "Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures" and "Christian Greek Scriptures" rather than "Old Testament" and "New Testament", stating that the use of "testament" was based on a misunderstanding of 2 Corinthians 3:14.{{sfn|Chryssides|2009|pp=100}}<ref>Appendix 7E in the ''New World Translation'' reference edition</ref> Headings were included at the top of each page to assist in locating texts; these have been replaced in the 2013 revision by an "Outline of Contents" introducing each Bible book. There is also an index listing scriptures by subject.

Square brackets [ ] were added around words that were inserted editorially, but were removed as of the 2006 printing. Double brackets were used to indicate text considered doubtful. The pronoun "you" was printed in [[small capitals]] (i.e., <small>YOU</small>) to indicate plurality, as were some verbs when plurality may be unclear. These features were discontinued in the 2013 release. The ''New World Translation'' attempts to indicate progressive rather than completed actions, such as "proceeded to rest" in Genesis 2:2 instead of "rested". The 2013 release indicates progressive verbs only where considered contextually important.

=== Use of ''Jehovah'' ===
{{main|Jehovah}}
{{see also|Names and titles of God in the New Testament}}

The name ''[[Jehovah]]'' is a translation of the [[Tetragrammaton]] ({{langx|he|יהוה}}, transliterated as ''YHWH'', though the original pronunciation is unknown). The ''New World Translation'' uses the name ''Jehovah'' 6,979 times in the Old Testament.<ref>[http://www.jw.org/en/news/headlines/?v=2552828400#mid702013141 Revised ''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101144808/http://www.jw.org/en/news/headlines/?v=2552828400#mid702013141 |date=2013-11-01 }}. Accessed 14 October 2013.</ref> According to the Watch Tower Society, the Tetragrammaton appears in "the oldest fragments of the Greek Septuagint".<ref name=insight>''Insight on the Scriptures'', Vol. II p. 9, 1988; Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania</ref> In reference to the ''[[Septuagint]]'', biblical scholar [[Paul E. Kahle]] stated, "We now know that the Greek Bible text as far as it was written by Jews for Jews did not translate the Divine name by [[Kyrios]], but the Tetragrammaton written with Hebrew or Greek letters was retained in such MSS (manuscripts). It was the Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton by Kyrios when the divine name written in Hebrew letters was not understood any more."<ref>''The Cairo Geniza'', Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1959, p. 222</ref> However, according to professor Albert Pietersma, since pre-Christian times ''Adonai'' and the Tetragrammaton were considered equivalent to the Greek term ''kyrios''. Pietersma stated, "The translators felt no more bound to retain the tetragram in written form than they felt compelled to render distinctively Hebrew el, Elohim or Shaddai."<ref>''De Septuaginta: Studies in Honour of John William Wevers on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday'', Albert Pietersma, 1984, pages 98-99</ref> He also considers that old manuscripts containing the tetragram, like the [[papyrus Fouad 266]], "is evidence of a secondary stage."<ref>''De Septuaginta: Studies in Honour of John William Wevers on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday'', Albert Pietersma, 1984, pages 99-100</ref>

The ''New World Translation'' also uses the name ''Jehovah'' 237 times in the New Testament where the extant texts use only the Greek words ''kyrios'' (''Lord'') and ''theos'' (''God'').{{sfn|Gutjahr|2017|pp=655-656}}<ref>Bowman, Robert M. ''Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses.'' Grand Rapids: Baker Book House. 1991. p. 114</ref> The use of ''Jehovah'' in the New Testament is very rare, but not unique to the ''New World Translation''.<ref>Translations in English with similar renderings include ''[https://archive.org/details/aliteraltransla00unkngoog A Literal Translation of the New Testament ... From the Text of the Vatican Manuscript]'' (Heinfetter, 1863); ''[https://johnruffle.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/the_emphatic_diaglott.pdf The Emphatic Diaglott]'' ([[Benjamin Wilson (biblical scholar)|Benjamin Wilson]], 1864); ''[https://archive.org/details/epistlespaulinm01stevgoog The Epistles of Paul in Modern English]'' ([[George Barker Stevens|George Stevens]], 1898); ''[https://archive.org/details/epistlespaulinm01stevgoog St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans]'' (Rutherford, 1900); ''The Christian's Bible — New Testament'' (LeFevre, 1928) and ''The New Testament Letters'' ([[William Wand|Wand]], 1946).</ref> [[Walter Ralston Martin|Walter Martin]], an evangelical minister, wrote, "It can be shown from literally thousands of copies of the Greek New Testament that not once does the tetragrammaton appear."<ref>Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults Revised, Updated, and Expanded Anniversary Edition, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1997, p. 125.</ref> However, the translators of the ''New World Translation'' believed that the name ''Jehovah'' was present in the original manuscripts of the New Testament when quoting from the Old Testament, but replaced with the other terms by later copyists. Based on this reasoning, the translators consider to have "restored the divine name", though it is not present in any extant manuscripts.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Watchtower, August 1, 2008 | publisher = Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | year = 2008 | location = Brooklyn, New York | pages = 18–23 | url = http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008567 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Insight on the Scriptures|volume=2|page=267|chapter=Lord}}</ref>

=== Editions ===

In 1984, a ''Reference'' edition of the ''New World Translation'' was released in addition to a revision of the regular volume.<ref>"Announcements", ''Our Kingdom Ministry'', September 1988, p. 4</ref><ref>''Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom'', published by Jehovah's Witnesses, p.  614</ref> The regular edition includes several appendices containing arguments for various translation decisions, maps, diagrams and other information; and over 125,000 cross references. The reference edition contains the cross references and adds footnotes about translation decisions and additional appendices that provide further detail relating to certain translation decisions and doctrinal views.<ref>"Study—Rewarding and Enjoyable", ''The Watchtower'', October 1, 2000, p. 16</ref> The ''Reference'' edition is out of print as of the release of the 2013 revision of the ''New World Translation''.

==== ''Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures'' ====

The New World Bible Translation Committee included the English text from the ''New World Translation'' in its 1969 and 1985 editions of ''[[The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures]]''. It also incorporates the Greek text published by [[Brooke Foss Westcott|Westcott]] and [[Fenton John Anthony Hort|Hort]] in ''[[The New Testament in the Original Greek]]'' and a literal word-for-word translation.{{sfn|Paul|2003|pp=127}}<ref>''Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom'', published 1993 by Jehovah's Witnesses, "Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God's Own Sacred Word", p. 610</ref><ref>""Between-the-Lines" Translations of the Bible", ''The Watchtower'', November 15, 1969, p. 692.</ref>

=== Non-print editions ===

In 1978, the Watch Tower Society began producing recordings of the ''New World Translation'' on [[compact cassette|audio cassette]],<ref>''Our Kingdom Ministry'', September 1978, p. 3</ref> with the New Testament released by 1981<ref>''Our Kingdom Ministry'', October 1981, p. 7</ref> and the Old Testament in three albums released by 1990.<ref>''The Watchtower'', February 15, 1990, p. 32</ref> In 2004, the NWT was released on compact disc in [[MP3]] format in major languages.<ref>''Watchtower Publications Index 1986–2007'', "Compact Discs"</ref> Since 2008, audio downloads of the NWT have been made available in 18 languages in MP3 and [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]] formats, including support for [[podcast]]s.

[[File:NWT It-diskettes 1993.PNG|thumb|150px|left|A diskette edition of the NWT released in 1993]]
In 1983, the English [[Braille]] edition of the ''New World Translation''{{'}}s New Testament was released;<ref>''Our Kingdom Ministry'', August 1983, pp. 3–4</ref> the complete English Braille edition was released by 1988.<ref>''Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom'', published 1993 by Jehovah's Witnesses, "Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God's Own Sacred Word", pp. 614–615</ref> NWT editions have since become available in several [[Braille#Braille for other scripts|additional Braille scripts]].<ref>''[[Awake!]]'', November, 2007 p. 30</ref> Production of the NWT in [[American Sign Language]] began in 2006; the New Testament was made available by 2010,<ref>''2007 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses'', published by Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 21–22</ref><ref>[http://www.jw.org/apps/index.html?option=QBJrYBNQF Sign Language Connection on jw.org]</ref> and the complete ASL edition was released in February 2020.<ref>[https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/global/asl-bible-complete/ The Complete New World Translation of the Bible Is Available in ASL]</ref>

In 1992, a digital edition of the ''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References'' was released on [[floppy disk]]. Since 1994, the ''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References'' has been included in the ''Watchtower Library on CD-ROM''.<ref>"The Compact Disc—What Is It All About?", ''Awake!'', April 22, 1994, p. 23</ref><ref>''Our Kingdom Ministry'', September 2007, p. 3.</ref> Both editions of the ''New World Translation'' are available online in various languages and digital formats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/h/r1/lp-e |title=Watch Tower Online Library |publisher=Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society |access-date=2014-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/ |title=Online Bible-Jehovah's Witnesses: jw.org |publisher=Watch Tower Society |access-date=2012-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/ |title=JW Library APP-Jehovah's Witnesses |publisher=Watch Tower Society |access-date=2012-10-27}}</ref>
Since 2015, a ''Study Edition'' of the ''New World Translation'' has been gradually released online starting with the books of the New Testament, based on the 2013 revision with additional reference material.<ref>[https://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/study-bible/title-page-nwt/ JW.org, "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition)"]</ref>

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