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The Bible and the translation · Claim record

The organisation describes the 2013 revision as ‘by far the most extensive’ revision of the translation, with about ten per cent fewer English words than the previous edition.

Claim ID claim-bible-2013-revision-extentConcerns 15 December 2015Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 December 2015 Verified

The organisation describes the 2013 revision as ‘by far the most extensive’ revision of the translation, with about ten per cent fewer English words than the previous edition. The Watchtower (study edition), 15 December 2015New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), 2013

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower (study edition), “The 2013 Revision of the New World Translation”

15 December 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”

The article explains the revision term by term: “impaled” to “executed on a stake”, “lose conduct” to “brazen conduct”, “long-suffering” to “patience”, “loving-kindness” to “loyal love”, “seed” to “offspring” at Genesis 3:15, “kidneys” to “innermost thoughts” at Revelation 2:23, and “sons of Israel” to “Israelites”. On the text it says: “The original New World Translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text and the respected Greek text by Westcott and Hort,” and that the committee added words at 2 Samuel 13:21 from the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls, restored God’s name five times in First Samuel, and changed the order of ideas at Matthew 21:29-31, so that “some changes were based on the weight of manuscript evidence rather than on the strict adherence to a single master Greek text”.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and page markers confirmed from the document.

Corroborated by. src-nwto-nwtsty-a2-features

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-nwto-w-2015-1215-revision-2013

Primary JW publication Verified

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), “Appendix A2: Features of This Revision”

2013 · Appendix A2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“All adjustments in the Bible text were made prayerfully, carefully, and with deep respect for the fine work of the original New World Bible Translation Committee.”

The appendix lists the changes made in the 2013 revision: “long-suffering” to “patience”, “harlot” to “prostitute”, “fornication” to “sexual immorality”, “time indefinite” to “forever” and similar terms, “seed” to “offspring”, and “impale” to “executed on a stake” or “nailed to the stake” because Jesus “was not impaled with the torture stake”. It states that “Sheol” and “Hades” were “replaced with what was meant by the Bible writers, ‘the Grave’”, that neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ are no longer rendered uniformly as “soul”, and that the small-capital indicators for second-person plural were dropped, adding that “readers may consult earlier editions of this translation for this information”.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Full appendix fetched from JW.org and read on 19 September 2026; quotation and the listed changes confirmed from the page text.

Corroborated by. src-nwto-w-2015-1215-revision-2013

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-nwto-nwtsty-a2-features

Claim page

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