The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures sets the Westcott and Hort Greek text, a word-for-word English rendering and the New World Translation side by side, and its publishers state that ‘Thus, the accuracy of any modern translation can be determined.’
Claim ID claim-bible-kit-purposeConcerns 1985Organisation's explanation
1985 · pp.5-6 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The word-for-word interlinear translation and the New World Translation are arranged in parallel on the page, so that comparisons can be made between the two readings. Thus, the accuracy of any modern translation can be determined.”
The publishers’ preface states the book’s purpose: to open up “what the original koi·neʹ Greek basically or literally says” for readers who cannot read Greek. It explains that the left column carries the Westcott and Hort Greek text of 1881, the interlinear the word-for-word English of 1969, and the right column the New World Translation in its 1984 revision, and it stresses that the interlinear rendering was not produced by copying the modern translation across: “So in many cases the reading in the English word-for-word interlinear translation is not the same as that found in the right-hand column.”
Provenance and verification note for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985 edition), By Way of Explanation
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and the page marker for page 5 confirmed from the document.
Notes. The organisation itself offers the interlinear as the yardstick by which its own translation may be tested — an invitation the site can fairly take up.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-nwto-int-1985-explanation
1993 · pp.608-610 · pars. 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation that embodied the benefits of the latest scholarship, one that was not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom, a literal translation that faithfully presented what is in the original writings and so could provide the basis for continued growth in knowledge of divine truth, a translation that would be clear and understandable to modern-day readers.”
The chapter gives the organisation’s account of why an existing translation would not do: most available versions “were made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects, and to varying degrees their translations were influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited from the past as well as by the bias of higher criticism”. It records that the committee completed its final reading of the fifth Hebrew Scriptures volume on 13 March 1960, “12 years, 3 months, and 11 days” after translation began; that the one-volume revised edition followed in 1961 and was distributed for one US dollar; that four further revisions were issued, the most recent in 1984 as a large-print edition with “125,000 marginal references, 11,400 enlightening footnotes, and a concordance”; and that the committee produced The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures in 1969, updated in 1985.
Provenance and verification note for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Confidence note. Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; all dates, figures and quoted wording confirmed from the text, with page numbers taken from the document’s embedded page markers.
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