Appendix A1 of the 2013 revision states five principles: sanctify God’s name by restoring it; convey the inspired message accurately; translate literally where the target language allows; convey the correct sense where a literal rendering would distort or obscure; and use natural, easy-to-understand language.
Claim ID claim-bible-nwt-translation-principlesConcerns 2013Organisation's explanation
2013 · Appendix A1 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“A reliable translation must: Sanctify God’s name by restoring it to its rightful place in the Scriptures. . . . Accurately convey the original message that was inspired by God. . . . Translate expressions literally when the wording and structure of the target language allow for such renderings of the original-language text. . . . Communicate the correct sense of a word or a phrase when a literal rendering would distort or obscure the meaning. . . . Use natural, easy-to-understand language that encourages reading.”
The appendix sets out the translation philosophy the organisation says governed the New World Translation. It argues that a strict word-for-word rendering can mislead (giving “poor in spirit”, “to the spirit boiling” and the Hebrew word for “hand” as examples), that free paraphrase can distort, and that “doctrinal bias can easily color a translator’s work”. It also states that “Quite a number of Bible translators have taken the unjustifiable liberty of omitting God’s name, Jehovah, from modern translations even though that name is found in ancient Bible manuscripts,” and quotes the 1950 foreword: “We offer no paraphrase of the Scriptures. Our endeavor all through has been to give as literal a translation as possible, where the modern English idiom allows and where a literal rendition does not for any clumsiness hide the thought.”
Provenance and verification note for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A1: Principles of Bible Translation
Confidence note. The full appendix was fetched from JW.org and read in its entirety on 19 September 2026; the quoted wording was confirmed character by character against the page text. The page is undated; the year recorded is that of the revision whose appendix this is, as stated in Appendix A2 on the same site.
15 December 2015 · pp.9-13 · pars. 2, 6, 7 (pp. 9-11) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2013 revision of the New World Translation includes the name 7,216 times, which is 6 more than the 1984 edition. Five of the additional instances are found at 1 Samuel 2:25; 6:3; 10:26; 23:14, 16.”
The article states the three principles the committee set in the 1940s — sanctify God’s name, translate literally where possible but convey the correct sense where a word-for-word rendering would distort, and use easy-to-understand language. It also records a change in the meaning assigned to the divine name: the 1984 edition said the name means He “causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises”, whereas Appendix A4 of the 2013 edition says “it is not limited to what he himself chooses to become. It also includes what he causes to happen with regard to his creation and the accomplishment of his purpose.” A footnote to the new meaning adds: “Some reference works present this understanding, though not all scholars agree.”
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower (study edition), A Living Translation of God’s Word
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the issue was confirmed from the Online Library listing for the study edition of 15 December 2015 and page numbers from the document’s embedded page markers.
1 May 2008 · pp.18-22 · par. 17 (p. 21) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The translation committee judged that to render the best sense of these words according to the context was more important than to produce a strictly literal translation.”
The article classifies translations as interlinear, paraphrase or balanced, and places the New World Translation in the third category. It states that “the New World Translation uses nearly 16,000 English expressions to translate some 5,500 Biblical Greek terms, and it uses over 27,000 English expressions to translate about 8,500 Hebrew terms”, and warns that free translations “either insert their opinion of what the original text could mean or omit some of the information contained in the original text”.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower (public edition), How Can You Choose a Good Bible Translation?
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the issue was confirmed by locating the article in the Online Library listing for The Watchtower (public edition) of 1 May 2008, and page numbers taken from the document’s page markers.
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