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Predictions and dates · Claim record

A printing of The Time Is at Hand dated 1914 already reads 'near the end of A.D. 1915' and 'will end in A.D. 1915' where the 1889 edition read 1914; a printing carrying the October 1916 foreword keeps the 1915 wording.

Claim ID claim-predictions-1914-edition-changed-to-1915Concerns 1914Outcome
Outcome · 1914 Verified

A printing of The Time Is at Hand dated 1914 already reads 'near the end of A.D. 1915' and 'will end in A.D. 1915' where the 1889 edition read 1914; a printing carrying the October 1916 foreword keeps the 1915 wording. Studies in the Scriptures, Series II: The Time Is at Hand, 1914 printing ('1,452,000 Edition'), 1914Studies in the Scriptures, Series II: The Time Is at Hand, later printing with Author's Foreword dated 1 October 1916, 1 October 1916

The organisation’s position or later explanation: Russell's 1916 foreword: 'Our mistake was evidently not in respect to the ending of the Times of the Gentiles; we drew a false conclusion, however, not authorized by the Word of the Lord.'

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

Studies in the Scriptures, Series II: The Time Is at Hand, 1914 printing ('1,452,000 Edition'), “Chapter IV, The Times of the Gentiles”

1914 · pp.99, 101 · C. T. Russell · International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn (copyright 1889 Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society)

“will be accomplished near the end of A.D. 1915. ... which will end in A.D. 1915, with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership”

Same two sentences as the 1889 edition, with 'by the end of A.D. 1914' altered to 'near the end of A.D. 1915' and 'will end in A.D. 1914' altered to 'will end in A.D. 1915'.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. OCR text of the 1914-dated printing opened; both altered sentences confirmed. A later printing (Digital Library of India scan, DLI 2015.173447, with the 1916 Author's Foreword) carries the same 1915 wording. I did NOT find any edition changing 'end' to 'begin' in these sentences; that specific claim is unverified.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive upload by Veillez.org (University of Illinois library copy; title page dated 1914). Public domain.

Corroborated by. src-sits2-1916-1001-foreword

Notes. The 1914 printing's 'Thirdly' item (p. 77) still reads 'some time before the end of A. D. 1914'; only pp. 99 and 101 and the chart were changed to 1915, so the revision was partial (confirmed by the independent source auditor).

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-sits2-1914-00-p99-p101-1915

Primary JW publication Verified

Studies in the Scriptures, Series II: The Time Is at Hand, later printing with Author's Foreword dated 1 October 1916, “Author's Foreword”

1 October 1916 · pp.i-iv (foreword) · C. T. Russell · International Bible Students Association

“The author acknowledges that in this book he presents the thought that the Lord's saints might expect to be with Him in glory at the ending of the Gentile Times. This was a natural mistake to fall into ... Our mistake was evidently not in respect to the ending of the Times of the Gentiles; we drew a false conclusion, however, not authorized by the Word of the Lord.”

Russell's own 1916 acknowledgement that the expectation of the Church's glorification by October 1914 was mistaken, while maintaining that the Gentile Times ended in 1914.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Foreword text opened in the DLI scan OCR; signature block 'Charles T. Russell, Brooklyn, N.Y., October 1, 1916' present.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive / Digital Library of India (State Central Library, Hyderabad copy; DLI catalogue date 1927). Public domain.

Corroborated by. src-jv-1993-00-p133-1874

Notes. OCR is noisy in places.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-sits2-1916-1001-foreword

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-predictions-1914-edition-changed-to-1915/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.