New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, “Appendix A2: Features of This Revision”
“The English verb “impale” was used in previous versions of this Bible in connection with the execution of Jesus. While this term could refer to the way that Jesus was nailed to the torture stake, it is more often used in reference to the ancient method of execution by running a sharp stake through the body and fixing the victim on it. Since Jesus was not impaled with the torture stake, this revision uses such expressions as “executed on a stake” and “nailed to the stake” with regard to the manner in which Jesus was fastened to the torture stake.”
The 2013 revision's own account of one change it made. The appendix sets out many vocabulary changes ('long-suffering' to 'patience', 'Sheol' and 'Hades' to 'the Grave', 'soul' rendered by sense) but says nothing about the removal of the 1984 edition's square brackets.
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Provenance and verification note for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, Appendix A2: Features of This Revision
Confidence note. Appendix A2 opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1722, 1723 and 1724 read from the page-number spans. I searched the whole appendix for the word 'bracket' and found no occurrence. Independent audit, 19 September 2026: the quotation previously stopped mid-sentence after “nailed to the stake” and closed with a full stop; the rest of the sentence has been restored.
Notes. Useful as evidence that the organisation does document its revisions — which makes the silence about the brackets worth noting, carefully and without imputing motive.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-nwtv-nwt-a2-impale