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“Doug's scribblings”

New World Translation

During the early 1950’s, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society released its own translation of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures.

Much has been written about their motives and the resultant dubious renderings. Such critiques can today be readily accessed on the Internet.

I plan to provide some of the critiques written before the advent of the resources that the Internet now provides.

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Steven Byington produced his own translation of Scripture, which I am advised contains the name "Jehovah" somewhere. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society owns the rights to Byington's translation.
The Society first published its "Christian Greek Scriptures" ("New Testament") in 1950. Shortly afterwards, Byington provided the periodical "The Christian Century" with his review of their translation. In a rare piece of public correspondence the New World Translation Committee responded to Byington's review. Their response appeared in the May 9, 1951 issue of "The Christian Century" along with Byington's comments. In their response, the Translation Committee shows the high regard it held for Byington.
When the Society began releasing its "Hebrew Scriptures" (Old Testament), Byington provided a review for "The Christian Century", which appeared in its October 7, 1953 issue.
The attached file contains the three articles he wrote and the Society’s response to his first article.

Byington

I wrote the attached document during the latter 1970s and early 1980s, when personal computers were little more than glorified typewriters.
My intention was to consider the use of the name “Jehovah” in its translation of the Greek Scriptures (“New Testament”).

Witnessing the Name

The New Testament of the NWT is noted for its use of the word “Jehovah” within its text.

But the NWT is not consistent. It omits “Jehovah” from some verses in its NT where the OT being quoted does use the Tetragram (YHWH).

And some of its “J” sources use YHWH at some interesting places.

Translating with prejudice

In Appendices of translations of the Greek Scriptures (“New Testament”) the WTS provides a picture of a man attached to a single pole. This, they explain is the manner of Christ’s execution.

This picture, they explain, comes from the book De Cruce Liber Primus: “This is the manner in which Jesus was impaled” (Kingdom Interliner, page 1155.

This is not impalement, in which the instrument of death is forced up through the victim’s body.

Most important is the fact that the WTS totally misrepresents what Justus Lipsius wrote.

He actually provided a number of illustrations (see the attached file that you can download), showing several such methods of execution. Lipsius concluded his research by saying that the conventional cross, in which a crosspiece is attached to a pole, was the implement used in Christ’s death.

It does not matter if Lipsius was right or wrong. What matters is that the WTS deliberately misreported Lipsius and that it hides factual evidence from its followers.

If it does this with an non-essential matter, how does it behave with critically important matters?

Pictures from Lipsius de Cruce Liber Primus

Page 1157 of the Appendix to the WTS’s 1964 “Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures” concludes with “We have translated ‘stauros’ as ‘torture stake’. ... The passing of time and further archaeological discoveries will be certain to prove its correctness”.

At the same time as this was being written, Israeli archaeologists working in Jerusalem discovered the body of a young man who had been crucified.

The attached articles come from renowned archaeologists.

Aust Inst of Archaeology article on crucifixion

 

Archaeological Evidence for Crucifixion

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