God's Word

**God's Word** is a heavenly form of communication that was given to inspire The Bible. His Word is also "The Mediator" (**μεσίτης** mesitēs), given by *The Mediator*, (John 1:1; 1 Timothy 2:5).

## The Word

THE eternal God created intelligent beings with whom to share life and happiness (Ps. 36:9; 1 Tim. 1:11). The apostle John referred to God’s first companion as “the Word” and “the beginning of the creation by God” (John 1:1; Rev. 3:14). God Jehovah (*See* Divine Name) communicated his thoughts and feelings to this firstborn Son (John 1:14, 17; Col. 1:15). The apostle Paul also spoke of ‘the tongues of angels,’ a heavenly form of communication superior to human language (1 Cor. 13:1).

## God listens

Jehovah has intimate knowledge of billions of intelligent creatures, earthly and heavenly. At any given moment, countless individuals may be praying to him in many languages. Not only does he listen to those prayers but he simultaneously gives direction to and communicates with heavenly beings. To accomplish this, his thoughts, language, and communication must be vastly superior to those of humans (Isaiah 55:8, 9).

## Inspired writings

Jehovah communicated with Adam in the garden of Eden. He later made his thoughts known to Hebrew-speaking Bible writers, such as Moses, Samuel, and David, who expressed their thoughts in their own words and style. Besides recording direct statements from God, they told of his dealings with his people, including accounts of their faith and love as well as those that revealed their failings and unfaithfulness. Their experiences are of great value for mankind today (Rom. 15:4).

## Language expansion

*See also*: Bible translations
God’s communication with humans teaches us that he communicates according to need and circumstances. He does not insist that we learn a specific language in order for us to get to know him or his purposes (Read Zechariah 8:23; Revelation 7:9, 10). Jehovah directed the inspiration of the Bible, but he allowed it to be presented in different styles.

God did not restrict his communication with humans to just Hebrew. After the Babylonian exile, Aramaic became the everyday language of some of God’s people. Perhaps to indicate what was to come, Jehovah inspired the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah and the priest Ezra to record portions of their Bible books in Aramaic—Ezra 4:8; 7:12; Jeremiah 10:11; and Daniel 2:4. Then after Alexander the Great conquered much of the ancient world, common Greek (Koine) Greek became an international language. This influenced the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, called the Septuagint.

## Preservation

Jehovah made sure that Jesus’ message was transmitted in Greek and, in time, in other languages. Later, Bible manuscripts were copied again and again by Jews and Christians, preserving the holy writings. These were translated into many more languages. John Chrysostom of the fourth/fifth century C.E. said that by his day, Jesus’ teachings had been translated into the languages of the Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, Ethiopians, and innumerable other peoples.

## Survival

Producing the Bible in many languages thwarted the efforts of such men as Roman Emperor Diocletian, who in 303 C.E. ordered that all copies of the Scriptures be destroyed. There were countless attacks on God’s Word and on those who translated and distributed it. In the 16th century, William Tyndale set out to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English, declaring to a well-educated man: “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest.” Tyndale had to flee from England to the European continent to translate and print his translation. Despite a campaign by the clergy to burn publicly all the Bibles that they could find, copies began to circulate in great numbers. Eventually, Tyndale was betrayed and was strangled and burned at the stake, but his Bible translation lived on. It was consulted extensively in the preparation of the widely distributed King James version of the Bible (2 Timothy 2:9).

## Integrity

There are surviving ancient copies of the Bible that contain minor mistakes and discrepancies. However, thousands of fragments, manuscripts, and ancient translations have been compared and painstakingly studied by Bible scholars. This study validated the contents of the vast majority of Bible passages. The few verses about which there is a degree of uncertainty do not change the overall message. A study of ancient manuscripts convinces sincere Bible students that they have what Jehovah originally inspired Bible writers to record (Isa. 40:8).

## Divine Name

JHVH (Ang), YHWH (Heb)

* **יהוה** (Heb), **YHWH**; (Ang) **JHVH**, four (tetra) letters (consonants), the Tetragrammaton of the Divine Name by which the personal name of God derives.
* **Jehovah** (Hebrew: יהוה, *Yahweh*), the translated personal name of God.
* **השם‎** (Heb), *HaShem*, meaning "The Name".
* **Almighty God** (Hebrew: אֵל שַׁדַּי‎‎ *El Shaddai*), a holy title for God.
* **God** (Hebrew: אלהים‎ ‎‎*Elohim*), a title for the Creator.
* **LORD**, or Master (Hebrew: אֲדֹנָי‎ *Adonai*, Greek: κύριος *Kyrios*), a title for God.

In the mid-20th century, the King James Version of 1611 was the most widely used English Bible. However, the language in it was largely outdated. And the God's name appeared only a few times in the text, whereas ancient Bible manuscripts contained the divine name thousands of times. That version contained some translation errors as well as spurious verses that were not found in authoritative ancient manuscripts. Other available English Bible translations likewise had shortcomings.

## God's name restored

There was a need for a Bible that would accurately convey in modern speech the intent of the original writings and restore the name of God—Jehovah. The New World Bible Translation Committee was formed, over a ten-year period (1950 to 1960), to restore a new translation. The first of six volumes was released on August 2, 1950. The volumes make up what is now the New World Translation available in whole or in part in over 130 languages, restoring God's name.

## Source

* WT (2015) 12/15, *Jehovah, the God of Communication*

1. ↑ **Mediator** (μεσίτης *mesitēs*),
 Strong's G3316,
 Jesus is a mediator of a new covenant between God (Jehovah) and mankind (Hebrews 8:6, 9:15; 1 Timothy 2:5)