Biblical criticisms

See also: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures § Critical review

The Watch Tower Society has been criticized for its refusal to reveal the names and academic credentials of the translators of its *New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures* (NWT). The Society has claimed members of the NWT's translation committee wished to remain anonymous in order to exalt only the name of God, *The Watchtower* stating that the educational qualifications of the translators were unimportant and that "the translation itself testifies to their qualifications". Raymond Franz, a former member of the Governing Body, has claimed that of the four men he says constituted the committee, only one—its principal translator, his uncle Frederick Franz—had sufficient knowledge of biblical languages to have attempted the project. Frederick Franz had studied Greek for two years and was self-taught in Hebrew.

Much criticism of the NWT involves the rendering of certain texts considered to be biased towards specific Witness practices and doctrines. These include the use of "torture stake" instead of "cross" throughout the New Testament; the rendering of John 1:1, with the insertion of the indefinite article ("a") in its rendering to give "the Word was *a* god"; Romans 10:10, which uses the term "public declaration", which may reinforce the imperative to engage in public preaching; John 17:3, which used the term "taking in knowledge" rather than "know" to suggest that salvation is dependent on ongoing study, and the placement of the comma in Luke 23:43, which affects the timing of the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to the thief at Calvary.

Also criticized is the NWT's insertion of the name *Jehovah* 237 times in the New Testament without extant New Testament Greek manuscript evidence that the name existed there. Watch Tower publications have claimed that the name was "restored" on a sound basis, stating that when New Testament writers quote earlier Old Testament scriptures containing the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), "the translator has the right to render Kyrios ("LORD") as Jehovah." The NWT mentions twenty-seven other translations that have similarly rendered *Kyrios* as a form of the name *Jehovah*, stating that there is only one verse where the NWT does so without agreement from other translations.

The Society has claimed its translation "courageously restores God's name, Jehovah, to its proper place in the Biblical text, is free from the bias of religious traditionalism, and ... gives the literal meaning of God's Word as accurately as possible." Jason BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, Arizona, compared nine major translations for accuracy. He stated that whilst there are "a handful of examples of bias in the [New World Translation (NW)]", that "most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers." He also wrote that the NWT's introduction of the name "Jehovah" into the New Testament 237 times was "not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy". He concluded that "the NW and [another translation] are not bias free, and they are not perfect translations. But they are remarkably good translations ... often better than [the other six translations analyzed]." In his rebuttal, Thomas Howe strongly criticizes BeDuhn's positive review of the *New World Translation*, stating that the main goal of BeDuhn's book is to deny the deity of Christ.