I seem to be drawing a blank, but I can't recall what the the "accepted" translation for JW's was pre-NWT? If it was the KJ or one of the other translations favored by Christendom, how did the WTS work around the translation errors "corrected" by the NWT?...John 1:1, extensive use of Jehovah in NT, etc.?
What was the accepted translation before the NWT?
by tenyearsafter 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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PopeOfEruke
Wasn't it the Revised Standard edition? I think WT printed it, I don't know who came up with the translation.
I seem to remember a dark blue cover and maybe red page edges??
Pope
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PopeOfEruke
Or was it called the American Standard edition?
American Standard Version of the Holy Bible 1901
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society Edition
Ask bookseller a question | E-mail to a friend | Shipping rates & speeds
30 Day Return Guarantee]Price: $65.95 (AUD $ 95.23) - Bookseller: Sacred Works
- Seller Inventory #: 011323
- Format: Hardcover
- Book condition: Good
- Edition: Watchtower Bible & Tract Society Edition
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson & Sons
- Place: New York
- Date published: 1929
- Keywords: BIBLE ASV 1901 AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION TRANSLATION BIBLES TRANSLATIONS
Book Description
New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1929. This book was printed by Watchtower but the copyright is Thomas Nelson 1901/1929, and the translation has NOT BEEN TAMPERED WITH! This was the translation used by the JW prior to the publication of their New World Translation. John 1:1 in this one reads "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God! One possible reason for use by JW prior to the New World Translation is because the name YHWH is translated Jehovah in the ASV 1901. 1408 pages, double column, with 95 page concordance and 4 maps, SCARCE BLUE CLOTH cover with gilt lettering on front cover and spine , 4" x 6", The print is darker and larger than the tan colored hardcovers that we see more often, double column also a bit wider than the tan ones even though overall this one is slightly smaller than the tan covered HC copies. This is only the third copy of this edition we have seen in the last 30 years and a clean one.Very light soiling to page edge, sewn binding is in good condition, pages bright, crisp and clean, writing inside cover and first blank page, name written top of title page , tiny bit of marking 4 pages, binding is tight , otherwise book is very clean!. /// The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments, Translated out of the Original Tongues, being the version set forth A.D. 1611 compared with the most Ancient Authorities and Revised A.D. 1881-1885 / Newly Edited by the American Revision Committee A.D. 1901 / Standard Edition Scarce & Collectable Jevhovah's Witnesses edition in G+ condition!. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society Edition. Hard Cover. Good.
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WTWizard
I wonder if they once accepted the Catholic Douay Bible. I saw something that recommended people get one of those before the Not Well Translated version was released.
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tenyearsafter
Pope...my memory is starting to come into focus. I do remember the Revised Standard being used when I was a small fry. I recall part of the pitch during door to door work being that we would do bible study using any translation including the Douay.
WTW...I would think the fact that the Douay included the extra books of the apocrypha the WTS would not overly encourage its use.
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tenyearsafter
Pope...thanks for the info on the American Standard Version...didn't realize the WTS published it at one time. Though the translation used the name Jehovah supporting WTS teaching, it still would be interesting to know how the WTS handled interpretation of John 1:1, etc. using this translation.
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PopeOfEruke
Yes 10YA - I was too little at the time and I cannot recall how they handled John 1:1.
Probably just like the handle Rev. 19:1 now. Have it removed from the Index at the back of the green NWT and never ever mention it or discuss it.
They sure know how to trick, mislead and delude.
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Leolaia
As I recall, in 1940s the Watchtower magazine used the ASV but had a number of favorite renderings from other versions that they regularly used for controversial verses, which were then later reproduced in the NWT. Rather than quoting from an assortment of different translations, it may well have been thought to be more convenient to have a single in-house translation that follows the interpretive tradition already in place for such passages.
I'm not sure if that was what happened, but there are many signs that before the production of the NWT the Society was already leaning towards the renderings that it would later adopt in the translation.
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BluesBrother
We always used the King James Version at the meetings and in the F/S when I was small..If the NWT had been printed for the scripture we were using at meeting, it came out in volumes segmenting it, then we may read that as well at the meeting .
But the KJ version was used in F/S for the reason that it was the Bible that people knew and recognized..
Difficult verses were explained away as spurious or miss translated
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moggy lover
According to the testimony of my mum, the Watchtower followers in the early years evidently went through three phases:.
1 In the early years, prior to 1902, the Watchtower followers did not really do any mass evangelism, since this was considered the province of "colporteusrs" or full time reps of the Watchtower. These used the KJV, with Watchtower authorized "explanations" printed at the back like an innocuous appendix. This appendix/explanation contained the Watchtower Received Interpretations of texts such as Jo 1:1, 20:28, etc.
2 From 1902, the Watchtower followers used a sort of Hybrid Bible. They used the KJV for the OT, but stitched to it was the Emphatic Diaglott, the translation of the NT that Russel purchased in that year.
3 In 1944, the Watchtower purchased the printing rights to the ASV Bible, which naturally was better for than the KJV, since this version used "Jehovah" consistently in the OT. Now they carried a new kind of Hybrid Bible. It had the ASV OT, and neatly stitched into it was the ED for the NT.
About the only people who were pleased with this arrangement were the book binders who were kept busy keeping up with the changing light of the Watchtower. Nice little earner for some.
