NWT from Greek/Hebrew into other languages?

by Counter-Watchtower 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  David_Jay

  Also, the NWT has a Hebrew edition of the New Testament, first published in S e l t e r s / T a u n u s (Germany) in 2012. They are presumably working on the Old Testament counterpart.

  That last part: "They are...working on the Old Testament counterpart."

  That is the most illogical, not to mention, money-wasting project I've ever heard of.

  How long have they been translating the Hebrew Scriptures into...Hebrew?

  How many years does it take for Jehovah's Witnesses to translate the Bible into a language that it already exists in and that is already accessible to Hebrew readers and speakers? Why would they spend money and years and effort to do it?

  How long does it take to translate a language into itself?

  I live in America, but do you know how much Hebrew I speak every day? Tons! Every single day! So do most Jews, in every country. We don't need a translation. We understand our own language.

  But, you're telling me that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, under the direction of the Governing Body, under the direction of Jesus from Heaven, taking direction from Jehovah, has been having translators translate the Hebrew Scriptures from Hebrew into Hebrew so there can be a New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures of the Hebrew Scriptures for Hebrew people whose first language is already Hebrew and, like most Jews, spent years in Hebrew school learning Biblical Hebrew?

  Really?

  That's like saying I will now translate this post from English into English so you can read a translation of English from English since you read English because the original is in English.

  Huh?

  Either you are not a reliable source and this is not happening, or you are reliable and the NWT translators are complete morons and wasteful.
  
  
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  Wonderment

  David Jay,

  I appreciate your response. You make some valid points.
  

  When I said: "Also, the NWT has a Hebrew edition of the New Testament, first published in S e l t e r s / T a u n u s (Germany) in 2012. They are presumably working on the Old Testament counterpart."

  The first part of the statement is a fact, no question about it. The second statement is not a fact, just speculation. I based my speculation on past WT trends of targeting completion of the Bible to include both the Hebrew and the Greek Scripture portions whenever feasible.

  Now, you mention some provocative points. First of all, Israel does not have many JW publishers in the country, so the WT would have to count on a larger target -- the diaspora of Jews worldwide. Still, it would be costly and time-consuming to engage in such a project (Biblical Hebrew to NWT OT Hebrew edition).

  To that, we would have to consider whether it makes sense to do so as you pointed out. If they were to engage in doing an adaptation from Biblical Hebrew to NWT OT Hebrew edition, it would pose many a challenge for any translator. You are so right about that. It may not make sense at all.

  A better guess, perhaps, for what the WT would or could do is to include their NWT NT Hebrew edition with the Hebrew Bible (OT) now extant within the pages of one volume, like they have done in the past with some languages, as someone here mentioned with the Tagalog language. Considering the WT is obviously going through some financial crisis, that would be a better option for them. What do you think?
  
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  David_Jay

  The Watchtower would not get permission, to begin with, to connect a copy of the New Testament to an already existing published Hebrew version of the Tanakh. Why?

  While Jews are not forbidden from reading or owning the New Testament, putting the books together like that would not be allowed by Jewish law. The combination creates the Christian canon, which was created by Christian church authority which Jews are not subject, nor is Jewish scripture.

  Next, all Jews already have a copy of the Hebrew text of the Scriptures. We have parts of it memorized, pray the psalms during the day, have portions nailed to our doorposts behind mezuzahs, have sections of it in our siddur (prayer book), have it in a giant scroll form in our temple of synagogue--we got more Bible in Hebrew than the Watchtower has in any language. Remember, JWs are just readers of the Bible compared to us. We're the people who wrote it.

  Third, most Jews want nothing to do with the New Testament or Jehovah's Witnesses because of what they are doing to us: proselytizing. Proselytizing is telling a people that their way of life is wrong, that their culture and identity is wrong and must be changed, that the way the express themselves must stop, and idemands in the name of religion that that they make changes or be destroyed (usually by God).

  If a Jew is to become a Witness, they would have to stop observing the Jewish Sabbath, Passover, Jewish men would have to stop wearing kippahs on their heads when they pray, most would have to shave their beards, and basically we would have to stop most of our customs and adopt Jehovah's Witness standards...which by the way are Western customs built upon paganism from our point of view.

  Without these things we would lose our cultural identity, and that would mean the destruction of the Jewish people if we all did that. That is why Jews see proselytizing as anti-Semitism. To us, and to many non-Jewish people, it is evil, as evil as the Holocaust.

  So the idea of producing such an item for proselytizing the Jews to make us non-Jews who no longer celebrate Jewish holy days, who no longer grow long beards, who no longer support a Jewish state, who no longer wear yarmulkes when praying...no, there is no difference between destroying us this way or destroying us via gas chambers and ovens.

  So my recommendation is to not even try and to separate yourself from any organization or group that believes a culture, any culture, should be totally altered in the name of some religion or God or face total destruction for refusing to do so.

  Sometimes swastikas come in the shape of watchtowers.
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  Wonderment

  David_Jay,

  Thanks for the insight on Jewish culture.

  You said: "The Watchtower would not get permission, to begin with, to connect a copy of the New Testament to an already existing published Hebrew version of the Tanakh. Why?

  While Jews are not forbidden from reading or owning the New Testament, putting the books together like that would not be allowed by Jewish law. The combination creates the Christian canon, which was created by Christian church authority which Jews are not subject, nor is Jewish scripture."

  Do you know of any instance of someone combining the New Testament together with the Old Testament for Jewish Christians?

  Also, I noticed there are a few New Testaments done by Jewish scholars. Would they object to combining the NT with the Hebrew cannon in one book outside of Israel?