Die Jehovah-getuies se New World Translation – ’n beoordeling

Abstract

This article evaluates the claim by the organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses that their translation of the Bible is the best existing translation, since it was not done from a certain religious tradition. It becomes clear that the translation does not comply with the guidelines for a tradition-free translation set by the translators themselves. These guidelines entail that it should be a modern understandable translation without archaisms; that it should be a correct translation, free of any dogmatic prejudice; that, for the sake of a pure translation, every important word should be given only one meaning and that two or more Greek words should not be translated with the same English word; that such a literal translation as possible should be done; that in the translation nothing should be added to or taken away from the Word of God. The translators of the New World Translation did not adhere to their own guidelines for translation in their version of the Bible, but they were bent on letting their own religious tradition speak through the translation. In addition, the translators were extremely poorly equipped for a translation of the Bible from the original languages.