JW's release Bibles in 33 languages

Staff Writer | Friday February 5, 2021 14:00

One of many milestones in the 2020 translation work was reached earlier that year when Geoffrey Jackson, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s announced the completion of the first complete Bible in American Sign Language. Speaking at the release event in Florida, Jackson said: “As far as we know, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the first organisation or group of persons to release the complete Bible in sign language ... And probably that means it’s the first complete Bible in sign language in the world and in the history of mankind”.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been producing and distributing Bibles since the early 20th century. Over time, they acquired printing rights to the King James and the American Standard versions of the Scriptures, among others. In the 1940s, however the Witnesses began working on a translation into modern English.

A primary aim of their translation efforts has been the restoration of the name of God - Jehovah- to the more than 7,000 places in the Bible where other translators have substituted it with titles such as “Lord”.

Beginning in 1950, the New World Translation was released in instalments until the entire Bible was completed in 1961. Decades late, the New World translation continued to receive critical acclaim.

In 2003, Jason BeDuhn, a Professor of Religious Studies, noted in his book, Truth in Translation: “The New World Translation emerges as the most accurate of the nine translations compared”.

He went on to note: “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”.