The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures

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DESCRIPTION (si pp. 320-327) Additional Details (Insight-2 pp. 1277-1278)

"It Is The Best Interlinear New Testament Available" (IN Defense of the New World Translation)

Why the Kingdom Interlinear of the Greek Scriptures was published and the benefits to students (IN Defense of the New World Translation)

The Kingdom Interlinear Translation and the Deception of "MacGregor Ministries" (Bible Translation and Study)

The Kingdom Interlinear Translation (Pastor Russell)

Advantages of the New World Translation: "Between-the-Lines" Translations of the Bible (Jehovah's Witnesses United)

Kingdom Interlinear Greek Scriptures (VIEW THE BOOK) (Community Books - Internet Archive)

Acts 5:29 - “obey” (Peitharchein)

Here is how peitharchein is translated at Acts 5:29 in most Bibles:

New International Version (©1984)
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!

New Living Translation (©2007)
But Peter and the apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than any human authority.

English Standard Version (©2001)
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

International Standard Version (©2008)
But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
Shimeon answered with the Apostles and said to them, “God ought to be obeyed more than men.”

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Peter and the other apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than people.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

American King James Version
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

American Standard Version
But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.

Bible in Basic English
But Peter and the Apostles, answering, said, We have to do the orders of God, not of man.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men.

Darby Bible Translation
But Peter answering, and the apostles, said, God must be obeyed rather than men.

English Revised Version
But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Weymouth New Testament
Peter and the other Apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than man.

World English Bible
But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.

　

(Compare Titus 3:1)

So, some anti-NWT critics claim that the NWT has falsely added “as ruler” to this scripture. But let’s examine what other authorities have to say about the word in question (peitharchein).

“We must (dei). Moral necessity left them no choice. They stood precisely where Peter and John were when before the Sanhedrin before (Acts 4:20). Obey (peitharchein). Old verb from peithomai and arche, to obey a ruler. Only by Luke and Paul in the N.T.” - Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, p. 65, vol. 3.

Peitharchein: “to obey (a ruler or a superior)” p. 497, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Thayer, Baker Book House, 1977.

“The term ‘obey’ (peithomai) is used twice in [Acts 5] verses 36 and 37; it picks up the related verb ‘obey a leader’ (peitharchein) in verses 29 and 32.” - Note for Acts 5:37 in Sacra Pagina, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 100, the Liturgical Press, 1992.

(All emphasis above was added.)

New World Translation:

“In answer Peter and the [other] apostles said: ‘We must obey God as ruler rather than men.’"  [emphasis added]

Why Does the New World Translation Bible Use the Words, "Time Indefinite" Where Other Bibles Read, "Forever"?

Why Does the New World Translation Bible Use the Words, "Time Indefinite" Where Other Bibles Read, "Forever"?

Other Bible translations are inaccurate when they translate the Hebrew word 'Oh lam (or "Owlam"; "Olam") as "forever."

Many lexicons and dictionaries will show that the explicit meaning of 'Oh lam is of an unknown length of time and not forever. It can be used of something that is to last forever but in itself the word can only imply eternity.

Jehovah's Witnesses accept the meaning of the word as given in standard Hebrew Lexicons. Here is what their reference work "Insight on the Scriptures" states:

"The Hebrew word 'oh lam carries the thought of indefinite or uncertain time. Lexicographer Gesenius defines it as meaning "hidden time, i.e. obscure and long, of which the beginning or end is uncertain or indefinite." (A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the OT, translated by E. Robinson, 1836, p. 746) Accordingly, expressions such as "time indefinite" (Ps. 25:6), "indefinitely lasting" (Hab. 3:6), "of old" (Gen. 6:4), "a long time ago," "of long ago" (Jos. 24:2; Pr. 22:28; 23:10), and "long-lasting" (Ec. 12:5) appropriately convey the thought of the original-language term. The word 'oh lam is at times associated with that which is everlasting...However, the Hebrew expression 'oh lam does not in itself mean "forever." It often refers to things that have an end, but the period of such things' existence can be said to be ‘to time indefinite' because the time of their end is not then specified." - it-2 pp. 1102-1103

The context and other parallel texts must be referred to in order to determine whether the sense of 'Oh lam is to be understood as eternity or just an indefinitely long period of time in any specific occurrence.

What Does the Hebrew Word 'Qanah' Mean at Prov. 8:22?

"Jehovah himself produced (qanah) me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago." (Prov. 8:22) NWT

The Hebrew word 'qanah', can mean either to "produce, aquire, create" or "possess". Context is key in finding out which one it means.

Many Bible commentators agree that the Son is referred to as wisdom personified here. (See: Does "Wisdom" at Prov. 8:22-30 refer to the Messiah, and does it say that he was created?; SFBT) Bibles which are biased toward the Trinity do not want to render it as "Produce" or something similar because that would mean that Jesus has a beginning, and that would contradict the Trinity doctrine.
 
Yet because the context of Prov. 8:22-31 so overwhelmingly supports the translation of the word 'qanah' as "create" (See: Prov. 8:22-30 "Wisdom" and Christ; Examining the Trinity), even scores of trinitarian bibles have decided to render it as such. Notice how these trinitarian Bibles reluctantly render qanah at Prov. 8:22):

(1) "[Jehovah] created me at the beginning of his work" - RSV;

(2) "[Jehovah] created me" - NRSV;

(3) "[Jehovah] made me" - MLB;

(4) "Yahweh created me" - JB; "Yahweh created me" - NJB;

(5) "[Jehovah] created me" - NEB;

(6) "[Jehovah] created me" - REB;

(7) "I was the first thing made" - ETRV;

(8) "[Jehovah] created me as the first of his creations" - Lamsa;

(9) "[Jehovah] created me first of all" - GNB;

(10) "[Jehovah] formed me as the first of his works" - AT;

(11) "[Jehovah] formed me first of his creation" - Mo;

(12) "Jehovah framed me first" - Byington;

(13) "[Jehovah] created me" - The Reader's Digest Bible;

(14) "[Jehovah] brought me forth as the first of his works" - The NIV Study Bible. It also explains in a footnote for Prov. 8:22: "brought...forth. The Hebrew for this verb is also used in Ge 4:1; 14:19, 22 (`creator')." - Zondervan, 1985;

(15) "[Jehovah] made me the beginning of his ways for his works" - The Apostles Bible;

(16) "[Jehovah] made me as the start of his way, the first of his works in the past. - BBE;

(17) "Yahweh created me first, at the beginning of his works" - Christian Community Bible;

(18) "[Jehovah] made me as the beginning of his way, the first of his ancient works" - The Complete Jewish Bible;

(19) "[Jehovah] made me at the beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago" - The Holman Christian Standard Bible;

(20) "[Jehovah] created me as the first of his creations, before all of his works. - Peshitta - Lamsa Translation;

(21) "[Jehovah] sovereignly made me—the first, the basic— before he did anything else." - The Message;

(22) "[Jehovah] created me as the beginning of his works, before his deeds of long ago." - NET;

(23) "I, wisdom, was with [Jehovah] when he began his work, long before he made anything else. 23 I was created in the very beginning, even before the world began." - New Century Version;

(24) "[Jehovah] created me as the first of his works, before his acts of long ago." - New International Reader's Version;

(25) "[Jehovah] made me at the beginning of His work, before His first works long ago." - New Life Bible;

(26) "[Jehovah] formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. - New Living Translation;

(27) "Jehovah created me in the beginning of his way, before his works of antiquity." - New Simplified Bible;

(28) "[Jehovah] created me as the head of His ways, to perform all of His works" - 2001 Translation.

For more, see:
Wisdom (Prov. 8:22-31) Links to Information

Rev. 3:14 - Does 'Arkhe' Mean "Beginning" or Does it Mean "Origin" or "Source"?

As the following will show, the Watchtower Society is correct when it says that when Jesus called himself "the beginning [Greek – arkhe/arche, arch] of the creation of God" - Rev. 3:14, KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB, NKJV, MLB, Douay, Byington, Rotherham, Lattimore, Lamsa, Phillips, Darby, Webster, etc. - he meant "the first thing created by God."

Some trinitarians, however, insist that the word arkhe (sometimes written in English as arche) here does not mean "beginning" but should be rendered "source" or "origin." (For an examination of the mistranslation for this word as "Ruler" here, see the Beginning, Wisdom, Firstborn study, starting with par. #4.)

So the real question is: Do the writers of the New Testament ever use arkhe to mean "source" or "origin"? And, more importantly, since John wrote Rev. 3:14, does John ever use arkhe to mean "source," "origin," or "ruler"?

The only NT word John has used when he intended the meaning of "beginning" is arkhe. (The only apparent exception to this is archomai (arkhomai) found at John 8:9 - see p. 139 in the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. However, even trinitarian scholars admit that this verse is spurious, not written by John but added by a later copyist! - [Jn 9:32 should be more literally translated "from of old".])

To say that John meant "origin" or "source" when he used arkhe at Rev. 3:14 ignores two important facts:

(1) Nowhere else does John use arkhe as "source," "origin," or "beginner."[See footnote #4] In the 23 times it is found in the writings of John (in the text used by the King James translators), it is always understood in the sense of "beginning" and is always so translated in the KJV. (And every time arkhe is found in the writings of John - 21 times in the text used by the NASB - it is also always translated "beginning" in that most-respected trinitarian Bible.) Here are all the uses of arkhe by John according to Young's Analytical Concordance: John 1:1; 1:2; 2:11; 6:64; 8:25; 8:44; 15:27; 16:4; 1 John 1:1; 2:7 (twice in KJV); 2:13; 2:14; 2:24 (twice); 3:8; 3:11; 2 John 5, 6; Rev.1:8 (KJV); 3:14; 21:6; and 22:13. Notice that the ASV, RSV, etc. also translate these as "beginning" or "first" (in time).

John consistently used arkhe to mean only "beginning." Since it is John's writing we are concerned with at Rev. 3:14, this is of utmost importance.[See footnote #5]

(2) If John had really intended to use a word for "origin," "source," or "beginner," he could have easily done so. As we will see later, there would have been no reason to use a word that he consistently and frequently used to mean only "beginning."

The Expositor's Greek Testament (trinitarian, of course) tells us that to understand Rev. 3:14 as meaning that Jesus is "the active source" of creation, instead of the first created person, one must interpret arkhe "as in Greek philosophy and Jewish wisdom-literature, = aitia or origin."

Isn't it odd that the Greek word actually used for this philosophical concept is aitia which can honestly mean "cause" or "source"? If the word actually used is aitia, why must one interpret arkhe with a similar meaning? Why wouldn't John have simply used the word aitia if that's what he intended?

The trinitarian theologian Albert Barnes says concerning the NT Greek word arkhe:

"The word properly refers to the commencement of a thing, not its authorship, and denotes properly primacy in time, and primacy in rank, but not primacy in the sense of causing anything to exist.... the word is not, therefore, found in the sense of authorship, as denoting that one is the beginning of anything in the sense that he caused it to have an existence." - Barnes' Notes on the New Testament, p. 1569. [See footnote #6]

We also see the highly respected BDAG admits the same for the use of arkhe (or arche) in Rev. 3:14.[See footnote #7]

Although there are other words which (more appropriately than arkhe) may be properly translated "source," "cause," "origin," etc., there is one word which is most frequently so used throughout the Bible in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. This word emphasizes the strong Biblical comparison between "creation" and "procreation." (E.g., "brought forth" at Ps. 90:2 is "begotten" in the original Hebrew and is paralleled here with "gave birth to the earth" - NASB.)

Only the Father is the Source of Creation

It is because of this common Bible metaphor that "father" was considered as synonymous (whether as "creator" or "procreator") with "source"! - See p. 190, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Baker Book House, 1984.

The famous Biblical Hebrew authority, Gesenius, tells us that "Father" means:

"Of the author, or maker, of anything, specially of the creator.... And in this sense God is said to be `the father of men,' Is. 63:16; 64:8; [etc.]. All these ... come from the notion of origin." - p. 2, Gesenius' Lexicon.

Trinitarian Robert Young in his Young's Analytical Concordance, p. 331, also shows this meaning for the Hebrew word ab, " ! : "Father, ancestor, source, inventor."[See footnote #8]

God's people have used "Father" synonymously with "source" or "origin" for thousands of years. When they wanted to use a word that denotes absolute "source" they most often used "Father."[See footnote #9] Obviously the Son is not the "source of creation" - his Father is! (And what could be more appropriate than the Father's very first creation being called his "Firstborn Son"?)

So John's (and Jesus' and all Bible writers') repeated use of the term "Father" for God stresses over and over that Jesus' Father (and our Father) is the ultimate source who, because of his will (Rev. 4:11) and his spoken command (Ps. 33:6, 8, 9; Ps. 148:5) caused (originated) all things to be made through the obedient efforts of his Firstborn Son, Jesus.

So we can see that the Father alone is the source and his first creation (the only direct creation by Him), His only-begotten son, is the channel through whom he caused all the rest of creation to be. "His son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through [dia] whom he made the world." - Heb. 1:2. "All things came into being through [dia] him.... The world was made through [dia] him" - John 1:3,10.

Notice how the strongly trinitarian NT Greek experts, Dana and Mantey, explain this scripture:

"`All things were made through him.' Jn 1:3. Here God the Father is thought of as the original cause of creation, and the logos [Jesus] as the intermediate agent." - p. 162, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament.

"For us there is but one God, the Father [compare John 17:1, 3], from [ex or ek, literally: `out of'] whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through [dia] whom are all things, and we exist through [dia] him." - 1 Cor. 8:6. Concerning this very scripture even the highly trinitarian The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology has to admit:

"in 1 Cor. 8:6 the function of God the Father as the SOURCE of creation is distinguished from Christ's role as mediator of creation." - p. 1182, Vol. 3.

Also see The NIV Study Bible footnote for 1 Cor. 8:6:

"See Heb 2:10. God the Father is the ultimate Source of all creation (Ac 4:24)."

The Encyclopedia of Religion states:

"God the Father is source of all that is (pantokrator) and also the father of Jesus Christ" - 1987, Vol. 15, p. 54.

It should be obvious to all that, if the Father is the source of creation and Jesus is the intermediate agent, then Rev. 3:14 cannot be calling Jesus the "source" or "origin" of creation!

For more, see:

NWT - Rev. 3:14 (Defending the NWT)

BWF - 'Beginning,' 'Wisdom,' and 'Firstborn' (Examining the Trinity)

Revelation 3:14 "...the beginning of the creation by God." (INDNWT)

"What Have Jehovah's Witnesses Witnessed?" - Where Does the Name "Jehovah's Witnesses" Come From?

Many people who wish to ridicule Jehovah's Witnesses often resort to asking the same old, childish question: "What Have Jehovah's Witnesses Witnessed?"

However, this question may prompt some to consider a legitimate and somewhat related question, "Where Does the Name "Jehovah's Witnesses" Come From?"

The key here is to understand exactly what "witness" means in this context.

According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, "the concept of witness [is used] both in the sense of witness to ascertainable facts and also in that of witness to truths, i.e., the making known and confessing of convictions." So a witness relates facts from direct personal knowledge, or he proclaims views or truths of which he is convinced.

So a "Witness" is someone that speaks publically about what he knows to be true. Of course no human has ever literally seen God (John 1:18), but Jehovah's Witnesses realize that God has asked his faithful servants to be His Witnesses and to tell others about Him:

"Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen;" (Isa. 43:10) - ASV

Isa. 43:10 also corresponds with Acts 15:14 where it says that God will turn "his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name." (NWT)

According to the Bible, the line of Witnesses of Jehovah reaches back to faithful Abel. Hebrews 11:4-12:1 mentions this line as a "great a cloud of WITNESSES surrounding us."

The Bible says that Jesus Christ was the foremost witness of Jehovah: "These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God." (Rev. 3:14) Considering the definition of "witness" mentioned above, Jesus said that it was his Father's name that he made manifest. (John 17:6)

For more, see:
How We Came to Be Known as Jehovah’s Witnesses (Pastor Russell)

Why does the New World Translation 'add' the words, within square brackets, "the angel of" at Zechariah 3:2?

All Bible translations add words to make the intended meaning of the original language clear to the readers of another language. Some Bibles indicate the added words in footnotes. Some, like the King James Version, frequently signifies these additions by italicizing such added words. The New World Translation usually indicates added words with brackets [ ].

In the case of Zechariah 3:2, the New World Translation is not the only Bible to add "the angel of" or its equivalent here.

A New Commentary on Holy Scripture explains their reason why:

"[v]2. the Lord. Read the angel of the Lord, as the speech that follows seems to require."- SPCK, London, reprint 1946 (1st pub.1928).

Another footnote, this one belonging to The Revised English Bible (1989) reveals why it reads at Zechariah 3:2 "The angel said to Satan." The footnote states: "3:2 angel: prob[able] r[ea]d[in]g, so Syriac; Heb[rew] LORD." (Additions in square brackets aim to aid in better understanding.)

This is similiar to what we can read in the footnote to this verse in the Reference Edition of the New World Translation (1984): "2* "The angel (messenger) of Jehovah," Sy[riac]; MLXXVg, "Jehovah."
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Other translations that render this passage the same way as the New World Translation:

"The angel of the Lord said to Satan," (Good News Translation)

"The angel of Yahweh said to Satan," (The Jerusalem Bible; Scroll down)
"And the angel of the LORD..." (New American Bible)

"The LORD rebuke you," the Angel of the LORD said..." (The Holy Bible, An American Translation; W.F. Beck)
"The messenger of Yahweh..." (vs.1) (The Emphasised Bible; J. B. Rotherham)
"Then [the messenger] of Jehovah..." (2001 Translation – An American English Bible)

"So the angel of the LORD said...." (The Bible, An American Translation; Powis-Smith and Goodspeed)