Sunday, May 17, 2020

Acts 9:5 and 1 Corinthians 10:9 in J7: Two Examples of the New World Translation's Inconsistent Use of the J Documents:


The New World Translation used many J-Documents, that is, versions of the New Testament where the name Adonai (Heb: אֲדֹנָי) and/or the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) itself appears, which they use to justify “Jehovah’” appearing in the NWT New Testament. However, the NWT is very inconsistent in their use of such documents. One such example pertains to the use of J7 and Acts 9:5. Here is the description of J7 from The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1969):

J7

Greek Scriptures in Hebrew. In 1599 Elias Hutter of Nuremburg [sic], Germany, published his translation of all the Christian Greek Scriptures into Hebrew. This was the first complete Hebrew version of all the canonical Christian Greek Scriptures, forming a part of Hutter's Polyglott [sic] New Testament of 1599. (p. 29)

Hutter’s works is available online. Here is his Acts 9:5 in the Hebrew, where Jesus identifies himself as Adonai (substitution for Jehovah):



The Hebrew, when translated, would read:

And he said, “Who are you, my Lord?” And Jehovah said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”

So, we have Adonai being used directed to Jesus by Paul and the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) being used as a description of Jesus by the author of Acts in this text(!) However, the NWT does not render this instance of Adonai as “my Lord” nor is there any other hint that the one responding to Paul is Jehovah. This is how the 2013 NWT renders the passage:

He asked: “Who are you, Lord?” He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

This is one of the many inconsistencies found within the NWT vis-à-vis the J documents.

Interestingly, in Hutter’s polyglot for 1 Cor 10:9, in the Hebrew, the Israelites are said to have put “the Messiah,” not “the Lord” (per the NWT) to the test:



Why is this important? Paul is hearkening back to Num 21:4-7, where the Israelites are putting Yahweh/Jehovah to the test, resulting in serpents being sent to bite the children of Israel as punishment. According to 1 Cor 10:9, it was the premortal Jesus who the Israelites put to the test and punished as a result. Of course, in JW theology, only the Father is “Jehovah,” so again, there is inconsistent use of the J documents.