and destructibleness is given unusual prominence in the new Bible version in that it consistently translates the Greek word psy·cheʹ by the one word “soul” in the 102 occurrences of the Greek word. This proves to be, not bunglesome, but very revealing on how the clergy of Christendom have adopted and taught pagan falsehoods about the human soul instead of Christian truth.

15. How does the appendix show features about “soul”?

¹⁵ The Appendix groups the occurrences of the word psy·cheʹ under different headings to show that the soul is distinguished from the spirit and that live persons or creatures are themselves souls. For example, 1 Corinthians 15:45 (NW) reads: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” And 1 Peter 3:20 (NW) reads: “The patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” But concerning the human soul’s mortalness, hear Jesus’ further words: “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do a good deed or to do an injury, to save or to kill a soul?” (Mark 3:4; Luke 6:9, NW) Also: “Whoever seeks to keep his soul safe for himself will lose it, but whoever loses it will preserve it alive.” “He that is fond of his soul destroys it, but he that hates his soul in this world will safeguard it for everlasting life.” (Luke 17:33; John 12:25, NW; compare Joshua 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39; 11:11) “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death.” (Matt. 26:38; Mark 14:34, NW) And so with many other scriptures. But this Christian doctrine that our souls die and that the dead are unconscious and inactive is in full harmony with the comforting doctrine of resurrection.

Further Enrichment of Understanding

 1. How has the new translation been careful about the Greek verb?

ONE of the most important parts of speech of any language is the verb. It is doubtless the most difficult part of speech to master. To enrich our understanding of the Christian Greek Scriptures fully the translator must understand that complicated part of Greek speech, the verb. It has a number of voices and tenses and modes. A number of distinctions between all these were dying out with the passing away of the classical Greek and the prevalence of the common or koi·nēʹ Greek in the days of Jesus and his apostles. Yet the modern translator cannot afford to be careless and loose as to the exact shade of meaning of a verb. In Greek the verb tenses not only express the time of an action or state, but also the kind of action, whether starting out, or continuative, or repetitious, or completed at a certain point. Attention to such senses contained in the verb forms leads to a precise translation and a nicety of expression. To some readers it may look like a free translation rather than a literal one, but such is not actually the case. A brief consideration of some cases which show the attention that the New World Translation has given to the descriptive force of the verb will prove enlightening.

 2. What does it do with the historical present tense of the verb?

² It appears that, except in the book of