17. How can a reader safeguard himself against a colored translation?

¹⁷ Just as the Bible students of ancient Beroea, Greece, searched the Scriptures daily to see whether the things preached by even such a person as the apostle Paul were Scriptural and thus true, so the reader of a modern translation can safeguard himself against religious coloration of a translation. How? By cutting through religious tradition and digging down to the original sources by means of all the modern helps that he has for this purpose, such as ancient language dictionaries, Bible concordances, the latest grammars on ancient tongues, etc. He can detect error by comparing Scripture verse with Scripture verse to note any inconsistencies in translation and then searching back to the original text, if possible.

18. So what does a translator need to serve God for salvation?

¹⁸ So a Bible translator needs more than mere religious fervor and honesty. He needs freedom from the religious traditions of influential, popular systems and from generally accepted pagan philosophies of this world. He needs to take the original writings of the inspired writers for what they say, in an effort to find, not the proof of modern religious teaching, but the “faith that was once for all time delivered to the holy ones”. Especially must he remember that the original Scriptures were inspired by God’s active force or spirit. He should therefore pray for that same spirit, not to inspire him, but to help and guide him in translating. For that spirit is “the spirit of the truth”, and God is more willing to give it to his spiritual children than an earthly father is to give good gifts to his natural children. (John 16:13, NW; Luke 11:13) The translator should not have in mind making a name for himself by having his name attached to the translation. He should be swallowed up in the desire to present the “pure language” of God’s truth in order that readers of his translation may call upon the name of God, whose name is Jehovah, and may join with people who speak other tongues and dialects in serving this one true God with one consent. In that way the translator serves God’s purpose and he works for his own salvation and that of those using the translation.

New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures

 1. How was the first written translation of Scripture accomplished?

THE first written translation of the Holy Scriptures was from the Hebrew canon into the common Greek and came to be known as the Greek Septuagint Version (LXX).a The disciples of Christ, who wrote in Greek, quoted from this version in their inspired writings. The Greek Septuagint began to be made in the beginning of the third century before Christ at Alexandria, Egypt, a large percentage of which was then Greek-speaking Jews. The Hebrews at Jerusalem had developed a prejudice against written translations of the sacred canon of the Scriptures, thinking them too holy to suffer from misinterpretation