JW’s use the New World Translation which they, and only they use. Why? Much of it has been changed to support their peculiar beliefs.
Just briefly scanning some a very few of the many “difficulties” with the NWT, one finds these examples:
1 -John 1:18 the NWT translates this verse as “No man has seen God at any time; the *only-begotten god who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained him.” The Greek reads (and is always translated) "the only-begotten
Son. The Greek word is “
uios”, which is son,
not “god”. Also, “bosom position” is quite reflective of their desire to lessen the status of the Son; i.e., He is in a “position” within the Father, not united in the Godhead.
2 - Luke 1:28 (the Angelic Salutation) - get this one!! - “Good day, highly favored one.” The Greek “
Chaire” is traditionally translated as “Hail” and is the same word with which the Roman soldiers taunted Our Lord: “Hail, King of the Jews!” I hardly think they said, “Good day”!! - but, believe it or not, this is exactly how tthe translators for the NWT translated THAT passage, too! I guess they get a star for being consistent on some occasions.
3- Compare the NWT translation of Luke 9:35 with 1 John 4:1 - In both verses the Greek reads “
'o agapetos”, i.e., “beloved”, but the JW’s only use 'beloved" in 1 John when John speaks to his “beloved”.
4 - In 2 Cor. 3:16-18 (and also 8:21), the NWT four times uses “Jehovah”, when the Greek uses “
Kyrion” - Lord.
5 - Gal. 2:20 - the NWT reads, “I am impaled with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that is living in union with me. Indeed, the life that I now live in flesh I live by the faith that is toward the Son of God. . .” Now without considering the error of “impaled” about which there are a number of Catholic sites that address the JW’s capricious belief that the Lord was impaled on a “torture stick”, in the Greek there is no mention of "in union with. . ", but rather of Christ living IN me. This is set up as a contrast to “in flesh” and “in me”. The JWs know nothing of the depth of indwelling of Christ (and of each Person of the Blessed Trinity) in the believer, of which St. Paul speaks. When skimming through the translation now, I noted that wherever “in Him” (or He in us) should be, it is, rather, translated as “in union with”.
6 - The last point above is reflected in their translation of Ephesians 3:19: “. . .and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may in everything be filled with all the fullness that God gives.” OTC, what we are to be filled with is the “fullness of God.” The JWs, again, do not know (or to give them the benefit of the doubt - can’t express) that His Gift is
Himself.
7 - This again is reflected in their translation of Col. 2:8-9: “Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ; because it is in him that all the fullness of the
divine quality dwells.” The Greek, otc, reads the “
pleroma tes Theotatos” - “fullness of the Divinity (or the Godhead) dwells”.
8 - The first chapter of Colossians is a prime example of their infidelity to the actual Greek text since to be faithful to the text would overthrow their belief about the nature of Christ. In vss. 13-30, which speak of all things being created through Christ, the JWs add to the text by using brackets, in this case the word “[other]”; e.g. vs. 16: “. . .because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth…” To the contrary, of course, St. Paul is saying that all things - Christ excluded! - were created in and through Him, the Christ. The JWs won’t have that since they insist the He, too, was created, though the first.
