Where to Get a Jehovah's Witness Bible for Apologetics?

[landon13]

Hello all,

I have been studying lately up on Mormonism and apologetics against it and have amassed some copies of the Book of Mormon and the Mormon KJV. But I have recently been interested in looking at the Jehovah’s Witnesses version of the Bible to try and get a comprehension of their heretical beliefs as well to assist me in apologetics if (I mean when) they come knocking on my door.

I have not found any web form or any contact email address to ask them for a copy of their Bible as was easily found on the Mormonism website. I did find one form for a home Bible study request but that is not something I want to do.

Does anyone know how I could obtain a copy of the Jehovah’s Witness Bible (possibly both the new and old versions of it) obviously for free and with as little interaction with the JW missionaries as possible?

Thank yall!

 

[benjohnson]

Seems the Jehovah’s Witness have a downloadable copy here:

jw.org/en/publications/bible/

 

[dmar198]

Hello all,

I have been studying lately up on Mormonism and apologetics against it and have amassed some copies of the Book of Mormon and the Mormon KJV. But I have recently been interested in looking at the Jehovah’s Witnesses version of the Bible to try and get a comprehension of their heretical beliefs as well to assist me in apologetics if (I mean when) they come knocking on my door.

I have not found any web form or any contact email address to ask them for a copy of their Bible as was easily found on the Mormonism website. I did find one form for a home Bible study request but that is not something I want to do.

Does anyone know how I could obtain a copy of the Jehovah’s Witness Bible (possibly both the new and old versions of it) obviously for free and with as little interaction with the JW missionaries as possible?

Thank yall!

You could look for one at a used book store or a Goodwill, I’ve seen their bibles in those locations. Also, if you go to a Kingdom Hall on a Sunday morning, I’m sure someone will be there who you could ask for a copy from. I got mine from a Kingdom Hall and they were happy to give me one. Someone will probably ask you if you want to talk to someone about it or set up a “Bible study”, but you can always just politely decline.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

You could look for one at a used book store or a Goodwill, I’ve seen their bibles in those locations. Also, if you go to a Kingdom Hall on a Sunday morning, I’m sure someone will be there who you could ask for a copy from. I got mine from a Kingdom Hall and they were happy to give me one. Someone will probably ask you if you want to talk to someone about it or set up a “Bible study”, but you can always just politely decline.

You will want to use the downloadable copy from the JW.org website as what is currently available in used book stores will NOT be the latest update to their New World Translation.

In 2013 they released an entirely new update to their Bible with significant changes in favor of more traditional renderings. So unless you get a printed copy of this 2013 revision, I would stick to the PDF download as the changes, where they do occur, can be great.

However, having been a JW myself (and now a Catholic), I would recommend using the NRSV (Catholic edition) instead. The reason? The Witnesses are easily swayed by modern-sounding Bible versions, and even more so by ones that read far more smoothly than their own. The language in the NRSV is similar to the Witnesses but easier to understand, and you will be using a Church-approved edition in the process. The idea when talking to Witnesses is to do something “better” than they do (which is superficial, I know, but will go a long way in showing them that they don’t have the “best” and “easiest to understand” Bible–which is what they believe).

 

[Pepband_Mom]

Delson:

Are you familiar with WT approved Bible edited by Stephen Byington in “The Bible in Living English” where in traditional renderings of scripture are 180’s of the NWT?? I found one in the thrift store for a couple of bucks. A spot check of John 1:1 & other verses (especially ones bracketed in NWT) are correct. Looks like WT bought & published it because they liked “Jehovah” everywhere!

You compare the Byington next to the NWT & then to the Purple Greek Interlinear & it’s a real mess!

 

[Pepband_Mom]

Thrift stores, eBay & Amazon are great places to find WTBTS bibles.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

Delson:

Are you familiar with WT approved Bible edited by Stephen Byington in “The Bible in Living English” where in traditional renderings of scripture are 180’s of the NWT?? I found one in the thrift store for a couple of bucks. A spot check of John 1:1 & other verses (especially ones bracketed in NWT) are correct. Looks like WT bought & published it because they liked “Jehovah” everywhere!

You compare the Byington next to the NWT & then to the Purple Greek Interlinear & it’s a real mess!

Yes, Byington’s version seems to be a horse of a different color in the Watchtower library of offerings. You are correct that the entire text is more or less orthodox and that the only reason it seems to have been chosen for publication is for its use of “Jehovah” throughout the Old Testament.

However this version makes no headway with the Witnesses as they are able to compartmentalize that it is not their official translation. And few have read all the way through it let alone their own New World Translation. The same goes for their interlinear edition. There was a time when the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society was a “Bible society,” publishing various Bible versions and distributing them at cost–but they are no longer in that field. You used to be able to get a King James Version or other translations too from them. But all that has been abandoned or is being phased out as we speak.

When I was a Jehovah’s Witness I was puzzled by the fact that practically no one I knew read through these publications like Byington’s version or the Kingdom Interlinear. While a few owned a copy of the interlinear edition, almost none of them knew how to use it and admitted they saw no practical use for it. Fewer owned or even knew about the Byington edition. Except for myself and a few older ones, no one knew that the Watchtower Society published King James and American Standard Version Bibles.