LIVING AS CHRISTIANS 2022: Week from December 12 to 18, Transcription of the video Achievements of the organization for the month of December.

LIVING AS CHRISTIANS: 12-18-December 2022, Transcription, of the video Achievements of the organization for the month of December.

Organizational Achievements (10 min.): Play the Organizational Achievements video for the month of December.

The governing editorial body takes the responsibility of translating God's word very seriously. As we will see in this report, thanks to the Bible translations made by the Witnesses, millions of people can read Jehovah's word in simple language that is easy to understand and that touches their hearts.

2021 was a historic year now the New World translation is available in full or in parts in much more than 200 languages, we review some important moments in the history of this translation.

In 1950 my mother was with her family at Yankee Stadium when Brother Knorr announced the publication of the New World Translation, it was an unforgettable occasion for them. Years later I understood very well why when I heard the recording of Brother Knorr's speech.

And now out of Jehovah's undeserved kindness I have the great pleasure of presenting to the international assembly the rise of the theocracy of Jehovah's Witnesses the New World translation of the Christian Greek scriptures

In fact, no wonder he said that it was his great pleasure to present the New World Translation. Brother Knorr was very happy to announce a translation that was not tainted by false religion and would return the Holy Name of Jehovah to its due place.

 And in addition to a version translated by Anointed brothers of Christ at that time in English most people used the traditional version the King James is, a version too outdated that used words that no one used and understood anymore, our new translation was much more clear. In addition, he returned the name of Jehovah to its due place no less than 7,000 times.

These problems were not unique to English, so we began producing the New World translation into other languages. It was an enormously complicated process and it took a long time in some languages, the New World translation took more than 20 years to complete, but everything changed when, starting in 1989, the governing body began to appoint groups of translators who were encouraged to advance the translation. of the 66 books and more than 31000 verses.

When a translator is informed that he has been appointed to work on a Bible translation team, he is overwhelmed. One of them said he couldn't even sleep until he had nightmares, it is a tremendous challenge to fully understand the meaning of each part of the text before he begins to translate it.

Imagine that you are trying to copy a recipe but you don't have the original ingredients, you have to use others and you still have to make it taste just like the original recipe. Translating the Bible is something very similar, you cannot use the original ingredients, the Hebrew and Greek words using the words of your own language, you have to manage to convey the same meaning and the same emotions as the original text.

The Governing Body knows that Translating the Bible is a great responsibility. So he gives the translators special training to help them and reassure them that Jehovah is with them and we start calculating how many questions have been submitted by Bible translation teams in the last 30-odd years, that's over 130,000 in answers. they are made available not only to the team that asked the question, but also to all languages ​​that are translating the Bible. This method of working made life easier for translators, but the Bible still needed to be translated into many more languages. 

The Governing body learned that some brothers were having particular problems in some languages, we learned of cases in which there was only one Bible that they have to share in a family, a group or even in a congregation, apart from that in some languages ​​and some new translations of the Bible that were available, but not only did they remove the name of Jehovah, but they did not change it to the name of any local God. That is why in 2004 the Governing Body made a decision to give a boost to the translation of the Bible so that more and more had the translation of the New World.

With the new instructions from the governing body translating the Bible took less time and then came the historic 2013 annual meeting. We are pleased to announce at this meeting that the work on this revision was recently completed and you won't have to wait for it here is the revised edition of the New World Translation, we are sure that this new application is the perfect complement to the Bible that you now have in your hands.

The revision text in English is easier because it does not focus so much on the words but on conveying the meaning of the originals and that helps the translators to do the same. Let's look at 1 Peter 5:2, I'm going to read from the older version of the New World Translation and the revised version will appear on the screen. "Shepherd the flock of God in his custody not under obligation but willingly." Did you notice the difference, the phrase serving as superintendent was added.

The New World translation didn't say that before, why? because in the Greek text that was used to prepare it, the word that translates as serving as overseers did not appear, but some time later he found an older copy of First Peter and that is how it contains the word, apparently the word had been deleted in some later fourth-century manuscripts, and what motive did they have for doing such a thing? Some experts have given a possible explanation in verse 1 Peter addresses the elders and then in verse 22 he calls overseers, which shows that the same person can be both elders and overseers.

The Catholic Church does not agree, for Catholics an elder is the equivalent of a priest but a much more important superintendent is the equivalent of a Bishop and for them a priest, a simple priest, cannot be a Bishop, when Catholic copyists they got to those two verses they must have thought that the church cannot be wrong. So he must be in the Bible and they took the word out.

But Jehovah's servants do notice a difference between what we believe and what the Bible says. We change our belief, we never change the Bible. 

I remember the exact moment when I realized that I had found the truth, and I remember thinking that Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth. So they must have the best Bible translation in the world and that was the first thing I asked for my own New World translation So now when I have the honor of presenting the New World translation in a new language and a happy face from The brothers quickly put me in their place, because that's how I felt. I love presenting the New World translation in another language. Sometimes it's very exciting because it seems that companies won't have time to deliver them during the speech. .

I remember that there were a couple of cases where the shipment of Bibles arrived just before the presentation speech. You can imagine the brothers were very happy, but when their copy was delivered they were even happier.

One day I went to Ghana to present the New World translation in the Ewe language, while we were traveling to the Assembly place along the way we came across some small stalls that were on both sides of the road, where they were trying to sell things to the brothers. .

Many sold Bibles because our brothers did not have the New World translation and I was so happy thinking that this was the last day that the brothers would be forced to buy lower quality Bibles, that day they will receive the New World translation. Every copy of the New World Translation printed or downloaded has the power to change lives.

Now it is more important than ever that we preach and teach the truth and Jehovah gives us everything we need. We have tools in hundreds of languages ​​that allow us to help people get to know Jehovah. heart, so the word of Jehovah continues to spread and gain strength in a Mighty way.