Die Revision von 2013 änderte mehrere lehrmäßig bedeutsame Wiedergaben: Aus „Scheol“ und „Hades“ wurde „das Grab“ (englisch „the Grave“); neʹphesh und psy·kheʹ werden nicht mehr einheitlich mit „Seele“ wiedergegeben, sondern dem Sinn nach; und aus „gepfählt“ (englisch „impaled“) wurde „an einem Pfahl hingerichtet“ bzw. „an den Pfahl genagelt“ (englisch „executed on a stake“, „nailed to the stake“).
Claim ID claim-bible-2013-doctrinal-termsConcerns 2013Ausdrückliche Aussage
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: Die Organisation sagt, die älteren Wiedergaben seien in früheren Ausgaben beibehalten worden, damit die Leser sehen konnten, wie die Bibelschreiber die Ursprachenwörter verwendeten, und seien geändert worden, weil ein solcher Gebrauch „is not common in English“ (im Englischen nicht üblich ist) und weil in anderen Sprachen das Wort für „Seele“ „could give the impression that the ‚soul‘ is an immaterial part of man“ — den Eindruck erwecken könnte, die „Seele“ sei ein immaterieller Teil des Menschen. Zu „impaled“ sagt sie, das frühere Wort habe riskiert, „giving a wrong impression about how Jesus was executed“, also einen falschen Eindruck davon zu vermitteln, wie Jesus hingerichtet wurde.
2013 · Appendix A2 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“All adjustments in the Bible text were made prayerfully, carefully, and with deep respect for the fine work of the original New World Bible Translation Committee.”
The appendix lists the changes made in the 2013 revision: “long-suffering” to “patience”, “harlot” to “prostitute”, “fornication” to “sexual immorality”, “time indefinite” to “forever” and similar terms, “seed” to “offspring”, and “impale” to “executed on a stake” or “nailed to the stake” because Jesus “was not impaled with the torture stake”. It states that “Sheol” and “Hades” were “replaced with what was meant by the Bible writers, ‘the Grave’”, that neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ are no longer rendered uniformly as “soul”, and that the small-capital indicators for second-person plural were dropped, adding that “readers may consult earlier editions of this translation for this information”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), Appendix A2: Features of This Revision
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full appendix fetched from JW.org and read on 19 September 2026; quotation and the listed changes confirmed from the page text.
15. Dezember 2015 · pp.14-17 · pars. 2, 16, 17 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Over the years, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has been revised a number of times, but the 2013 revision was by far the most extensive. For example, there are now about 10 percent fewer English words in the translation.”
The article explains the revision term by term: “impaled” to “executed on a stake”, “lose conduct” to “brazen conduct”, “long-suffering” to “patience”, “loving-kindness” to “loyal love”, “seed” to “offspring” at Genesis 3:15, “kidneys” to “innermost thoughts” at Revelation 2:23, and “sons of Israel” to “Israelites”. On the text it says: “The original New World Translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text and the respected Greek text by Westcott and Hort,” and that the committee added words at 2 Samuel 13:21 from the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls, restored God’s name five times in First Samuel, and changed the order of ideas at Matthew 21:29-31, so that “some changes were based on the weight of manuscript evidence rather than on the strict adherence to a single master Greek text”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for The Watchtower (study edition), The 2013 Revision of the New World Translation
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; wording and page markers confirmed from the document.
15. Dezember 2015 · p.12 · pars. 10-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“So in September 2007, the Governing Body gave approval to revise the English text. Thousands of questions from Bible translators were reviewed during the revision process.”
The article explains that questions from translators working into other languages exposed problems in the English text: “approval was given” to render “Sheol” and “Hades” as “the Grave”, and “approval was given” to render neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ by sense rather than always as “soul”, because the older rendering “could give the impression that the ‘soul’ is an immaterial part of man”. It also states that the Governing Body “has given priority” to Bible translation because of the trend to omit the divine name.
A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/de/evidence/claim-bible-2013-doctrinal-terms/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.