The Watch Tower Society has never published the names of the New World Bible Translation Committee. In 1950 it stated that the translators had asked to remain anonymous and ‘specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death’; the request is repeated in the 1993 Proclaimers history and the position is still stated on JW.org.
Claim ID claim-bible-translators-anonymousConcerns 15 September 1950Explicit statement
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation’s reason is that the work ‘is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men’ and that the translators ‘wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word’. JW.org contrasts a translation that ‘lists the names of over 70 people’ yet ‘omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether’.
15 September 1950 · pp.312-320 · par. 24 (p. 320) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“It is issued to glorify or memorialize the names of no men. Therefore the men who compose the translation committee have indicated their desire to the Society’s boards of directors to remain anonymous, and specifically do not want their names to be published while they are in life or after death.”
This is the article that introduced the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures to readers. It records that on 3 September 1949 at 8 a.m. the Society’s president convened a joint meeting of the boards of directors of the Pennsylvania and New York corporations and “announced to these eight fellow directors the existence of a ‘New World Bible Translation Committee’ and that it had completed a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”; that the committee submitted its foreword on 9 February 1950; and that the translation was released on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 August 1950 at Yankee Stadium during the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly, to an audience drawn from 72 lands.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The quotation is from paragraph 24, which falls after the page marker for page 320 in the page markers embedded in the document (span class=“pageNum”); the 3 September 1949 board meeting is on page 315 and the 2 August 1950 release at Yankee Stadium on page 316 of the same article (re-checked against the page markers on 19 September 2026; Raymond Franz independently cites "The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, pages 315 and 316" for the same board-meeting account).
1993 · pp.603-615 · footnote b to par. 22 (p. 608) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This translation was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication, with the request that the names of the translators never be published. They wanted all honor to go to Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word.”
The footnote is attached to the paragraph recording that Nathan H. Knorr first proposed a fresh translation in early October 1946, that work began on 2 December 1947, that “The complete text was carefully reviewed by the entire translation committee, all of them spirit-anointed Christians”, and that on 3 September 1949 Knorr told the boards of directors the committee had finished the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Provenance and verification note for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 27: Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word
Confidence note. Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the footnote wording and the page marker for page 608 were confirmed from the document’s own page markers.
19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“In contrast, the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.”
The page gives three reasons for the translation — use of God’s name, accuracy and clarity — and introduces the anonymity point by observing that “one Bible translation lists the names of over 70 people who in some way contributed to its production. Yet, this same Bible omits the name of the Author—Jehovah God—altogether!” It adds that the translation “is distributed without charge”, and states that as of 1 May 2026 it is available in whole or in part in the languages then listed.
Provenance and verification note for JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?
Confidence note. Page fetched from JW.org and read in full on 19 September 2026; wording confirmed. The date recorded is the access date because the page is undated; the page itself states its language list is current "As of May 1, 2026". The heading on the page reads "Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?" and the browser title "Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Their Own Bible? | FAQ"; cite the heading.
Notes. This is the organisation’s current, public statement of why the committee is unnamed: the contrast it draws is between naming translators and naming God.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-nwto-faq-jw-bible
A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-bible-translators-anonymous/. 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.