22. (a) What Greek text has attained wide acceptance? (b) As a basis for what English translations has it been used?

²² Westcott and Hort Text. A Greek master text that has attained wide acceptance is that produced by the Cambridge University scholars B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, in 1881. Proofs of Westcott and Hort’s Greek text were consulted by the British Revision Committee, of which Westcott and Hort were members, for their revision of the “New Testament” of 1881. This master text is the one that was used principally in translating the Christian Greek Scriptures into English in the New World Translation. This text is also the foundation for the following translations into English: The Emphasised Bible, the American Standard Version, An American Translation (Smith-Goodspeed), and the Revised Standard Version.e This last translation also used Nestle’s text.

23. What other texts were used for the New World Translation?

²³ Nestle’s Greek text (the 18th edition, 1948) was also used by the New World Bible Translation Committee for the purpose of comparison. The committee also referred to those by Catholic Jesuit scholars José M. Bover (1943) and Augustinus Merk (1948). The United Bible Societies text of 1975 and the Nestle-Aland text of 1979 were consulted to update the footnotes of the 1984 Reference Edition.f

24. To what ancient versions has the New World Translation also referred? What are some examples?

²⁴ Ancient Versions From the Greek. In addition to the Greek manuscripts, there are also available for study today many manuscripts of translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures into other languages. There are about 30 fragments of Old Latin versions and thousands of manuscripts of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. The New World Bible Translation Committee referred to these, as well as to the Coptic, Armenian, and Syriac versions.g

25. Of what special interest are the Hebrew-language versions that are referred to in the New World Translation?

²⁵ From at least the 14th century onward, translations of the Greek Scriptures into the Hebrew language have been produced. These are of interest in that a number of them have made restorations of the divine name into the Christian Scriptures. The New World Translation makes many references to these Hebrew versions under the symbol “J” with a superior number. For details, see the foreword of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures​—With References, pages 9-10, and appendix 1D, “The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures.”

For this reason, the Westcott and Hort refined Greek text is generally accepted as one of high excellence. The Christian Greek Scripture portion of the New World Translation, being based on this excellent Greek text, is thus able to give its readers the faithful “saying of Jehovah,” as this has been so wonderfully preserved for us in the Greek reservoir of manuscripts.​—1 Pet. 1:24, 25.

As shown on page 309 in the chart, “Sources for the Text of the New World Translation​—Christian Greek Scriptures,” all related documents have been drawn on to provide an accurately translated English text. Valuable footnotes back up all these faithful renderings. The New World Bible Translation Committee used the best results of Bible scholarship developed through the centuries in producing its fine translation.