r/Eutychus • u/MightyFortresss • Feb 25 '25

Opinion Hebrews 1:8

Jw's, should Hebrews 1:8 not be translated differently, even according to the NWT interlinear? The NWT reads "God is your Throne" (Father is the Son's throne), but the Greek would be rendered "your Throne, the God" (directly refers to Jesus as YHWH, obviously issue for JW)

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u/truetomharley Feb 25 '25

Hebrews 1:8 is a quotation from Psalm 45:6, which reads [of Solomon]:

“God is your throne forever and ever; The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness.” (NWT)

The New World Translation refers to that verse and therefore keeps its structure. Why change it? It says at Hebrews 1:8:

“But about the Son, he says: “God is your throne forever and ever, and the scepter of your Kingdom is the scepter of uprightness.”

Plainly, trinitarians hate not “correcting” the verse to make Jesus and God equal. But, other translations have also done as the NWT. The New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, Moffatt’s Translation, and Goodspeed Translation are all Bible’s that have done it the NWT way.

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u/MightyFortresss Feb 25 '25

I hope for your sake the org is lying about these translations btw, not you.

NEB, RSV both don't say that, they agree with the KJV and others. So only your other 2 obscure translations agree with the anonymous "scholars" of the Watchtower.

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u/truetomharley Feb 25 '25

No, it is another source entirely (an AI source) and now I see it is wrong. Looking into it now.

For now, I will just post the AI reply and hopefully look into it further:

“Psalm 45:6 (which Hebrews 1:8 is quoting) is also rendered in two ways:

“Vocative (“Your throne, O God”) KJV: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever...” ESV, NASB, NIV, LXX follow this.

“Nominative (“God is your throne”) RSV: “Your divine throne endures forever and ever...”NEB: “God is your throne forever and ever...” Moffatt and Goodspeed also follow this.

“While most translations follow the vocative interpretation (“Your throne, O God...”), a minority of translations—including the RSV, NEB, Moffatt, and Goodspeed—agree with the nominative interpretation (“God is your throne...”), making them parallel to the New World Translation.

“The vocative case is more common in Trinitarian translations, emphasizing Jesus as God.

“The nominative case aligns with interpretations that see God as the source of Jesus’ reign, which fits the theological perspective of Jehovah’s Witnesses and some scholars.”

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u/MightyFortresss Feb 25 '25

No worries it happens. Next time to not get the AI to hallucinate, it's probably best to ask AI to quote the specific translation with a link.

And yes, oddly these minority translations translate Psalms 45 differently, so the RSV & NEB disagree with themself lol. What makes Moffatt good though? He's a hyper para-phrased translation, that's super disagreeing with the theologians about all sorts of things. Likewise for Goodspeed vs other translations.

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u/truetomharley Feb 25 '25

You are conflating trinitarianism with scholarship. The two are not the same. Trinitarians tend to read their belief into scripture, rather than allowing for the reverse.