Only a few days have passed since the revised New World Translation was released at the 129th Annual Meeting. But it looks like the first printing of this Bible (or “silver sword,” as some have nicknamed it) is already a limited edition.

Former Witnesses have found an error in the new Bible, ironically in the book of Numbers. The header to page 267 shows the page numbers going down from Numbers chapter 35 to Numbers chapter 33. The header should instead read “Numbers 32:37-33:22.” At the time of writing, this typo is also in the PDF version.

JWsurvey readers will remember Geoffrey Jackson’s grand unveiling of this new Bible, in which he suggested that Jehovah was responsible for the favorable weather conditions at Wallkill while it was being printed. If true, this would mean that Jehovah saw fit to manipulate the weather to speed up printing but somehow neglected to make sure Watchtower’s proofreaders were sufficiently scrupulous.

Though not a huge mistake by any stretch, the typo does highlight that Watchtower publications are not as error-free as many Witnesses are led to believe. It will also be a source of considerable embarrassment to Watchtower that they must now correct their newly-revised Bibles and begin a new print run – with thousands of the faulty Bibles already in circulation. Watchtower’s writing team will also likely want to double-check each page to see whether there are any similar errors lurking elsewhere.

And those English-speaking Witnesses fortunate enough to receive the first new Bibles now have evidence in their book bags that Watchtower’s proofreaders are not as meticulous as you would expect.

Further reading…