<Tr> <Th> Copies printed </Th> <Td> 217,844,067 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Genesis 1: 1--3 (show) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . Now the earth was formless and desolate, and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep, and God's active force was moving about over the surface of the waters . And God said: "Let there be light ." Then there was light . Genesis 1: 1 in other translations John 3: 16 (show) For God loved the world so much that he gave his only - begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life . John 3: 16 in other translations </Td> </Tr> <P> The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society . The New Testament portion was released in 1950, as The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, with the complete Bible released in 1961; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses . Though it is not the first Bible to be published by the group, it is their first original translation of ancient Classical Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Old Aramaic biblical texts . As of January 2017, the Watch Tower Society has published 217 million copies of the New World Translation in whole or in part in more than 150 languages . </P> <P> Until the release of the NWT, Jehovah's Witnesses in English - speaking countries primarily used the King James Version . According to the publishers, one of the main reasons for producing a new translation was that most Bible versions in common use, including the Authorized Version (King James), employed archaic language . The stated intention was to produce a fresh translation, free of archaisms . Additionally, over the centuries since the King James Version was produced, more copies of earlier manuscripts of the original texts in the Hebrew and Greek languages have become available . According to the publishers, better manuscript evidence had made it possible to determine with greater accuracy what the original writers intended, particularly in more obscure passages . They said linguists better understood certain aspects of the original Hebrew and Greek languages than previously . </P>

When did the new world translation come out
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