The Watchtower Forgot to Check Their Footnotes

John 12:40 quotes Isaiah 6:10; I had heard that even the NWT notes this cross reference. When in a recent encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness, the man opened his NWT, and I saw that it truly was there, I was excited. (Apparently the NWT translators copied many cross references from another translation.) Here’s why: In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is taken to heaven where he sees the Lord in His glory being worshipped by angels.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’…Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying… ‘Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed’” (Isaiah 6:1–3, 8, 10).

John 12 gives an account of Isaiah communicating the Lord’s words, mentioning that the prophet saw Jesus’ glory.

“‘He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.’ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (John 12:40–41).

Even in the NWT, it is clear that Jesus is Jehovah/the LORD (not “a god”), and is worshiped by angels in heaven.