The New World Translation renders the Greek word Kyrios (Κύριος) with a variety of English nouns. In this appendix, all occurrences of Kyrios in the Greek text of the Christian Greek Scriptures are listed. (A Concordance to the Greek Testament by Moulton and Geden, which is cited in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation as J²⁰, was used to locate the Greek noun Kyrios. The Greek text is from Westcott and Hort as found in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation.) The English equivalent listed in the right-hand column is the translation as it appears in the New World Translation. Because of its special interest, this appendix has also included those instances in which Kyrios is translated as Jehovah in the New World Translation. By including all Kyrios words in this appendix, the student is able to compare the variety of English words employed by the translators.^[1]

[1] The New World Translation's use of multiple English words for the single Greek word Kyrios is interesting in light of the statement on page 7 of the New World Translation Reference Edition, which says,

    Taking liberties with the texts for the mere sake of brevity, and substituting some modern parallel when a literal rendering of the original makes good sense, has been avoided. Uniformity of rendering has been maintained by assigning one meaning to each major word and by holding to that meaning as far as the context permits. At times this has imposed a restriction upon word choice, but it aids in cross-reference work and in comparing related texts. [Emphasis added.]

    In spite of the apparent difficulty this variety brings to the translators' stated translation philosophy, the author feels that the use of words such as "owner," "master," and "sir," adds clarity to the Christian Greek Scripture illustrations and historical accounts. The terms "Master," and "Sir," when used by individuals addressing Jesus are appropriately used by the translators, and give breadth to the Gospel narration.

    In this appendix, the upper- and lower-case letters for Kyrios have been reproduced exactly as written in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation. (For example, Matthew 7:21 uses both Κύριε and κύριε.) The modern Greek text uses an upper-case (capital) letter for only a proper noun (a name) and the beginning of a quotation. Possessive forms are not indicated in the appendix. The 's (apostrophe s) has been omitted in all cases where it is used in translating Kyrios in the New World Translation. No precision would be gained by identifying this Greek word function, inasmuch as the English sentence may read either "the Lord's work," or "the work of the Lord." Both are appropriate translations. In the infrequent instances where a plural form of Kyrios is employed, the plural English form is given in the appendix. For examples, see Matthew 6:24 (which is written κυρίοις rather than κυρίω), 1 Corinthians 8:5 (which is written κύριοι rather than κύριος), or Revelation 17:14 (which is written κυρίων rather than κυρίου).

    Discounting capitalization, the noun identified in the English text as Kyrios is shown in this appendix with eight spelling variations (κύριος, κύριοι, κύριε, κύριοι, κυρίω, κυρίοις, κύριον, κυρίου, and κυρίων). (Take note in the table below that two grammatical functions use a similar spelling.) In the Greek language, the noun must agree with (or be identified by) its function in the sentence. This is achieved by spelling changes in the suffix (ending letters) of the word. Thus, each of the forms of the word Kyrios in this appendix is derived from the same root word in the Greek language, though the spelling is altered according to the grammatical function of the word in the Greek sentence. Only the noun functions of the root word Kyrios have been reproduced in this appendix. Related forms such as to lord [something] over, lordship, etc. have not been included. Only those grammatical forms which are included in this appendix are identified in the table. The following table is not comprehensive.

    The following list of references includes the total occurrences of the noun form of the word Kyrios (κύριος) as found in the Christian Greek Scriptures:

[2] Not all capitalized Lord citations refer to Jesus. The verse context must be considered. (For example, see Matt. 25:24.) The Gospels contain the greatest number of references wherein Lord is used of someone other than Jesus. Equally, the Gospels contain the largest number of lord citations in lower-case.

Information summary

[3] Initial capital letters for "Lord" (in both KIT and NWT) or "Master," and "Sir" (in NWT) do not necessarily indicate reference to Jesus. In a small number of cases, the word occurs at the beginning of a sentence (in English) or the beginning of a direct quotation (in Greek).    return