John 14:14
John 14:1414If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it.
JWs teach that prayer belongs exclusively to Jehovah and that praying to anyone else constitutes idolatry. The NWT omits the pronoun "me" (Greek: με) from , rendering the verse as "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it" rather than "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." This removes the implication that Jesus invites prayer directed to himself, aligning the text with the Watchtower's prohibition on prayer to Christ.
The Westcott-Hort Greek text — the NWT's own stated base text — includes με (me) in . The Kingdom Interlinear Translation faithfully reproduces this in the interlinear column, yet the NWT's main-text rendering omits it, following instead the Textus Receptus reading that the NWT elsewhere rejects. With "me" included, Jesus explicitly invites prayer addressed to himself. This is not an isolated proof-text: Stephen prays directly to Jesus at his death (), Paul prays to Jesus three times about the thorn in his flesh (), and John closes Revelation with a prayer to Jesus — "Come, Lord Jesus" (). Paul describes the entire Corinthian church as "those calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (), using the identical Greek phrase the Septuagint reserves for worshipping YHWH. The combined witness across multiple authors and contexts demonstrates that prayer to Jesus was standard early Christian practice, not an anomaly.
The NWT omits με (me) from its own Westcott-Hort base text. The KIT interlinear reads "If ever anything you should ask me in the name of me," yet the NWT main text drops "me," following the Textus Receptus — a text tradition it otherwise rejects. Including "me" would mean Jesus invites prayer directed to himself, which JW theology forbids. The ESV, NASB, NIV, and NRSV all retain "me." No major English translation agrees with the NWT's omission.