---
title: John 19:37
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-19-37/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-19-37.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 19:37
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 19:37

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "And, again, a different scripture says: 'They will look to the One whom they pierced.'"
- NWT (2013 revision): "And again, a different scripture says: 'They will look to the one whom they pierced.'"

## JW Usage

JWs read John 19:37 as the apostle citing Zechariah 12:10 to confirm that Jesus, sent by Jehovah, was pierced on the cross. The verse is treated as a fulfilment of an Old Testament prediction about the Messiah, with no overlap between Jehovah's identity and Jesus' identity — Jehovah is the speaker who foretold the piercing of his Son. The cross-reference apparatus in the NWT does point to Zechariah 12:10 but typically without surfacing the first-person Hebrew construction.

## Protestant Usage

John 19:37 is one of the most theologically loaded citation seams in the New Testament. The apostle quotes Zechariah 12:10 — but read Zechariah 12 as a unit. The speaker throughout chapter 12 is Jehovah (vv. 1, 4, 6, 9, 10). Verse 10 in the Hebrew reads "they will look upon ME, the one whom they have pierced, and they will mourn over HIM." The shift from "me" to "him" within a single verse is exactly what we would expect if the One speaking and the One pierced share Yahweh's identity but are distinct persons. John reaches for that verse to interpret the cross. Pair with Revelation 1:7 — "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him." The apostolic conclusion: when Roman soldiers pierced Jesus' side, they were piercing the Yahweh of Zechariah 12. On the doorstep, walk the Witness through Zechariah 12 from verse 1 in their own NWT, then to John 19:37, and ask the gentle question: when was Jehovah pierced?

## NWT Issue

The NWT 2013 renders Zechariah 12:10 as "they will look to the One whom they pierced" and John 19:37 as "they will look to the one whom they pierced" — flattening the Hebrew first-person construction ("they will look upon ME, the one they pierced") into a third-person antecedent. Standard English translations (ESV, NASB, KJV) preserve the "me… him" shift in Zechariah 12:10 that the NWT smooths out. The change muffles the Christological force: a verse where Yahweh identifies himself as the pierced one becomes a verse where Yahweh speaks about a separate pierced figure. John's apostolic citation presupposes the Hebrew first-person reading.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [When Was Jehovah Pierced?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/zechariah12-pierced-yahweh.md) — Zechariah 12:10 / John 19:37 / Revelation 1:7 [Deity of Christ]
- [Every Title For Yahweh Is Given To Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/yahweh-titles-applied-to-jesus.md) — Isaiah 44:6 / Acts 4:12 / Romans 10:9 / Hosea 13:4 / Revelation 22:13 [Deity of Christ]