Matthew 5:5
Matthew 5:55Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
is a load-bearing JW proof-text for the "earthly hope" of the great crowd. "They will inherit the earth" is read as Jesus's own promise of paradise-earth life for non-anointed Witnesses. The heavenly destination of the 144,000 (, 5:10) and the earthly destination of everyone else () are taken to be two different promises to two different classes in the same sermon.
The Beatitudes are addressed to one audience receiving multiple blessings — not to two classes receiving different ones. The same disciples promised "the Kingdom of the heavens" in v. 3 are promised "the earth" in v. 5 and "reward in the heavens" in v. 12. Pair with (the promise to Abraham was to be "heir of the world" through faith — universal, not partitioned) and (the new Jerusalem descends to the new earth — heaven and earth merged in Christ's consummation). The "earth" here is covenantal land-promise language that includes, not excludes, the heavenly. The Watchtower has to read v. 5 in a single class and vv. 3, 10 in a different class to make the two-tier system work — but the text gives no warrant for the partition.
As at v. 3, the NWT renders makarioi as "Happy" — the systematic NWT pattern across the Beatitudes. "Mild-tempered" for praeis is unusual but defensible; standard English translations prefer "meek" or "gentle." The Beatitude's force is preserved either way. The "Happy" rendering remains the doctrinally relevant choice.