Micah 5:2
Micah 5:22But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel— One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.
Jehovah's Witnesses acknowledge that refers to the Messiah's origin in Bethlehem but interpret "from ancient times" (NWT) as indicating that Jesus has existed for a very long time as a created spirit being — not that he is truly eternal. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus was the first creation of Jehovah, existing "from ancient times" in the sense of great antiquity rather than absolute eternity. They resist the implication that the Messiah shares Jehovah's eternality, maintaining a qualitative distinction between Jehovah's uncreated existence and Jesus' created pre-existence.
Protestants point out that the Hebrew word olam in is the same word used for Jehovah's eternality in — "from everlasting to everlasting, you are God." If olam means true eternity when applied to Jehovah, consistency requires the same meaning when applied to the Messiah. The NWT weakens "from everlasting" to "from ancient times" when the subject is Jesus, but preserves the full force of the word when applied to Jehovah. This is theology disguised as translation — the same Hebrew word receives different English renderings based solely on who it describes. Paired with (where the Messiah is called "Eternal Father," another olam reference) and (where the Spirit of Christ was active in the Old Testament prophets), contributes to a robust case for Christ's true pre-existence and eternality. The Messiah's origins are not merely ancient — they are from the days of eternity.
The NWT renders the Hebrew olam as "from ancient times" at , but as "everlasting" or "forever" when the same word applies to Jehovah (e.g. ). Major translations render as "from everlasting" (KJV), "from the days of eternity" (NASB), or "from ancient days" (ESV, NIV). The NWT's choice of "ancient times" softens the eternality claim, supporting the Watchtower doctrine that Jesus had a beginning. The inconsistent translation of the same Hebrew word based on the subject is a recurring pattern in the NWT.