Psalms 90:2
Psalms 90:22Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
Jehovah's Witnesses cite ("From everlasting to everlasting, you are God") as a proof-text for Jehovah's unique eternality. They contrast this with their teaching that Jesus had a beginning as the first creation. The reasoning is that only Jehovah possesses the attribute of being "from everlasting to everlasting," whereas Jesus, though ancient, was brought into existence at some point before the rest of creation. This verse anchors the Watchtower's distinction between Almighty God (eternal, uncreated) and the Son (very old but created).
Protestants use as a consistency test for the NWT's handling of the Hebrew word olam (everlasting/eternity). In , olam describes Jehovah's eternality and the NWT translates it faithfully. But in , which uses the same Hebrew word to describe the Messiah's origins ("from the days of eternity"), the NWT weakens it to "from ancient times." If olam means true eternity for Jehovah in , consistency demands it means true eternity for the Messiah in . The NWT translates the same word differently depending on whether it applies to the Father or to Jesus — that is theology disguised as translation. Additionally, says Jesus is "before all things," echoing the same category of pre-existence described for Jehovah in — "before the mountains were brought forth." The parallel is deliberate: Jesus' eternality matches Jehovah's.