---
title: Revelation 1:8
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-8/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-8.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 1:8
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 1:8

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "I am the Alpha and the Omega, says Jehovah God, the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty"

## JW Usage

Revelation 1:8 in the NWT becomes the Watchtower's strongest internal disambiguation: "Jehovah God" speaks the Alpha-and-Omega declaration. So when Jesus claims the same title in 22:13, the Watchtower argues, the speaker must have changed — Jesus cannot be the Alpha and Omega of 1:8 because that title belongs to Jehovah, his Father.

## Protestant Usage

The Greek text reads Kyrios ho theos — "the Lord God" — not "Jehovah God." The NWT has inserted "Jehovah" against the surviving Greek manuscripts at this exact point to block the Christological reading that 22:13 forces. Read in any standard English Bible: the Alpha-and-Omega speaker in 1:8 is "the Lord God" — and the same title is taken up by Jesus in 22:13, who self-identifies in 22:16 as "I, Jesus." The pattern is consistent: 1:8 Jehovah is the Alpha and Omega; 22:13 Jesus is the Alpha and Omega; 22:16 the speaker is Jesus. The Watchtower solution requires the 1:8 divergence to do all the load-bearing.

## NWT Issue

The NWT inserts "Jehovah" at Revelation 1:8 where the Greek text reads Kyrios ho theos ("the Lord God"). This is an NT YHWH- insertion against the surviving Greek manuscripts — no Hebrew vorlage exists for "Jehovah" in the New Testament, and the New World Translation Committee's J-references do not justify the change in any pre-Christian Hebrew witness. The insertion isolates the Alpha-and-Omega title from Jesus, who claims the same title in Revelation 22:13.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus as Alpha and Omega](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/alpha-omega.md) — Revelation 22:12–16 [Deity of Christ]