---
title: Revelation 2:23
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-2-23/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-2-23.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 2:23
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 2:23

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): ""the one who searches the kidneys and hearts""
- NWT (2013 revision): "And I will kill her children with deadly plague, so that all the congregations will know that I am the one who searches the innermost thoughts and hearts, and I will give to you individually according to your deeds."

## JW Usage

JWs treat this as Jesus speaking to the congregations as Jehovah's appointed king — searching hearts in his judicial role. They do not connect the heart-searching language to Jeremiah 17:10 and the exclusivity of that divine attribute.

## Protestant Usage

Verse 18 names the speaker as "the Son of God". In verse 23 the Son of God says, "I am the one who searches the innermost thoughts and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds". That is verbatim Jehovah-language from Jeremiah 17:10 — "I, Jehovah, am searching the heart, examining the innermost thoughts, to give to each one according to his ways". Heart-searching is an exclusive divine attribute; the Son of God claims it for himself in identical terms. The Son shares the very prerogative the Watchtower says belongs to Jehovah alone.

## NWT Issue

The Greek nephros literally means "kidneys" — in ancient Hebrew and Greek thought, the kidneys were the seat of the deepest emotions. The NWT 2013 renders it "innermost thoughts" in the main text with "kidneys" relegated to a footnote. The translation choice is not itself the doctrinal issue; the doctrinal issue is that the Watchtower uses Jeremiah 17:10's heart-searching to argue for Jehovah's unique deity, then reads Revelation 2:23 — the Son using identical vocabulary — without noting that the Son has just claimed the same attribute.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus as Alpha and Omega](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/alpha-omega.md) — Revelation 22:12–16 [Deity of Christ]
- [Jesus Shared Jehovah's Glory](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john17-glory.md) — John 17:5 [Deity of Christ]
- ["Nor the Son" — and "You Are Aware of All Things"](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-knowledge-mark-13-32.md) — Mark 13:32 / Revelation 1:1 / Revelation 14:14-16 — what the Son didn't know, and what he did [Deity of Christ]