---
title: John 14:14
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-14-14/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-14-14.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 14:14
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 14:14

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it."
- NWT (2013 revision): "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it."

## JW Usage

JWs teach that prayer belongs exclusively to Jehovah and that praying to anyone else constitutes idolatry. The NWT omits the pronoun "me" (Greek: με) from John 14:14, rendering the verse as "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it" rather than "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." This removes the implication that Jesus invites prayer directed to himself, aligning the text with the Watchtower's prohibition on prayer to Christ.

## Protestant Usage

The Westcott-Hort Greek text — the NWT's own stated base text — includes με (me) in John 14:14. The Kingdom Interlinear Translation faithfully reproduces this in the interlinear column, yet the NWT's main-text rendering omits it, following instead the Textus Receptus reading that the NWT elsewhere rejects. With "me" included, Jesus explicitly invites prayer addressed to himself. This is not an isolated proof-text: Stephen prays directly to Jesus at his death (Acts 7:59), Paul prays to Jesus three times about the thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:8), and John closes Revelation with a prayer to Jesus — "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). Paul describes the entire Corinthian church as "those calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:2), using the identical Greek phrase the Septuagint reserves for worshipping YHWH. The combined witness across multiple authors and contexts demonstrates that prayer to Jesus was standard early Christian practice, not an anomaly.

## NWT Issue

The NWT omits με (me) from its own Westcott-Hort base text. The KIT interlinear reads "If ever anything you should ask me in the name of me," yet the NWT main text drops "me," following the Textus Receptus — a text tradition it otherwise rejects. Including "me" would mean Jesus invites prayer directed to himself, which JW theology forbids. The ESV, NASB, NIV, and NRSV all retain "me." No major English translation agrees with the NWT's omission.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Call Upon the Name of the Lord Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/call-upon-name.md) — The OT worship phrase applied to Jesus [Deity of Christ]
- [Prayer to Jesus in the New Testament](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/prayer-to-jesus.md) — Acts 7:59, Revelation 22:20, 2 Corinthians 12:8 [Deity of Christ]
- [Come to ME — Direct Relationship with Christ](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/direct-relationship-with-god.md) — Matthew 11:28 / John 15:5 / 1 Timothy 2:5 — No organisation between you and the Saviour [Salvation]
- [Until Now You Have Not Asked in My Name](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john-16-23-26-prayer-trap.md) — John 16:23-26 — the unitarian collapse on prayer [Deity of Christ]