---
title: Revelation 22:8-9
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-22-8/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-22-8.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 22:8-9
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 22:8-9

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> **8** And I am John, who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown me these things.
>
> **9** But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "Be careful! Do not do that!… Worship God."
- NWT (2013 revision): "Be careful! Do not do that!… Worship God."

## JW Usage

JWs cite the angel's refusal — "Be careful! Do not do that! I am only a fellow slave of you and of your brothers… Worship God!" — as the defining proof that proskuneō means religious worship reserved exclusively for Jehovah, and that any creature who accepts it commits blasphemy. The verse is one of the Watchtower's go-to texts for rejecting the worship of Jesus.

## Protestant Usage

This verse is the strongest possible vindication of Jesus' deity precisely because of how strict it is about worship. The angel refuses proskuneō and redirects John to God. So does Peter (Acts 10:25-26). Yet Jesus accepts proskuneō repeatedly and never once redirects: from the Magi (Matt 2:11), the leper (Matt 8:2), the ruler (Matt 9:18), the disciples after walking on water (Matt 14:33), the Canaanite woman (Matt 15:25), the mother of James and John (Matt 20:20), the women at the tomb (Matt 28:9), the eleven on the mountain (Matt 28:17), the healed blind man (John 9:38), and Thomas (John 20:28). The book of Revelation contains the worship- refusal scene in chapter 22 — and the joint-worship scene in chapter 5 where every creature in heaven and earth worships "the One sitting on the throne and the Lamb" forever and ever, with no rebuke. Same book, same author, same word: faithful angels refuse it; the Lamb accepts it. Either Jesus shares the divine identity or he committed the very sin the angel of Rev 22:9 explicitly condemns.

## NWT Issue

The NWT preserves the Greek faithfully here ("Worship God!" — at v.9 the NWT does render proskuneō as "worship") because the recipient is God. The asymmetry with the NWT's renderings at Matt 14:33, 28:9, 28:17, John 9:38, and Heb 1:6 (where the same Greek verb directed at Jesus becomes "do obeisance") is the entire point: the NWT cannot maintain its dual standard without surrendering this verse, and it cannot surrender this verse without making Jesus' acceptance of proskuneō indistinguishable from the angel-worship the verse forbids.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus Receives Worship](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/worship-of-jesus.md) — Hebrews 1:6 / Revelation 5:13–14 / Daniel 7:13–14 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Elohim Category Trap](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/elohim-category.md) — Psalm 82 — If Jesus Is 'a God,' Which Kind? [Deity of Christ]
- [The Law of Agency Doesn't Work](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/law-of-agency.md) — Agents Are Never Called God [Deity of Christ]
- [Thomas' Confession: My Lord and My God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john20-28-thomas.md) — John 20:28 [Deity of Christ]
- [Whose Angel Is It? — God and Jesus Both Claim Ownership](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/rev22-whose-angel.md) — Revelation 22:6 / 22:16 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Lamb Receives Identical Worship to God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/revelation5-lamb-worship.md) — Revelation 5:12-14 / Revelation 22:8-9 / Isaiah 42:8 [Deity of Christ]
- [Images Are Not the Problem — Worship Is](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/images-in-worship-protestant-response.md) — Numbers 21:8 / 2 Kings 18:4 / Exodus 25:18 [Practice]