In Zechariah 12:10, Jehovah gives the following prophecy: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” (emphasis added)

So Jehovah is the one who will be pierced.

Yet in the New Testament, it is Jesus who was pierced at the time of his execution.

That would indicate that Jesus, as well as the Father, is Jehovah God.

That doesn’t accord with Watchtower theology at all, so in its Bible it deletes the word “me” altogether and renders Zechariah 12:10 this way: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of favor and supplication, and they will look to the one whom they pierced, and they will wail over him as they would wail over an only son; and they will grieve bitterly over him as they would grieve over a firstborn son.” (emphasis added)

The problem is that the word “me” is there in the original Hebrew.

An online Hebrew Interlinear Bible renders Zechariah 12:10 as follows:  “And I pour out on house of David and on one dwelling of Jerusalem spirit of grace and supplications and they look to me whom they stabbed and they wail over him as wailing over the only son and to grieve bitterly over him as to grieve bitterly over the firstborn.” (emphasis added)

The passage is very similar to Revelation 1:7-8, which the Watchtower itself renders as follows: “Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him. Yes, Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”

If I were a Jehovah’s Witness and someone confronted me with the Hebrew text of Zechariah 12:10, I would probably argue that the “piercing” of Jehovah is symbolic. I would cite the following passage in Luke 24:34-35: “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” I would add, “Of course, Mary wasn’t really pierced with a sword. In the case of Jehovah and of Mary, the phrase is merely used to symbolize sharp emotional pain.”

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Watchtower deliberately omitted something that is there in the Hebrew text because it doesn’t match its doctrine that only the Father is Jehovah God.