Why was Matthew 17:21 removed from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures?

[Jack Ryan]

This came up on another thread:

 

[Meliae]

Appendix  3A in the NWT said the following;

"Greek Text: In the late 19th century, scholars B. F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort compared existing Bible manuscripts and fragments as they prepared the Greek master text that they felt most closely reflected the original writings. In the mid-20th century, the New World Bible Translation Committee used that master text as the basis for its translation. Other early papyri, thought to date back to the second and third centuries C.E., were also used. Since then, more papyri have become available. In addition, master texts such as those by Nestle and Aland and by the United Bible Societies reflect recent scholarly studies. Some of the findings of this research were incorporated into this present revision.

Based on those master texts, it is evident that some verses of the Christian Greek Scriptures found in older translations, such as the King James Version, were actually additions made by later copyists and were never part of the inspired Scriptures. However, because the verse division generally accepted in Bible translations was already established in the 16th century, the omission of these verses now creates gaps in the verse numbering in most Bibles. The verses are Matthew 17:21; 18:11; 23:14; Mark 7:16; 9:44, 46; 11:26; 15:28; Luke 17:36; 23:17; John 5:4; Acts 8:37; 15:34; 24:7; 28:29; and Romans 16:24. In this revised edition, those omitted verses are indicated by a footnote at the location of the omission.

[Giannis Diamantis]

Let's say that we remove Matthew 17:21. Do we have a more accurate bible text now?
And what about Mark 9:29? Even the most ancient manuscripts contain the word "prayer" .
So maybe only the word "fasting" must be removed !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bible_verses_not_included_in_modern_translations

[Giannis Diamantis]

[Meliae]

The phrase "by prayer" could be in context especially if we compare mark 9:29.

in vers 17 and 19 of Matt 17, Jesus speaks about faith. They needed faith when they would ask Jehovah to cast out demons or heal the sick. If we compare this with other scriptures like Mark 11:24 " this is why I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for, have faith that you have received them and you will have them"  and Heb 11:6 "moreover, without faith it is impossible to please God well, for whoever approaches God must believe that is is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him" we could maybe say  that the faith that they had when praying and asking Jehovah for help was not enough.

But the fact remains that because of the changes made we are not sure what it should say. That is why they put the explanation in the apendix. To me a valid reason to do so. Also because we have Mark 9 as an comparison.

I can however not find any reason for Jesus to have said that fasting would be necessary to be able to cast out this demon. He definitely didn't tell this person to fast before he took action (Matt 17:19) and also in other situations ( before and after this one) I did not find one where Jesus told someone to fast so that they would be cured. Please let me know if I'm wrong I don't know the whole bible but when I was researching I could not find one. Not that fasting wasn't used in other situations ( appointing elders for example)

I'm not a native English speaker so if something is not clear of misspelled sorry!!