. . . or has the name Jehovah (Yahweh) been replaced with the title “the Lord” by so many other Bible translators?
AT Habakkuk 2:2, the New World Translation reads: “And Jehovah proceeded to answer me and to say . . .” The King James reads “the Lord.” The New Jerusalem Bible reads: “Yahweh.” The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English reads “Lord” in the English part but reads “Yahweh” in the Hebrew part. So, has the title “Lord” been replaced with Jehovah by Jehovah's Witnesses? Or has the illustrious name of God (Yahweh in Hebrew and Jehovah in English) been replaced by Lord in many translations?
And if there is no “J” in Hebrew as some say (which is true), why do we continue to say Joshua, Jehoshaphat, Judah, Joseph, Jeremiah and so on?
Update:Thank you Annsan, for your response. I did not use Habakkuk as an example of a “good translation.” I asked a question about the translation with no reference to whether it was good or bad. As to Habakkuk 1:12 (which has nothing to do with this question), I am quite familiar with the translation in the NWT, which is not the only translation to render it as “you do not die” rather than “we shall not die.” It is true that most other translations read “we shall not die”; perhaps because they do not acknowledge this to be one of the emendations of the Sopherim as noted by the Masoretes. But others render it as the NWT, notably, The New Jerusalem Bible (a Catholic translation), An American Translation, and the Emphasised Bible. You can also see this rendering in a Hebrew Bible.
As for the emendation made by the Sopherim, notice the comment below by Scholar C. D. Ginsburg:
“All the ancient records emphatically state that this exhibits the corrected text by the Sopherim and that t
Update 3:Thank you Mike C. Respectfully, I disagree with your contention that God does not need a name. Scripturally, He must believe that He needs one and that it is important as well. Why else would he have told it to us, had it incorporated in the name of his own Son and included it in his own word the Bible over 7,000 times? Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a fascination respecting God’s name. They do, however, have a love for it. So did Jehovah God’s prophet Jeremiah at Jeremiah 10:25: “Pour out your rage upon the nations who have ignored you, and upon the families who have not called even upon your name.”
Update 5:Moreover, Rahab, although not a worshiper of the True God, used Jehovah God’s name quite readily and casually at Joshua 2:9, 10: “And she went on to say to the men: “I do know that Jehovah will certainly give you the land, and that the fright of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have become disheartened because of you. For we have heard how Jehovah dried up the waters of the Red Sea from before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, namely, Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.” Because of this woman’s faith in Jehovah and her protection of his servants, she and her family were spared. She did not have a problem with using Jehovah’s name. Jehovah did not have a problem with her using it either.
Update 7:Very good point, Linedancer.
Update 9:Thank you very much, Jim, for your well thought out and researched response: kind, respectful, gracious and seasoned with salt. I appreciate that more than you know.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
How can that be so when older Bibles than the NWT did it first? For instance, the much older American Standard Version reads: "And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it."
Once I heard it claimed that the NWT introduced a contradiction into the Bible, by having "Jehovah" in Exodus 6:3, but also in Gen 12:8; 27:27; 28:16. The person claimed the KJV was superior and more accurate.
I pointed out the fact that the Hebrew contained God's name in those verses, and they were basically saying the inspired Hebrew original had a contradiction.
They responded and said that the Hebrew *cannot* contradict itself because it was God's word, but that the NWT was produced by imperfect men who introduced a contradiction by adding "Jehovah" in those verses.
I don't think they were paying attention. Such is the logic of many people.
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"Jehovah" is a valid English pronunciation. It is both a "translation" and "transliteration." "LORD" is *not* a translation of the Divine Name, and could be called a theological paraphrase.
As bar_enosh alluded to, there is no scholarly consensus on the vowels contained in the Divine Name. They could just as well have been Yehowah.
Saying that Jehovah wasn't in the original NT autographs is based on an anachronism. That is, it is based on the earliest NT manuscripts that we have. But, all of the surviving occurrences of the Septuagint being quoted in the NT date to 150 CE or later. This is *after* the period when the Divine Name was replace with KURIOS ("Lord") in the Septuagint. We now know that the Septuagint of the 1st century contained the Divine Name. It could be that the NT writers originally had Jehovah in their writings, and when the scribes replaced Jehovah with Lord in the Septuagint, they did the same with the NT. (Note, it was the Christians, not the Jews, who replaced Jehovah with Lord in the Septuagint. Also, as with the Septuagint, such a change would not really change the meaning of the affected passages in the NT).
There are nearly 7,000 times when the original Hebrew scriptures used the Tetragram - YHWH - the divine name of God. There is nothing wrong with putting English (or other language) equivalents in for that, though Yahweh would be much closer than Jehovah. It was a Roman Catholic monk, Raymundus Martini, who was commissioned by a pope to translate the Bible into German, who first used the Jah sound, fine for German but non-existent in Hebrew. You'll find details about the 1270 appearance of 'Jeh;vah' in the JW book, "Let Your Name Be Sanctified" (1961) page 18.
Since you used the Habakkuk reference as an example of good translation, may I point out that in chapter 1 verse 12, the New World Translation follows tradition, instead of the biblical manuscripts in saying, "Jehovah, O my God, my Holy One, you do not die"? Most other translations say, "...we do not die". Why?
Context shows that it was the rebellious nation of Israel that was in danger of dying at the hands of the approaching Babylonians. God's existence was not under threat! How could it ever be? There is no manuscript evidence available to support the idea that God does not die, in that verse. It is not found in any of the early translatios of the Hebrew scriptures either. The variant rendering, that God does not die, is just a piece of scribal lore. So if we are to examine the NWT with regard to Habakkuk, perhaps we should be more focussed on correctly translating 1:12 because there is nothing wrong with 2:2.
The latter. Some thoughts
(a) "The Lord" is not a not a name. It is a title, the same as President and Prime Minister. In fact, Britain has a House of Lords. Is ever person in that chamber named Lord or is it Lord Baxter or Lord Jones etc. etc.
(b) If you look at Exodus 6:3 in the Old King James Versions (1611/1769) they use Jehovah in that verse. It was the later, New King James version, that eliminated it and replaced the Divine Name with the title LORD and then has a footnote that actually says "traditionally JEHOVAH"
Proof? -
KJV - Exd 6:3 - And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by [the name of] God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
© Info: - King James Version 1769 Info
NKJV - Exd 6:3 - "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.
Footnote:
* Hebrew YHWH, traditionally Jehovah
(c) Very good logic. For that matter, since ancient written Hebrew used no vowels, how do we know it wasn't Jashea or Jaheshophut etc. etc.
Many translators have taken Gods name, Jehovah, out of the bible even though it occurs over 7,000 times in the original text. Yahweh and Jehovah, mean the same thing. Its the same name, just in another language. The new King James version has taken it out completely. The old one still has it in a few places. Psalm.83:18 is one of the scriptures where you can find it in the old King James.
No, Jehovah is clearly there in the Hebrew.
But a few other observations:
Not all Hebrew and Jewish scholars are not convinced that "Jehovah" is just a blending of YHWH and the vowels of "adonai" (Lord in Hebrew). For one thing, adding the vowels of "adonai" does not result in "Jehovah."
Not all Hebrew and Jewish scholars are convinced that "Yahweh" is the original pronunciation of YHWH. The Anchor Bible Dictionary rightly calls "Yahweh" a "scholarly guess," since there is no ancient Hebrew manuscript that is pointed to read "Yahweh." Rather, "Yahweh" is based on a reading found in Greek (not Hebrew) manuscripts of the early church "fathers."
We cannot conclude that Jesus used "Lord" rather than the Tetragrammaton when he taught or spoke. We cannot conclude that Jesus read from the Greek Septuagint or spoke Greek in his teaching. The Bible records that Jesus read from the Scriptures in the synagogue, and that was most likely from a Hebrew scroll, not a Greek one.
Further, Jesus' native language, and the native language of his disciples, was Aramaic, not Greek. It is far more likely that Jesus taught in Hebrew or Aramaic, not Greek, and would not have referred to his Father by the mere title, "Lord."
Substituting YHWH for "Lord" was traditional in some circles in Jesus' day, but Jesus himself denounced traditions of men that violated God's Word. (Matthew 15:6-9; Mark 7:7- 9) It is unlikely that Jesus would have followed the tradition of hiding his Father's unique personal name behind a substitute.
We have no original writing by Jesus or his apostles. So we cannot say dogmatically that Jesus spoke in Greek, or that the Gospel writers used the substitute title "Lord" when referring to the Father.
But the evidence that we do have in the New Testament indicates that Jesus loved his Father and honored the Father's name, and would have used it, regardless of man-made tradition. (John 12:28)
Of a certainty, traditional Bible translations have "replaced" the tetragrammaton (the technical term is "rendered" rather than "replaced") with the term "the LORD" ("LORD" usually in small caps, though sometimes in full-size caps). This is an ancient convention, and the use of caps is a convention dating to English Bibles of the 16th century.
The New Jerusalem Bible (a Roman Catholic translation of very high scholarly merit) is evidence that the tetragrammaton appears in this passage, but also the use of caps in "LORD" is evidence of this in those Bibles that use "LORD". That convention is well-established.
However, I would like to point out that rendering the tetragrammaton as "the LORD" is a convention that dates to before Christianity itself. In fact, in EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE in the Bible where Jesus quotes a Scripture that contains the tetragrammaton, the author records that Jesus used the term "the lord" instead of speaking the tetragrammaton.
According to the gospel authors, Jesus used that very same convention!
Now - that by itself does not mean that the tetragrammaton *should* be rendered "the lord". In my very firm opinion, it should NOT be rendered "the lord" in any Bible translation. However, if Jesus rendered the tetragrammaton as "the lord" when he spoke - as ALL of the gospel authors record in EVERY instance - then it is unsupportable to claim that it is *immoral* to use "the lord" instead of the tetragrammaton. Nevertheless, there is *definitely* an advantage to transliterating the tetragrammaton as opposed to rendering it as "the lord".
http://www.bible-reviews.com/topics_accuracy_words...
2) And if there is no “J” in Hebrew as some say (which is true), why do we continue to say Joshua, Jehoshaphat, Judah, Joseph, Jeremiah and so on?
Those are actual Hebrew names that have been transliterated to English (though not directly). They are also names that continue to be used in English - that is, they are actual names given to English-speaking people by English-speaking people. They are the actual English form of the root Hebrew names from which they have been derived.
"Jehovah" cannot make such a claim (though it is a very fine line). "Jehovah" is not a transliterated Hebrew name or word, but rather the transliteration of a chimerical combination of two different Hebrew words. "Jehovah" is not the English form of the tetragrammaton, the name of God; instead, it is an English form of the Hebrew word-name described.
Is it (morally) wrong to use "Jehovah"? I don't think so (as you can see from my link above)...however, I certainly **understand and accept** the practice of those who believe that it IS wrong to use "Jehovah" instead of a more accurate transliteration or instead of an alternate rendering.
Conclusion:
There's nothing morally wrong with using "Jehovah".
By observing Jesus' example, it is clear that there's nothing morally wrong with using a respectful, traditional rendering of the tetragrammaton rather than some form of the tetragrammaton itself.
There is a *definite* advantage to using "Jehovah" or a more accurate transliteration of the tetragrammaton in English Bible translations.
Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/
THis fascination by JWs and some other's with God's "name" shows a clear misunderstanding of the ancients. To make God's name known doesn't mean to go around telling people God's name is Yahew...there's only one God...he doesn't need a name. The use of a name reveals an inner truth...so make the name of God known means to reveal the attributes of God...not to go around saying "Jehovah this and Jehovah that"...seriously. That God's name is I AM THAT I AM means he is the source of all sources...all powerful. To hallow God's name means his name and his attributes are sacred...so much so that casual use of the name is disrespectful...that's why the Jews only whispered his name once a year.
Yahweh/Jehovah was replaced with LORD caps
Witnessess did not insert the name Jehovah in the original texts as it was already there
Exodus 6:3 (King James Version)
3And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
Of direction no longer. When Jesus taught his fans the right way to pray, he mentioned: "Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, would possibly your identify be saved holy." (Matt. 6:nine) How are we able to maintain God's identify holy if we do not are aware of it or use it? There is not any excuse for no longer understanding God's identify in view that it looks within the oldest Hebrew copies of the OT virtually 7,000 instances. BTW, what number of men and women do you might have a few form of dating with with out understanding their names? "Did you understand that students agree that “Jehovah” isn't probably the most proper translation for God’s identify? Yet, the Watchtower Society chooses to make use of an misguided identify for God. Why?" Do ALL students agree that "Yaweh" is extra proper than "Jehovah"? No! And except, the normal pronunciation of God’s identify is not recognized. Nor is it quite predominant. If it have been, then God himself could have made certain that it used to be preserved for us to make use of. The predominant factor is to make use of God’s identify consistent with its traditional pronunciation in our possess language. In English, we are saying "Jehovah." Following are the varieties of the divine identify in exceptional languages, indicating worldwide attractiveness of the kind Jehovah. Awabakal - Yehóa Bugotu - Jihova Cantonese - Yehwowah Danish - Jehova Dutch - Jehovah Efik - Jehovah English - Jehovah Fijian - Jiova Finnish - Jehova French - Jéhovah Futuna - Ihova German - Jehova Hungarian - Jehova Igbo - Jehova Italian - Geova Japanese - Ehoba Maori - Ihowa Motu - Iehova Mwala-Malu - Jihova Narrinyeri - Jehovah Nembe - Jihova Petats - Jihouva Polish - Jehowa Portuguese - Jeová Romanian - Iehova Samoan - Ieova Sotho - Jehova Spanish - Jehová Swahili - Yehova Swedish - Jehova Tahitian - Iehova Tagalog - Jehova Tongan - Jihova Venda - Yehova Xhosa - uYehova Yoruba - Jehofah Zulu - uJehova If you decide on to make use of "Yahweh" rather of "Jehovah," opt for it. Just do not carry it up in an try to turn out Jehovah's Witnesses flawed for making use of the kind of God's identify that has won such international attractiveness. Speaking of "misguided names," "Jesus" used to be no longer how the Jews mentioned that identify. Yet, I'm certain you wouldn't have a concern making use of it, do you? What do your Hebrew students say approximately that?