What's new
By:
Filters
Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

What is all the Bible about?




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





The Tetragrammaton (/ˌtɛtrəˈɡræmətɒn/; from Ancient Greek τετραγράμματον (tetragrámmaton) '[consisting of] four letters'), or the Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym יהוה‎ (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are yodh, he, waw, and he.[1] The name may be derived from a verb that means "to be", "to exist", "to cause to become", or "to come to pass".[2][3] While there is no consensus about the structure and etymology of the name, the form Yahweh is now accepted almost universally, though the vocalization Jehovah continues to have wide usage.[4][5][6]​


The books of the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible except Esther, Ecclesiastes, and (with a possible instance of the short form יה‎ in verse 8:6) the Song of Songs contain this Hebrew name.[5] Observant Jews and those who follow Talmudic Jewish traditions do not pronounce יהוה‎ nor do they read aloud proposed transcription forms such as Yahweh or Yehovah; instead they replace it with a different term, whether in addressing or referring to the God of Israel. Common substitutions in Hebrew are Adonai ("My Lord") or Elohim (literally "gods" but treated as singular when meaning "God") in prayer, or HaShem ("The Name") in everyday speech.



​

 

Origins[edit]​

Etymology[edit]​

The Tetragrammaton is not attested other than among the Israelites, and seems not to have any plausible etymology.[7] The Hebrew Bible explains it by the formula Ehye ašer ehye ("I Am that I Am"), the name of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14.[8] This would frame Y-H-W-H as a derivation from the Hebrew triconsonantal root היה (h-y-h), "to be, become, come to pass", with a third person masculine y- prefix, equivalent to English "he",[3][9] thereby affording translations as "he who causes to exist",[10][11] "he who is",[9] etc.; although this would elicit the form Y-H-Y-H (יהיה‎), not Y-H-W-H. To rectify this, some scholars proposed that the Tetragrammaton represents a substitution of the medial y for w, an occasionally attested practice in Biblical Hebrew as both letters represented matres lectionis; others proposed that the Tetragrammaton derived instead from the triconsonantal root הוה (h-w-h), "to be, constitute", with the final form eliciting similar translations as those derived from h-y-h.

Modern scholars, however, consider Ehye ašer ehye to be a folk etymology; a later theological gloss invented at a time when the original meaning of the Tetragrammaton had been forgotten.[12]

______________________________________________​

 

Hebrew Bible[edit]​


Masoretic Text[edit]​


According to the Jewish Encyclopedia it occurs 5,410 times in the Hebrew scriptures.[55] In the Hebrew Bible, the Tetragrammaton occurs 6828 times,[2]: 142  as can be seen in Kittel's Biblia Hebraica and the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In addition, the marginal notes or masorah[note 1] indicate that in another 134 places, where the received text has the word Adonai, an earlier text had the Tetragrammaton.[56][note 2] which would add up to 142 additional occurrences. Even in the Dead Sea Scrolls practice varied with regard to use of the Tetragrammaton.[57] According to Brown–Driver–Briggs, יְהֹוָה‎ (qere אֲדֹנָי‎) occurs 6,518 times, and יֱהֹוִה‎ (qere אֱלֹהִים‎) 305 times in the Masoretic Text.


The first appearance of the Tetragrammaton is in the Book of Genesis 2:4.[58] The only books it does not appear in are Ecclesiastes, the Book of Esther, and Song of Songs.[2][5]


In the Book of Esther the Tetragrammaton does not appear, but it has been distinguished acrostic-wise in the initial or last letters of four consecutive words,[note 3] as indicated in Est 7:5 by writing the four letters in red in at least three ancient Hebrew manuscripts.[59][original research?]


The short form יָהּ‎/Yah (a digrammaton) "occurs 50 times if the phrase hallellu-Yah is included":[60][61] 43 times in the Psalms, once in Exodus 15:2; 17:16; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4, and twice in Isaiah 38:11. It also appears in the Greek phrase Ἁλληλουϊά (Alleluia, Hallelujah) in Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6.[62]


Other short forms are found as a component of theophoric Hebrew names in the Bible: jô- or jehô- (29 names) and -jāhû or -jāh (127 jnames). A form of jāhû/jehô appears in the name Elioenai (Elj(eh)oenai) in 1Ch 3:23–24; 4:36; 7:8; Ezr 22:22, 27; Neh 12:41.


The following graph shows the absolute number of occurrences of the Tetragrammaton (6828 in all) in the books in the Masoretic Text,[63] without relation to the length of the books.





























13nwfi6x4ofhypeaiai099isoa6f47y.png
 

​


Leningrad Codex​


Six presentations of the Tetragrammaton with some or all of the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי‎ (Adonai) or אֱלֹהִים‎ (Elohim) are found in the Leningrad Codex of 1008–1010, as shown below. The close transcriptions do not indicate that the Masoretes intended the name to be pronounced in that way (see qere perpetuum).​



Chapter and verse​
Masoretic Text display​
Close transcription of the display​
Ref.​
Explanation​

Genesis 2:4
יְהוָה‎
Yǝhwāh
[64]
This is the first occurrence of the Tetragrammaton in the Hebrew Bible and shows the most common set of vowels used in the Masoretic Text. It is the same as the form used in Genesis 3:14 below, but with the dot (holam) on the first he left out, because it is a little redundant.​

Genesis 3:14
יְהֹוָה‎
Yǝhōwāh
[65]
This is a set of vowels used rarely in the Masoretic Text, and are essentially the vowels from Adonai (with the hataf patakh reverting to its natural state as a shewa).​

Judges 16:28
יֱהֹוִה‎
Yĕhōwih
[66]
When the Tetragrammaton is preceded by Adonai, it receives the vowels from the name Elohim instead. The hataf segol does not revert to a shewa because doing so could lead to confusion with the vowels in Adonai.​

Genesis 15:2
יֱהוִה‎
Yĕhwih
[67]
Just as above, this uses the vowels from Elohim, but like the second version, the dot (holam) on the first he is omitted as redundant.​

1 Kings 2:26
יְהֹוִה‎
Yǝhōwih
[68]
Here, the dot (holam) on the first he is present, but the hataf segol does get reverted to a shewa.​

Ezekiel 24:24
יְהוִה‎
Yǝhwih
[69]
Here, the dot (holam) on the first he is omitted, and the hataf segol gets reverted to a shewa.​

ĕ is hataf segol; ǝ is the pronounced form of plain shva.
 
Dead Sea Scrolls[edit]


In the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Hebrew and Aramaic texts the Tetragrammaton and some other names of God in Judaism (such as El or Elohim) were sometimes written in paleo-Hebrew script, showing that they were treated specially. Most of God's names were pronounced until about the 2nd century BCE. Then, as a tradition of non-pronunciation of the names developed, alternatives for the Tetragrammaton appeared, such as Adonai, Kurios and Theos.[39] The 4Q120, a Greek fragment of Leviticus (26:2–16) discovered in the Dead Sea scrolls (Qumran) has ιαω ("Iao"), the Greek form of the Hebrew trigrammaton YHW.[70] The historian John the Lydian (6th century) wrote: "The Roman Varro [116–27 BCE] defining him [that is the Jewish God] says that he is called Iao in the Chaldean mysteries" (De Mensibus IV 53). Van Cooten mentions that Iao is one of the "specifically Jewish designations for God" and "the Aramaic papyri from the Jews at Elephantine show that 'Iao' is an original Jewish term".[71][72]


The preserved manuscripts from Qumran show the inconsistent practice of writing the Tetragrammaton, mainly in biblical quotations: in some manuscripts is written in paleo-Hebrew script, square scripts or replaced with four dots or dashes (tetrapuncta).


The members of the Qumran community were aware of the existence of the Tetragrammaton, but this was not tantamount to granting consent for its existing use and speaking. This is evidenced not only by special treatment of the Tetragrammaton in the text, but by the recommendation recorded in the 'Rule of Association' (VI, 27): "Who will remember the most glorious name, which is above all [...]".[73]


The table below presents all the manuscripts in which the Tetragrammaton is written in paleo-Hebrew script,[note 4] in square scripts, and all the manuscripts in which the copyists have used tetrapuncta.


Copyists used the 'tetrapuncta' apparently to warn against pronouncing the name of God.[74] In the manuscript number 4Q248 is in the form of bars.
 

PALEO-HEBREW​
SQUARE​
TETRAPUNCTA​

1Q11 (1QPsb) 2–5 3 (link: [1])
2Q13 (2QJer) (link: [2])
1QS VIII 14 (link: [3])

1Q14 (1QpMic) 1–5 1, 2 (link: [4])
4Q27 (4QNumb) (link: [5])
1QIsaa XXXIII 7, XXXV 15 (link: [6])

1QpHab VI 14; X 7, 14; XI 10 (link: [7])
4Q37 (4QDeutj) (link: [8])
4Q53 (4QSamc) 13 III 7, 7 (link: [9])

1Q15 (1QpZeph) 3, 4 (link: [10])
4Q78 (4QXIIc) (link: [11])
4Q175 (4QTest) 1, 19

2Q3 (2QExodb) 2 2; 7 1; 8 3 (link: [12] [13])
4Q96 (4QPso (link: [14])
4Q176 (4QTanḥ) 1–2 i 6, 7, 9; 1–2 ii 3; 8–10 6, 8, 10 (link: [15])

3Q3 (3QLam) 1 2 (link: [16])
4Q158 (4QRPa) (link: [17])
4Q196 (4QpapToba ar) 17 i 5; 18 15 (link: [18])

4Q20 (4QExodj) 1–2 3 (link: [19])
4Q163 (4Qpap pIsac) I 19; II 6; 15–16 1; 21 9; III 3, 9; 25 7 (link: [20])
4Q248 (history of the kings of Greece) 5 (link: [21])

4Q26b (4QLevg) linia 8 (link: [22])
4QpNah (4Q169) II 10 (link: [23])
4Q306 (4QMen of People Who Err) 3 5 (link: [24])

4Q38a (4QDeutk2) 5 6 (link: [25])
4Q173 (4QpPsb) 4 2 (link: [26])
4Q382 (4QparaKings et al.) 9+11 5; 78 2

4Q57 (4QIsac) (link: [27])
4Q177 (4QCatena A) (link: [28])
4Q391 (4Qpap Pseudo-Ezechiel) 36, 52, 55, 58, 65 (link: [29])

4Q161 (4QpIsaa) 8–10 13 (link: [30])
4Q215a (4QTime of Righteousness) (link: [31])
4Q462 (4QNarrative C) 7; 12 (link: [32])

4Q165 (4QpIsae) 6 4 (link: [33])
4Q222 (4QJubg) (link: [34])
4Q524 (4QTb)) 6–13 4, 5 (link: [35])

4Q171 (4QpPsa) II 4, 12, 24; III 14, 15; IV 7, 10, 19 (link: [36])
4Q225 (4QPsJuba) (link: [37])
XḤev/SeEschat Hymn (XḤev/Se 6) 2 7

11Q2 (11QLevb) 2 2, 6, 7 (link: [38])
4Q365 (4QRPc) (link: [39])

11Q5 (11QPsa)[75] (link: [40])
4Q377 (4QApocryphal Pentateuch B) 2 ii 3, 5 (link: [41])

4Q382 (4Qpap paraKings) (link: [42])

11Q6 (11QPsb) (link: [43])

11Q7 (11QPsc) (link: [44])

11Q19 (11QTa)

11Q20 (11QTb) (link: [45])

11Q11 (11QapocrPs) (link: [46])
 
Septuagint


Editions of the Septuagint Old Testament are based on the complete or almost complete fourth-century manuscripts Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus and consistently use Κύριος, "Lord", where the Masoretic Text has the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew. This corresponds with the Jewish practice of replacing the Tetragrammaton with "Adonai" when reading the Hebrew word.[76][77][78]


However, five of the oldest manuscripts now extant (in fragmentary form) render the Tetragrammaton into Greek in a different way.[79]


Two of these are of the first century BCE: Papyrus Fouad 266 uses יהוה‎ in the normal Hebrew alphabet in the midst of its Greek text, and 4Q120 uses the Greek transcription of the name, ΙΑΩ. Three later manuscripts use 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄‎, the name יהוה‎ in Paleo-Hebrew script: the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever, Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3522 and Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5101.[80]


Other extant ancient fragments of Septuagint or Old Greek manuscripts provide no evidence on the use of the Tetragrammaton, Κύριος, or ΙΑΩ in correspondence with the Hebrew-text Tetragrammaton. They include the oldest known example, Papyrus Rylands 458.[81][82]


Scholars differ on whether in the original Septuagint translations the Tetragrammaton was represented by Κύριος,[83][84][85][86] by ΙΑΩ,[87] by the Tetragrammaton in either normal or Paleo-Hebrew form, or whether different translators used different forms in different books.[88]


Frank Shaw argues that the Tetragrammaton continued to be articulated until the second or third century CE and that the use of Ιαω was by no means limited to magical or mystical formulas, but was still normal in more elevated contexts such as that exemplified by Papyrus 4Q120. Shaw considers all theories that posit in the Septuagint a single original form of the divine name as merely based on a priori assumptions.[88] Accordingly, he declares: "The matter of any (especially single) 'original' form of the divine name in the LXX is too complex, the evidence is too scattered and indefinite, and the various approaches offered for the issue are too simplistic" to account for the actual scribal practices (p. 158). He holds that the earliest stages of the LXX's translation were marked by diversity (p. 262), with the choice of certain divine names depending on the context in which they appear (cf. Gen 4:26; Exod 3:15; 8:22; 28:32; 32:5; and 33:19). He treats of the related blank spaces in some Septuagint manuscripts and the setting of spaces around the divine name in 4Q120 and Papyrus Fouad 266b (p. 265), and repeats that "there was no one 'original' form but different translators had different feelings, theological beliefs, motivations, and practices when it came to their handling of the name" (p. 271).[88] His view has won the support of Anthony R. Meyer,[88] Bob Becking,[89] and (commenting on Shaw's 2011 dissertation on the subject) D.T. Runia.[90]


Mogens Müller says that, while no clearly Jewish manuscript of the Septuagint has been found with Κύριος representing the Tetragrammaton, other Jewish writings of the time show that Jews did use the term Κύριος for God, and it was because Christians found it in the Septuagint that they were able to apply it to Christ.[91] In fact, the deuterocanonical books of the Septuagint, written originally in Greek (e.g., Wisdom, 2 and 3 Maccabees), do speak of God as Κύριος and thus show that "the use of κύριος as a representation of יהוה‎ must be pre-Christian in origin".[92]


Similarly, while consistent use of Κύριος to represent the Tetragrammaton has been called "a distinguishing mark for any Christian LXX manuscript", Eugen J. Pentiuc says: "No definitive conclusion has been reached thus far."[93] And Sean McDonough denounces as implausible the idea that Κύριος did not appear in the Septuagint before the Christian era.[94]


Speaking of the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever, which is a kaige recension of the Septuagint, "a revision of the Old Greek text to bring it closer to the Hebrew text of the Bible as it existed in ca. 2nd-1st century BCE" (and thus not necessarily the original text), Kristin De Troyer remarks: "The problem with a recension is that one does not know what is the original form and what the recension. Hence, is the paleo-Hebrew Tetragrammaton secondary – a part of the recension – or proof of the Old Greek text? This debate has not yet been solved."


While some interpret the presence of the Tetragrammaton in Papyrus Fouad 266, the oldest Septuagint manuscript in which it appears, as an indication of what was in the original text, others see this manuscript as "an archaizing and hebraizing revision of the earlier translation κύριος".[95] Of this papyrus, De Troyer asks: "Is it a recension or not?" In this regard she says that Emanuel Tov notes that in this manuscript a second scribe inserted the four-letter Tetragrammaton where the first scribe left spaces large enough for the six-letter word Κύριος, and that Pietersma and Hanhart say the papyrus "already contains some pre-hexaplaric corrections towards a Hebrew text (which would have had the Tetragrammaton). She also mentions Septuagint manuscripts that have Θεός and one that has παντοκράτωρ where the Hebrew text has the Tetragrammaton. She concludes: "It suffices to say that in old Hebrew and Greek witnesses, God has many names. Most if not all were pronounced till about the second century BCE. As slowly onwards there developed a tradition of non-pronunciation, alternatives for the Tetragrammaton appeared. The reading Adonai was one of them. Finally, before Kurios became a standard rendering Adonai, the Name of God was rendered with Theos."[39] In the Book of Exodus alone, Θεός represents the Tetragrammaton 41 times.[96]


Robert J. Wilkinson says that the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever is also a kaige recension and thus not strictly a Septuagint text.[97]






​

 
Origen (Commentary on Psalms 2.2) said that in the most accurate manuscripts the name was written in an older form of the Hebrew characters, the paleo-Hebrew letters, not the square: "In the more accurate exemplars the (divine) name is written in Hebrew characters; not, however, in the current script, but in the most ancient." While Pietersma interprets this statement as referring to the Septuagint,[83] Wilkinson says one might assume that Origen refers specifically to the version of Aquila of Sinope, which follows the Hebrew text very closely, but he may perhaps refer to Greek versions in general.[98] [99]
 

Manuscripts of the Septuagint and later Greek renderings[edit]​

The great majority of extant manuscripts of the Old Testament in Greek, complete or fragmentary, dated to the ninth century CE or earlier, employ Κύριος to represent the Tetragrammaton of the Hebrew text. The following do not. They include the oldest now extant.

  2. Manuscripts of the Septuagint or recensions thereof
  3. Manuscripts of Greek translations made by Symmachus and Aquila of Sinope (2nd century CE)
    • 3rd century CE
    • 5th century CE
      • AqTaylor, this manuscript of the Aquila version is dated after the middle of the 5th century, but not later than the beginning of the 6th century.
      • AqBurkitt – a palimpsest manuscript of the Aquila version dated late 5th century or early 6th century.
  4. Manuscripts with Hexaplaric elements
    • 6th century CE
      • Codex Marchalianus – In addition to the Septuagint text of the prophets (with κς), the manuscript contains marginal notes from a hand "not much later than the original scribe" indicating Hexaplaric variations, each identified as from Aquila, Symmachus or Theodotion. Marginal notes on some of the prophets contain πιπι to indicate that κς in the text corresponds to the Tetragrammaton. Two marginal notes at Ezekiel 1:2 and 11:1 use the form ιαω with reference to the Tetragrammaton.[107]
    • 7th century CE
      • Taylor-Schechter 12.182 – a Hexapla manuscript with Tetragrammaton in Greek letters ΠΙΠΙ. It has Hebrew text transliterated into Greek, Aquila, Symmachus and the Septuagint.
    • 9th century CE
      • Ambrosiano O 39 sup. – the latest Greek manuscript containing the name of God is Origen's Hexapla, transmitting among other translations the text of the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, and in three other unidentified Greek translations (Quinta, Sextus and Septima). This codex, copied from a much earlier original, comes from the late 9th century, and is stored in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
 
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) and B.D. Eerdmans:[108][109]


  • Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) writes[110] Ἰαῶ (Iao);
  • Irenaeus (d. c. 202) reports[111] that the Gnostics formed a compound Ἰαωθ (Iaoth) with the last syllable of Sabaoth. He also reports[112] that the Valentinian heretics use Ἰαῶ (Iao);
  • Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215) reports: "the mystic name of four letters which was affixed to those alone to whom the adytum was accessible, is called Ἰαοὺ" (Iaoú); manuscript variants also have the forms ἰαοῦε (Iaoúe) and ἰὰ οὐὲ.[113]
  • Origen (d. c. 254), Ἰαώ (Iao);[114]
  • Porphyry (d. c. 305) according to Eusebius (died 339),[115] Ἰευώ (Ieuo);
  • Epiphanius (died 404), who was born in Palestine and spent a considerable part of his life there, gives Ἰά (Ia) and Ἰάβε (pronounced at that time /ja'vε/) and explains Ἰάβε as meaning He who was and is and always exists.[116]
  • Jerome (died 420)[117] speaks of certain Greek writers who misunderstood the Hebrew letters יהוה‎ (read right-to-left) as the Greek letters ΠΙΠΙ (read left-to-right), thus changing YHWH to pipi.
  • Theodoret (d. c. 457) writes Ἰαώ (Iao);[118] he also reports[119] that the Samaritans say Ἰαβέ or Ἰαβαί (both pronounced at that time /ja'vε/), while the Jews say Ἀϊά (Aia).[50] (The latter is probably not יהוה‎ but אהיה‎ Ehyeh = "I am " or "I will be", Exod. 3:14 which the Jews counted among the names of God.)[50]
  • (Pseudo-)Jerome (4th/5th or 9th century),:[120] IAHO. This work was traditionally attributed to Jerome and, in spite of the view of one modern writer who in 1936 said it is "now believed to be genuine and to be dated before CE 392"[121] is still generally attributed to the 9th century[122] and to be non-authentic.[123][124]


Peshitta[edit]


The Peshitta (Syriac translation), probably in the second century,[125] uses the word "Lord" (ܡܳܪܝܳܐ, pronounced māryā or moryo (Western pronunciation) for the Tetragrammaton.[126]


Vulgate[edit]​


The Vulgate (Latin translation) made from the Hebrew in the 4th century CE,[127] uses the word Dominus ("Lord"), a translation of the Hebrew word Adonai, for the Tetragrammaton.[126]


The Vulgate translation, though made not from the Septuagint but from the Hebrew text, did not depart from the practice used in the Septuagint. Thus, for most of its history, Christianity's translations of the Scriptures have used equivalents of Adonai to represent the Tetragrammaton. Only at about the beginning of the 16th century did Christian translations of the Bible appear combining the vowels of Adonai with the four (consonantal) letters of the Tetragrammaton.[128][129]
 
Usage in religious traditions[edit]


Judaism[edit]​


Especially due to the existence of the Mesha Stele, the Jahwist tradition found in Exod. 3:15, and ancient Hebrew and Greek texts, biblical scholars widely hold that the Tetragrammaton and other names of God were spoken by the ancient Israelites and their neighbours.[10][39][130]: 40 


By at least the 3rd century BCE, the name was not pronounced in normal speech,[131] but only in certain ritual contexts. The Talmud relays this change occurred after the death of Simeon the Just (either Simon I or his great-great-grandson Simon II).[132] Philo calls the name ineffable, and says that it is lawful for those only whose ears and tongues are purified by wisdom to hear and utter it in a holy place (that is, for priests in the Temple). In another passage, commenting on Lev. 24:15: "If any one, I do not say should blaspheme against the Lord of men and gods, but should even dare to utter his name unseasonably, let him expect the penalty of death."[50] Some time after the destruction of the Second Temple, the spoken use of God's name as it was written ceased altogether, though knowledge of the pronunciation was perpetuated in rabbinic schools.[50]


Rabbinic sources suggest that the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on the Day of Atonement.[133] Others, including Maimonides, claim that the name was pronounced daily in the liturgy of the Temple in the priestly blessing of worshippers, after the daily sacrifice; in synagogues, though, a substitute (probably "Adonai") was used.[50] According to the Talmud, in the last generations before the fall of Jerusalem, the name was pronounced in a low tone so that the sounds were lost in the chant of the priests.[50] Since the destruction of Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Tetragrammaton has no longer been pronounced in the liturgy. However the pronunciation was still known in Babylonia in the latter part of the 4th century.[50]


Spoken prohibitions[edit]​


The vehemence with which the utterance of the name is denounced in the Mishnah suggests that use of the name Yahweh was unacceptable in rabbinical Judaism. "He who pronounces the Name with its own letters has no part in the world to come!"[50] Such is the prohibition of pronouncing the Name as written that it is sometimes called the "Ineffable", "Unutterable", or "Distinctive Name", or "Explicit Name" ("Shem HaMephorash" in Hebrew).[134][135][136]


Halakha prescribes that although the Name is written יהוה‎ "yodh he waw he", if not preceded by "my Lord" (אֲדֹנָי, Adonai) then it is only to be pronounced "Adonai" and if preceded by "Adonai" then it is only to be pronounced as "Our God" (אֱלֹהֵינוּ, Eloheinu), or, in rare cases, as a repetition of Adonai, e.g., the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (שְׁלוֹשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵה, Shelosh-'Esreh) in Exodus 34:6–7; the latter names too are regarded as holy names, and are only to be pronounced in prayer.[137][138] Thus when someone wants to refer in third person to either the written or spoken Name, the term HaShem "the Name" is used;[139][unreliable source?][140] and this handle itself can also be used in prayer.[note 5] The Masoretes added vowel points (niqqud) and cantillation marks to the manuscripts to indicate vowel usage and for use in ritual chanting of readings from the Bible in Jewish prayer in synagogues. To יהוה‎ they added the vowels for "Adonai" ("My Lord"), the word to use when the text was read. While "HaShem" is the most common way to reference "the Name", the terms "HaMaqom" (lit. "The Place", i.e. "The Omnipresent") and "Raḥmana" (Aramaic, "Merciful") are used in the mishna and gemara, still used in the phrases "HaMaqom y'naḥem ethḥem" ("may The Omnipresent console you"), the traditional phrase used in sitting Shiva and "Raḥmana l'tzlan" ("may the Merciful save us" i.e. "God forbid").


Written prohibitions[edit]​


Main article: Genizah


The written Tetragrammaton,[141] as well as six other names of God, must be treated with special sanctity. They cannot be disposed of regularly, lest they be desecrated, but are usually put in long-term storage or buried in Jewish cemeteries in order to retire them from use.[142] Similarly, writing the Tetragrammaton (or these other names) unnecessarily is prohibited, so as to avoid having them treated disrespectfully, an action that is forbidden. To guard the sanctity of the Name, sometimes a letter is substituted by a different letter in writing (e.g. יקוק), or the letters are separated by one or more hyphens, a practice applied also to the English name "God", which some Jews write as "G-d".[143] Most Jewish authorities say that this practice is not obligatory for the English name.[144]


​

 

Kabbalah[edit]​


See also: Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy


Kabbalistic tradition holds that the correct pronunciation is known to a select few people in each generation, it is not generally known what this pronunciation is. There are two main schools of Kabbalah arising in 13th century Spain. These are called Theosophic Kabbalah represented by Rabbi Moshe De Leon and the Zohar, and the Kabbalah of Names or Prophetic Kabbalah whose main representative is Rabbi Abraham Abulafia of Saragossa. Rabbi Abulafia wrote many wisdom books and prophetic books where the name is used for meditation purposes from 1271 onwards. Abulafia put a lot of attention on Exodus 15 and the Songs of Moses. In this song it says "Yehovah is a Man of War, Yehovah is his name". For Abulafia the goal of prophecy was for a man to come to the level of prophecy and be called "Yehovah a man of war". Abulafia also used the tetragrammaton in a spiritual war against his spiritual enemies. For example, he prophesied in his book "The Sign", "Therefore, thus said YHWH, the God of Israel: Have no fear of the enemy" (See Hylton, A The Prophetic Jew Abraham Abulafia, 2015).


Moshe Chaim Luzzatto,[145] says that the tree of the Tetragrammaton "unfolds" in accordance with the intrinsic nature of its letters, "in the same order in which they appear in the Name, in the mystery of ten and the mystery of four." Namely, the upper cusp of the Yod is Arich Anpin and the main body of Yod is and Abba; the first Hei is Imma; the Vav is Ze`ir Anpin and the second Hei is Nukvah. It unfolds in this aforementioned order and "in the mystery of the four expansions" that are constituted by the following various spellings of the letters:


ע"ב/`AV : יו"ד ה"י וי"ו ה"י, so called "`AV" according to its gematria value ע"ב=70+2=72.


ס"ג/SaG: יו"ד ה"י וא"ו ה"י, gematria 63.


מ"ה/MaH: יו"ד ה"א וא"ו ה"א, gematria 45.


ב"ן/BaN: יו"ד ה"ה ו"ו ה"ה, gematria 52.


Luzzatto summarises, "In sum, all that exists is founded on the mystery of this Name and upon the mystery of these letters of which it consists. This means that all the different orders and laws are all drawn after and come under the order of these four letters. This is not one particular pathway but rather the general path, which includes everything that exists in the Sefirot in all their details and which brings everything under its order."[145]


Another parallel is drawn[by whom?] between the four letters of the Tetragrammaton and the Four Worlds: the י is associated with Atziluth, the first ה with Beri'ah, the ו with Yetzirah, and final ה with Assiah.


There are some[who?] who believe that the tetractys and its mysteries influenced the early kabbalists. A Hebrew tetractys in a similar way has the letters of the Tetragrammaton (the four lettered name of God in Hebrew scripture) inscribed on the ten positions of the tetractys, from right to left. It has been argued that the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with its ten spheres of emanation, is in some way connected to the tetractys, but its form is not that of a triangle. The occult writer Dion Fortune says:


The point is assigned to Kether;
the line to Chokmah;
the two-dimensional plane to Binah;
consequently the three-dimensional solid naturally falls to Chesed.[146]
Click to expand...

(The first three-dimensional solid is the tetrahedron.)


The relationship between geometrical shapes and the first four Sephirot is analogous to the geometrical correlations in tetractys, shown above under Pythagorean Symbol, and unveils the relevance of the Tree of Life with the tetractys.


Samaritans[edit]​


The Samaritans shared the taboo of the Jews about the utterance of the name, and there is no evidence that its pronunciation was common Samaritan practice.[50][147] However Sanhedrin 10:1 includes the comment of Rabbi Mana II, "for example those Kutim who take an oath" would also have no share in the world to come, which suggests that Mana thought some Samaritans used the name in making oaths. (Their priests have preserved a liturgical pronunciation "Yahwe" or "Yahwa" to the present day.)[50] As with Jews, the use of Shema (שמא "the Name") remains the everyday usage of the name among Samaritans, akin to Hebrew "the Name" (Hebrew השם "HaShem").[139]
 

Christianity​


It is assumed that early Jewish Christians inherited from Jews the practice of reading "Lord" where the Tetragrammaton appears in the Hebrew text (and where a few Greek manuscripts use it in the midst of their Greek translation). Gentile Christians, primarily non-Hebrew speaking and using Greek Scripture texts, may have read Κύριος ("Lord"), as in the Greek text of the New Testament and in their copies of the Greek Old Testament. This practice continued into the Latin Vulgate where Dominus ("Lord") represented the Tetragrammaton in the Latin text. At the Reformation, the Luther Bible used capitalized Herr ("Lord") in the German text of the Old Testament to represent the Tetragrammaton.[148]


In Christianity, when the Tetragrammaton is vocalized, the forms Yahweh or Jehovah are used.[6][149] Jah or Yah is an abbreviation of Jahweh/Yahweh, and often sees usage by Christians in the interjection "Hallelujah", meaning "Praise Jah", which is used to give God glory.[150]



Christian translations[edit]



The Septuagint (Greek translation), the Vulgate (Latin translation), and the Peshitta (Syriac translation)[126] use the word "Lord" (κύριος, kyrios, dominus, and ܡܳܪܝܳܐ, moryo respectively).


Use of the Septuagint by Christians in polemics with Jews led to its abandonment by the latter, making it a specifically Christian text. From it Christians made translations into Coptic, Arabic, Slavonic and other languages used in Oriental Orthodoxy and the Eastern Orthodox Church,[99][151] whose liturgies and doctrinal declarations are largely a cento of texts from the Septuagint, which they consider to be inspired at least as much as the Masoretic Text.[99][152] Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Greek text remains the norm for texts in all languages, with particular reference to the wording used in prayers.[153][154]


The Septuagint, with its use of Κύριος to represent the Tetragrammaton, was the basis also for Christian translations associated with the West, in particular the Vetus Itala, which survives in some parts of the liturgy of the Latin Church, and the Gothic Bible.


Christian translations of the Bible into English commonly use "LORD" in place of the Tetragrammaton in most passages, often in small capitals (or in all caps), so as to distinguish it from other words translated as "Lord".


Eastern Orthodoxy[edit]​


The Eastern Orthodox Church considers the Septuagint text, which uses Κύριος (Lord), to be the authoritative text of the Old Testament,[99] and in its liturgical books and prayers it uses Κύριος in place of the Tetragrammaton in texts derived from the Bible.[155][156]: 247–248 



Catholicism


In the Catholic Church, the first edition of the official Vatican Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, editio typica, published in 1979, used the traditional Dominus when rendering the Tetragrammaton in the overwhelming majority of places where it appears; however, it also used the form Iahveh for rendering the Tetragrammaton in three known places:



In the second edition of the Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, editio typica altera, published in 1986, these few occurrences of the form Iahveh were replaced with Dominus,[160][161][162] in keeping with the long-standing Catholic tradition of avoiding direct usage of the Ineffable Name.


On 29 June 2008, the Holy See reacted to the then still recent practice of pronouncing, within Catholic liturgy, the name of God represented by the Tetragrammaton. As examples of such vocalisation it mentioned "Yahweh" and "Yehovah". The early Christians, it said, followed the example of the Septuagint in replacing the name of God with "the Lord", a practice with important theological implications for their use of "the Lord" in reference to Jesus, as in Philippians 2:9–11 and other New Testament texts. It therefore directed that, "in liturgical celebrations, in songs and prayers the name of God in the form of the Tetragrammaton YHWH is neither to be used or pronounced"; and that translations of Biblical texts for liturgical use are to follow the practice of the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, replacing the divine name with "the Lord" or, in some contexts, "God".[163] The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed this instruction, adding that it "provides also an opportunity to offer catechesis for the faithful as an encouragement to show reverence for the Name of God in daily life, emphasizing the power of language as an act of devotion and worship".[164]
 

Lutheranism and Anglicanism[edit]​


In the Lutheran and Anglican psalters, the word LORD in "small capital letters [is used] to represent the tetragrammaton YHWH, the personal name of the deity". However, the Psalter of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer used by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America uses Yahweh in two places, Psalms 68:4 and Psalms 83:18. Also the Hymnal 1982 as used by the Episcopal Church utilizes the hymn, "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah", Hymn 690 The Christian Life. Aside from those instances, LORD is typically used in the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church. [165]


Usage in art[edit]​


Since the 16th century, artists have been using the tetragrammaton as a symbol for God,[166] or for divine illumination.[167] Protestant artists avoided to allegorize God in human form, but rather wrote the Hebrew name of God. This was done in book illustrations since 1530, then on coins and medals as well.[168] Since the 17th century, both Protestant and Catholic artists have used the tetragrammaton in church decoration, on top of altars, or in center of frescos, often in rays of light or in a triangle.[169]
 
Somebody says:


Is that also true for the Japanese, Somalian, Russian, etc. translations of those texts from the Hebrew?







Transliterated Sacred Name Bibles​


These Bibles systematically transliterate the tetragrammaton (usually as Yahweh) in both the Old and New Testaments, as well as a Semitic form of the name of Jesus such as Yahshua or Yeshua. They consider the names of both God the Father, and God the Son, to be sacred.


  • The New Testament of our Messiah and Saviour Yahshua (1950)
  • Holy Name Bible (1963)
  • Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1970)
  • The Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition (1981)
  • The Book of Yahweh: The Holy Scriptures (1987)
  • Sacred Scriptures, Family of Yah Edition (2000)
  • The Holy Bible – Urim-Thummim Version (2001)
  • The Word of Yahweh (2003)
  • Mickelson Clarified Translation (2008, 2013, 2015, 2019)
  • Hebraic Roots Bible (2009, 2012)
  • The Restoration Study Bible (2011)
  • Names of God Bible (2011, 2014)
  • The Interpreted New Testament (2020)

  • The Original Bible for Modern Readers (2017)
 

  • Tetragrammaton Sacred Name Bibles​


These Sacred Name Bibles use the tetragrammaton without vowels. They follow this practice in both the Old and New Testaments (though some translations are not complete).


  • The Scriptures (ISR) Version (1993, 1998, 2009)
  • Hebraic-Roots Version (2001, 2004)
  • Restoration Scriptures: True Name Edition (2004)
  • Zikarown Say'fer Memorial Scroll (2004)
  • Sacred Name King James Bible (2005)
  • The Seventh Millennium Version (2007)
  • The Aramaic English New Testament (2008)
  • HalleluYah Scriptures (2009, 2015)
  • Abrahamic Faith Nazarene Hebraic Study Scriptures (2010)
  • The Restored Name King James Version (2012?)
  • Shem Qadosh Version (2014)
  • His Name Tanakh (In Progress)
  • Neno La Yahweh Swahili version (2014)
  • NJV Bible - New Jerusalem Version (2019)
 

  • Limited Sacred Name Bibles​


Some translations use a form of "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" only sporadically:


The Complete Bible: An American Translation by John Merlin Powis Smith (1939), e.g. Exodus 3:15, 6:3, 17:15


  • Holman Christian Standard Bible (2004, 2010), the tetragrammaton is transliterated "Yahweh" in 495 places in its 2010 revision [654 times in the 2009 edition]. In Psalm 29:1, 2 Chron. 30:8, Isaiah 24:5, and Jeremiah 26:9 it translates the tetragrammaton once as "Yahweh" and once as LORD. In 2 Chronicles 14:11, it translates the tetragrammaton three times as LORD and once as "Yahweh". In Job 1:21, it translates the tetragrammaton twice as LORD and one as "Yahweh". In Psalm 135, it translates the tetragrammaton 14 times as Yahweh and twice as LORD.
  • The Emphatic Diaglott (1864), a translation of the New Testament by Benjamin Wilson, the name Jehovah appears eighteen times.
  • King James Version (1611), renders Jehovah in Exodus 6:3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 26:4, and three times in compound place names at Genesis 22:14, Exodus 17:15 and Judges 6:24.
  • Webster's Bible Translation (1833), by Noah Webster, a revision of the King James Bible, contains the form Jehovah in all cases where it appears in the original King James Version, as well as another seven times in Isaiah 51:21, Jeremiah 16:21; 23:6; 32:18; 33:16, Amos 5:8, and Micah 4:13.
  • The English Revised Version (1885), renders the tetragrammaton as Jehovah where it appears in the King James Version, and another eight times in Exodus 6:2,6–8, Psalm 68:20, Isaiah 49:14, Jeremiah 16:21, and Habakkuk 3:19.
  • The Ferrar Fenton Bible innovatively uses the phrase "Ever-living" for the tetragrammaton, as well as "Jehovah", even in the same paragraph, such as in Numbers 14:41-43.
  • Amplified Bible (1954, 1987), generally uses LORD, but translates Exodus 6:3 as: "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El- Shaddai], but by My name the LORD [Yahweh—the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles]."
  • New English Bible (NT 1961, OT 1970), published by Oxford University Press uses Jehovah in Exodus 3:15 and 6:3, and in four place names at Genesis 22:14, Exodus 17:15, Judges 6:24 and Ezekiel 48:35.
  • New Living Translation (1996, 2004), produced by Tyndale House Publishers as a successor to the Living Bible, generally uses LORD, but uses literal names whenever the text compares it to another divine name, such as its use of Yahweh in Exodus 3:15 and 6:3.
  • Bible in Basic English (1949, 1964), uses "Yahweh" eight times, including Exodus 6:2–3.
  • The American King James Version (1999) by Michael Engelbrite renders Jehovah in all the places where it appears in the original King James Version.
  • New World Translation (1961, 1984, 2013), uses "Jehovah" or variations thereof 7216 times.
  • The Original Aramaic New Testament in Plain English with Psalms & Proverbs (2010) by David Bauscher, a self-published English translation of the New Testament, from the Aramaic of the Peshitta New Testament with a translation of the ancient Aramaic Peshitta version of Psalms & Proverbs, contains the word "JEHOVAH" over 200 times in the New Testament, where the Peshitta itself does not.
  • Divine Name King James Bible (2011) - Uses JEHOVAH 6,973 times throughout the OT, and LORD with Jehovah in parentheses 128 times in the NT.

These versions use either "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" only in the Old Testament:



The Literal Standard Version uses the unpointed tetragrammaton "YHWH" only where it occurs in the Hebrew text.
 

  • Non-English​

  • An Indonesian translation produced by the Sacred Name Movement, Kitab Suci, uses Hebraic forms of sacred names in the Old and New Testaments (Soesilo 2001:416), based on Shellabear's translation.
  • A French translation, by André Chouraqui, uses Hebraic forms in the Old and New Testaments.
  • The Spanish language Reina-Valera Bible and most of its subsequent revisions uses the Sacred Name in the Old Testament as "Jehová" starting in Genesis 2:4, with the notable exception of the Reina Valera Contemporánea, a 2011 revision which replaces "Jehová" (Spanish for Jehovah) with "El Señor" (Spanish for The Lord).
  • In the Philippines, the Magandang Balita Biblia–Tagalog Popular Version uses Yahweh.

 

Sacred Name Bible​


Bible translations that use Hebraic forms of God's personal name (YHWH) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia​


Sacred Name Bibles are Bible translations that consistently use Hebraic forms of the God of Israel's personal name, instead of its English language translation, in both the Old and New Testaments. Some Bible versions, such as the Jerusalem Bible, employ the name Yahweh, a transliteration of the Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH), in the English text of the Old Testament, where traditional English versions have LORD.


Most Sacred Name versions use the name Yahshua, a Semitic form of the name Jesus.


With the exception The Lockman Foundation, which owns the Legacy Standard Bible, none of the Sacred Name Bibles are published by mainstream publishers. Instead, most are published by the same group that produced the translation. Some are available for download on the Web. Very few of these Bibles have been noted or reviewed by scholars outside the Sacred Name Movement.


Some Sacred Name Bibles, such as the Hallelujah Scriptures, are also considered Messianic Bibles due to their significant Hebrew style. Therefore they are commonly used by Messianic Jews as well.


Historical background​


YHWH occurs in the Hebrew Bible, and also within the Greek text in a few manuscripts of the Greek translation found at Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls. It does not occur in early manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. Although the Greek forms Iao and Iave do occur in magical inscriptions in the Hellenistic Jewish texts of Philo, Josephus and the New Testament use the word Kyrios ("Lord") when citing verses where YHWH occurs in the Hebrew.


For centuries, Bible translators around the world did not transliterate or copy the tetragrammaton in their translations. For example, English Bible translators (Christian and Jewish) used LORD to represent it. Modern authorities on Bible translation have called for translating it with a vernacular word or phrase that would be locally meaningful. The Catholic Church has called for maintaining in the liturgy the tradition of using "the Lord" to represent the tetragrammaton, but does not forbid its use outside the liturgy, as is shown by the existence of Catholic Bibles such as the Jerusalem Bible (1966) and the New Jerusalem Bible (1985), where it appears as "Yahweh", and place names that incorporate the tetragrammaton are not affected.


A few Bible translators, with varying theological motivations, have taken a different approach to translating the tetragrammaton. In the 1800s–1900s at least three English translations contained a variation of YHWH. Two of these translations comprised only a portion of the New Testament. They did not restore YHWH throughout the body of the New Testament.


In the twentieth century, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible was the first to employ full transliteration of the tetragrammaton where it appears in the Bible (i.e., in the Old Testament). Angelo Traina's translation, The New Testament of our Messiah and Saviour Yahshua in 1950 also used it throughout to translate Κύριος, and The Holy Name Bible containing the Holy Name Version of the Old and New Testaments in 1963 was the first to systematically use a Hebrew form for sacred names throughout the Old and New Testament, becoming the first complete Sacred Name Bible.



Aramaic primacy


Main article: Aramaic primacy


Some translators of Sacred Name Bibles hold to the view that the New Testament, or significant portions of it, were originally written in a Semitic language, Hebrew or Aramaic, from which the Greek text is a translation.[citation needed] This view is colloquially known as "Aramaic primacy", and is also taken by some academics, such as Matthew Black. Therefore, translators of Sacred Name Bibles consider it appropriate to use Semitic names in their translations of the New Testament, which they regard as intended for use by all people, not just Jews.


Although no early manuscripts of the New Testament contain these names, some rabbinical translations of Matthew did use the tetragrammaton in part of the Hebrew New Testament. Sidney Jellicoe in The Septuagint and Modern Study (Oxford, 1968) states that the name YHWH appeared in Greek Old Testament texts written for Jews by Jews, often in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet to indicate that it was not to be pronounced, or in Aramaic, or using the four Greek letters PIPI (Π Ι Π Ι) that physically imitate the appearance of Hebrew יהוה, YHWH), and that Kyrios was a Christian introduction. Bible scholars and translators such as Eusebius and Jerome (translator of the Latin Vulgate) consulted the Hexapla, but did not attempt to preserve sacred names in Semitic forms. Justin Martyr (second century) argued that YHWH is not a personal name, writing of the "namelessness of God".


George Lamsa, the translator of The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts: Containing the Old and New Testaments (1957), believed the New Testament was originally written in a Semitic language, not clearly differentiating between Syriac and Aramaic. However, despite his adherence to a Semitic original of the New Testament, Lamsa translated using the English word "Lord" instead of a Hebraic form of the divine name.






Accuracy or popularity​


Sacred Name Bibles are not used frequently within Christianity, or Judaism. Only a few translations replace Jesus with Semitic forms such as Yeshua or Yahshua. Most English Bible translations translate the tetragrammaton with LORD where it occurs in the Old Testament rather than use a transliteration into English. This pattern is followed in languages around the world, as translators have translated sacred names without preserving the Hebraic forms, often preferring local names for the creator or highest deity, conceptualizing accuracy as semantic rather than phonetic.


The limited number and popularity of Sacred Name Bible translations suggests that phonetic accuracy is not considered to be of major importance by Bible translators or the public. The translator Joseph Bryant Rotherham lamented not making his work into a Sacred Name Bible by using the more accurate name Yahweh in his translation (pp. 20 – 26), though he also said, "I trust that in a popular version like the present my choice will be understood even by those who may be slow to pardon it." (p. xxi).
 
Somebody says:


You know what, I've realized it's my mistake, sorry for barging in, I'll leave you entertaining yourself. Au revoir.


  • My answer:
  • The problem is when we assert something we must be careful!
  • And on the elements we use!
  • Sometimes when you want to prove something you demonstrate the reverse!
  • Anyway thanks for the discussion!
  • I had to look for information and I learnt a lot about Bible translations!
  • Once someone old me about a translation and he said it was the worst worse than all the translations in Biblehub!
  • I didn't have to compare a lot all the translations to realize it was completely wrong!
  • There are so many things people say or repeat and it's often wrong!
  • Same about Job!
  • Many people make comments about Job's attitude as if he lived today!
  • The problem is that it's not the case!
  • His only reference is God!
  • He had no idea of the devil!
  • And no you don't bargen!
  • When people ask something else during the discussion, I also answer it!
  • So in one discussion there are usually different discussions!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top