God's name taken out of the Bible?

Question

This is one subject that infuriates me. If you look into the front of your Bible, many tell you that when you see LORD or GOD in all capitals like that, that is where God's name used to be in the ancient text. In ancient texts, God's name was in the Bible over 7000 times. Some take it out because ancient Israelites had a superstition about pronouncing God's name, Jehovah. Others take it out because they say that we don't know how God's name is really pronounced. First of all, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us:'All Scripture is inspired of God.' Deuteronomy 4:2 tells us:'You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, neither must you take away from it' So, why are Bible translators taking God's name out of the Bible? If God put it in there, what right do we, as humans have, to take it out? They actually have the audacity to basically tell God, "Well, you put it in there, but we don't think you meant for it to be there.'? And it says not to take God's name up in a WORTHLESS way

Yahweh and Jehovah both mean the same thing. It's all just different in different languages, so yes you could use Yahweh also.

We don't know how Jesus's name is actually pronounced either, so that really is not an excuse.

For those of you who haven't guessed, I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I do feel that God's name should be used because he did invite us to draw close to him (James 4:8). Thank you for everyone's personal views. I enjoyed reading them all.

For those of you who don't like the New World Translation, consider this, Bible societies around the world have said that is the best, or at the worst one of the best, translations of the Bible made. Yes, many others are very accurate, too. Just letting you know about this translation.

Answer 1

It is true that the Almighty did not say, "Listen, thousands of years from now when a new language called English comes along, they can pronounce my name as 'Jehovah' and that's fine."

Instead, like with any and every personal name, different languages TRANSLATE personal names to fit their lingual tendencies. George becomes "Hor-hey" in Spanish or "Gay-org" in German and no one gets upset.

It's not exactly wrong to call the Almighty by the impersonal "God", just as it's not wrong to call one's offspring "Child". If we want a familiar and close relationship, however, it makes sense to use the personal name of someone we love. The Scriptures encourage us to use God's personal name.

The Hebrew name “Yahweh” (or “Yehowah”) does seem to accurately pronounce the divine name. Just as the Hebrew name “Yeshua” (or “Yehoshua”) is translated into “Jesus” in English, the Hebrew name “Yahweh” is translated into “Jehovah” in English.

The important thing is to use God’s personal name in whatever language you speak, rather than insisting upon the impersonal! The name “Yahweh” is certainly preferable to the non-name “God” or “Lord”, especially if you speak Hebrew. If you speak English, feel free to use the name "Jehovah".

(Psalms 83:18) That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth

(John 17:26) [Jesus said] I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/na/
http://watchtower.org/e/20040122/
http://watchtower.org/e/19990208/article_03.htm

Answer 2

The reason it was taken out of the Old Testament was because the Jews had extreme reverence for the name. It began to be considered so sacred that they were afraid to use it and risk taking the name in vain. Eventually it became unknown except for the vowels, so even though translators would like to have translated it into their own language, they had a problem. The didn't know which vowels to use. They didn't have that problem with names for Jesus, Jeremiah, etc. because the vowels and the pronunciation of those names had never ceased being used.

Many translators followed the Jewish custom of using LORD simply because YHWH couldn't be pronounced and for a thousand years, no one had a clue as to what vowels they should use. Then some translators erroneously thought that the vowels of Adonai (Lord) were the vowels that went with YHWH. They combined them and voila! At last there was a name that could be pronounced. The first known written use of a pronouncable name for YHWH dates back to about 700 years ago, by a Catholic monk. Eventually it became Jehovah and to be honest, I'm not sure when and how Yahweh came about.

Personally, I think that YHWH should be translated as Jehovah or Yahweh because it accurately conveys that a personal name is used. I also think that in the New Testament 'god' and 'lord' should be translated 'god' and 'lord' because ithat is also accurate.

The New World Translation published by Jehovah's Witnesses put the name of God back into the Old Testament about 6900 times. Unfortunately, in the New Testament, they have basically said "Well, you didn't put it in there, but we think we you meant for it to be there" so they added it 237 times where it doesn't appear in the original Greek. They didn't have the problem of not knowing the proper vowels or pronounciation - they simply chose to mistranslate 'god' and 'lord' in 237 places.

Answer 3

YHWH, the Name for God, to the Isrealites, and the jews of today, is translated Jehovah in the English language today. Your correct.

The jews of today, according to their Tanak, their Holy Scripture call YHWH, Hashem.

Many christians, who believe in the trinity, believing that Jesus is God, or Oneness
Pentecostal christian [born again people call them the Jesus only people = believing that The Father is the Holy Spirit in Jesus. The Father and the Holy Spirit are One, they teach. The son Jesus, was the body and the Father(the Holy Spirit) dwelt inside Jesus' body, doing all the miracles, etc.] teach that the Name of God
IS Jesus.

The Old Testament uses many different titles, and names for God. In a way, God has many names, but the Main name God wants people to use when addressing him is YHWH, translated into english as "Jehovah."

Good Question. Thank You.

From: W. W. B. D. ? = What Would

Brian (me) Do ? or say ?

THESE ARE THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

AND OF CHRISTIANITY OF THOSE WHO

BELIEVE IN A DEITY CREATOR GOD.

Answer 4

HITAN ( Democracy in Heaven )


The original Hebrew name יהוה‎ appeared almost 7,000 times in the Old Testament, but is often replaced with "LORD" or "GOD" in popular Bibles. The religion to most commonly use the name "Jehovah" is that of Jehovah's Witnesses. They believe that God's personal name should not be over-shadowed by the above titles and oftentimes refer to PSALMS 83:18 as a common place in most translations to find the name Jehovah still used in place of "LORD", because the correct pronunciation of יהוה‎ is unknown.

Answer 5

How true! The Hebrew letters for God's name are (rendered in English) YHVH. The vowels are missing because in Hebrew you add those verbally when saying a word. Consequently, nobody knows how "YHVH" is supposed to be pronounced (the 'best guess' is Yahveh, but only God knows for sure...) Blame it on King James, I guess - his "authorized" version is the most popular, even though some other translations are more accurate!

Answer 6

God's name can be found easily. If you seek you will find. I purchased a Strong's Exhaustive that has the old Hebrew for the Old Testament and the Old Greek for the New Testament of the King James version.

God in the 1st verse is Hebrew ELHYM They didn't have the vowels. ELHYM created the heavens and the earth...

ELHYM is plural of El or ELYH or ALH. Christians believe Elohim is the Father, Word & Holy Spirit.

If you look up the word LORD it is YHVH or Yahweh. The Y was changed to J because there wasn't any Y or I in the language translated to. They added vowels of Adonai (another name for Lord) to come up with Jehovah. I believe Jehovah in Hebrew sounded like Yahweh.

The old Hebrew of LORD God is YHVH ELHYM. El Elyon means God most High. El means Mighty in Hebrew.

Another reason for Gods secret code name, is so His name wont be used in vain. I AM that I AM is also Gods everlasting name and they don't write I AM throughout the old testament (except in a few places) to protect from using the name of the LORD God in vain. ANY HYH is I AM in Hebrew.

If you want to know the oldest version purchase a Torah without the vowels. I have. You can pray to God in spirit & truth about how to pronounce Yahweh. That is what I did. God has answered me.

Yahweh means Eternal Wind / breath. Elohim is Mighty Gods. The LORD thy God is One LORD. I AM that I AM is Always Existant.

You don't even have to call God correctly, Instead of saying Gods name in Hebrew, you can pray, "Oh Lord my healer...". God sent His Word and healed us of all our diseases. God knows our heart and our language.

Answer 7

Jewish superstition. The Texas Catholic Herald of October 18, 1968, observes: “Although the Jews commonly considered ‘Yahweh’ the personal name of the God of Israel, a kind of superstitious fear prevented them from pronouncing it, and so, when it appeared in their sacred books, it was read as ‘Adonai.’”

Answer 8

I agree with you about this. The old KJV at least had it 4 times and had reference to it in caps, but the new KJV has gone too far. I wouldn't have known about this if a witness hadn't told me. Man does try to run things too much, undoing what God did. Man tries to ruin everything, even to the point of cloning instead of the way God intended things to be.

Answer 9

I totally agree. Even more irritating to me is that people claim the KJV is the "ONLY translation that is word for word" the best, the only, the most read, yadi yadi yada.

The New World Translation, although criticized by many on this forum, was based on the following: the text of Rudolf Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica, editions of 1951-1955, was used as the basis for translating the Hebrew Scriptures. The 1984 revision of the New World Translation benefited from updating in harmony with the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia of 1977.

Additionally, the Dead Sea Scrolls and numerous early translations into other languages were consulted.

For the Christian Greek Scriptures, the master Greek text of 1881 as prepared by Westcott and Hort was used primarily, but several other master texts were consulted as well as numerous early versions in other languages.

It is an accurate, largely literal translation from the original languages. It is not a loose paraphrase, in which the translators leave out details that they consider unimportant and add ideas that they believe will be helpful.

***As an aid to students, a number of editions provide extensive footnotes showing variant readings where expressions can legitimately be rendered in more than one way, also a listing of the specific ancient manuscripts on which certain renderings are based.

Some verses may not read the same as what a person is accustomed to. Which rendering is right? Readers are invited to examine manuscript support cited in footnotes of the Reference edition of the New World Translation, read explanations given in the appendix, and compare the rendering with a variety of other translations. They will generally find that some other translators have also seen the need to express the matter in a similar manner.

Also note what is said here:

Hebrew and Greek commentator Alexander Thomson had to say in his review on the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures: “The translation is evidently the work of skilled and clever scholars, who have sought to bring out as much of the true sense of the Greek text as the English language is capable of expressing. The version aims to keep to one English meaning for each major Greek word, and to be as literal as possible. . . . The word usually rendered ‘justify’ is generally translated very correctly as ‘declare righteous.’ . . . The word for the Cross is rendered ‘torture stake’ which is another improvement. . . . Luke 23:43 is well rendered, ‘Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.’ This is a big improvement upon the reading of most versions.” On the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the same reviewer made this comment: “The New World Version is well worth acquiring. It is lively and lifelike, and makes the reader think and study. It is not the work of Higher Critics, but of scholars who honour God and His Word.”—The Differentiator, April 1952, pages 52-7, and June 1954, page 136.

The Hebrew scholar Professor Dr. Benjamin Kedar of Israel, in an interview with a representative of the Watch Tower Society, evaluated the New World Translation as follows: “In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translations, I often refer to the English edition of what is known as the New World Translation. In so doing, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew. . . . Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain.”

Wolfgang Feneberg comments in the Jesuit magazine Entschluss/Offen (April 1985): “He [Jesus] did not withhold his father’s name YHWH from us, but he entrusted us with it. It is otherwise inexplicable why the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer should read: ‘May your name be sanctified!’” Feneberg further notes that “in pre-Christian manuscripts for Greek-speaking Jews, God’s name was not paraphrased with kýrios [Lord], but was written in the tetragram form [YHWH] in Hebrew or archaic Hebrew characters. . . . We find recollections of the name in the writings of the Church Fathers; but they are not interested in it. By translating this name kýrios (Lord), the Church Fathers were more interested in attributing the grandeur of the kýrios to Jesus Christ.” The New World Translation restores the name to the text of the Bible wherever there is sound, scholarly reason to do so.

Answer 10

It's a book. We humans wrote it. Anyone can put in or take out anything they want. Churches have been doing this for millennia.

So some translators believe some religious rule that you shouldn't pronounce the name of god and putting it in with all its vowels amounted to pronouncing it. Why is that any more ridiculous than any other religious rule that you believe? They've got bible verses they can point to as well.

I love the cult against cult mud wrestling. It shows what faith is all about.