Sacred Name Bible Explained

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.[1] [2] 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 .[3]

Most Sacred Name versions use the name Yahshua, a purported Semitic form of the name Jesus.[1]

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.[4]

Some Sacred Name Bibles, such as the Halleluyah Scriptures, are also considered Messianic Bibles due to their significant Hebrew style. Therefore they are used by some 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.[5]

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 to represent it. Modern authorities on Bible translation have called for translating it with a vernacular word or phrase that would be locally meaningful.[6] [7] [8] The Catholic Church has called for maintaining in the liturgy the tradition of using "the Lord" to represent the tetragrammaton,[9] 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.[10]

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.[11] 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

See 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. This view is colloquially known as "Aramaic primacy", and is also taken by some academics, such as Matthew Black.[12] [13] 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.[14]

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.[15] 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".[16]

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 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,[7] [17] 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).

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.[18]

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).

Limited Sacred Name Bibles

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

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

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Unseth. Peter. 1 July 2011. Sacred Name Bible Translations in English: A Fast-Growing Phenomenon. The Bible Translator. en-US. 62. 3. 185–194. 10.1177/026009351106200306. 163735860. 2051-6770.
  2. Unseth, Peter. 2019. "Sacred Name Bibles" p. 721, in Noss, Philip A., and Charles S. Houser, eds. A Guide to Bible Translation: People, Languages, and Topics. Maitland, FL: Xulon Press; and Swindon, UK: United Bible Societies
  3. Rhodes R. The Complete Guide to Bible Translations: How They Were Developed 2009 p206 "Unlike most other translations today, the New Jerusalem Bible renders the Old Testament name for God, YHWH, as "Yahweh," just as the Jerusalem Bible did. In place of "Lord of hosts" is "Yahweh Sabaoth"
  4. Web site: THE SCRIPTURES Institute for Scripture Research. 2020-08-15. www.biblecollectors.org.
  5. Aland, K. Text of the New Testament
  6. David Moomo. 2005. Translating YHWH into African languages. Scriptura 88: 151–60.
  7. Ernst R. Wendland. 1992. yhwh- The Case For Chauta 'Great-[God]-of-the-Bow'. The Bible Translator. 43.4: 430–438.
  8. Helmut Rosin. 1956. The Lord Is God: The Translation of the Divine Names and the Missionary Calling of the Church. Amsterdam: Netherlands Bible Society.
  9. "In accordance with immemorial tradition which indeed is already evident in the above-mentioned 'Septuagint' version, the name of almighty God, expressed by the sacred Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH) and rendered in Latin by the word Dominus, is to be rendered in any vernacular by a word of equivalent meaning." Liturgiam authenticam, fifth instruction on vernacular translation of the Roman liturgy, Issue 5, section 41c. Congregatio de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum. 2001. .
  10. http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/frequently-asked-questions/the-name-of-god-in-the-liturgy.cfm United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: "The Name of God in the Liturgy"
    • A Literal Translation of the New Testament, by Herman Heinfetter (1863)
    • The Epistles of Paul in Modern English, by George Barker Stevens (1898)
    • St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, by W. G. Rutherford (1900)
  12. Black, Matthew. "An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts". Oxford Clarendon 1967.
  13. Cross F.L "Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church". London: Oxford University Press, 1961
  14. The Sacred Name 2002: 89ff
  15. Peter M. Head Christology and the Synoptic problem: an argument for Markan priority p161 "Jellicoe summarises: LXX texts, written by Jews for Jews, retained the Divine Name in Hebrew Letters (palaeo-Hebrew or "
  16. Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address, ch. 21
  17. David Moomo. 2005. Translating YHWH into African languages. Scriptura 88:151–160.
  18. Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition Bible. Preface, V. "No translation has accurately restored the Name Yahweh to the New Testament text where it undoubtedly appeared when the apostolic authors produced their works, nor is there a translation that has faithfully restored the Saviour's true Name, Yahshua the Messiah, to the text of the Bible", Jacob O. Meyer
  19. https://archive.org/details/restorationofori0000unse Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible
  20. http://www.biblecollectors.org/reviews/urin_thummim.htm BibleCollectors.org
  21. https://mctbible.org MCT Bible
  22. http://www.coyhwh.com/en/bible/hebraicRootsBible.pdf Hebraic Roots Bible
  23. published by Yahweh's Restoration Ministry and using the King James Version. Available online at The Restoration Study Bible
  24. edited by Ann Spangler and published by Baker Publishing Group. Names of God, accessed 12 December 2015. The core text uses the God's Word translation. The print edition has divine names printed in brown and includes a commentary. The text is available at BibleGateway.com.
  25. [Blog]
  26. Uses "Yahweh" explaining and defending this practice pp. 759-771. Source
  27. It is not clear if this is the same translation as "The Scriptures" by the Institute for Scripture Research
  28. https://www.cepher.net/
  29. Web site: New Living Translation Foreword. 2009.
  30. http://nachouraqui.tripod.com/id83.htm Chouraqui's French translation online
  31. Magandang Balita Biblia, copyright Philippine Bible Society 1980.

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