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Where to find the Name
in the Bible The
Old testament A well
known Bible translation is the King James Version. Do we find God's
name in this translation? Yes, in Exodus 6:3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah
12:2 and Isaiah 26:4.
The
name occur almost 7000 times in the Hebrew writings. It is written
with four Hebrew consonants (from right to left)
(transliterated variants: YHWH/YHVH/JHWH/JHVH), and is therefore also called "the tetragrammaton".
In Biblia Hebraica og Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia the
tetragrammaton is written 6828 times.
Many
translators choose to use titles as "Lord" instead of God's
name. But there are also several translations which has preserved
God's name, for example American Standard Version which uses the
name Jehovah all places where it occur in the Hebrew writings.
Here is a comparison of Psalm 83:18
Biblia
Hebraica Stuttgartensia
 American
Standard Version
That they may know that thou alone, whose
name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth. The
New Jerusalem Bible
Let them know that you
alone bear the name of Yahweh, Most High over all the earth. King
James Version
That men may know that thou, whose name alone
is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. New
International Version
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD-- that you alone
are the Most High over all the earth. The
New Testament
In the
Greek writings we find the Divine Name only four times in the text.
In these four occurrences the Hebrew expression Hallelujah (Hallelu-Yah)
is used in the Greek text (Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6).
Hallelu-Yah
means "praise Yah", and Yah is a contraction
of the Divine Name - like the Biblical name Jonathan is a
short for Jehonathan.
Since
the Divine Name was written both in the Hebrew writings and the
early Greek translations of these, the writers of the New Testament
knew very well this name. Paul
Kahle has been a professor in semitic philology at several German
universities. He has done path-breaking research of the history of
the bible text. He writes in his book The Cairo Geniza:
"We know that the Greek Bible text [the Septuagint] as far as
it was written by Jews for Jews did not translate the Divine name by
ky'rios, but the Tetragrammaton written with Hebrew or Greek letters
was retained in such MSS [manuscripts]." In
the New Testament there are several quotations from the Old
Testament where you will find the Divine Name. But in all these
verses the name is replaced with the Greek word
("kyrios" - Lord) or
("theos" - God). Paul Kahle writes: "It was the
Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton by ky'rios, when the
divine name written in Hebrew letters was not understood any more."
This was done in the second or third century. This
explains the fact that in many old editions of the New Testament,
translated into Hebrew, the name of God is included several times in
scriptures that is not a quotation from the Old Testament. Jesus
taught his disciples to use God's name, as John 17:6 shows us:
"I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They belonged to
you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word." (NET
Bible)
Because of this,
several Bible translators have chosen to re-insert the Divine Name
in the New Testament, in places where it most likely were written in
the original text.
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