Translating the Divine Name - a new, exhaustive study
I've just finished a year long, exhaustive study of issues surrounding the Divine Name, YHWH. There are some things I discovered that have not been addressed in the world of BT publications to my knowledge. For those who would be served by this, I've put all my findings in a small book that is free and creative commons. I've also presented the contents of the paper and more in an 11-part podcast series. You can listen to the first episode here.
The following are the topics in the table of contents:
Introduction & Motivation
Use of the Divine Name in the Hebrew Bible
The Beginning of the End for Pronouncing God’s Name
The Septuagint
The Early Church and the Divine Name
The New Testament Use of “Lord”
The Early Church & Late Antiquity
Translation Traditions from the Reformation to the Present
Sacred Name Movement & Bibles
Returning to Exodus 3:15
The Evidence for Yahweh
The Lack of Evidence for Yahweh
Objections to the Pronunciation and Translation of יהוה
We Don’t Have an Audio Recording of Moses
The Pronunciation of Yahweh is Historically Artificial
Nehemiah Gordon
We Run the Risk of “Taking God’s Name in Vain”
Inconsistency, Overwhelming the Reader, and Creating Obstacles
Jews Will Be Offended
It Spoils the Literary Effect
Conclusion
Appendices
Select Key Verses where a Title Substitute is Awkward/Inadequate for YHWH
A Selection of OT Passages Tracing the Importance of God’s Personal Name
A Selection of NT Verses Tracing the Importance of “Name”
The Roman Catholic Perspective
Bibliography
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Hi Steve, there are 46 occurrences of _yod shewa he holem vav qamets h_e in the MT. Since that rendering of the divine name seemed to be most complete in terms of vowels, it was chosen as the transliteration Jehovah. It definitely would not be JAhovah because every single occurrence of the name in the MT is marked with an initial yod shewa or yod hatef-segol.
Dear Steve, Andrew & Donald,
While this might be the case with the yhwh-adonay combination (holam missing though) so that the reader of the Hebrew text of such mss to be reminded not to read publicly the exact pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, it was not aiming to tell anything for the actual pronunciation of the divine name. And the actual pronunciation is not far away from sounds similar to the Hebrew names Jehoshua, Jehuda, and other theophoric names that provide an almost clear reading pattern. This masoretic device for non-pronunciation being though so close to the natural reading of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton has already been noticed by Samuel David Luzzatto. [This source is mentioned in p. 69 of my PhD thesis in Greek, here: https://www.academia.edu/33651190/]
Dear Andrew, Pavlos, and Donald,
First, I wish to thank you all for this excellent and insightful dialogue on the divine name which is now quite a few months old. Please allow me to revive the discussion, if I may. Having reread your paper, Andrew, and searched for insight to this specific question, I am still a bit perplexed. Also, I wish to preface this by according high regard and commendation for the Aleph with Beth teaching videos you, Andrew, and your wife Beth have been producing. I am greatly benefitting from the Hebrew instruction offered. Todah rabbah!!
Here is my question: If we are using the Hebrew pronunciation of the sixth letter of the alphabet (ו) as vav rather than as waw, why do the videos, in pronunciation of the divine name use "Yah_w_eh," and not "Yah_v_eh"? Are we implying that the true ancient pronunciation of (ו) was [w] rather than a [β]? If so, then I assume we are basing the general pronunciation of (ו) as vav on the advantage of affinity with fluency modern Hebrew, rather than to strive for strict accuracy with the most ancient form of pronunciation. But we make an exception for the divine name? Thanks for any insight to this genuine question.