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The Name of God in the New Testament, George Howard, Biblical Archaelogy Review (4:1), Mar 1978.

Pesher Habakkuk

Pesher Habakkuk

Did the earliest Gospels use Hebrew letters for the Tetragrammaton?

Many early copies of the New Testament abbreviate sacred words (nomina sacra). The earliest of these abbreviations stand for “God,” “Lord,” “Christ,” and “Jesus.” Abbreviations of these words were formed by writing their first and last letters and placing a line over them. Thus, using English to illustrate, “God” would appear asG ÷D÷ and “Lord” as L÷D÷.

The attempt to differentiate and dignify the sacred name of God goes back to pre-Christian times; it was done first by Jews.

From the Dead Sea Scrolls we know that Jewish scribes often distinguished the divine name Yahweh. (Yahweh is known as the Tetragrammaton because it consists of four consonant Hebrew letters, yod, he, vav, he, often written in English YHWH.) Frequently, the scribes who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls would write the Tetragrammaton in old paleo-Hebrew script, although the scroll was otherwise written in square Aramaic script. An example is the Habakkuk commentary found in cave 1. In the portion reproduced in the color photograph, the Tetragrammaton appears twice in paleo-Hebrew script on line 7 word 3 (reading from right to left) and on line 14 word 7.

Read the rest of The Name of God in the New Testament in the online Biblical Archaeology Society Library.

Posted in: Maccabean Period

19 Comments on "The Name of God in the New Testament, George Howard, Biblical Archaelogy Review (4:1), Mar 1978."

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  1. Julie Pruitt says:

    I totally agree with your article. The name of Yahweh was removed from all scripture despite the admonition not to add or take away from the word of Yahweh. This has caused great confusion. I now call on the name of Yahweh since I found out that the name exists several years ago (before that, and although I had been a Christian for over 25 years, I didn’t know the name existed). What I ALWAYS run up against is this scripture: “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved.” I used to use this scripture myself all the time. Now, I have to tell people I don’t know. I do know for a fact that people throughout the centuries have “tweaked” scriptures. I do suspect that some of the epistles are not written by whom we believe they were written. I don’t even think that the epistles were meant to be taken as the “word of God.” I don’t call Christ, “Jesus.” I call him by his real name, “Yeshua.” I’m pretty much considered a heretic. I’ve been called it to my face. However, after much fasting, prayer and study, I know that what I have discovered in the last several years is true. But since people have monkeyed with scriptures and the New Testament writings, I still believe some pieces of the puzzle are missing. I constantly pray we find them. “Do not remove the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set.” You know why not? Because people get lost without the landmarks. Taking the name of Yahweh out of his word is the biggest mistake ever made. It has robbed people throughout the centuries of having his name, which he gave us, to call upon. Thank you for the article.

  2. Darrell Bunger says:

    The name of God is sacred, yes, and I couldn’t agree more with the conclusions in this article. @Julie, one must conclude that those “monkeying” with the scriptures as you said will be held accountable. The one thing I did not see in this article concerning the divine name of God is the scriptural basis for seeing the name of God replaced by other words and symbols.

    The one thing satan desired from humans in the garden of eden was worship. To do this to the level he desired you need a name. Satan’s original name has never been revealed in scriptures as God would make sure he or his demons could never receive that which they desired most – the adulation and worship by humans calling him by name. It is only God YHWH who deserves this worship and honor. Jesus even told him so when Satan tempted the Christ himself with all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would only worship him! (Matt 4:8-10, Luke 4:5-8)

    If you read the entire book of Jeremiah it is very clear in its prophecy of how the end of days would go. Specifically chapter 23 where it identifies a large group of false prophets. These prophets, under demonic inspiration, intended to make God’s people forget his name (Jer 23:27).

    I find it very reasonable to conclude that if the 1st century translating christians who wrote the copies of the Septuagint (Hebrew/Aramaic-OT in greek) made it a point to leave the hebrew YHWH intact amidst the greek translated texts then that is a strong indication of the sacredness and importance of that name being present.

  3. Julie Pruitt says:

    Thank you Darrell Bunger for sharing the Jeremiah scriptures. I will look into them. I agree with what you write.

  4. Senzeni says:

    I long to know more of the original Hebrew Scripts and even to learn the Hebrew Language. I need to know know more in detail the sacred Name and is it possible to have a Bible with the Original Name of YHWH and The Christ Jesus distintly so that I may understand when I read passage when it is talking about Yeshua and when talking about YHWH. What is the nearest best Bible translation that I can get?

  5. Senzeni says:

    I long to know more of the original Hebrew Scripts and even to learn the Hebrew Language. I need to know know more in detail the sacred Name and is it possible to have a Bible with the Original Name of YHWH and The Christ Jesus distintly so that I may understand when I read passage when it is talking about Yeshua and when talking about YHWH. What is the nearest best Bible translation that I can get?

  6. Patricia Kirschling says:

    Visit JW.ORG. You can download the Bible translation that has restored God’s name to its original place in the scriptures. There is also a bible study aid…What does the Bible Really Teach…. that helps us to understand the meaning of the scriptures.

  7. Julie Pruitt says:

    Hi Patricia —

    As sincere as the Jehovah Witnesses are, they do have the name wrong. It is not “Jehovah.” There were no “J sounds” in the Hebrew language, and there still are no “J” sounds in the Hebrew language. The “J sounds” throughout the Bible came about after the Bible was translated into English. At the time that the Hebrew scriptures were being translated into English, the English language itself was transforming dramatically.

    The English letter “J” is one of the last letters added to the English alphabet, at about the time that the Hebrew scriptures were being translated into English. You will notice a pattern in the change. Usually, any Hebrew word which began with Yod (“Y sound”) and it was followed by a consonant, it was given the letter “I” when transliterated into English. Here are some examples: Israel, Isaac, Italy, Issachar, Isaiah, Ishmael, to name a few.

    Any Hebrew word that began with Yod and was followed by a vowel, took the new letter “J” at the beginning. Here are some examples: Jerusalem, Joshua, Judah, Jacob, Joel, Joseph, Jael, and more.

    All these words in Hebrew began with the Yod or the “Y sound.” It was the transliteration into English that produced the “J” letter (which was still a “Y sound” at the time of these early English transliterations). But over the centuries, the letter J has evolved into the hard J sound we have today. German speakers still have the original “Y sound” representing their letter Y, such as in Johann [Yo-hahn] Sebastian Bach.

    The “V” sound (sometimes found in pronouncing YHWH) is a shift in the Hebrew language. In Modern Hebrew, the Vav replaced the Ancient Hebrew letter Waw; or in other words, the “V sound” replaced the “W sound.”

    All living languages are constantly evolving. This is nothing new. It has been happening since languages began. Anyhow, when God revealed his name to people, most scholars agree that the sound in YHWH that stands for the third letter in the tetragrammaton was a “W sound.”

    I have talked with people of the Jehovah Witness faith. They have agreed that what I have said is true. It’s just very hard for people to break away from traditions that we’ve been taught (often traditions that we’ve been taught since we were children).

    One thing that we all must remember is to follow God and his truth, not the traditions of man. It can be very hard. Christ was crucified because he pointed out that the religious leaders of his day were teaching for doctrine the commandments of men instead of God’s truth.

    Always follow God and not men or religion. Yes, you will probably be labeled a “weirdo,” but, so was Yeshua Christ (Christ means “anointed one” in Greek). Remember, Yeshua the Christ was “… despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:3).

    “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18, 19).

    In other words, don’t expect to win any popularity contests in this world if you follow God in all His Spirit and truth.

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  9. Rachel says:

    With all due respect, I still have no idea what difference this would make. Jesus is God and Lord and His Father is God (Yahweh, Jehovah, Adonai, el Shaddai, the Tetragrammaton YHWH, etc etc…

    As time progressed, Gentiles along with Jews realized that Jesus is indeed God, the God of Torah and of their Holy Scriptures.

    This article really does nothing as far as evidence to point that Jesus is not God or that the writings in the New Testament are in error

  10. Alan Crabb says:

    Julie Pruitt : you comment “As sincere as the Jehovah Witnesses are, they do have the name wrong. It is not “Jehovah.” ” Two comments if I may? (1) This is a very anglo-centric view. Jehovah’s Witnesses internationally use the local form of the name – check out their website using the language box. This also applies to their New World Translation of the Bible. They do not insist on ‘Jehovah’, that was adopted in English speaking countries because it was common current usage (e.g. in the original American Standard Version of the Bible). (2) JW’s tend to resist ‘Yahweh’ and are probably right to do so. The original pronunciation is not known but search Youtube for Nehemia Gordon’s lectures : he favours Ye-ho-VAH. For Jesus he favours Ye-ho-SHUA. Kind regards.

  11. T H says:

    Maybe Patricia needs to watch this. https://youtu.be/DA3VKpVP17U

  12. T H says:

    I’m sorry…I meant Julia, not Patricia. https://youtu.be/DA3VKpVP17U

  13. Julie Pruitt says:

    Alan Crabb — you don’t change the holy name of Yahweh. The use of “Jehovah” was created by English translators who were incorrect. Why would you even want to continue in half a truth? When I find more truth in God — I follow it. I don’t care for the traditions of man. Don’t ever forget who had Christ (Y’shua) killed. It was the highest of religious leaders. Religion kills God’s truth and teach for doctrine the commandments of man.

  14. Alan Crabb says:

    Hello Julie : re your comment of Feb 15. I don’t defend any position, and what JW’s believe is up to them. I just suggest that you get your facts right. As for vocalisations of YHWH, ‘Yahweh’is actually LATER than ‘Jehovah’. ‘Yahweh’ was first mooted by Gesenius about 1820, whereas ‘Jehovah’ is found from 1539 onwards. No vocalisation can be defended definitively as none appears in the manuscripts (but see Nehemia Gordon for vowel pointings). Kind regards.

  15. Julie Pruitt says:

    Alan Crabb — there are no J sounds in Hebrew now or in the past. Yeshua did not speak English to people. The scriptures were written before the English language existed. The creation of the name of Jehovah is man-made by English translators.

    Somebody who doesn’t know how to use English punctuation (you, Alan) is hardly the person whom I would seek to teach English history. I am not answering you anymore, Alan. It’s obvious to me that you have very little knowledge of the subject.

  16. Alan Crabb says:

    Hello Julie : firstly I am sorry if either I or my punctuation have offended you. I will leave this conversation as follows (1) Your statements were incorrect, both about the beliefs of JW’s and the origin of the vocalisations of YHWH. (2) You have not responded to the arguments made (did you check Gesenius?), and (3) you are outraged by arguments I have not made. The points you make above are entirely unconnected to anything I have said. You simply have not understood. Yes, ‘Jehovah’ is a vocalisation made up by translators. So is ‘Yahweh’. Neither of them appear in the manuscripts, and I gave you the dates when both first appeared in English. Ignore me by all means, but please don’t ignore the evidence – check for yourself. Kind regards.

  17. In reference to Paleo Hebrew , I see Yahuah as the father and Yahusha as the son . Last 3 letters SHA means Saviour . Comments please

  18. Brian says:

    How many times is the author going to express ideas through a “probably”? Stop using the kings translation this is why you are all confused. Matthewsbible.com written by WIlliam Tyndale the uncompromised “King James Bible”. Stop with this crap your focus is on the son of god because you can not reach the creator.