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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Why was Jehovah God's name removed from the Bible?

In Hebrew, God's name appears nearly 7,000 times as four consonants יהוה. These consonants are transliterated YHWH and are known as the Tetragrammaton. In English, the common rendering of that name is “Jehovah” and has been recognized for centuries.

At some point a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong even to pronounce the divine name. Evidently, later copyists kept to following the tradition of eliminating the distinctive name of God by replacing it with Ky´ri·os and The·os´ ("LORD" and "GOD"). Unfortunately, because of the superstitions and traditions (things which Jesus condemned (Mt. 15:1-9) concerning the Divine Name, God's name was generally removed from the texts altogether.
 
Jesus even noted that God's name is to be regarded as Holy (or "Hallowed") and this surely wouldn't mean for it to be withheld from usage or omitted from His Word the Bible. (Mt. 6:9)
 
Note what The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, Zondervan, 1986 says on page 649:
 
"Of primary significance is the name of Yahweh [or Jehovah] which he himself made known in his revelation (Gen. 17:1; Exod. 3:14 [and 3:15]; 6:2...). One of the most fundamental and essential features of the biblical revelation is the fact that God is not without a name: he has a personal name [Jehovah or Yahweh], by which he can, and is to be, invoked."
 
For more, see:
God's Name
 
Jehovah - Importance of Name

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