It never ceases to amaze me how incoherent almost all bible translations are when it comes to the name(s) of God. What’s wrong with YHWH? What’s wrong with Eloah? What’s wrong with actually representing the form or kind of name used by the text? This whole LORD/Lord/God/GOD and other nonsense (like HaShem) is just incomprehensible. What’s so hard about translating In the beginning, Elohim
?? That’s what the text actually SAYS. Why is the Tetragrammaton—what the scriptures actually USE—anathema? Are we better than the texts? No English translators seem to have memory loss or SWRS (Sudden Word Replacement Syndrome) when it comes to the names of deities in other ancient religious texts. It’s only when you open up a translation of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in almost all English bibles that it becomes impossible to read a rendering of the actual name used by that text. Is it so hard to put a little comment in the introduction saying no one knows what ‘YHWH’ means or how it was originally pronounced, so we recommend saying ‘Adonai’ or ‘Yahweh’ when you read it
? What is this Hebrew-deity-name-phobia that seems to have overwhelmed the entire English-reading world?
If any man has uttered the [Most] Venerable Name even though frivolously, or as a result of shock or for any other reason whatsoever, while reading the Book or blessing, he shall be dismissed and shall return to the Council of the Community no more.
The Community Rule, 1QS, 6:27-7:2
It is ironic that the Dead Sea sect, which held such high regard for Torah and the Prophets, should go so far as to exclude and banish all who would utter the Most Venerable Name
even though the very texts that defined who they were and around which they ordered their entire lives speak the Name with almost reckless abandon. Had Moses or Isaiah lived in their day, the Dead Sea sect would have ostracised them for blasphemy whilst quoting from their texts as the foundation of their existence. As it stands, however, it is likely that the Dead Sea sect’s strict, non-biblical tradition will be satisfied, since it is probably the case that no one knows how the tetragrammaton was originally pronounced—assuming, of course, that it is the tetragrammaton that was meant. The name revealed to Moses in Exodus is actually אהיה אשׁר אהיה. Whatever the name may or may not be, however, misses the point anyway because in the ancient world, the meaning of one’s name didn’t have much to do with the sounds of consonants and vowels, but referred to a person’s character, being, and role in society. A deity’s name
often referred specifically to their creative force and power and giving things names served to take part in the process of creation. That is why many ancient near eastern creation accounts–including Genesis–refer to the gods as giving form and existence to matter and being by naming them. When Adam named
the animals, this wasn’t significant because he was calling them something vocally, but because he was ordaining what they were and in a very real sense defining their existence. Perhaps the most ironic thing about not speaking the name of YHWH is that, in terms of the ancient world, to fail to speak the name of a deity is to deny that god’s existence. Surely that is the greater blasphemy. Then again, one could always be on the safe side and just say Jehovah.
