Fw: [b-trans] Re: NAME YHWH in OT (Before its was Re: question)

[List Facilitator]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk at qaya.org>
To: "BibleTranslation discussion list" <Bible-Translation at kastanet.org>
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 1:58 PM
Subject: [b-trans] Re: NAME YHWH in OT (Before its was Re: question)


> On 05/01/2004 12:41, FrankLowder2 at aol.com wrote:
>
> > ...
> >
> > I'm not sure what this is all about.  I'm not a Hebrew expert, but my
> > recollection is that the texts were not given vowel points until a
> > considerably different time.  There may have been a difference in the
> > way the word (note that I use the singular) was pronounced when it
> > referred to God from when it referred to a human overlord (as I think
> > the pointing implies), but this was not evident in the consonantal
> > text.  Similarly the tetragrammaton was not different from other text
> > EXCEPT WHEN WRITTEN IN DIFFERENT CHARACTERS since it also did not have
> > vowel points.
> >
>
> There were three different words even in the consonantal text (using )
> for alef):
>
> )DWN (sometimes just )DN with suffixes)- human master or lord
> )DNY - a title of God (admittedly, in an unpointed text this could also
> be "my master" or "my masters")
> YHWH - the name of God
>
> The last of these was indeed sometimes written in different characters,
> paleo-Hebrew ones, in some Dead Sea Scrolls MSS. But even so it is
> highly distinctive in the Hebrew text. These four letters are never used
> together in any other sense.
>
> > The choice to use a particular name to refer to the God of Israel had
> > a point when other nations and even some within the nation of Israel
> > itself worshipped other gods such as Baal, Melek, etc. , but what
> > point does this have today when we in the western tradition have
> > accepted that there is One only God?  Are we thereby making a
> > distinction between YHWH and Allah?  Is that the point?  Otherwise,
> > this whole argument seems totally pointless.
> >
>
> An interesting question, Frank. In a transculturated adaptation of the
> Bible there might be little point in giving God a name; but he should be
> named in a faithful translation because he is named in the original
> text. Would you suggest that the message of the Bible should be adjusted
> in other ways because it doesn't seem to have a point within western
> culture today?
>
>
> --
> Peter Kirk
> peter at qaya.org (personal)
> peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
> http://www.qaya.org/
>
>
>
> ######################################################
> Subscription changes (including Unsubscribe), FAQ, message archives,
> and downloadable files: http://www.geocities.com/bible_translation/list/
> or email: bible-translation-confirm at kastanet.org
>