by Mark Taylor, member of the NLT Bible Translation Committee and CEO of Tyndale House Publishers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Old Testament, the God of the Hebrews identified\nhimself by the Hebrew name YHWH (sometimes transliterated in English as\nYahweh). The meaning of the Hebrew name can be translated literally as \u201cI am\nwho I am\u201d or \u201cI will be what I will be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This name was considered to be so holy that ancient readers\nof the Hebrew text would not say it aloud. Instead, they would use the name\nAdonai (\u201cGod\u201d) in place of YHWH. In Psalm 23:1, for instance, we find this\nfamiliar phrase: \u201cYHWH is my shepherd.\u201d But the Hebrew reader would read it\naloud as \u201cAdonai is my shepherd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps because of this reticence to pronounce the name\nYHWH, most English translations of the Old Testament render it as \u201cthe Lord<\/span>.\u201d (Note the use of small caps in\nthis usage.) So Psalm 23:1 is typically rendered in English as \u201cThe Lord<\/span> is my shepherd.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This method of translating YHWH as \u201cthe Lord<\/span>\u201d goes back as far as the Coverdale\ntranslation, which was first published in 1535.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name YHWH is found 6,828 times in the Hebrew text of the\nOld Testament. Like most other English translations, the NLT renders YHWH as\n\u201cthe Lord<\/span>\u201d almost every time. But\nin a few passages in Exodus, the name itself is being emphasized in the text.\nIn those instances, the NLT renders YHWH as \u201cYahweh.\u201d These passages are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exodus 3:13-16a<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 13<\/sup>But Moses protested, \u201cIf I go to the people of Israel and tell them, \u2018The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,\u2019 they will ask me, \u2018What is his name?\u2019 Then what should I tell them?\u201d Exodus 6:2-3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2<\/sup>And God said to\nMoses, \u201cI am Yahweh\u2014\u2018the Lord.<\/span>\u2019 3<\/sup>I\nappeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai\u2014\u2018God Almighty\u2019\u2014but I\ndid not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exodus 15:3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3<\/sup>The Lord<\/span> is a warrior; Exodus 33:19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 19<\/sup>The Lord<\/span>\nreplied, \u201cI will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my\nname, Yahweh, before you. For I\nwill show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I\nchoose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exodus 34:5-6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 5<\/sup>Then the Lord<\/span> came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh. 6<\/sup>The Lord<\/span> passed in front of Moses, calling out, In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word adonai<\/em> is found 442 times. In most cases it is used as a name for God. In those instances, the NLT and most other English translations render it \u201cLord\u201d. (Note that the word is capitalized, but we do not use small caps.) Look, for instance, at Psalm 147: And sometimes YHWH and Adonai are used in conjunction with one another, as in Psalm 8: I hope this helps you get\nbehind the English text, where Lord<\/span>\nand Lord look quite similar, but they reflect very different Hebrew words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Mark Taylor, member of the NLT Bible Translation Committee and CEO of Tyndale House Publishers In the Old Testament, the God of the Hebrews identified himself by the Hebrew name YHWH (sometimes transliterated in English as Yahweh). The meaning of the Hebrew name can be translated literally as \u201cI am who I am\u201d or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5734,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions\/5734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
14<\/sup>God replied to Moses, \u201cI Am Who I Am.<\/span> Say this to the people of Israel: I Am<\/span> has sent me to you. 15<\/sup>God also said to Moses, \u201cSay this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors\u2014the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob\u2014has sent me to you.
This is my eternal name,
my name to remember for all generations.
16<\/sup>\u201cNow go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, \u2018Yahweh, the God of your ancestors\u2014the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob\u2014has appeared to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yahweh is his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYahweh! The Lord<\/span>!
The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5<\/sup>How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!
His understanding is beyond comprehension!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1<\/sup>O Lord<\/span>, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n