This may be one of the most important questions in your spiritual journey.
I will answer very simply. I will answer your question with a question.
After you attempt to answer this question, the issue will be amazingly simple. There will only be a few versions to choose from.
Please prayerfully consider what I am about to say. Please ask your Lord to guide you, by His Holy Spirit within you.
(Pause for Prayer)
(Pause for Prayer)
Did you pray? If you did not, then I admonish you to pray. If you do not ask God to provide guidance, you should not expect Him to provide it (James 4:2).
(Pause for Prayer)
Now for the question. The answer will lead you to what I believe are the most accurate versions of God's word. Are you ready? Here is the question.
What is His name?
Do you know His name?
God's name... What is it?
Do you know His name?
If you have been reading any of the popular versions I am aware of, you probably will not know the answer. That is because God's name is not in those versions of the Bible.
I will ask again... What is God's name?
You may not even be aware that God has a personal name.
Well, God's name occurs almost seven thousand times in the Bible. Most likely you have never heard God's name or seen it in your Bible. That is because God's name has been removed from most modern Bibles.
God's name is Yahweh.
This is very important in your selection of a Bible translation. If particular translators have removed God's name from God's book, should you read their translation? If they replace God's words with their words, is their translation really a translation of God's word from the original languages? To the extent that they remove God's words and replace His words with their words, the answer is no.
I will reveal more about the importance of God's name, according to scripture. Then I will recommend some translations.
Seven Thousand Times
Yahweh is the personal name of God. It is the name of four letters, YHWH. It occurs nearly seven thousand times in the Old Testament... eight times per page.
Eight times per page!
Almost one third of all the verses of the Old Testament had God's name, Yahweh, in the original text.
One verse out of every three verses!
Did you hear me?
Jesus' name in Hebrew was Yeshua (or Yahshua), which means Yahweh saves. His name appears roughly three times per page in the New Testament. So, both testaments contain the personal name of God in abundant quantities.
But changes in pronunciation have occurred over thousands of years so that people now say Jesus instead of Yeshua (or Yahshua).
Proclaimed Through All the Earth
Scripture is clear. God's intention was that all the world would know His name:
- "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" (Romans 9:17).
In scripture, many individuals called God by His proper name, Yahweh.
For example:
Eve, Lamech, Noah, Abraham, Yahweh, Sarah, Eliezer, Laban, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Rachael, Leah, Aaron, Moses, All Israel (at Sinai), Pharaoh, Joshua, Menoah, Naomi, Boaz, Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, David, Jonathon, Elijah, Elisha, Job, Ahaz, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and etc.
Hallelujah
You have probably called God by His name, Yahweh, without knowing it. When you sing "Hallelujah", you are singing "praise Yahweh". The last syllable of Hallelujah is jah. Jah is a modern pronunciation of Yah. And Yah is the first syllable of Yahweh. So, Yah is actually a short form of Yahweh. It is kind of like Dan is to Daniel. For many decades I sang songs using the word Hallelujah. I remember wondering what Hallelujah meant. As I sang those songs there was sometimes a slight hollowness to the word because I was singing a word but didn't know what it meant.
Yahweh was Replaced with LORD
The version of the Bible you read probably doesn't translate the name of four letters (YHWH) as Yahweh. It most likely replaces Yahweh with the word LORD (all capital letters). This is often explained in the initial pages of Bibles in a section titled "Principles of Translation". You can look at Genesis 2:4-9 in your Bible. If your Bible translates the name of four letters as Yahweh instead of replacing it with the word LORD, you will see God's name, Yahweh, four times in those five verses. You will not see the word LORD in that passage.
Rotherham's Emphasised Bible, the Proper Name Version of the King James Bible, The New Jerusalem Bible and the World English Bible translate YHWH as Yahweh. That is one of the reasons why I chose to use the World English Bible for virtually all scripture quotations in this book. The entire World English Bible is available to read on the internet for free all over the world. I can quote as much from the World English Bible as I want and pay no royalties.
The word Lord is a title, not a name. It means master. Moreover, the title Lord was a common title which was used to address men. Jacob referred to his brother Esau as lord (Genesis 32:4). Aaron called Moses lord. Daniel addressed King Nebuchadnezzar as lord (Daniel 4:24). So, when religious leaders replaced God's sacred and unique name with the title LORD, they were addressing God with the same title that they themselves were possibly addressed by.
Even though the book of Deuteronomy expressly forbids adding or subtracting from God's inspired words, Bible translators removed Yahweh and added LORD in its place.
A Warning From Deuteronomy
- 2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).
God used His name, Yahweh, over four hundred times in the book of Deuteronomy alone. Deuteronomy has about 950 verses. In other words, the original text of the holy book of Deuteronomy included God's name, Yahweh, in every other verse. Yet you will not find God's name, Yahweh, one single time in most modern translations of the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 4:2 above said
- "You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it".
But, as I said, most modern translations take away God's name, Yahweh, and add the title LORD. This replacement occurred over four hundred times in the book of Deuteronomy and nearly seven thousand times in the Old Testament.
Seven thousand times...
Censorship of God's Name
At some point, religious leaders prohibited the people from speaking the personal name of God, Yahweh. They replaced His name with the title LORD. They said that His name was too sacred to be spoken. But, this was contrary to God's express instruction. God had told Moses that He was to be called Yahweh (Exodus 3:13-15 above). God also said that He wanted His name to be proclaimed throughout all the earth (Romans 9:17 above and Exodus 9:16). God liberally placed His name through the Bible, eight times per page in the Old Testament and three times per page in the New Testament.
As I said before, here is what God said to Moses:
- 'God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations"' (Exodus 3:15).
So, God instructed Moses to speak God's personal name to His people. God said that Yahweh was His name for all generations. But instead of spreading God's name through the earth, religious leaders through much of history have removed God's name from God's holy book, the Bible. They actually have prohibited believers from speaking the name Yahweh.
Did they remove God's name from the public sphere so that the enemies of God could not curse His name? It is true that one cannot malign a name that one is ignorant of. I do see a benefit here, even though those who war with God have cursed Him profusely without knowing His name. But let it be known... Seeing a benefit from disobeying God does not excuse the disobedience. And being well aware that religious leaders are often ignorant of much of scripture, I see that their disobedience could have come from ignorance of scripture and a good intention.
Mistake of Ignorance or Wolves Disguised as Sheep?
Why did translators disobey the scriptures by removing the name of Yahweh from the scriptures and replacing His name with a title? Why did religious leaders prohibit the mere mentioning of Yahweh's name? Was it a mistake of ignorance made by true believers, the intentional act of unbelievers or something else? The scriptures do not tell us. But the scriptures do say that religious leaders in Jesus' day were generally unbelievers.
Jesus said:
- "You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father" (John 8:44). (John 8:13 indicates that this conversation is with the Pharisees.)
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna (Hell) as yourselves" (Matthew 23:15).
Paul wrote:
- "even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14,15).
My point is this. In some times and places, religious leadership may be primarily composed of unbelievers. So, it is possible that the removal of Yahweh's name was an intentional act of unbelievers. We can examine the reasons they state for the removal but we can't read their hearts.
But whether believers or unbelievers were responsible for the removal in any particular time or place, we know these things:
Religious leaders removed God's name from God's book. But we believers have the Holy Spirit who teaches us all things and reminds us of everything that Jesus said... even if the translator of the Bible we read from changed the words. See 1 John 2:27, John 14:16,17,26)
Click here for an in depth study of the scriptures, which show how God reveals himself without scripture.
Action with Grace
While recognizing their errors, we should not follow their tradition of addressing God only by the title of LORD. We should publicly call God by the personal name He gave us, Yahweh. Our translations of the Holy Bible should honor His name by translating His name as He gave it instead of replacing His name with the title LORD.
We are to watch for false prophets (Matthew 7:15-18) but should not rail against the translators in an abusive condemnation (Jude 1:9). We are to judge rightly (John 7:24) as we discern all things (1 Corinthians 2:15). We should speak "only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29).
We should pray that future translations will reveal God's name correctly. We should also pray that all believers will receive access to Bibles which translate the Hebrew word Yahweh as Yahweh. We should work and pray that Yahweh's name is proclaimed in all the earth according to God's desire (Romans 9:17 above).
Translations which properly reveal the name of God can be promoted in the Spirit and with love, without pointing fingers or judging the hearts of others. Six such translations are described at the bottom of this page. The first four are:
- The Emphasized Bible
- World English Bible
- The New Jerusalem Bible
- Proper Name Version of the King James Bible
These four versions translate the name of four letters instead of removing the name of four letters and replacing it with LORD. These four render the name of four letters as Yahweh. The Proper Name Version of the King James Bible also renders the name Jesus as it was pronounced in Hebrew (Yahshua).
I did say that there were six translations which reveal the proper name of God. The other two are:
- Green's Literal Translation (KJ3)
- Young's Literal Translation
While these two versions translate the name of four letters instead of removing the name of four letters and replacing it with LORD. These two render the name of four letters as Jehovah. This is merely a difference in opinion regarding how God's personal name should be pronounced... as Yahweh or Jehovah.
Three of these translations may be read online. Click the links below to read for free:
Summary
Should you read a translation in which the translators have chosen, over and over and over again to remove God's name from His own book? These translators chose to not translate... but instead to replace God's words with their own words. It is no wonder that many translations don't make sense. It is because translators have often replaced, rather than translated God's words.
If you would like to read more about God's personal name, Yahweh, and its exclusion from most English Bibles, please click here to read subchapter A3 in the appendix titled, Yahweh.
Recommendation
I suggest that you try The Emphasized Bible by Joseph Rotherham as your primary text. If you find a particular passage difficult to understand, then prayerfully read that passage in the another literal translation like, Green's Literal Translation (KJ3) or Young's Literal Translation. If you still don't receiving a sensible understanding, try the Proper Name Version of the King James Bible, The New Jerusalem Bible or the World English Bible. Rotherham, Young and Green versions are very literal and I find that a literal version is best for following the flow of thought in a text. But sometimes a literal version can be awkward. So, when that happens, see that passage in one of the other versions I listed above.
Among those translations listed above, the best one for you is the one you will read.
There have been many texts of the Bible in which I could not understand the flow of thought until I read the text from a literal translation. Literal translations are much more likely to consistently translate words from the original text. Sometimes a translation will translate a particular Greek word in two different ways within the same paragraph or section.
Here is one example: In Romans 2:14 the NASB translated the Greek word phusis as "instinctively". But in Romans 2:27, still in the same subject as verse fourteen, the NASB translated phusis as "physically". The passage didn't make sense because the translator was not consistent. The NIV, NET, ESV, HCSB, NKJV also translate those passages inconsistently. Rotherham's version was clear because he was consistent. He translated both occurrences of phusis as "by nature". In Strong's concordance, number 5449, he lists phusis as meaning "nature, inherent nature, origin, birth". Mounce defines phusis simply as "nature". I do believe that the doctrine of the passage is seriously affected by the translation. I could give you other examples besides Romans 2:14 and 27, but one is enough to communicate the point. If you can't see the flow of thought from one passage to the next, you can't understand the passage. It's that simple.
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible transliterates the tetragrammaton as Yahweh instead of replacing it with "LORD". This translation is also a very unique and unusual translation in other important ways. The grammar of the original languages of the Bible indicated emphasis by position, repetition and particles. Rotherham used a unique marking system to show which words imparted emphasis in the original languages.
For example:
- "||By faith|| |Rahab the harlot| perished not with them who refused to yield, |she having welcomed the spies with peace|." Hebrews 11:31
The single bars in |Rahab the harlot| indicate slight stress. The double bars in ||By faith|| call for more stress. If you read the same verse in other Bibles, you will find basically the same words, but without the emphasis. The emphasis doesn't come through in the English translations. The meaning is received much more clearly and quickly for me in Rotherham.
Rotherham also uses indentations to reveal poetic parallelism and logical train of thought. One can quickly see a thought within a thought in Rotherham's translation.
For example:
"And they shall call thee--
The city of Yahweh,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel"
Unfortunately, I have found that Kindle and online versions of this Bible do not have the special marks or indentations. Until this changes, you will need acquire the hard copy version to benefit from the special features.
There are many passages which I can't understand unless I read them in the Emphasized Bible.
In addition to The Emphasized Bible, you could read the Proper Name Version of the King James Bible, The New Jerusalem Bible or the World English Bible. They all render the name of four letters as Yahweh. The World English Bible is a language update of the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901. The WEB is in the open domain, so it is free from copyright restrictions. Therefore, It can be distributed without having to pay royalties. The Proper Name Version of the King James Bible renders the name Jesus as it was pronounced in Hebrew (Yahshua). It has also updated the KJV to modern English.
It is helpful to read from more than one version. The purpose of scripture is to draw men into fellowship with Yahweh, with Yahshua. So, if reading from one version doesn't draw you into prayer, try reading that passage in another version. Scripture is God talking to us. As we read, we should respond... and talk to Him, with praise, confessions, requests and thanksgiving!