Performing “word searches” is a staple of gaining deeper understanding of Scripture.
It’s the first step in seeking the truth of a matter because ALL translations retain the beliefs of the translator (translation bias) and unless you are a native speaker of Hebrew (IF, modern Hebrew is identical to that of the time the scripture was written) you are going to have translator bias.
Sometimes it’s more than just a bias though, it’s just pure deception.
This point of blatant deception is found in the translation of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה / YHWH, Strongs H3068) into the “LORD” used in most English Bible translations.
It’s clear that the name of YHWH is not “LORD” from even a casual look, but we will go a bit father in this post to demonstrate the deception concerning His name.
Starting with a basic “word search” we will look at the use of “LORD” in all capitals as is used by most English translations of the Bible as a replacement holder for YHVH the Name of the Creator first given in Gen 2:4.
Later we will use E-Sword to see how translators use the same word found in the Hebrew/Greek for several (sometimes seemingly at odds with each other) translated words.
In the Hebrew (written right to left) we see the letters “Yod-He-Wav-He” (YHWH) which is pronounced “Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey” in the Hebrew used for H3068 which is translated into LORD.
Why would you not just put “YHVH” in its place as that is what is found in the scriptures?
Exodus 4:10
Exodus shows us clearly that the ALL-CAPS “LORD” it is not being used as “Master”, but “Lord”, lower-case, (H136) is used to denote this status or title and "LORD” incorrectly used as His name.
Exodus 3:13
The “Revised Names King James Version”, “The Scriptures 2009”, and a few other translations have chosen to print what is found in the Hebrew (H3068) instead of replacing it with “LORD” when Elohim (H430) declares the Tetragrammaton as his name.
Looking at the undelaying Hebrew, it’s clear that His name is not “LORD” but “YHWH” the Tetragrammaton. How one pronounces that is another issue all together, but it’s disingenuous to replace what is given with something else not found in the text.
When you see the use of “Yahweh”, “Yahowah”, “Jehovah”, “Yehovah”, “Yahuah”, etc. they are all vying to be accepted as the correct pronunciation of the Name (YHWH).
How they get there is an in-dept study for another time. Why most English Bible still use “LORD” instead of any of them or the actual word ( יהוה ) found in scripture is what we are concerned with in this study.
THE INEFFABLE NAME DOCTRINE:
This is a practice started by Jews in the 4th century, that disallowed Yah’s name to be spoken and replaced the YHWH with pronunciation pointing (Masoretic vowel pointing’s, called Niqqud) from the word Adonai (Master / Lord) so that the reader would be reminded to say “Adonai” instead of YHWH.
Here are two good articles to explain the process a bit better. Remember that when they are saying “Yahweh” was removed and translated to “LORD”, that they are speaking of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה / YHWH, Strongs H3068) being removed and that is their understanding of how to sound out YHWH. Not that “Yahweh” is found in the text, because as our search has shown, and any ancient Hebrew scripture ever found with the Name in it has shown, it’s יהוה that we see written.
CONCLUSION:
I hope this short example has shown the power of cross-reference E-SWORD brings to one’s studies of Scripture and that “translator bias” is something that is in every translation we should be looking for.
Next time we will use E-SWORD to dive deeper into how one word can be used several ways and by looking at ALL uses, develop a better understanding and possible alternate translation than that of the Bible translator.
Don’t believe for a minute that your Pastor / Priest / Translator is smarter than you or has “Holy Insight” not given to man. That is the teaching of Rome and Catholicism, not the Bible.
Most Christians are on the broad path to destruction because they do not seek Him in Truth and Spirit, that means questioning what you are being taught and being the Berean that compares it to His Word.
Mat 10:28 RNKJV And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
He is the one who gave us His Word that we might have life, we should probably pay more attention to it than those preaching it.
If you have any points of contention on what you read here, I encourage you to speak as a Believer, iron is to sharpen iron.
Pro 26:5 RNKJV Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.