Pronouncing & Translating the Divine Name: History & Practice

by Andrew Case

Why and how did we lose God's personal name? Is it important? What does God think about us always calling him by a title or substitute like LORD? Can we accurately recover the exact pronunciation of the tetragrammaton in the way it sounded in the days of Moses? What are we to make of the Sacred Name Movement? Why did the New Testament authors use kurios (Lord) to refer to God? How seriously should we take Exodus 3:15 in this whole discussion? And how has God's personal name as revealed to Moses been rendered and perceived throughout history? Should we never pronounce God's name out of reverence, or is there biblical evidence to the contrary?

Andrew Case provides an exhaustive discussion of these issues and more, considering implications for Bible translation and beyond. Overall, he sets out to answer two primary questions throughout the 1)Would it be better for translations of the Hebrew Bible to use some approximation of Yahweh, or a title like "the Lord"? 2)When teaching and reading Hebrew today outside of Israel, would it be better to pronounce his name as some approximation like Yahweh, or say Adonai (Lord)?

Genres: Theology

109 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 2, 2021

Reviews

[Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise but careful, at times technical but always readable. A fantastic resource.

[Alfie Mosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in this questions this is a really great book. I will start with my one minor criticism. Andrew Case touched on this, but I would have liked to seen a more well developed section on how the reading of the tetragrammaton as Jehovah developed during the Middle Ages. This is minor and the strengths of this book are many. Case does an excellent job of tracing the ancient history of the name of God. He presents the arguments for and against several different pronunciations and the main arguments for and against if the name should even be spoken. Many of my questions were answered. I gained new information and insights. I brings me comfort that I will have this book on my shelf as a reference for future use.

[Micah Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relatively convincing case for use of Yahweh (or another vocal approximation for YHWH) in both translation and worship (especially personal). Touches all the high points of the argument with a focus upon Exodus 3:15 and Yahweh’s clear desire for His Name to be remembered throughout all generations. I probably learned the most from the manuscript evidence presented.