Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jason Hare" <jason AT hareplay.com>]

David,

I think it might be wise for you to understand from the beginning the
purpose and scope of B-Hebrew. This is a forum for discussion of the text of
the Hebrew Bible (HB). We have participants from all different perspectives:
Jews, Christians, Atheists, Faith-Disinterested, and many others. We have
discussed the Tetragrammaton on several occasions (which you can search out
in our archives). We are, as a group, not interested in propagation of
theological perspectives. We discuss the text based on Hebrew from an
educated perspective.

Please, do not think that you have come here with something new. We are
weathered in respect to the Hebrew Bible. We have heard most all arguments
that you could present. And we all have our own perspectives. However, you
will surely find no support for the idea that "Yehovah" or "Jehovah" or
"Yahweh" or whatever name you choose to be "God's" is absolute without
contestation. If your interest is to find support for a "Sacred Name"
position, you will surely not find it here (or in any decent scholarly
work).

As far as your personal beliefs go, I have to agree with Charles: "Knock
yourself out." If you want to believe in "sacred knowledge" propaganda, go
for it. However, if you gather a deeper knowledge of the HB and of the
morphology/structure of the Hebrew language, you will surely not hold such
silly positions any longer. That's my hope for you--that you will get beyond
yourself in your study of such a great subject as Hebrew.

Best regards,
Jason Hare


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David P Donnelly" <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>
To: <cisbell AT cox.net>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Variants of YHWH in the BHS Text


> Charles David Isbell says:
>
> >>>
> I am aware that some on this list need to believe fervently that the
> sacred name of God
> is to be pronounced Jehovah.
>
>  I have two responses.
> [1] Knock yourself out.
> You have my blessing to pronounce the name of your deity any way you
> wish.
> [2] Kindly stop trying to speak for "the Jewish people."
> We have NEVER used that pronunciation,
> and it was not a Jew who made the childish error of reading Ktiv
> consonants with Qere vowels.
> >>>
>
> Dave says:
>
> In my particulat situation,
> I am trying to understand the "it is written" form of God's Hebrew name,
> as it is preserved in the Ben Chayyim Hebrew text.
>
> I realize that  Masoretic texts disagree with other Masoretic texts,
> but the Old Testament of the English Bible that I use,
> [e.g. the KJV]
> is translated from the Ben Chayyim Hebrew text.
>
> Yehovah
> [yod-shewa-he-holem-vav-qamets-he]
> is a Hebrew form of God's name
> that is preserved in both the Ben Chayyim Hebrew text,
> and in the Leningrad Codex..
>
> It appears to be a Hebrew form,
> that is pronounceable.
>
> It is pronounced "Yehovah" in Hebrew.
>
> Thus to be redundant,
> I am trying to understand the "it is written" form of God's Hebrew name,
> [e.g. Yehovah]
> as it is preserved in the Ben Chayyim Hebrew text over 6000 times,
> and as it is preserved in the Leningrad Codex 44 times.
>
> I am aware that many sources do not believe that
> this  "it is written" form of God's Hebrew name,
> [e.g. Yehovah]
> was meant to be pronounced.
>
> Dave Donnelly
>
>