Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

Hi Steve,

I think Yigal has given the best explanation. The English translations seem
to be more faithful to the Latin and Greek traditions than to the Massoretic
tradition. So, in order to answer the question we would need to go back to
the translators of the Greek tradition and ask why they felt this necessary.
The matter gets even more complicated because older Greek manuscripts have
the tetragrammaton in its rightful places and so it is not altogether clear
when the tetragrammaton was replaced with kyrios although it is quite clear
that it was not done so by the original translators but were later
emendations. Kyrios may have already been in oral usage at the time of the
emendations.

But, I suppose, the real question is why modern translations don't just
translate the name rather than following the most heavily testified
corruption of the original texts. I vaguely remember reading that the main
motivating factor of the translators of the NIV was that translating the
name YHWH rather than replacing it with LORD would be the surest way of
blowing the millions invested in the translation's production.

James Christian

2009/12/16 Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

> Hi Steve,
>
> I think that your reading of Mal 1:14 is wrong. The "amar YHWH" at the end
> of verse 13 indicates the end of God's direct speech. 14a is the prophet
> speaking in his own voice. God starts up again with the word "ki". So it is
> the prophet who calls God Adonai.
>
> Yigal Levin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Miller [mailto:smille10 AT sbcglobal.net]
>
> Also Mal 1:14. There should be more like this where Jehovah calls Himself
> "Adonai".
>
> -Steve Miller
> Detroit
>
>
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