Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hi,

that's not an easy question to answer but I suppose if we are to justify
corruptions in such a way we then have to ask questions like:

1) where do we draw the line
2) what changes are we justified in making before we accept that we are no
longer being faithful to the original text

So, let's say for example that readers have problems with anthropomorphisms.
Shall we remove them all and replace with something more acceptable to the
modern reader?

What about parts where YHWH executes death sentences? Some might have a
problem with God behaving in such a despotic fashion. Shall we remove these
accounts and say that YHWH gave people a good telling off?

I'm sure you can start to see how the line of which changes are justifiable
may be different to different people. But where is that line to the
responsible and impartial translator?

When the readers of the massoretic text pronounced adonai they were fully
aware that this was in replacement of the name YHWH because it was there
staring them in the face in the original text. Is that the case today? Most
people I have met who are familiar with an English version of the bible are
not even aware that the God of the bible has a name. We can safely say that
the tradition of translation is responsible for this phenomenon. So, what
about this kind of compromise? Why not translate the name faithfully in
every occurrence so that everybody who reads the bible knows where the name
is and those who have problems with pronouncing it can do just as the
readers of the massoretic text did (read it but pronounce something else)?

James Christian

2009/12/17 Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

> James, I think that your answer is unfair. First of all, some "academic"
> commentaries do simply transcribe the Name as either YHWH or Yahweh. But
> translations aimed at the general church or synagogue-going audience don't
> do so because this would alienate their audiences. Most (Engish-speaking)
> Christians have been calling God "the Lord" for centuries. This is the
> title
> they are familiar and comfortable with. Jews have traditionally refrained
> from vocalizing the Name as well, using "Adonai" in worship and "Hashem" in
> regular speech. For many, any attempt to vocalize the Name is sacrilege. So
> some Jewish translations have replaced "Lord" (which to many Jews sounds
> "Christian") with either "Adonai" or "Hashem". Why should translators force
> their audiences to use something with which they are not comfortable?
>
>
>
> Yigal Levin
>
>
>
>  _____
>
> From: James Christian [mailto:jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 3:04 AM
> To: Yigal Levin
> Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] adonai "my Lord" or "the Lord"
>
>
>
> 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
>
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