Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Rev. Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear List,

Thanks Rolf for some of this information. Moderators: Sorry about the length 
since I figured you all would want this information to go out ASAP. May it 
generate more light than heat.

Considering that the Tetragrammaton is still a sticky issue to deal with 
especially regarding its pronunciation, yet, sometimes, scholarship lags 
behind the finds in the field especially since it looks like there are 
several mss from the DSS that have finally been published. Unfortunately, the 
high cost of obtaining them creates problems in itself. Soon they will be on 
the Internet so every person can see them, but in the meantime....

The items below may not answer all the questions, and, in fact, create more, 
but what needs to done is ask the "right" question. If one asks the wrong 
question, then one will get the wrong answer.

See the following from http://awilum.com/?p=640. Please note the information 
from the Comments section of Edward Gallagher, Adam McCollum and Nick 
Batchelor. Furthermore, the dissertation of F.S. Shaw, "The Earliest 
Non-mystical Jewish Use of Iαω," 2002, University of Cincinnati, is about to 
be published by Peeters this year 2013, so it may not be available soon. See 
notice here: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1014323679 and 
here: http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz_print.asp?nr=9332.

See John Hobbins, 
http://ancienthebrewpoetry.typepad.com/ancient_hebrew_poetry/2009/05/the-splendid-iao-the-identification-of-helios-with-iao-the-god-of-the-jews.html.

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III

d Gallagher says: 
August 13, 2008 at 11:59 am 
Charles,
Sorry for the long response. I feel a need to provide bibliography. I hope 
that provides defense enough for the length of my comment. 

As far as I am aware, only one extant manuscript uses the Greek 
transliteration IAO for the Name—4QLXXLevb, published in DJD 9, and dated 
to the first century BCE. Codex Marchalianus (6th cent. CE) has this reading 
in the margin (see Rahlfs, Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des 
Alten Testaments, I.1 [2004], 346–350). The Hexaplaric versions do not 
contain this transliteration, but apparently retain the Hebrew word in 
Aramaic script, as in the Mercati fragments of the Hexapla, or perhaps, 
originally, in paleo-Hebrew script, as several other early LXX (revised) 
manuscripts do, e.g. the Greek Minor Prophets scroll from Nahal Hever. 

Despite the paucity of attestation of IAO in manuscripts of the Greek OT, it 
is clear that this was a relatively well-known pronunciation of the Name 
among Greek writers. See P.W. Skehan, “The Divine Name at Qumran, in the 
Masada Scroll, and in the Septuagint,” BIOSCS 13 (1980): 14–44, who cites 
(p. 29), inter alios, Diodorus Siculus (1st cent. BCE) and Origen. 

This evidence has led none other than Emanuel Tov to conclude that IAO was 
the original LXX reading for the Divine Name, instead of kyrios. See his 
“The Greek Biblical Texts from the Judean Desert,” in S. McKendrick and 
O.A. O’Sullivan (eds.), The Bible as Book: The Transmission of the Greek 
Text (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2003), 97–122 (112–114). 

Probably the most developed explication of this view is a dissertation at the 
University of Cincinnati by Frank Shaw (2002), for which Prof. Kamesar served 
as a reader. It is called “The Earliest Non-Mystical Jewish Use of Iaw.”

I myself am not convinced that IAO was the original LXX reading, and I think 
Martin Rösel makes a pretty good case against it: “The Reading and 
Translation of the Divine Name in the Masoretic Tradition and the Greek 
Pentateuch,” JSOT 31 (2007): 411–428 (417–419). 

At any rate, it does seem clear that the reading IAO was a known quantity in 
the first century, at least in Jewish circles familiar with the Greek 
biblical tradition.

Adam McCollum says: 

August 14, 2008 at 1:15 am 
In addition to Mr. Gallagher’s learned comments, §§20-21 of Metzger’s 
«Mss. of the Greek Bible» where he treats Greek OT mss. that have some form 
of Hebrew or Aramaic script for the tetragrammaton and the so-called nomina 
sacra of Greek OT (and other) mss. deserve to be mentioned in this 
discussion. The former instances do not, however, in and of themselves offer 
any proof as to how these occurrences were actually read (aloud, of course), 
either as some iteration of YHWH or as kyrios. Metzger’s discussion includes 
many bibliographic references and a few interesting patristic comments on the 
matter here under discussion.

Nick Batchelor says: 

March 5, 2010 at 12:46 pm 
Here is a list of LXX versions that I am presently aware of that contain the 
Tetragrammaton:
• 4Q LXX Levb.
• Ambrosiano O 39 sup.
• Aq Burkitt.
• Aq Taylor.
• LXX IEJ 12.
• LXX P. Fouad Inv. 266.
• LXX P. Oxy. VII.1007.
• LXX VTS 10a.
• LXX VTS 10b.
• Sym. P. Vindob. G. 39777. 

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Volume 2, page 
512) says: “Recent textual discoveries cast doubt on the idea that the 
compilers of the LXX [Septuagint] translated the tetragrammaton YHWH by 
kyrios. The oldest LXX MSS (fragments) now available to us have the 
tetragrammaton written in Heb[rew] characters in the G[ree]k text. This 
custom was retained by later Jewish translators of the O[ld] T[estament] in 
the first centuries A.D.”

Lastly, as Angie’s comment revealed, “Why is God’s name a bid deal?” As her 
if her name means much to her. What if we substituted it for wife, woman, 
sister, how would SHE feel if everyone stopped using her name? The Scriptures 
unite to tell us that God wants us to know and use his name. He invites us to 
do so. Can we think of anyone we have a close relationship whose name we do 
not know or use? Think it through people.

Respectfully submitted,

Nick Batchelor
Florence, Italy