"Jehovah" in Psalm 14:1

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by ExLuther, May 17, 2016.

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    ExLuther

    ExLuther New Member

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    Just to start out, I'm not sure this is a huge issue at all, but it caught my attention during my Bible reading this week.

    Psalm 14:1 in the NWT says, "The foolish one says in his heart, there is no Jehovah."

    This caught my interest so I looked this up in Hebrew on bible.cc. The Hebrew there doesn't look to me like the tetragrammaton, although it looks like it is present in Psalm 14:2 where it says "But Jehovah looks down from heaven on the sons of men."

    Just curious why Jehovah is used here if that is the case. I was under the impression that in the Hebrew texts, they replaced the four Hebrew characters with Jehovah's name. But the meaning of the verse, if you ask me, might be slightly different if it means one or the other.

    If the foolish one is the one who says there is no Jehovah, then this verse condemns anyone who hasn't come to know the TRUE god. Which I don't disagree with necessarily.

    But if the foolish one is the one who denies any god, then that doesn't necessarily include someone who is "conscious of their spiritual need" and simply hasn't found the true and proper iteration of the "god" they are searching for.

    The Matthew Henry concordance says this verse is addressing the "atheist" version of the sinner. That seems correct to me. I'm mostly curious if there are other places in the Hebrew scriptures in the NWT where Jehovah's name is substituted for something other than the Tetragrammaton, and why that would be.
     
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    Tsaphah

    Tsaphah Experienced Member

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    Hi ExLuther,
    You are correct. The Hebrew word at Ps 14:1 is elohim, which translates to God in English. The Septuagint uses theos = God. It is likely that those translating for the NWT are keeping the thought process of David having Jehovah in mind. For the Hebrews/Israelites, there was only one true God. So, in his songs, David was speaking of Jehovah.

    Bad translation. It should be correctly translated without trying to out think David, who truly was writing with Holy Spirit.
     
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    ExLuther

    ExLuther New Member

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    Thanks, T!! Hmmm now I wonder where else this is done I the NWT. Though I don't know how much it matters really...
     
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    Tsaphah

    Tsaphah Experienced Member

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    In the majority of the Greek scriptures, especially if they are quoting or repeating from the Hebrew, the NWT uses Jehovah. This would be appropriate. An example of using the Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis 2:4, reads: “This is the book of the origin of heaven and earth, when it became, in the day [made God] the heaven and earth,” The Hebrew translation reads: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens,” (DNKJB*) There is nowhere in the Greek Septuagint, or most other translations of the Hebrew and Greek writings that translate Jehovah as it should be translated from the manuscripts.

    You may want to go to the WTB&TS site where the explanation of the NWT is given for the use of Jehovah’s name. They point out the use of transcripts that have Jehovah’s name.
    https://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/appendix-a/tetragrammaton-divine-name/

    *Divine Name King James Bible http://www.buydnkjb.com/

     
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    Tsaphah

    Tsaphah Experienced Member

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    Here is another example of adding or translating what is not correct in scripture manuscripts. In this particular scripture, they have used a word intended to clarify who was bring a message. “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” (Lu 1:28 KJV) The original Greek does not have “aggelos”= angel in the manuscript. The true scripture according to the manuscript is, “And coming in, he said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’” (Lu 1:28 NASB ) The NWT has; “And coming in, the angel said to her: ‘Greetings, you highly favored one, Jehovah* is with you.’” The KJV and NWT have inserted “angel” to clarify who is giving the message. The NWT has also changed Lord to Jehovah, again for clarification of who the messenger (angel) represents, which would be correct as it is Jehovah. The use of lord, Lord, and LORD (kurios in Greek) is very confusing, just as god, God, and GOD are confusing. Who are they, and is there a difference? Yes, there is!

    * https://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/appendix-a/divine-name-christian-greek-scriptures/
     
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