YAHWEH’S Word

THIRD EDITION–When the Apostle Paul, who refers to himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews, writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “Every Scripture is Yahweh-breathed”, he is making a reference to the original Hebrew Scriptures commonly referred to by most Christians as the Old Testament. Those original inspired Hebrew Scriptures were primarily written in Hebrew with small portions written in Aramaic and included God’s proper name, over 6000 times. The transliteration of God’s proper name, known as the Tetragrammaton, is YHWH and by a majority consensus is pronounced Yahweh. Yahweh’s name is used more than 1000 times in connection with the communication of His Word and over 600 times by the inspired writers of the Psalms. A reading of the Psalms, in any translation where the name Yahweh is used, will confirm the importance of “The Name” and an attitude that all who claim Yahweh as their God should demonstrate in their personal relationship and communication with Him.

Since the new millennium began, there have been several Bible translations that have restored the name Yahweh to the Old Testament Scriptures. Leading the way in this new trend is the “World English Bible” first published in 1997 and last updated in September of 2016. Using the “World English Bible” as its translation foundation, “Yahweh’s Word” has taken this trend one step farther and has also restored Yahweh’s name to the New Testament.

The New Testament often records Jesus and his apostles quoting from the Old Testament Scriptures. One can easily assume Jesus, the only begotten Son of Yahweh, would have quoted verbatim from the original Hebrew Scriptures. In “Yahweh’s Word”, Old Testament references and quotes found in the New Testament have been edited, where possible, to be more consistent with the Old Testament Scriptures. This, in turn, causes the name Yahweh to be read within the text of the New Testament in the same context as it appears in the Old Testament.

In the Second Edition of “Yahweh’s Word”, the name Yahweh was restored an additional 1200 plus times in the New Testament. The proper name, Yahweh, replaces titles like “God” and “the Lord” as well as pronouns “he” and “his” when they are referring to Yahweh. The Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB) was used as the primary resource for making this improvement.

The Third Edition of “Yahweh’s Word”, has a greater emphasis placed on the “Way of Yahweh” which is sometimes referred to simply as “the Way”. Matthew 3:1-3 refers to John the Baptizer as he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one who calls, Prepare the Way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.” In Acts 9:1-2, Paul was on his way to Damascus looking for any who were of the Way. Later, after his conversion, in Acts 24:14-15, Paul states, “But this I confess to you, that after the Way, . . . so, I serve the God of our fathers, . . . having a hope toward Yahweh, . . ..”

The reader of “Yahweh’s Word” will see the connection between the Old Testament Scriptures and the New Testament Scriptures from a clear and more accurate perspective.