In the endearing little love story between Tina and Archie we saw Tina is the church and Archie is the Lord Jesus Christ. The old-fashioned name "Archie" that Archie wants to change is "Lord".
I believe a translation overhaul is needed for "Lord" in many modern Bible translations both in English and other languages. This overhaul is necessary for a relevant and yet faithful religious institution like Christianity.
The Number 1 question was how to translate the Hebrew name for God, "Yahweh". I finally arrived, after two years of researching the issue, at the idea that GOD, all caps, would be a good solution. Eugene Peterson got there first though!
This only makes the suggestion all the more palatable, as I have arrived at the same destination as Peterson but via, I am sure, a different route, bringing more grammatical substance than Peterson's work had access to.
Overcoming Hurdle 3: "Divine Combos"
If you make this move - to switch the Yahweh translation from "The LORD" to "GOD", then there are some fresh problems to solve - I identify five of these. Overcoming the first obstacle, we established that it is more than faithful to ancient tradition to apply the lower case "g" to god, permitting the possessive "GOD, our god". Overcoming the second, we realised that often "Lord of lords" can be replaced by "king of kings", condensed or even "Commander-in-Chief". This now leaves us excellently placed to approach the third hurdle, which I collectively refer to as "Divine Combos". What do I mean by such a wacky descriptor?
Although I counted 6,867 Yahweh occurrences reflecting by far the greatest and favoured appellation for the Israelite god, we would do well to remember that this people hung every success and failure, even the right to live, on the say-so of their supreme god who even chose *them* as his people.
This was a deep and mysterious connection, but it certainly caused a worshipful and awed response from the Israelites. The Name of Yahweh was a privilege to have and it was used extensively, especially early on before its "ultra-sanctification". But the worship context caused the priests, Levites and people generally to probe further suitable language options to expand their own perception of how great he was.
We already saw that he was even referred to a few times as "God of gods", but also we hear of "Lord of the Heavenly Armies", The Almighty, *the* God, and so on. Another way to "magnify his holy Name" was to go ahead and group the titles or names, the clusters serving to say that one accolade is simply not enough, which presents us with my "Divine Combos".
Ok, so why does that present us with an obstacle? Simply because when we accept Peterson's suggestion of GOD, we move to a word that is already used to translate another word, which is also best translated "God", El (or Elohim, in Hebrew). Previously there was no issue with "the LORD God", but now "GOD God" is clearly a non-starter.
But before we worry too much about that, we have another affected divine combo in the form of "Adonai Yahweh".
It makes more sense to start here because this *has* represented a challenge to English translators who have been deeply committed to the language of lordship. Here also, "Lord LORD" " would have been a non-starter, so we can learn from the solutions already developed by their insightful teams of scholars over time. Let's take an Adonai-Yahweh verse at random - Amos 1:8 - and see how it has been translated:
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” saith the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord Jehovah.
...And the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall die,” Says the Lord God.
...and the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall perish, says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
....and the remainder of the Philistines will perish. The Lord God has spoken.
...and the Philistines who remain will perish, says the Lord God.
...and the rest of the P’lishtim will perish,” says Adonai, God.
...and that will be the end of the Philistines. I, the Lord, have spoken!
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord Jehovah.
...the rest of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
.... Then the Philistines who are still left alive will die.” This is what the Lord God said.
... and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God.
...and the ·last [rest; remnant] of the Philistines will ·die [perish],” says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
...The rest of the Philistines will die. The Almighty Lord has said this.
... and all the Philistines who are left will die.”
...and the remainder of the Philistines will perish. The Lord God has spoken.
...I will punish the Philistines until they are all dead,” says the Lord God.
... and the rest of the Philistines will die,” says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Palestinians shall perish, said the Lord GOD.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord Yahweh.
...all Philistines left will perish.” The Lord has spoken.
... and what’s left of the Philistines will die.” God’s Decree.
...and the remnant of the Philistines will perish, says the Lord God.
... The rest of the Philistines will die. Adonay Yahweh has said this.
...and the last of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.
... And the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” Says the Lord God.
...and the last of the Philistines will die,” says the Lord God.
...the rest of the Philistines will also die.” The sovereign Lord has spoken!
...Every single Philistine will die,” says the Lord and King.
....till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord.
...till the last of the Philistines are dead,’ says the Sovereign Lord.
...And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” Says the Lord God.
...and the rest of the Philistines will die,” says the Lord God.
...and the few Philistines still left will be killed,” says the Sovereign Lord.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.
...and the she’erit Pelishtim shall perish, saith Adonoi Hashem.
....and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God.
...and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God.
...and the rest of the Philistines will perish. My Lord Adonai has said it.
...and the rest of the Philistines; even those in the formerly great city of Gath will perish. So says the Eternal Lord about Philistia, Israel’s enemy in the southwest.
...and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord Yahweh.
...and the remnants of Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
...And perished have the remnant of the Philistines, Said the Lord Jehovah.
There is a clear preponderance for "the Lord God". Sometimes LORD is all capitalised, sometimes GOD (but never both). The definite article "the" is always present before the title "Lord". However, it naturally disappears when combined with the names (and their derivatives) Adonai and Yahweh. Some translations permit a condensing approach, mirroring the methodology we have already discussed for the Septuagint translators so many centuries before.
Indeed, if we also added the LXX translation here, we would see that Amos 1:8 concludes: "λέγει κύριος". The unique characteristic that we see in the Septuagint is that the word translated "the Lord", κύριος, condenses both Adonai and Yahweh from the Hebrew (like CEV, MSG and TLB). However, it also dispenses with the article, the Greek equivalent of "the", like the many translations that choose to keep a reference to Adonai or Yahweh (or both).
Thus we see in the plethera of English translations commonly read today a diversity or even tension between the desires to:
However, no-one ventures to remove the article before the antiquated title "Lord". Only Peterson in MSG realised that condensation and article dispensation could be legitimately and accurately rendered, God.
So, as I suspected, we arrive at our first solution via this second redundancy-risk scenario. There is indeed legitimate scope within the biblical translation tradition to condense when Lord LORD occurs, thus when Adonai Yahweh occurs in the Hebrew, and if God is acceptable for Yahweh and anarthrous κύριος, then it is also acceptable for Adonai Yahweh and, by inference, for Yahweh Elohim.
However, as with my proposed solutions for "Lord of lords", I would also like to provide some other possibilities based on this rich translation tradition that do not lean on antiquated Lord.
There is at least one other common divine combo to consider, curiously rendered "the Lord Sabaoth" in the NETS translation. I don't want to overextend this post with another full examination of the English renderings, but you can consult a sample verse of Isaiah 1:9 here. The classic idea is "the LORD of hosts", but "hosts" is vague. The Old Testament, however, is filled with allusions to a whole "host" (please excuse the pun) of heavenly action and agents that do not fit well with our modern ideas of monotheism (and maybe a splattering of angels and demons for the more "spiritual" Christians and churches). I have also discussed this in more length in response to Michael Heiser's work on the Divine Council worldview, clearly held and developed by the Israelites in the ancient Middle East.
Since this combo includes the proper Name "Yahweh", it is also a problem for our GOD rendering. Here, however, we can legitimately ask the question: to what extent does the English translation in question want to restore that worldview? Let's first assume that some representation is necessary. Although "host" is not as antiquated as Lord, it sure is outdated in this sense of "host". Worse, in fact. So it has to go. Options we can see emerging through the biblical translation tradition that I see as helpful and also relatively faithful to the Divine Council worldview, are "GOD of Heaven's Forces" (or Armies or Contingents). If context requires the subject to be the armies, GOD's Heavenly Forces (or Heaven Forces).
However, if the answer to the question is uncertain, then God's ultimacy over the Heavenly powers (also a possibility) is certainly included by the rendering provided in the all-caps GOD.
Indeed, if we also added the LXX translation here, we would see that Amos 1:8 concludes: "λέγει κύριος". The unique characteristic that we see in the Septuagint is that the word translated "the Lord", κύριος, condenses both Adonai and Yahweh from the Hebrew (like CEV, MSG and TLB). However, it also dispenses with the article, the Greek equivalent of "the", like the many translations that choose to keep a reference to Adonai or Yahweh (or both).
Thus we see in the plethera of English translations commonly read today a diversity or even tension between the desires to:
- absolutely avoid redundancy
- transmit some of the Lordship language
- maintain the name aspects denoted by both the Hebrew and the anarthrous Greek translation, λέγει κύριος.
However, no-one ventures to remove the article before the antiquated title "Lord". Only Peterson in MSG realised that condensation and article dispensation could be legitimately and accurately rendered, God.
So, as I suspected, we arrive at our first solution via this second redundancy-risk scenario. There is indeed legitimate scope within the biblical translation tradition to condense when Lord LORD occurs, thus when Adonai Yahweh occurs in the Hebrew, and if God is acceptable for Yahweh and anarthrous κύριος, then it is also acceptable for Adonai Yahweh and, by inference, for Yahweh Elohim.
However, as with my proposed solutions for "Lord of lords", I would also like to provide some other possibilities based on this rich translation tradition that do not lean on antiquated Lord.
- Almighty GOD
- Awesome GOD
- All-Powerful GOD
- GOD our King
There is at least one other common divine combo to consider, curiously rendered "the Lord Sabaoth" in the NETS translation. I don't want to overextend this post with another full examination of the English renderings, but you can consult a sample verse of Isaiah 1:9 here. The classic idea is "the LORD of hosts", but "hosts" is vague. The Old Testament, however, is filled with allusions to a whole "host" (please excuse the pun) of heavenly action and agents that do not fit well with our modern ideas of monotheism (and maybe a splattering of angels and demons for the more "spiritual" Christians and churches). I have also discussed this in more length in response to Michael Heiser's work on the Divine Council worldview, clearly held and developed by the Israelites in the ancient Middle East.
Since this combo includes the proper Name "Yahweh", it is also a problem for our GOD rendering. Here, however, we can legitimately ask the question: to what extent does the English translation in question want to restore that worldview? Let's first assume that some representation is necessary. Although "host" is not as antiquated as Lord, it sure is outdated in this sense of "host". Worse, in fact. So it has to go. Options we can see emerging through the biblical translation tradition that I see as helpful and also relatively faithful to the Divine Council worldview, are "GOD of Heaven's Forces" (or Armies or Contingents). If context requires the subject to be the armies, GOD's Heavenly Forces (or Heaven Forces).
However, if the answer to the question is uncertain, then God's ultimacy over the Heavenly powers (also a possibility) is certainly included by the rendering provided in the all-caps GOD.
Conclusion:
"GOD" is sufficient to render most divine title combinations involving Yahweh, Adonai, El and Sabaoth
In my next post I will proceed to the 4th obstacle in the path of the Yahweh translation, GOD.
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