More Shem of Elohyim According to scripture, the following are also names (shem) of God.
1) Jealous
Ex. 34:14, "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord (yhwh), whose name (shem) is Jealous, is a jealous God:"2) Yhwh Elohyim Israel, or yhwh elohe yisrael, "the Lord God of Israel"
I K. 8:17, "...for the name (shem) of the Lord God of Israel (yhwh elohyim israel)." Verse 18, "...unto my name..."
Verse 19, "...unto my name..."
Verse 20, "for the name (shem) of the Lord God of Israel (yhwh elohyim israel)."
Verse 23, "And (Solomon) said, Lord God of Israel (yhwh elohyim israel),..."
(See also verses 25, 26, Judges 5:3)3) Yhwh, "the Eternal"
Ex. 15:3, "the Lord (yhwh) is his name (shem)."
1 Kings 8:43, "...this house...is called (qara) by thy name (shem)..."
2 Kings 21:4 "And he built (idolatrous) altars in the house of the Lord (yhwh), of which the Lord (Yhwh) said, In Jerusalem will I put my name (shem)."
2 Chrn. 20:5 "And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord (Yhwh) before the new court,"
Verse 9, "...(for thy name [shem] is in this house,)..."Isa. 42:8, "I am the Lord (yhwh): that is my name (shem):..."
Jer. 16:21, "...and they shall know that my name is The Lord (yhwh)." (See also Jer. 33:2; Amos 5:8.)
4) Elahh Yisra-el, "the God of Israel"
Ezra 5:1, "Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name(shem) of the God (426) of Israel (3479)(elahh yisra-el), even unto them."
[Note: here we have the "shem" in Aramaic (Strong's "Chaldean").]"426. elahh (Chald.)[Aramaic], el-aw'; corresp. to 433; God;"
"433. elowahh, el-o'-ah; rarely (shortened)
(or) eloahh, el-o'-ah; probably prolongation (emphatic) from 410 [el]; a deity or the Deity:--God, god. See 430."
"3479. Yisra-el (Chald.)[Aramaic] yis-raw-ale', corresp. to 3478:--Israel."5) El Yhwh, "God the Lord"
Isa. 42:5, "Thus saith God the Lord (el yhwh)"
6) Yhwh Elohyim, "the Lord thy God"
7) Qadosh Yisra-el, or qedos yisrael, "the Holy One of Israel"
8) SaviourIsa. 43:1, "...O Isra-el, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called (qara) thee by thy name (shem); thou art mine."
Verse 3, "For I am the Lord thy God (yhwh elohyim), the Holy One of Israel (qadosh yisra-el), thy Saviour (3467):...""3467. yasha, yaw-shah'; ...saviour..."
9) El, "God"
Verses 5-7, "..I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will...bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called (qara) by my name(shem):..." (i.e. "Isra-el"). (See Isa. 44:5, below.)
Verse 11, "I, even I, am the Lord (yhwh):..."
Verse 12, "...therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord (Yhwh), that I am God (el)."[Note: here we see God equating "being Yhwh" with "being God". There is no distinction here between one term being a name and the other a title.]
10) Yhwh tsaba, or Yhwh sebaot, "the Lord of Hosts"
Isa. 48:2, "...The Lord of hosts (yhwh tsaba [tsaw-baw']) is his name (shem)." (See also Isa. 51:15, Jer. 10:16; 31:35; 32:18; 46:18; 48:15; 50:35; 51:19, 57;)
11) Tsemach, "The Branch"
Zech. 6:12, "And speak unto him, saying , Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts (yhwh tsaba), saying, Behold the man whose name (shem) is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord (yhwh):"
12) Pele, "Wonderful"
13) Yaats, "Counsellor"
14) Gibbowr El, "The mighty God"
15) Ad Ab, "The everlasting Father"
16) Sar Shalowm or Sar Shalom, "The Prince of Peace"Isa. 9:6, "...and his name (shem) shall be called (qara) Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
17) Yahh, or Jah, "the self-Existent", or "Eternal", Psa. 68:4.
18) Qadowsh, or Qadosh, "Holy", or "holy (One)", or "God", Isa. 57:15.19) Elohyim tsaba, "The God of hosts", Amos 4:13; 5:27.
In all of the examples above, the Hebrew word "shem" (meaning "name" ) is used rather than the Hebrew word "tsiyuwn" (meaning "title") or the Hebrew word "kanah" (meaning "surname" or "title"). The examples above are just some of the scriptures where the word "shem" is used in context of a "name" of God. Many other "names" are given in the text, where the word "shem" does not appear. The words "title" and "surname" are never used in context with any of the "names" of God.
God frequently says "my name (shem) is....", but nowhere does He say "my title (tsiyuwn) is...", or "my surname (kanah) is .....". He did use "surname" (kanah) twice (Isa. 44:5, 45:4, regarding others), but He never used the word "title" (tsiyuwn) for Himself (or for others)."Surname" is used once, concerning those who "adopt" the name "Israel". ("Spiritual adoption is dealt with in Rom. 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal. 4:5; and Eph. 1:5.)
Isa. 44:5, "One shall say, I am the Lord's (yhwh) and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob (3290. Yaaqob, (yah-ak-abe'); and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord (yhwh) and surname (3655) himself by the name (shem) Israel(3478. Yisra-el).""3655. kanah, kay-naw'; ...to address by an additional name;...give flattering titles, surname (himself)."
Now look at some of the names given in scripture, where the word "shem" does not always occur:
20) Elyon, and El Elyon, or (Aramic) Illaya (elahh)
El 'elyon, "the most high God" or "the most High", Gen. 14:18, Num. 24:16, Dan. 4:17.21) Eloah, or (Aramic) Elah
Singular of elohyim, same meaning as el, "god" or "God", Deu. 32:15.22) El Olam
Gen. 21:33, "Everlasting God", or "El dhu-'Olami", "God of Eternity".23) El Shadday
"God Almighty", Ex. 6:3.24) Abiyr Israel
"Mighty One of Israel", Isa. 1:24.25) Attiyq Yowm (Aramic)
"Ancient of days", Dan. 7:9, 13, 22.26) Tsuwr, or Tsur,
"Rock", Deu. 32:4, 15, 18, 30, 31, (also 1 Cor. 10:4).27) Tsuwr Israel
"Rock of Israel", 2 Sam. 23:328) Netsach Israel
"Strength of Israel" 1 Sam. 15:29 (also "goal, splendor, truthfulness, confidence, strength victory, or eternity. See Strong's #5331)(See also Appendix 3, "Names of the Father and the Son").
Conclusions to Shem 1. According to the Hebrew definition and scriptural examples, all the "names" (shem) of God are just that, "names", not "titles" or "surnames".
2. According to the Hebrew definition and scriptural examples, the verb "to call" (qara) (in the sense of "to address" or "call out to", or "call by name") refers to calling one by "name" not by "title" nor by "attribute".
3. Regarding the use of "shem" and of "qara", no distinction of superiority or divine preference is given to any one of the many "names" of God.
4. There is no condemnation in scripture of using any of the "names" of God.
5. There is no requirement in scripture for using only one of the names of God, to the exclusion of all others.
Translation and Transliteration The key to learning to communicate in any "foreign" language is vocabulary. The more words one can render into another language, the easier it is to understand and to be understood. Some words may not have a translated equivalent in another language, which requires that they be transliterated.
"trans-late, v.t.--translated, translating. [O.Fr. translator, < Latin translatus--trans, across, and latus, borne or carried.] To render into another language; to interpret; to express in other terms or words; to transform, as one medium or condition into another..."
"trans-lit-er-ate, v.t.--transliterated, transliterating. [Latin trans, across, over , and litera, a letter.] To express or represent in the alphabetic characters of another language; to spell in different characters intended to express the same sound.--transliteration, n."
When there is no equivalent word in another language, the easiest solution is to introduce the "sound" of the word into the other language by maintaining the syllabication (sound or combination of sounds) while using the alphabet of the second language, in other words, transliteration.
Personal names in one language are not "translated" into another language. This is the standard and accepted "custom" among mankind. It's not a law or a commandment, it's "just the way that it's done." It is a human "custom".
"If the foreign language involved is one that is printed with the Latin alphabet, personal names do not change, even if the name has a translatable meaning or an "equivalent" in that foreign tongue. When Henry White travels to Germany, his name stays Henry White and is not transformed into Heinrich Weiss. An article in French about the accomplishments of Peter Field doesn't refer to him as Pierre Champs; and a Spanish translation of a statement from CEO Joe Green will not make the attribution to Jose Verde."
( Source: Spectrum Multilanguage Communications of New York City, (c)1995)
Notice that this is a "conditional" rule. It is conditional upon both languages using the Latin alphabet. It cannot be accomplished if either one of the languages uses a different alphabet or set of characters representing sounds.
This helps to explain why there is so much disagreement as to how the "Hebrew names" should be pronounced in English. A survey of approximately 150 "Hebrew names" websites reveals nearly 100 different spellings, and pronunciations (in English) of the Hebrew "names" for the Father and nearly 100 more for the Son, and many different combinations of the two names (see Appendix 1). This confusion regarding the "names" does nothing to help support the "Hebrew names" doctrine, especially since one of the pro-names arguments is that the "name" and its pronunciation were never lost."In languages printed with other scripts, such as Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, or the Oriental tongues, the translator's job is to render personal names phonetically in the foreign characters so that they sound as close as possible to the way they sound in English. This is often anything but a cut-and-dried affair because certain sounds of our language may have no equivalent in the foreign tongue; and there is not always a universally accepted method for representing those sounds in the script of the other language. Regardless of the script and the accepted conventions or lack of them, it is essential that the translator know how the individual's name is pronounced in his own language; and this is not always obvious from the spelling (does Mr. Stein call himself "stine" or "steen"?")
( Source: Spectrum Multilanguage Communications of New York City.)So we can see that even when vowels are given, the pronunciation may vary. In the case of Hebrew, the text was written without vowels, hence, "Yhwh". In addition, the Jews refrained from speaking the word "Yhwh" for over 2000 years, so assumptions have been made regarding which vowels are correct, and how those vowels should be pronounced.
The Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 letters (and their variations), which are all regarded as consonants, being enunciated by the aid of certain "points" or marks, mostly beneath the letters, and which were added in re-copying by scribes to serve as vowels.In Classical/Biblical Hebrew, there is no distinction of capital letters. In other words, there is only one "case" of letters as opposed to English, in which we have "upper case" and "lower case". Hence, Yhwh could be expressed as Yhwh, or yhwh. In English, names of individuals are always capitalized. This explains why some "terms" in scripture referring to the Father or Son are capitalized while others are not. The translators only capitalized those words, groups of words, or parts of phrases, which they considered as being "names". In Hebrew there are no capital letters.
If one were attempting to be a purist about it, it would be logical to always spell the Hebrew names in all lower case letters. We notice that those who use the Hebrew names, mostly use all caps, perhaps in imitation of the English translation of "LORD" being in all caps.The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, two of which have no English equivalent, and one of which is used for both "f" and "p" in English. English has 26 letters, of which five are vowels. Modern Hebrew has 13 vowel points.
All of these factors, the absence of vowels in the original Hebrew text, the differences between the Hebrew and English alphabets, and the 2000 years of silence (not speaking the "name"), all help to explain the widespread disagreement concerning the spelling and pronunciation of the "names."The "custom", of men, that names are not translated but are transliterated, only applies to "imported" or "exported" names. One does not transliterate names already existing in a language, as that would only create needless confusion and be considered offensive. If Henry White, of England, travels to Germany and meets someone named Heinrich Weiss, Henry does not insist that Heinrich be called Henry White. Neither would Heinrich, while visiting England, insist that Henry be called Heinrich Weiss. The traveler's name is not translated. But neither is the native's name translated into the language of the traveler.
When Paul went to Athens, in Greece, and spoke to "Athenians" on Mars' hill, he introduced the Father to them, not as the God of Israel (the Jews), but by referring to an inscription on a Greek altar, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD"(Acts 17:21-34), and some of them were converted (verse 34). A Greek inscription listing Greek gods, on a Greek altar in Athens, Greece would not have been written in Hebrew, but in Greek (verse 23, "your devotions"). Verse 18 shows that the rumor was that he was preaching "strange gods" ("strange" to the Greeks). Paul effectively used "God" (theos) in the Greek language to introduce the true God and to successfully convert some of the Greeks. That the Athenians did not stumble over a message about a "strange god" shows that Paul spoke to them in their own language using their own vocabulary. Some of the Greeks did scoff at the idea of "the resurrection of the dead" (verse32), but after they heard Paul speak, none complained about a "strange" God.
The point of Paul's example here, is that when one understands the concept of the One Great God (verse 24), in their own language, it is not necessary for them to learn the Hebrew language or the Hebrew names in order to be converted or to gain salvation. After all, Paul said of himself, "I am the apostle of the Gentiles..." (Rom.11:13). Today, if one is born in Israel and comes to America to preach the gospel of Christ, he would do it in English for several reasons: 1) American Indians (Gentiles, who are considered natives of America) primarily speak English (a result of the English Empire and it's world colonization period). 2) other Americans, who are physical descendants of Israel's "lost" tribes, speak English, not Hebrew. 3) other immigrants to America who don't speak English, are expected to learn English and most do. 4) Jewish immigrants speak the various languages of the countries from which they most recently came. Some speak Yiddish instead of Hebrew. [Yiddish is a Germanic language of the Jews, which uses the Hebrew alphabet.] 5) English is also commonly spoken in Israel. These reasons are the same reasons that Paul would have spoken Greek while he was in Greece in the 1st Century AD.
We note that the converts, both Gentile and Jewish, did not change their "Greek" names to Hebrew names upon conversion. Yet the authors of most "names Bibles" insist on changing those names in the text to Hebrew names whenever possible. (See also "The Pagan Objection" below.)
Finally, the question of translation and transliteration really arises only when one presumes that spiritual understanding can come only through the Jews and their language. In reality, it comes from the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16:13, 14:17), in any and all languages (Acts 2:1-11).
Known Throughout All The World Knowledge of the Father and his offer to mankind (covenant) was apparently preserved by only a few individuals from the time of Adam to that of Moses. When Israel became a nation, the knowledge of the true God became known throughout the Middle East. With the rise of successive world empires and the dispersion of the Jews, that knowledge was carried throughout the world.
Today the Bible is available in every language in the world. Many have the Bible in their own language, who speak neither Hebrew nor English. Understanding is a gift of the Father through the Holy Spirit. There is no scripture restricting understanding or salvation to those who know the ancient spelling or pronunciation of a Hebrew word, either in Hebrew or in an assumed English transliteration.
There is no commandment forbidding translation of the Gospel into other languages. In fact, "tongues" and the "interpretation of tongues" are two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This gift amounted to "life" for those at the tower of Babel, in that they were "scattered over all the earth" rather than being destroyed as were those in the Flood. Christ sent his disciples to preach repentance and salvation through his sacrifice, not to preach belief and faith in a language.Names can be transliterated when possible. Names already existing in a particular language are not transliterated for the benefit or convenience of visiting foreigners. For instance, American names are not transliterated into Hebrew for the benefit of Israeli tourists. The name Joshua Horne does not become Yashua Shofar for visiting Jews.
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