[awareness]

Originally Posted by Freedom

I'm not sure if this topic has been brought up here before or not, so forgive me if it has. Something that I have been wondering about for some time now is regarding the heavy use of the name "Jehovah" in the OT RcV.

I know that a lot of people here have been out of the LC long before the OT RcV came out (circa 2003), so I realize not everyone will know what I'm talking about. In the introduction to the OT RcV, a rather wordy paragraph is dedicated to explaining their reasoning for using the name Jehovah:

I know that other versions use the name Jehovah frequently as well, however, it seems many of the more common versions use "Lord". I know that this is a topic that people will get into debates about, and my purpose here is not to start a debate or anything. I am mainly curious about the reasoning behind this and whether or not it was a WL thing. I hope some might have some insight into this.

What catches my attention from the OT RcV introduction is that the unnamed translators seem to rationalizing their choice to use "Jehovah" based on its use in classical English literature and the heritage behind the name. I don't think that many people would attempt argue that Jehovah is a better rendering/transliteration than Yahweh, so probably it's just something where people are more comfortable with a name as they are used to seeing it. I don't know the motives of the unnamed translators, but I get the feeling the issue might be more involved than what they just state in the introduction.

When I first got my OT RcV right around the time they came out, I remember reading that introduction and I wondered why they made such a big deal about it. Again, I'm not here to say whether "Lord" or "Jehovah" should be used, but it's just something I have been curious about, and whether or not there is any background behind it related to the LC. It's not one of those things I want to ask anyone in the LC about or bring up for fear of it actually being a touchy issue that gets people upset (wouldn't surprise me).

Believe it or not, I have heard saints discuss it every now and then, someone even went as far to say that they didn't quite feel comfortable with the RcV translation.

The Jehovah's Witnesses can certainly get behind it. I personally prefer Elohim, of the bronze age, and Yahweh, of the iron age ... and just God, of the modern age.