http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KB_Greek.svg

 

 

 

 

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JESUS What are the Greek Letters In Halo

 

In Byzantine and Orthodox images, inside each of the bars of the cross in Christ's halo is one of the Greek letters Omicron, Omega, Nu
"the Existing One" — indicating the divinity of Jesus.

 

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...doth not a margine do well to admonish the Reader to seeke further, and not to conclude or dogmatize upon this or that peremptorily? For as it is a fault of incredulitie, to doubt of those things that are evident: so to determine of such things as the Spirit of God hath left (even in the judgment of the judicious) questionable, can beno lesse then presumption. Therfore as S. Augustine saith, that varietie of Translations is profitable for the finding out of the sense of the Scriptures: so diversitie of signification and sense in the margine, where the text is not so cleare, must needes doe good, yea is necessary, as we are perswaded. http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611-Bible/1611-King-James-Bible-Introduction.php 

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A Study By: J. Hampton Keathley, III 

http://bible.org/article/names-god  

The Lord Jesus said in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” The many names in Scripture constitute additional revelation of God’s character, His works, and His relationship to us based on His character and works. The names which God chose for Himself and which are ascribed to Him in the Word of God are additional revelations of the who and what of God that we may know and relate to God.

 

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http://authorscribe.com/iris-foreman/2011/08/07/understanding-elohim/

The English translations of el and elohim, as used in the Old Testament, can be used to refer to any mighty power in general. Similarly, the English word god  most commonly used to translate these terms can refer to a pagan deity or even  idols. Many Christians learn as children that the word godrefers to the Most High when the first letter is capitalized, i.e., God. This method does help a reader to identify Him when reading the Scriptures. However, a listener must learn to differentiate the general from the specific by carefully discerning the context of what is being said.

Therefore, the specific entity that this term refers to depends on the intention of the speaker or writer. For example, a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and tribal religionist all may use the word god to refer to their respective mighty ones, but the identity of each power is not necessarily clear because the term god is so general. However, if they each called their mighty one by his personal name, then the identity of that power would be certain.

The English word god and the Hebrew word elohim are common nouns, not proper  nouns. For example, a man may have a son whom he names Johnny. He may address him as “son.” However, “son” is not his name. “Son” essentially describes who Johnny is to that man. In fact, almost half of the world’s population may claim ownership to the term “son” because all males are sons of someone. Even though Johnny may be called “son” by others who hear his father calling him that, “son” is not his personal or proper name—regardless of whether you capitalize the S in the same way that people capitalize the G in God.

Another term used in the English translations of the Scriptures to refer to the power who created the heavens and earth is Most High God. This term is translated from the Hebrew words El Elyon. We have already indicated that el has been translated in our English Bibles as god. The second Hebrew word in this descriptive term is Elyon, which, among its many other meanings means “high” or “most high.” This very descriptive title that is ascribed to the Creator of the heavens and earth by the writers of the Scriptures suggests that the Mighty One of Israel was not the only recognizable power that people acknowledged. To say that He was the high or most high power implies the notion that other lesser powers either existed or were thought to exist. Any Old Testament reader would be able to name at least one or two powers that the pagan nations and, at one
time, Israel worshiped. Among the forbidden powers were the Baals, Asherah,
Molech, Chemosh, Egyptian gods, and others.[iii] The books in the New Testament also reveal that people believed in the existence of other mighty ones besides the Mighty One of Israel just as we saw in Acts when Paul went to Athens and saw all the monuments to the Greek deities. So for us to say we worship or love God, as many of us are or have been quick to exclaim, really imposes on the listener to ask, “Which one?”

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[i] The fact that Elohim  (plural) is used in referencing the Creator is not to infer that there were  many gods who were involved in creation, as most Bible readers already well  know. But Elohim is used as a singular, albeit in plural form, formal,  respectful title that may signify magnitude of greatness.

 [ii] Chad Brand, Charles Draper, and Archie England, eds., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, El, James Newell, (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 470.

[iii] There are numerous references to other gods besides YHWH in the Old Testament. For example, “But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in  which they lived. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made  Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech  the gods of Sepharvaim,” (2 Kings 17:29–31). The other nations all had their various gods that they worshiped. Israel was constantly interacting with these people and being exposed to heir practices of worship. Sadly, the temptation to worship the gods of the nations, instead of and in addition to YHWH, many times, was too strong for whatever reason.

The above is an except from HIS NAME FOREVER: The Story Behind the Name of God.  

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_that_I_am

Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh

I Am that I Am (Hebrew: pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh 
[ eh je aser eh je ]) is a common English translation (JPS among others) of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Hayah means "existed" or "was" in Hebrew; "ehyeh" is the first person singular imperfect form. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is generally interpreted to mean I am that I am, though it can also be translated as "I-shall-be that I-shall-be."^[1]

Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, often contracted in English as "I AM" is one of the Seven Names of God accorded special care by medieval Jewish tradition.^[2] The phrase is also found in other world religious literature, used to describe the Supreme Being, generally referring back to its use in Exodus. The word Ehyeh is considered by many rabbinical scholars to be a first-person derivation of the Tetragrammaton, see for example Yahweh.

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http://biblescripture.net/Hebrew.html

THE ALPHABET OF BIBLICAL HEBREW

This page is an introduction to the alphabet of Hebrew Scripture. 
Hebrew is a Semitic language. The word Semitic comes from the name Shem, named in Genesis (6:10) as the son of Noah , whose descendants lived in the Middle East. Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic are Northwest Semitic languages, and Arabic is Southwest Semitic. All are examples of Semitic languages, which have similar characteristics, such as the presence of guttural letters formed in the pharynx or larynx; a consonantal system with three-letter word roots to connote meaning; and changes in the form or morphology of the word root through the addition of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes to determine the precise sense and function of the word. 

Hebrew was the original language of the Israelites. Hebrew tradition, the Torah itself, as well as Jesus and the New Testament writers name Moses as the divinely inspired author of the Pentateuch (seeGenesis and Genesis 3:15). It is believed that Moses lived in the latter part of the second millenium BC (1500-1200 BC). Archeology has yet to discover the precise time that Moses lived and led his people during the Exodus from Egypt, or the actual script utilized by Moses to write the Torah. Furthermore, no original manuscript by the author of any biblical book has yet been discovered! 

Phoenicia (now Lebanon) was a peaceful sea-faring nation expert in navigation and trade that developed their alphabet around 1400 BC in an effort to communicate with their diverse trading partners that encircled the Mediterranean Sea. It was the Phoenician alphabet that was widely received throughout the Mediterranean world, as it was only 22 letters based on sound, as opposed to the myriad of symbols in cuneiform and hieroglyphics prevalent at the time. The Hebrew alphabet known as Ketav Ivri or Paleo-Hebrew was nearly identical to the Phoenician alphabet that follows:

 

 

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FOUR VOWELS?

Josephus the Jewish historian wrote that the set-apart name consisted of "four vowels" (Jewish Wars, 5. 5. 7.). Why did Josephus write this? Please consider the following thoughts.

Remember, Josephus was writing to a Greek audience! He first wrote his history [at least his notes] in Hebrew Aramaic (Antiquities 12.5. 1-4 footnotes; Against Apion 1. 9). After the Jewish/Roman war, he had time, and with long perseverance, he mastered the Greek language, and compiled his history in Koine Greek, which was the international language of the world at that time. Though it was the international language, do not think it was the every day language in Israel, for it was not!

Josephus frequently altered Hebrew names, spelling them after the fashion of the Greeks, "to please [his Greek] readers" (Antiquities 1. 5. 1.). Josephus describes the head-gear worn by the Levitical priest:

"Of this was a crown made, as far from the hinder part of the head to each of the temples; but this ... did not cover the forehead, but it was covered by a golden plate, which had inscribed upon it the Name of (Elohim) in SET-APART CHARACTERS." (Antiquities 3. 7. 6. set-apart title and emphasis added).

The term HOLY CHARACTERS, means not just Hebrew letters, but the ancient Hebrew, known as Paleo-Hebrew, used in the time of Moses, and David.

Anciently, even the Greek language, like the Hebrew, was written from right to left. Also, the ancient Greek letters were similar to Paleo Hebrew. Therefore, the ancient Greek would have written the set-apart name very similar to the ancient Hebrew, which appeared like this: . The Modern Greek equivalent would be written IHYH, and understood as IEUE. But do not think that this, in any wise, proves the pronunciation of the set-apart name. Josephus was writing to the Greeks, the equivalent of YHWH. It was from this [Greek form] that the heathen formed their Jeue, Jove, and Jeve (see Adam Clarke's Commentary on Exodus 3:14)

It is true that the letters , ,  can function as vowel letters. Let us consider a few examples: the yod acts as a vowel in the words "Eli" (Mt 27:46) also #430 Elohim, #4899 Mashiach, ish (Gen 2:23 margin KJV) etc. Yet it also functions as a consonant in other words like #3050 Yah, #2968 ya ab etc. Sometimes it acts as a vowel and a consonant all in the same letter, as in Eliyah, where it is a double yod.

"The  is stronger and firmer than , and never loses it's consonantal sound in a middle of a word . . . . On the other hand, at the end of a word it is always a mere vowel letter, unless expressly marked by Mappiq as a strong consonant." (As in  Yahh, and  Eloahh) Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar p. 81

The waw  also can act as a vowel in words like #452 Eliyahu, #3194 Yutah etc.. It also carries the "o" sound, as in #3117 yom. On the other hand, it acts like a consonant in words like #2331 chavah, actually the consonant is not a V, but as in Arabic, or as the English sound of "w".

Sometimes the  acts like a vowel and a consonant all in the same letter; they can also be consonants, depending on the usage.

Concerning the Set-Apart Name, the structure of the letters tell us that the yod is a consonant, as in the word YAH (Ps. 68:4 & Isa. 12:2; 26:4; 38:11 NKJV). Also the  is a consonant, since "it never loses it's consonantal sound in the middle of a word." Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar p. 81

Also, the waw  always acts as a consonant when ending words  (except in  Eloahh). When Hebrew-words end with "uah" sound, it is expressed in Hebrew as  or ; therefore, if the Hebrew word ends , it will always act as a consonant, ending like "wah" or "weh" etc.

The final  in  is the vowel letter in the set-apart name, "at the end of a word it is always a mere vowel letter." Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar p. 81

Conclusion: When Josephus said "four vowels", he was talking to his Greek audience trying to express the Tetragrammaton in a way that they would comprehend, trans-letter-ating from Paleo-Hebrew, which in Paleo Greek was , then into modern Greek, thus arriving with IHYH (literally IEUE.) But this does not in any way prove the pronunciation of the set-apart name.

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Over time, the limits of our intellectual capacity has generated speculation that a single blueprint of life and mankind are not possible. It is the very complexity of life that is cited as the reason multiple formulas and languages of code, all covering an extended period of time, are required to begin to express our existence. Instead of a single blueprint engraved on the stone of life, speculation has nearly engulfed this cornerstone of truth. These speculative stories originate from a dark sort of creeping camouflage that has wide tentacles that grasp and cover as it moves and hides the stone of truth. The stories of speculation have become known as the ‘theory of evolution.’ A slow progression of life and mankind.

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This week's Torah reading, Parashat Emor, concludes with the incident of the blasphemer: "And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. And the son of the Israelitish woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him unto Moses. And his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. And they put him in ward, that it might be declared unto them at the mouth of the Lord" (Leviticus 24:10-12 ).

"He blasphemed, uttering God's unique name, and cursed. This is the tetragrammaton that he heard at Sinai." A name is unlike all other words; it is an organic part of a person - in this case, an integral part of God. It is as if God's name and thus his power are harnessed by the blasphemer to serve his will. Over the centuries, God's name became esoteric, a secret transmitted only to individuals excelling in wisdom and deeds; however, this was not the case with the desert generation. Rashi explains the reason that the blasphemer knows the tetragrammaton: "He heard [it] at Sinai." 

The answer to the question, "Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?" Because the answer is God's ineffable name, which was heard by the Israelites at Sinai and is a secret held by the entire nation.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/portion-of-the-week-justice-fo...

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...An understanding of the Shmei Rabba, the Great Name, the Tetragrammaton: The Name is composed of every form of the verb "To Be."  ...perhaps God consciousness represents the Infinite Potential for Change embedded within creation.  JewishVoice

Kaddish is written in the lingua franca of the rabbinic period (when we lived under the Greeks and Romans); presumably so that every person would understand the prayer. Today most Jews don't understand Aramaic (or Yiddish/Ladino/Amharic/Arabic or German) the linguae franca of our most recent historical periods) and the cadence of Kaddish has taken on the quality of a mantra.

Its rhythmic, repetitive quality holds a deep, sacred comforting place in the life-cycle practices of our people. A rendition of the meaning I find in the words is listed below the Aramaic transliteration.

Yitgadal v'yitkadash shemi rabbah V'almah divrah khirutei v'yamlikh malkhutei V'khayeh-khon u'v'yoh-mey-khon u'v'kheyey d'khol beyt Yisrael Ba-ah gah lah u'vizman kah-riv v'yimru ah-meyn. Y'hey shmei rabbah m'vorakh, l'olam u'l'awl-mey almaya yitbarakh Yitbarakh v'yishtabakh v'yitbah-ahr v'yit-roh-mam v'yitnahseh V'yithadar, v'yitah-leh, v'yitha-lal shmei d'kud'shah brikh hu. L'aylah min kal birkhatah v'shee-rah-tah Tooshb'khata v'neh-khe-mata ba-ahmeeran b'almah v'imru ah meyn Y'hei slhama raba min shamaya v'khayiim alyenu v'al kol Yisrael v'imru ameyn. Oseh shalom bim-roe-mahv hu yah-ah-seh shalom aleynu v'al kol Yisrael v'al kol yoshvei teyvel.  V'imru ameyn.

Interpretive Translation  of Kaddish by Rabbi Goldie Milgram:         Ever evolving and increasing in holiness is the Great Name of G*d (yud hey vav hey, the tetragrammaton) within this intentionally created world. May awareness of this governing principle be in effect for the days of each life and the lives of all our people in a time that is quickly approaching.      Let us affirm this faithful God. May the Great Name (it's implications) be blessed in all the dimensions and even more dimensions..... Blessed, praised, transcendently wondrous, ever trying harder and ever more glorious, going up to new levels, praiseful is this Holy Consciousness. Blessed be. Above and beyond all blessings and songs and praises and sweetness that could be spoken in any dimension.        Let us affirm this faithful God. May there be increasing peace from cosmic intention and life for us and all our people.        Let us affirm this faithful God. May the one who makes cosmic harmony make this for us, our people and all residents of this planet.        Let us affirm this faithful God.

 

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by Rabbi Alex Greenbaum
Beth El Congregation

Read more: The Jewish Chronicle - G O D spells God Emor Leviticus 21 1 24 23

Not “G-d.” At least for me. Yes, when I was younger and attended yeshiva in Detroit, it was “G-d.” God was also “Hashem,” “Adoshem,” “Elokeinu” etc. Anything but “God.” My first year at Michigan State University, about 25 years ago, I took what I thought would be an “Easy A,” The Old Testament. Come on, a class on the Tanach, what could be easier? Except it wasn’t so easy. Why? On the very first day of class, I learned that “the God of the Jews is named Yahweh.” I have to admit, at the time, after 18 years of being a Jew, I had never heard of this Yahweh. So, in the end, not such an “easy” class.

Some feel that even trying to pronounce, the Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey (the Tetragrammaton) is blasphemy. I was once teaching a class in Augusta, Ga., to students from my Conservative congregation and the next door’s Reform eighth-graders and, boy, did those kids from the other congregation freak out when I mentioned “Yahweh.” “You can’t say that!” But, I’ve got a secret for you. “Yahweh” cannot be the ineffable name of God, because it isn’t “effable.” And, I don’t pray to Yahweh or G-d, I pray to God.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate it when my people take their Judaism seriously. Go ahead, kiss your kippa when you drop it on the floor, spell out God as “G-d”; but, you are not obligated to do either. What you shouldn’t do is go overboard. It’s like the old overused joke from the bima, “Some Jews care more about what goes into their mouths than what comes out of them.” And we certainly know how to go overboard. In this week’s seventh aliyah, the Torah tells us a story of a Jewish man who was put to death for blaspheming God. Now, if God has a problem with what we are saying, then let God take care of it.

Last month, I was reading a disturbing article from CNN. In Pakistan, a man had been accused, jailed, tried and eventually cleared of the crime of blasphemy. Fine, except that two weeks after he returned to society, he was gunned down by “Blasphemy Vigilantes.”

The Blasphemy Police are everywhere. All I said was “Oh, God.” I was once sitting at a table and just remembered something I forgot to do and all I said was, “Oh, God.” The woman across from me asked me not to take the Lord’s name in vain. Oh, God.

I understand that you don’t want to throw away God’s name, so you write “G-d”. My congregation now has three genizas (burial places for papers with the Tetragrammaton printed on them). But if “G-d” represents our ineffable God to you, then aren’t you putting more weight into those three letters (or two letters with a dash) than plain old

G-O-D? One can never throw away God. We teach our children to respect each other and to respect God. If you need to do this through G-d, then go ahead, but I will continue praying to God.

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Source Huffington Post
NEW ORLEANS -- Working in a cluster of offices above a LifeWay Christian Bookstore, Bible scholars are buried in a 20-year project to codify the thousands of changes, verse by verse, word by word -- even letter by letter -- that crept into the early New Testament during hundreds of years of laborious hand-copying.

Their goal: to log them into the world's first searchable online database for serious Bible students and professional scholars who want to see how the document changed over time.

Their research is of particular interest to evangelical Christians who, because they regard the Bible as the sole authority on matters of faith, want to distinguish the earliest possible texts and carefully evaluate subsequent changes.

The first phase of the researchers' work is done. They have documented thousands of creeping changes, down to an extraneous Greek letter, across hundreds of early manuscripts from the second through 15th centuries, said Bill Warren, the New Testament scholar who leads the project at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

After 10 years of work and the interruption of Hurricane Katrina, the seminary's Center for New Testament Textual Studies has logged those changes, amounting to 17,000 pages of highly technical notes, all in Greek, into a searchable database.

Many of the early changes are well known, and have been for hundreds of years. Study Bibles mark scores of changes in italicized footnotes at the bottom of what often seems like every page.

But nowhere have so many changes been collated in a single place and made searchable for scholars and serious students, Warren said.

Nor is there an Internet tool like the one being constructed now in the second phase of the project: the history of substantive textual changes.

This fall, the New Testament center will publish an online catalogue of substantive textual changes in Philippians and 1 Peter. Warren estimates there's 10 more years of work to do on the rest of the New Testament.

Those with more than a passing familiarity with the New Testament know its 27 books and letters, or epistles, were not first published exactly as they appear today.

The earliest works date to about the middle of the first century. They were written by hand, and successors were copied by hand. Mistakes occasionally crept in.

Moreover, with Christianity in its infancy and the earliest Christians still trying to clarify the full meaning of Jesus, his
mission and his stories, the texts themselves sometimes changed from generation to generation, said Warren.

As archeologists and historians uncovered more manuscripts, each one hand-copied from some predecessor, they could see occasional additions or subtractions from a phrase, a verse or a story.

Most changes are inconsequential, the result of mere copying errors, or the replacement of a less common word for a more common word. But others are more important.

For example, the famous tale in John's Gospel in which Jesus challenges a mob about to stone a woman accused of adultery: "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," is a variant that copyists began inserting at least 300 years after that Gospel first appeared.

In the conclusion to Gospel of Mark, the description of Jesus appearing to various disciples after his Resurrection does not appear in the earliest manuscripts.

And in the Gospel of Luke, the crucified Jesus' plea that his executioners be forgiven "for they know not what they are doing" also does not appear in the earliest versions of his Gospel.

Warren said that even after the fourth-century church definitively settled on the books it accepted as divinely inspired accounts, some of the texts within those books were still subject to slight changes.

Warren said the story of the adulterous woman in John's Gospel, for example, seems to be an account of an actual event preserved and treasured by the Christian community.

"People know it, and they like it," he said. "It's about a forgiveness that many times is needed in the church. Can you be forgiven on major sins?"

John had not included it, but early Christians wanted to shoehorn it in somewhere, Warren said. Warren said the story wanders across several early John manuscripts, appearing in a variety of places.

It even shows up in two early copies of Luke.

"But probably it was never part of John's Gospel, in the original form," he said.

In effect, early copiers were taking what modern readers would recognize as study notes and slipping them into the texts, a process that began to tail off around the ninth century, Warren said.

(Bruce Nolan writes for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.)

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By Bob Pearell: I am greatly concerned over the re-emergence of the idea that we Christians are in disobedience if we don’t realize that worship should be on the seventh day of the week and not the first. This concept seems to be prevalent among some believers and seems to be a push to get away from worshiping Jesus and go back to the worship of Jehovah.

The second issue is easy to deal with: anyone who pushes the concept of Jehovah to the exclusion of Jesus has lost connection with Head of the Church (Colossians 2:19).

And for you who think that you show your spiritual perception by referring constantly to Jehovah rather than Jesus, you are fooling yourself. The name Jehovah occurs nowhere in Scripture — with the exception of course of the King James Bible, which translated the covenant name of God, YHWH, following this 15th century corruption, Jehovah, of the covenant name.

The first actual record of the name “Jehovah” for God dates to 1498 A.D. The Jews of the Old Testament had no concept of the name being Jehovah.

Because the covenant name of God, YHWH, was forbidden to be spoken or written, the Hebrew Scribes would substitute the title “Adoni,” or Lord, in place of the tetragrammaton, YHWH. To distinguish between the title and the name, when you see Lord in small caps in the Old Testament, that was the actual name, YHWH.

How does one correctly pronounce YHWH? Truth be told no one really knows. In fact, Jewish belief contends that when the Messiah comes, he and he alone will be able to speak the covenant name correctly, and when he does, the statue upon whose head the name appears will come to life.

In the book of Revelation, that is exactly what the false prophet is going to do with the idol erected in the new Jewish Temple (see Revelation 13:11-15). No wonder many will be fooled.

Our common pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, YHWH, came about when in the 15th century, someone took the consonants of the name YHWH and added the vowels of Adoni to it, coming up with the name being pronounced “Yahweh,” which was further corrupted to “Jehovah.”

So those who think they are spiritually superior because they get further back than those simple Christians who want to worship Jesus really show their spiritual ignorance. Believing their object of worship to be superior in every way to the Son, they show the truth of Jesus’ claim when He said, “If you knew Me, you would also know My Father” (John 8:19, HCSB).

There is no way one can know YHWH without knowing Jesus. You who have been led into confusion, denying the Son of God by people who claim to worship God, need to study John 8. If you don’t recognize Jesus, you cannot recognize YHWH.

By the way, an interesting sideline to all this is found in Isaiah 6 and John 12. In Isaiah 6, the prophet has his vision of “The Lord (YHWH) high and exalted” (Isaiah 6:2). Those who persist that you must worship YHWH or Jehovah if your worship is to be true, can certainly point to this verse with their triumphant, “I told you so” attitudes.

But wait. Doesn’t the Bible say in both the Old and New Testaments that no one has seen the Father, the One we always identify as YHWH or Jehovah? (See Exodus 33:19-23 and John 6:46). If that is the case, what is Isaiah seeing when he claims to see YHWH high and exalted? John 12:41 gives us the clear answer, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (John 12:41, NIV).

The Jesus of the New Testament is the YHWH of the Old Testament. You who think you can bypass Jesus and still get to Jehovah are sorely mistaken.

You who are allowing yourselves to be thrown into confusion by those who are pushing you back into Old Testament forms of Worship, let me simply remind you that the Bible says, “The old rule is now set aside, because it was weak and useless. The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us, and with this hope we can come near to God” (Hebrews 7:18-19, NCV).

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In English, we know the most accurate Name is Yahweh.

"Strictly speaking, this ought to be rendered 'Yahweh,' which is familiar to modern readers in the erroneous form of 'Jehovah.' Were this a version intended for students of the original, there would be no hesitation whatever in printing 'Yahweh.'" (James Moffet's preface to his translation of the Bible)

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (Micropedia, vol. 10) says: "Yahweh -- the personal name of the [El] of the Israelites ...The Masoretes, Jewish biblical scholars of the Middle Ages, replaced the vowel signs that had appeared above or beneath the consonants of YHWH with the vowel signs of Adonai or of Elohim. Thus the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being. Although Christian scholars after the Renaissance and Reformation periods used the term Jehovah for YHWH, in the 19th and 20th centuries biblical scholars again began to use the form Yahweh, thus this pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was never really lost. Greek transcriptions also indicate that YHWH should be pronounced Yahweh. YNCA

 

[This is my name for ever] The name here referred to is that which immediately precedes, Yahweh  (heb 3068) 'Elohiym  (heb 430), which we translate the "LORD GOD," the name by which God had been known from the creation of the world (see <Gen. 2:4>), and the name by which he is known among the same people to the present day. Even the heathens knew this name of the true God; and hence, out of our "Yahweh"  (heb 3068), Jehovah, they formed their Jao, Jeve, and Jove; so that the word has been literally fulfilled, This is my memorial unto all generations. See the note on the word "Elohim", <Gen. 1:1>. As to be self-existent and eternal must be attributes of God forever, does it not follow that the lª`olaam  (heb 5769), forever, in the text signifies eternity' "This is my name to eternity-- and my memorial," lªdor  (heb 1755) dor  (heb 1755), "to all succeeding generations." While human generations continue he shall be called the God of Abraham the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; but when time shall be no more, he shall be Jehovah Elohim. Hence, the first expression refers to his eternal existence, the latter to the discovery he should make of himself as long as time should last. See <Gen. 21:33>. Diodorus Siculus says, that "among the Jews, Moses is reported to have received his laws from the God named Jao, Iaoo, i. e., Jeue, Jove, or Jeve; for in all these ways the word Yahweh  (heb 3068) may be pronounced; and in this way I have seen it on Egyptian monuments. See Diod., lib. l., c. xciv.

Yahweh - The personal name of God revealed to Moses, and treasured as a sign of intimacy and favour. The later Jews regarded it as too sacred to be pronounced; only the consonants YHWH were written. The meaning "I Am what I Am" or "He Who Is" is perhaps a refusal to give a meaning; or it may suggest that God is the cause of being. Exodus 3:13; 34:6.

 

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The Priestly Blessing, (Hebrew translit. Birkat Kohanim), also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, (lit. Raising of the Hands), is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services. It is based on a scriptural verse: "They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them."^[1] It consists of the following Biblical verses (Numbers 6:24–26):

May YHWH bless you and guard you

 

May YHWH make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you

 

May YHWH lift up his face onto you and give you peace

 Shefa_Tal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grave Rabbi Meschullam Kohn

The fingers when positioned correctly equate to the value of YHWH:
10 + 5 + 6 + 5

10 Fingers total

5 Fingers Right hand

6 Fingers Touching in Center form a triangle

5 Fingers Left hand

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Many of the books are sealed on all sides with metal rings, suggesting they were not intended to be opened. This could be because they contained holy words which should never be read. For example, the early Jews fiercely protected the sacred name of God, which was only ever uttered by The High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem at Yom Kippur.

The original pronunciation has been lost, but has been transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH – known as the Tetragrammaton – and is usually translated either as Yahweh or Jehovah. A sealed book containing sacred information was mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelations.

One plate has been interpreted as a schematic map of Christian Jerusalem showing the Roman crosses outside the city walls. At the top can be seen a ladder-type shape. This is thought to be a balustrade mentioned in a biblical description of the Temple in Jerusalem. Below that are three groups of brickwork, to represent the walls of the city. 

A fruiting palm tree suggests the House of David and there are three or four shapes that appear to be horizontal lines intersected by short vertical lines from below. These are the T-shaped crosses believed to have been used in biblical times (the familiar crucifix shape is said to date from the 4th Century). The star shapes in a long line represent the House of Jesse – and then the pattern is repeated.

This interpretation of the books as proto-Christian artefacts is supported by Margaret Barker former president of the Society for Old Testament Study and one of Britain’s leading experts on early Christianity. The fact that a figure is portrayed would appear to rule out these codices being connected to mainstream Judaism of the time, where portrayal of lifelike figures was strictly forbidden because it was considered idolatry.

Beneath both figures is a line of as-yet undeciphered text in an ancient Hebrew script.

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What's in a name?

ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2011) — Letters. And psychologists have posited that the letters -- particularly the first letter of our names -- can influence decisions, including whom we marry and where we move. The effect is called "implicit egotism."

In 2008, two Belgian researchers found that workers in their country were more likely to choose a workplace if the first letter of its name matched their own.

A commentary published in and upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, revisited the study with similar U.S. data and found that the Belgians got the cause and effect exactly backwards. And that might make us more skeptical about the effects of implicit egotism.

"Walt Disney worked for a company starting with D not because of an unconscious attraction to that letter," writes University of Pennsylvania associate professor Uri Simonsohn, "but because he so christened it."

Simonsohn analyzed records of political donations made during the 2004 campaigns, which include donors' names and employers. Like the Belgians, he found that the first initials matched. But then he compared those first-letter matches with matches of the first three letters -- which more accurately reflect the actual names of both the people and the firms.

Analyzing the two side by side, he found that the effect of the one-letter match dropped away -- while the three-letter sharing increased the match of person to company a striking 64-fold. Why? Because many people work at firms they named or at those founded by their grandfathers or brothers.

Simonsohn doesn't discount implicit egotism altogether. "Having young children, I can't imagine people don't like their own letter more than other letters," he says. But letter preference is more likely to influence decisions about which you are "indifferent or ignorant" -- say, choosing a wine or even a mutual fund you know nothing about.

"Not that it makes no difference -- but the differences it makes in really big decisions are probably slim," Simonsohn continues. There, the first letter of the organization's name is but "one unit of difference." When you're thinking about where to work or whom to marry, "there are thousands of units to consider."

 

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110316171236.htm?utm_source...

 

 

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http://www.jpost.com/

Located at the intersection of ancient desert tracks, Kuntillet Ajrud was both a caravanserai and a kind of spiritual center. Among the finds was a 400-pound stone bowl with an inscription on the rim in paleo- Hebrew letters (the kind used before the Babylonian destruction of Solomon’s Temple) that read “(Belonging) to Ovadiah, son of Adnah, may he be blessed by Yahwe[h].”

Yahweh, spelled with four Hebrew letters (YHWH), known in scholarly literature as the tetragrammaton, is the personal name of the Hebrew God.

Even more intriguing were two large storage vessels over three feet high called pithoi (singular pithos) bearing inscriptions and crude, faint figural drawings. One of the inscriptions refers to “Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah.”

Some scholars contend that this refers to the consort of Yahweh. Others argue that asherah is simply a tree that served as a symbol of Yahweh. A drawing on the pithos of a woman playing a lyre may be Yahweh’s consort, some say.

Another inscription refers to “Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah.” Others refer to Ba’al, and the more generic term for God, El. Apparently the eighth century BCE site attracted travelers from several religious traditions. One pithos pictures five men with raised arms, supposedly in supplication to some unidentified deity.
 

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A specimen list of Hebrew versions of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) that include the Tetragrammaton.

• 1533, Psalms and Matthew, Anton Margaritha, Leipzig
• 1537 and 1557, Matthew and Hebrews, S. Munster, Basel
• 1537, Gospels, F. Petri, Wittemberg
• 1551, Gospel of Matthew, J. Quinquarboreus, Paris
• 1555, Gospel of Matthew, J. du Tillet, Paris
• 1576, Gospels, J. Claius, Leipzig
• 1599, New Testament, E. Hutter, Norimberga
• 1661, New Testament, W. Robertson, London
• 1668, Gospels, G. B. Jona, Rome
• 1796, New Testament, Dominik von Brentano, Vienna and Prague
• 1798-1805, NT, R. Caddick, London
• 1817, New Testament, T. Fry, London
• 1831, New Testament, W. Greenfield, London
• 1838, New Testament, A. McCaul and others, London
• 1846, New Testament, J. C. Reichardt, London
• 1855, Luke, Acts, Romans and Hebrews, J. H. R. Biesenthal, Berlin
• 1863, New Testament, H. Heinfetter, London
• 1866, New Testament, J. C. Reichardt and J. H. R. Biesenthal, London
• 1877, New Testament, Franz Delitzsch, Leipzig
• 1891, New Testament, I. Salkinson and C. D. Ginsburg, London
• 1900, Romans, W. G. Rutherford, London
• 1957, Gospel of John, M. I. Ben Maeir, Denver
• 1963, A Concordance to the Greek New Testament, Moulton and Geden
• 1975, New Testament, J. Bauchet and D. Kinnereth, Rome
• 1979, New Testament, United Bibles Societies, Jerusalem
• 1986, New Testament, Bible Society, Jerusalem

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What was breathed into the dirt? (Gen 2:7) What is that breath of life or what does that breath utter? (Psalm 145:21, 150:6) What 2 things do all things hang on? (Matt 22:36-40) And if we know those 2 things, and we read? about them again (Gal 5:14), and it mentions the 1st is just one word. That one word would be the breath of life put into us that we praise with each breath…. YHWH. •Job 33:4
The Spirit of El hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Source

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A Newly Developed Language Decoder Reveals the Torah is the Lost Book of Thoth Who is Hebrew God Yhwh-Elohim

In his upcoming book the Keys to the library, Joe Lanyadoo reveals a new decoder that offers a new understanding of the Torah, the origin of language and the origin of the human race. Using the decoder reveals that all religious writings tell the same story and were written by the same deity. The Tho-Ra was given to Moses 3500 years ago by its author Yhwh, E.l.h.i.m ???????? who is none other than the Egyptian Moon god Thoth, the god of all knowledge and all writing who Lanyadoo claims wrote all religious myths.

Belvedere Tiburon, CA (PRWEB) December 5, 2010

The Egyptians claim the book of Thoth was lost, but in truth it is hidden in plain sight. This is what Lanyadoo claims in his upcoming book about the origin of the human race, religion and language called The Key to the Library listing over 30 points to support just such assertion. Below are 10 of those points.

• Thoth’s other name "Dawty” is the origin of the Hebrew word “Daty,” meaning Religion. Dat ToRah, meaning the Religion of ToRah, uses both of Thoth’s names. The English word Deity is from the Hebrew Daty meaning Thoth or meaning Religion which are one and the same. The name of his consort, Maat the goddess of Truth, was used for the Hebrew Amet, meaning Truth.
• Both Torah and the book of Thoth were reported as, “written with the finger of God,” on a stone provided by God.
• Both Jews and Egyptians make the identical claim that the book of Thoth/Torah inscribes, “All of the secrets of the universe.”
• The Hebrew name Elohym spells the words El Hayam-, meaning “god of the ocean”, which the diacritical marks hide. This is a fitting acronym for the Moon god Thoth because the moon controls the oceans. This attribute also explains the reason why all life is water-based and Earth is a mostly watery planet that possesses a very unique Moon that acts like a planet. Beroshit, the first word in the Torah which was never used again was mistranslated as “in the beginning” but it literally means B.Rosh.iT = In.Head.Tho. Sabbath = Shab.aT = Sat.Tho.
• Yhwh/Tho/Elohim decreed the Jewish holidays basing them specifically on the less accurate moon cycles. It is important to note that Thoth is credited with inventing the 365 day sun year.
• Christian holidays are based on the sun/son god Ra which is the secret reason Christians switched to a calendar based on sun cycle, Chri-smass (callout.sun). Sun-Day celebrates the Sun/son god Ra/Yhwh. It also explains the meaning of the words Vatican beti.can = my-house.here and Catho.lic = This-sect.for-me. Together Jews and Christians worship the mysterious Yhwh a.k.a Tho & Ra. Hanukah called the “Holiday of Light”, like Christmas celebrates the “god of Light” (light = Or) the god Ra.

Once the Hebrew language codes are used, it becomes clear that the Torah is retelling the Sumerian-Egyptian myth almost verbatim, using very sophisticated computer generated codes. It somehow manages to combine names with attributes, while formulas become words.

• Mc2 becomes C.M.C which spells out shin.mem.shin = Shemesh-Sun. The formula-word C.M.C expresses how the sun makes energy. Finally, the speed of light is 300 km/m.s and the letter C-Shin has a value of 300. Einstein’s famous formula is the Hebrew word, shemesh/sun, CMC. It couldn’t have been a coincidence or lucky that Einstein “decided” to go with C (constant) for the speed of light instead of the more natural L.
• The Sun god Ra appears in Hebrew as the word Or, meaning Light, and Re-a, meaning, See/Mirror. It appears in English as Ray (sun) and most commonly as Re as in: re-do = mirror.do. It also appears in IsRaEl = There-is.Ra.god. This name was given to Jacob when he insisted on a name before he agreed to let-go of the god he was fighting.
•  The decoded meaning of formula (fo.re.mila = here.see.word) demonstrates the magic of combining a word with an attribute. This kind of language was created by gods who according to the Sumerian Atra (Tha.Ra) Hassis myth came from the planet Ni.Baru, meaning the crossers in Sumerian sounding similar to He.brew–Evri meaning crosser in Hebrew, who landed here in a space ship 432,000 before the flood when Australopithecus roamed the land. They came in search for gold with which to save their planet and left us the Torah with which to save ours.

Lanyadoo demonstrates that the Torah, the book of Tho reveals that we Homo-Sepian (saphian = speaking.man) Cro.Ma.Gn.on (called.from.garden.god) were genetically redesigned as intelligent workers “to tend the garden”, that is why only hy.br.id (god.created.hand) male(m.el=from.god) was first created.

This event occurred only recently, a blink of an evolutionary eye ago, 60,000 years ago, but enough time for us to turn from barely surviving primates to gods on Earth. Combining those myths using Hebrew suggests that the Sumerian story tells the Tru.th (Tora.Tho), that the DNA (dn.a=verdicts.god) of a slain Anaki-god and earthlings blood was combined to create Adam. This is confirmed when the name Adam is decoded: A.dam = god.blood, Adama = Earth, Adam = Earthling.god-Blood.
Lanyadoo concludes that this has never been about the past; it’s always been about the Fu.Tu.Re = Here.Tho.See. Or: Here.Torah, preparing us for the time the Au.Tho.R of all knowledge, the programmer of our DNA, the god Elohim/Yhwh = Tho.Rah returns to reside in Ye.Ru.Shalaim= god.Ra.Complete. Shilem = paid-up. Shalem = one-Piece. Shalom = In.Peace

For this and other articles go to: http://www.Theoriginoflanguage.com

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A good summary of the history of the challenges of YHWH is in an article
“Translating the Tetragrammaton YHWH” (1997) by Katy Barnwell,
an excerpt of which follows (from p. 24):

In many English translations of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) the form “LORD,” written in small capitals, is used to represent the four Hebrew letters YHWH. This is a proper name, the personal name of God, not a title or a general noun.

How did the term LORD come to be used to represent the personal name of God? It seems clear that, until about the time of the prophet Ezra, the Israelites pronounced the name of God (YHWH) freely. But sometime after the time of Ezra, they came to feel that the name YHWH was so holy that it should not be pronounced. So,  whenever YHWH was written in the text, they read it aloud as 'adonay which means
“(my) lord/master.”

Much later, Masoretic scribes added vowels to the text to preserve the pronunciation of the words. (Originally Hebrew was written with consonant symbols only.) But when the scribes added vowels to the word YHWH, they added the vowels of 'adonay (“lord”) to remind people to pronounce the title as 'adonay instead of saying the personal name, Yahweh.

Source

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