Why is Jehovah's name taken out of the scriptures?

Answer 1

Various different bible translators give differing reasons for their decision to remove God's name from scripture. Mainly they present the argument that such a move was justifiable given the inability to be sure as to the origninal pronunciation of the tetragrammaton. Others suggest that it should be removed to reflect the Jewish tradition of not pronouncing the sacred name. They thus replace the personal name with the generic title GOD.

It should be noted that various modern translations have not chosen to remove (or replace) the divine name including the New World Translation of The Bible produced by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Interesting that the Jewish tradition of not pronouncing the sacred name was steeped into other pagan religions. The Babylonians and Egyptians had the practice of not pronouncing there sacred god's name. The Jews happened to be captives in both of these nations lands. Really the whole exact pronunciation of all Hebrew texts is lost, but that didn't stop the attempt to translate it into other languages. Like was mentioned, Jesus and Jeremiah are not exact correct pronunciation of there Hebrew names, yet these names are accepted whole souled into English translations. Jehovah has been accepted for centuries as the proper English translation of the divine name YHWH. What is tragic is many translators replace the divine name with LORD or GOD. Many do to profit on there Bible sales, like the NIV translation.

Answer 2

First, many claim that the name should not be used because the original way to pronounce it is unknown today. Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels. Therefore, no one today can say for sure exactly how people of Bible times pronounced YHWH.

A second reason often given for omitting God's name from the Bible involves a long-standing tradition of the Jews. Many of them hold that God's name should never be pronounced. This belief is evidently based on a misapplication of a Bible law that states: "You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way."(Exodus 20:7).

However, Acts 2: 21 states "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved". If the name Jehovah was not printed in this verse, or the Bible at all, who would people know to specifically call on? What would separate Him from all the other gods and deities in the world. Therefore, His name belongs in the Bible because knowing its meaning and using it freely in our worship are powerful aids in drawing closer to our heavenly Father, Jehovah.

John Wycliffe wrote the very first Bible in English, in approx 1380. It was Hand-Written, as this was before the printing press.

Wycliffe used the Latin Vulgate to translate into English; it was a mere translation from Latin to English; not from Hebrew or Greek to English.

The Latin Vulgate did not use God's personal name; so Wycliffe worked with what he had. He tried his best to make the Bible available to the commoner.

But later, as more translators went to the original languages to do their translating, they noticed the flaw; and some translators felt it important enough to revert back to align more with the original manuscripts.