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NASB | 2 Samuel 7:22 "For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Samuel 7:22 "Therefore You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. |
Subject: "and there is is none besides You." OK? |
Bible Note: Dear Ray, This passage (2 Samuel 7:22) remains very interesting! The Hebrew word for God in the phrase "there is no God besides You.." is 'elohiym' which is actually a plural form of the Hebrew word 'elowahh', which refers to both deity (or a god) and the Deity or God. However, in this case the words "besides" and "no" seem to single out the meaning of this word as referring to the Diety or God, even though this 'elohiym' is also used in reference to angels. "The Proper Name of God in The Old Testament: In the Scriptures, the name of God is most significant and understandably so. It is inconceivable to think of spiritual matters without a proper designation for the Supreme Deity. Thus the most common name for the Deity is God, a translation of the original 'Elohim'. One of the titles for God is Lord, a translation of 'Adonai'. There is yet another name which is particularly assigned to God as His special or proper name, that is, the four letters 'YHWH' (Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 42:8). This name has not been pronounced by the Jews because of reverence for the great sacredness of the divine name. Therefore, it has been consistently translated LORD. The only exception to this translation of is when it occurs in immediate proximity to the word Lord, that is, 'Adonai'. In that case it is regularly translated GOD in order to avoid confusion. It is known that for many years YHWH has been transliterated as 'Yahweh', however no complete certainty attaches to this pronunciation." (From the NASB Principles of Translation) So is 'Elohim' (a name of God) being used here in 2 Samuel 7:22 or is there another word that is used here that would cause this to be a plural (and therefore lowercase) form? In 2 Samuel 7:22, the same Hebrew word 'elohiym' is the same Hebrew word that is used in Genesis 1:1, stating that "In the beginning God ('elohiym') created the heavens and the earth".. Therefore, the NASB, NKJV and Amplified translators saw fit to render this verse as "no God besides You" rather than "no god besides You", since a very 'title' of God is used here in 2 Samuel 7:22, which is made distinctive by the article "no" and the word "besides" which is used in the text. However, the word "YHWH", which is the 'proper name' of God, is not being referred to here. Despite this reasoning, I can see where you would come to the conclusion that "God" should not be capitalized here, even though I am unable to find any support for that. All of the translations of the Bible that I own (every single one of them) has the word "God" capitalized here in this phrase in 2 Samuel 7:22. I hope that this study has proven as interesting to you as it has for me! --Nolan |