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NASB | Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being]. |
Bible Question:
Where did this prohibition to "pronounce the sacred name of God" come from? Throughout the Bible, there are quotations of the people saying God's name, using it, not just writing it down. (Ruth 2:4) And, look! Boaz came from Bethlehem and proceeded to say to the harvesters: “Jehovah be with you.” In turn they would say to him: “Jehovah bless you.” There is no pretense that Jehovah is the correct pronunciation in Hebrew. It's not even an attempt to do so. It is simply consistent with all other English names in the Bible. If someone insists on Yahweh, there should be no problem with that, but inconsistency would seem interesting. Most use it as an excuse to not use God's name at all, probably because it sounds funny since most are using a Bible that has removed it and they are therefore not used to seeing it. Others like their God to seem more impersonal, without a name. |
Bible Answer: The ban on pronouncing the sacred name of God came about after the Exile. It is not strictly a Scriptural ban but it is noteworthy that neither Jesus nor His followers used the name YHWH to our knowledge. In the case of Jesus that was probably because to have used it would have caused great offence. However had He felt it important He would have said so. He also followed the practise of not overusing the title God, replacing it with another noun e.g 'the right hand of Power'. Using the name GOD can become blasphemous simply because we use it carelessly. However, it was a good practise to call God GOD, as it made clear that there is only one God. It was because of the Jewish practise that we do not know how God's name is pronounced. If we do not know how to pronounce it then we are not certainly using the name of God however we pronounce it so we do not need an excuse not to use it. It is just common sense. . |