Exodus20:2

1

What I have rendered in the translation column as YHVH was considered by the Hebrews to be the greatest name of their God. They revered it so much that they never pronounced the name. During the public reading of Scripture they would substitute the name “Adonai.” This name is rendered in the KJV as LORD (all caps) while Adonai is rendered as Lord (first letter cap). The scribes who copied the Old Testament scrolls would leave a blank space when they came to this special name for God. After they had copied for quite a while, they would go wash their hands (if I understand correctly they would wash them seven times), then return to fill in the spaces with this name of God.

If they would have chosen to pronounce it, we think this name of God would have been pronounced either YAHWEH, or YAHVEH. I choose to write it with only the consonants (YHVH) because their form of Hebrew only included the consonants, and writing it that way reminds us that we are not sure how they pronounced this special name for God. It comes from the verb of being, “I am.” It

is the name God used to identify Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. God is the I AM, which implies that He always has existed and always will be. He is the ever living, always present God. It carries with it the sense of presence. He is not just living and active, He wants to be close to us. To the Israelites, this was the most personal and intimate of all the names of God. While all other religions of the world have a deity figure that is far away and should be feared, we have a God that wants to be close to us and wants us to love Him. Our relationship with Him should include a proper degree of fear, but it is combined with love and intimacy. Our God is characterized by a perfect balance of holiness and kindness. The ancient Hebrews understood this multifaceted aspect of God’s character, and they correctly deduced that the name which communicates His closeness, His approachableness, and His desire for intimacy is worthy of being given the status of the loftiest of all names for God.

2

The name of God used here is a form of the name “Elohim” and means “your God.” In these situations I do not use the actual Hebrew form of the word because there are various forms possible and it might cause confusion.

3

The name “Egypt” means “siege, enclosure, defense, fortified,” also “besieged, fenced in.” is Egypt the one besieging others, or being besieged by others? Yes, it could be either one. I have chosen to go with the negative aspect of the name, the one that makes Egypt look bad rather than good. Egypt is often seen in Scripture as a representation of sin or evil. I have chosen to render this name in the paraphrase column in a way that reflects both the meaning of the name and the reputation as a place of sin.