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Massorah
For anyone who has a great love for the name “YHWH” (Yahweh) and who wishes to restore it to their own Bibles, please consider the following information which comes to us from The Companion Bible, Appendixes 30 and 32;
“All the oldest and best manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible contain on every page . . . a varying number of lines of smaller writing, distributed between the upper and lower margins. This smaller writing is called the Massorah Magna or Great Massorah, while that in the side margins and between the columns is called the Massorah Parva or Small Massorah.”
“. . . it contains the information necessary to those into whose trust the Sacred Text was committed, so that they might transcribe it, and hand it down correctly.” “This had been the work of the Sopherim. Their work, under Ezra and Nehemiah, was to set the Text in order after the return from Babylon; . . .”
“It [the Massorah] does not contain notes or comments as such, but facts and phenomena . . . for the set purpose of safeguarding the Sacred Text, and preventing the loss or misplacement of a single letter or word.”
“When the Hebrew Text was printed, only the large type in the columns was regarded, and the small type of the Massorah was left, unheeded, in the MSS. from which the Text was taken. When the translators came to the printed Hebrew Text, they were necessarily destitute of the information contained in the Massorah; so that the Revisers as well as the Translators of the Authorized Version carried out their work without any idea of the treasures contained in the Massorah; and therefore, without giving a hint to their readers.”
Among the most critical information that the Massorah provides is the location of 134 instances where the ancient custodians of the Hebrew Text substituted “Adonai” in place of “YHWH” out of extreme (but mistaken) reverence. These, in the A.V. and R.V., are all printed “Lord”.
The following list contains the 134 places where the substitutions were made. If you wish to restore the Sacred Name of “YHWH” (Yahweh) to your Bible, simply highlight or underline the word “Lord” and read “Yahweh” when you come to it.
Genesis 18:3,27,30,32;19:18; 20:4: Exodus 4:10,13; 5:22;15:17; 34:9,9; Numbers 14:17; Joshua 7:8; Judges 6:15; 13:8; 1 Kings 3:10,15; 22:6; 2 Kings 7:6; 19:23; Ezra 10:3; Nehemiah 1:11; 4:14; Job 28:28
Psalms 2:4; 16:2; 22:19,30; 30:8; 35:3,17,22; 37:12; 38:9,15,22; 39:7; 40:17; 44:23; 51:15; 54:4; 55:9; 57:9; 59:11; 62:12; 66:18; 68:11,17,19,22,26,32; 73:20; 77:2,7; 78:65; 79:12; 86:3,4,5,8,9,12; 90:1,17; 110:5; 130:2,3,6
Isaiah 3:17,18; 4:4; 6:1,8,11; 7:14,20; 8:7; 9:8,17; 11:11; 21:6,8,16; 28:2; 29:13; 30:20; 37:24; 38:14,16;49:14; Lamentation 1:14,15,15; 2:1,2,5,7,18,19,20; 3:31,36,37,58; Ezekiel 18:25,29; 21:13; ; 33:17,29; Daniel 1:2; 9:3,4,7,9,15, 16,17,19,19,19; Amos 5:16; 7:7,8; 9:1; Zechariah 9:4; Micah 1:2; Malachi 1:12,14
To these may be added the following, where “Elohim” was treated in the same way:
2 Sam.5:19-2; 6:9-17 – Where the A.V. has “LORD”.
1 Chr. 13:12; 14:10,11,14,16; 16:1; Ps.14:1,2,5; 53:1,2,4,5; – Where in the A.V. and R.V. it still appears as “God”.
(All these substitutions were done in addition to the vowel markings of “Adonai” being applied to the four letters forming the tetragrammaton [YHWH].
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