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The claim is made concerning the New World Translation it that it is inconsistent in in translating Adonay (or as some prefer, Adonai), for in many places it is translated as "Sovereign Lord" and many other places as "Jehovah". For example, in Isaiah 9:8 it is claimed that it is translated as "Jehovah".
We are not advocates of the New Word Translation, or any other translation as a whole, for we believe that there is room for improvement in all. This is one of the points of misinformation being spread about how words are translated that needs to be corrected. Actually, the NWT did not "translate" Adonay as "Jehovah", so the writers who make this claim are making misleading statements. Nevertheless, without proper knowledge we do see how one could come to this conclusion, for the Masoretic text does have Adonay, not Yahweh, in many places where the NWT has "Jehovah". Why is this?
As stated in the back to the 1961 reference edition of the NWT, there are
134 instances in the Masoretic text where the Jewish Sopherim (scribes)
claimed that they altered the earlier Hebrew text by substituing Adonay for
the tetragrammaton. Isaiah 9:8 is one of those places. The complete list may be found in Appendix 32 of the Companion Bible:
We reproduce this Appendix below:
This Is Appendix 32 From The Companion Bible.
Out of extreme (but mistaken) reverence for the Ineffable Name "Jehovah", the ancient custodians of the Sacred Text substituted in many places "Adonai" (see Appendix 4. viii. 2). These, in the Authorized Version and Revised Version, are all printed "Lord". In all these places we have printed it "LORD", marking the word with an asterisk in addition to the note in the margin, to inform the reader of the fact.
The official list given in the Massorah (§§ 107-15, Ginsburg's edition) contains the 134.
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. 2Kings 7:6; 19:23. Isaiah 3:17,18; 4:4; 6:1,8,11; 7:14,20; 8:7; 9:8,17; 10:12; 11:11; 21:6,8,16; 28:2; 29:13; 30:20; 37:24; 38:14,16; 49:14. Ezekiel 18:25,29; 21:13; 33:17,29. Amos 5:16; 7:7,8; 9:1. Zechariah 9:4. Micah 1:2. Malachi 1:12,14. Psalm 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; 86:3,4,5,8,9,12,15; 89:49,50; 90:1,17; 110:5; 130:2,3,6. Daniel 1:2; 9:3,4,7,9,15,16,17,19,19,19. Lamentations 1:14,15,15; 2:1,2,5,7,18,19,20; 3:31,36,37,58. Ezra 10:3. Nehemiah 1:11; 4:14. Job 28:28.
To these may be added the following, where "Elohim" was treated in the same way :-
2 Samuel 5:19-25; 6:9-17} Where the Authorized Version has "LORD."
1 Chronicles 13:12; 14:10,11,14,16; 16:1. Psalm 14:1,2,5; 53:1,2,4,5.} Where in Authorized Version and Revised Version it still appears as "God". It is printed "GOD" in the Companion Bible.
http://www.therain.org/appendixes/ http://www.biblestudysite.com/cbapend.htm http://www.heavendwellers.com/hd_appendixes_to_companion.htm
Nevertheless, the Great Isaiah Scroll (of the Dead Sea Scrolls, dated long
before the texts the Jewish Sopherim used) has Adonay (or Adoni*), not Yahweh, in Isaiah
9:8. This indicates that the listing of the Jewish Sopherim may not be totally
accurate.
*Adoni: The Hebrew words Adoni (my Lord) and Adonai (Sovereign Lord) differ only in that that the Masoretic scribes added the extra vowel point to make a distinction. This was not done until several centuries after Jesus died. In the original Hebrew text there is no distinction between the words "Adoni" and "Adonai". Thus some argue that the reason that Adonai appears only to refer to Yahweh is that the scribes deliberately added the vowel point only where they thought there was a reference to Yahweh, thus distinguishing the word from Adoni (my Lord). For this reason many believe that several of the places where "Adonai" appears in the Masoretic text should actually read "adoni", and Isaiah 6:1 is one of those places. This this line of reasoning we tend to be in agreement.
Notwithstanding, the Great Isaiah Scroll does have the tetragrammaton in the
following places, exactly as claimed by the Jewish Sopherim, but the Masoretic text has adonay (or adoni*) in these places: Isaiah 3:18;
6:11; 7:14; 8:7; 21:16; 28:2; 37:20. Thus in these verses, the Great Isaiah has the tetragrammaton rather than Adonai (or Adoni) as in the Masoretic texts.
Yet there are these scriptures that were claimed to originally have the
tetragrammaton, but such is not supported by the Great Isaiah Scroll: Isaiah
3:17: 4:4; 6:1,8; 7:20; 9:17; 10:12; 11:11; 21:6,8; 29:13; 30:20; 38:14,16;
49:14. In other words, in these instances, the tetragrammton does not appear in the Great Isaiah Scroll, even though there were claims that the tetragrammaton originally appeared in these verses.
A translation of the Great Isaiah Scroll can be found at: What does this mean? Simply that there are more instances of the claims of the Sopherim that are not supported by the Great Isaiah Scroll than are supported. Assuming (and we point out that this is an assumption) that
the Great Isaiah Scroll is accurate, then the claims made by the Jewish
Sopherim for the latter list of scriptures is inaccurate. We assume that the Great Isaiah Scroll would be more accurate than the list made by the Jewish Sopherim, thus this also throws great doubt on the accuracy of the list for the scriptures other than Isaiah.
This document may be photocopied or otherwise reproduced for non-profit purposes.
Last update: 9/12/2003
The following links are provided for further research although we may not agree with all statements or conclusions of the writers:
The Emendations of the Sopherim
The Massorah - Fig Fact for today
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