THE HOUSE OF YAHSHUA
THE WORD OF YAH
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Introduction
In working on "The Word of Yah" Bible, we have had a special task in mind: producing a version of the Bible that would be accurate and at the same time familiar and easy to use with a standard KJV concordance. We hope and pray that we have achieved this goal.
There are some important differences in this Bible
version which we believe will not be found in any other. The support for these
differences is found below. Our main reason for instituting these changes is
that we believe that there is truth, logic, and consistency in God's word. Most
translations have obscured some basic truths out of adherence to the traditions
of man rather than adherence to the written word, thereby creating illogic and
inconsistency: we prefer to let the Bible speak for itself.
There is a finite number
of words in the Bible. The repeated use of any word (besides pronouns,
conjunctions, etc.) indicates the importance of that word and the concept
behind it. The name of God (i.e. Yahweh or Yah) appears more than 7,000 times
in the original text. No other word appears with such frequency. We believe
that the name is so important that it must be included in Scripture, in its
most accurate rendering, rather than in an "Englished"
form or in the form of a title. This is the primary reason for the production
of this translation.
In the Old Testament, or Old Covenant as rendered
here, we have consistently used the name "Yahweh" (or "Yah"
where appropriate) where the title "the LORD" or "GOD"
would be found in the King James Version.
Why? Because, as we see in
Exodus 6:3, the name of God is revealed in the Tetragrammaton
- i.e. YHWH, as rendered in the Hebrew. Understanding as we do that
Hebrew contains no vowels, we realize that vowels must be supplied:
overwhelmingly, the consensus is that the name should be rendered
"Yahweh". Although many translations will render the name
"Jehovah", this rendering is merely an Englished
version of Yahweh and inaccurate because there is no letter "J" in
the Hebrew alphabet. The letter "J" is relatively new even to the
English language. It seems to have been introduced somewhere around the late
1600's and originally replaced the letter combination "i-e"
which is pronounced like a "y". Today we can see the origins of the
pronunciation of the letter "J" preserved in such words as
"hallelujah" or in some proper names such as "
In the King James Version, the translators
rendered the title "the LORD" where the word "Adonai" or some variation appeared in the Hebrew text
above the Tetragrammaton. The use of this title was
originally done in a mistaken attempt to protect the name from being misused or
blasphemed. As a result, the name has obscured to most casual readers. Also, in
some cases the title "the LORD" was substituted for the name
"Yah", with the same result. A study of the entry "LORD" in
"Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" and the lexicon in the back of it
will support this.
In this version, we have merely restored the true
name of God in the places where "the LORD" or "GOD"
appears. In a small number of cases, there was an actual change in the Hebrew text,
where the name was taken out and Adonai (the Lord) or
a variation was inserted, again out of a mistaken desire to protect the name.
This can be corroborated by some literal translations and by a close reading of
the marginal notes in Bullinger's Companion Bible.
In the New Covenant, we have consistently used the
name "Yahshua" in place of "Jesus". There are several
reasons for this. First we should understand that there is no letter
"J" in Greek. Our Messiah never heard the name "Jesus"
during His life on this earth. He was a Hebrew son of Hebrew parents, and
accordingly must have been given a Hebrew name. In the center margin of many
translations there is a note in Matthew 1:21 that the name Jesus could be read
"Joshua". This is an English rendering of the Hebrew name
"Yahshua" (a shortened version of "Yah-hoshua",
meaning "Yah our saviour" or more literally
“I AM salvation"). We believe this to have been His real name. Refer to
Acts 7:45 in the KJV for corroboration that the name Jesus is the equivalent of
Joshua, or more accurately, Yahshua.
Throughout this version, Old Covenant and New,
there are places where minor changes in wording have been made, for reasons of
logic and clarity. These changes are supported by a study of words in Strong's
Exhaustive Concordance, by other translations and by some marginal notes in
Bullinger's Companion Bible. There are also some instances where punctuation
has been changed or moved in certain scriptures. Punctuation did not exist in
original Greek of the New Covenant: the punctuation in the King James Version
was inserted wholly at the discretion of the King James translators. Incorrect
placement of punctuation has done violence to the original meaning of some
passages. The sense of these passages can be restored by simply moving a comma
or inserting quotation marks where appropriate.
In closing, we hope that this Bible version is as
enlightening to readers as it has been to those of us who participated in its
creation.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Old Testament
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New Testament
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