Tetragrammaton

[Yaku Lee]

Why are 34 instances of the ineffable Tetragrammaton, the four-letter God’s name, not transliterated for Adonai in BHT, but read off directly with the vowel points for Adonai (for verses Psa 2:7, 5:4, 1Ki 16:33, Jer 2:37, etc.)?

And why do 6 of these 34 instances have an additional cholem on the first H in WTT and transliterated differently in BHT (for verses 1Ki 16:33, Psa 15:1, 40:5, 100:5, Jer 2:37, 30:10)?

A vast number of other instances, 6,793 to be exact, apparently show either Adonai or Elohim. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Yaku Lee
cyl@kmu.ac.kr
September 11, 2007

[Adelphos]

A vast number of other instances, 6,793 to be exact, apparently show either Adonai or Elohim. Any help would be highly appreciated.

I'm sure you're familiar with the various aspects of the Tetragrammaton in general, so I won't go into that.

More specifically, the current BHS is based almost wholly on the Leningrad Codex, as opposed to the traditional Masoretic Text, and thus the Leningrad Codex, which is felt to be an utterly corrupt text by many, myself included, is responsible for many of the variants you find in BHS.

You may want to see my brief article on the Tetragrammton at --

http://www.lamblion.net/Articles/Sco...s/jehovah1.htm

[jakemccarty]

Why are 34 instances of the ineffable Tetragrammaton, the four-letter God’s name, not transliterated for Adonai in BHT, but read off directly with the vowel points for Adonai (for verses Psa 2:7, 5:4, 1Ki 16:33, Jer 2:37, etc.)?

And why do 6 of these 34 instances have an additional cholem on the first H in WTT and transliterated differently in BHT (for verses 1Ki 16:33, Psa 15:1, 40:5, 100:5, Jer 2:37, 30:10)?

A vast number of other instances, 6,793 to be exact, apparently show either Adonai or Elohim. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Yaku Lee
cyl@kmu.ac.kr
September 11, 2007

Interesting question! Take a look at the HALOT under entry 1 if you have access to it. It provides a basic answer to your questions and wrestles with a few scholarly theories about the derivation of the name.