A5
Targum Onkelos is The Only True Torah and Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} is The Only True Al {pre. Ahl}.
Bible scholars acknowledge that Al {pre. Ahl}’s personal name, as represented by the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), appears almost 7,000 times in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, many feel that it did not appear in the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures. For this reason, most modern English Bibles do not use the name Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} when translating the so-called New Testament. Even when translating quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures in which the Tetragrammaton appears, most translators use “Lord” rather than Al {pre. Ahl}’s personal name.
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In deciding to do this, the translators took into consideration two important factors: (1) The Greek manuscripts we possess today are not the originals. Of the thousands of copies in existence today, most were made at least two centuries after the originals were composed. (2) By that time, those copying the manuscripts either replaced the Tetragrammaton with Kyʹri·os, the Greek word for “Lord,” or they copied from manuscripts where this had already been done.
The New World Bible Translation Committee determined that there is compelling evidence that the Tetragrammaton did appear in the original Greek manuscripts. The decision was based on the following evidence:
Copies of the Hebrew Scriptures used in the days of Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa} and his apostles contained the Tetragrammaton throughout the text. In the past, few people disputed that conclusion. Now that copies of the Hebrew Scriptures dating back to the first century have been discovered near Qumran, the point has been proved beyond any doubt.
In the days of Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa} and his apostles, the Tetragrammaton also appeared in Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures. For centuries, scholars thought that the Tetragrammaton was absent from manuscripts of the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Then, in the mid-20th century, some very old fragments of the Greek Septuagint version that existed in Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa}’ day were brought to the attention of scholars. Those fragments contain the personal name of Al {pre. Ahl}, written in Hebrew characters. So in Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa}’ day, copies of the Scriptures in Greek did contain the divine name. However, by the fourth century C.E., major manuscripts of the Greek Septuagint, such as the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, did not contain the divine name in the books from Genesis through Malachi (where it had been in earlier manuscripts). Hence, it is not surprising that in texts preserved from that time period, the divine name is not found in the so-called New Testament, or Greek Scripture portion of the Bible.
Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa} plainly stated: “I have come in the name of my Father.” He also stressed that his works were done in his “Father’s name”
The Christian Greek Scriptures themselves report that Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa} often referred to Al {pre. Ahl}’s name and made it known to others. (John 17:6, 11, 12, 26) Iesoh {Aram. Yshoa} plainly stated: “I have come in the name of my Father.” He also stressed that his works were done in his “Father’s name.”—John 5:43; 10:25.
Since the Christian Greek Scriptures were an inspired addition to the sacred Hebrew Scriptures, the sudden disappearance of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s name from the text would seem inconsistent. About the middle of the first century C.E., the disciple James said to the elders in Yerushalom: “Symeon has related thoroughly how Al {pre. Ahl} for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name.” (Acts 15:14) It would not be logical for James to make such a statement if no one in the first century knew or used Al {pre. Ahl}’s name.
The divine name appears in its abbreviated form in the Christian Greek Scriptures. At Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6, the divine name is embedded in the word “HalaluYah.” This comes from a Hebrew expression that literally means “Praise Love with Mercy Yah.” “Yah” is a contraction of the name Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}. Many names used in the Christian Greek Scriptures were derived from the divine name.”