Some Thoughts on Bible Versions: Part 1

Question: What word can you find 4 times in the Old King James Version, never in the NKJV, never in the ESV and 6777 times in the American Standard Version of 1901?

Answer: Jehovah

There is a long history behind these statistics.

God 'signed' the Sinai Covenant with the personal name of Jehovah. Although Abraham and others had known the name of Jehovah, God had never revealed to them the significance of that name. When he promised to deliver the descendants of Abraham from Egyptian captivity he made it clear that he was about to commit himself to an entirely different kind of relationship with those 'sons of Israel'.

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned. And moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land which I sware to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am Jehovah. Ex 6:2–8 ASV

Bible words don't have definitions; they have histories. There have been lots of suggestions as to what the name 'Jehovah' actually means. I will ask a slightly different question. "Who is Jehovah?" He is the God who has revealed himself to the people of the Sinai covenant in seven great affirmations.

1. I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians

2. I will rid you of their bondage

3. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments

4. I will take you to me for a people

5. I will be a God to you...

6. I will bring you in unto the land which I sware to give to Abraham etc

7. I will give it you for a heritage

These affirmations are bordered with a statement which is repeated "I am Jehovah". It is as though he had 'signed' his name at the beginning and the end of this statement. No one can take away from it and no one can add to it. This promise is 'bankable'!

When we read the personal name of Jehovah in the American Standard Version of 1901 we are reading of a God who has 'put his name' to this commitment to the sons of Israel.