Yep, you read that right. The word, “Jehovah” never appears in any of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek texts that we translate for our English Bibles. It is what is known as a translation convention. When a word doesn’t translate neatly from one language to another, when there is no counterpart, or when the translators have other concerns that supersede what should be their main intent in translation work they may utilize a convention. Here is a for instance for you. Modern translations render the word, “δοῦλος, doulos” as, “bondservant.” This sounds much more acceptable to the modern reader. The more accurate translation of this word would be, “slave.” Nevermind that there are different types of slavery throughout history. Ancient people would consider modern people who sell their labor to a business owner to be slaves in some regards. Another common translation convention employed today is LORD in small uppercase letters. It is not literally there in the Hebrew text. When you see this word, it is representing the tetragrammaton, which are these four Hebrew consonants, yod he vav he יהוה. (Remember, Hebrew is read right to left.) This is the name of God that He told to Moses. It is a statement of God’s aseity. The ancient Jews refused to pronounce this name out of reverence. So they would substitute the word, “adonai” which is a form of this Hebrew word, “adon אָדוֹן” About a thousand years after the ascension of Christ the Masoretes came along, and added vowel markings to the Hebrew text. They did this in an attempt to help readers know how to pronounce a word, and tell the difference between one Hebrew word, and another. All Hebrew words only have three letters. Then grammatically, prefixes, infixes, and suffixes, could be added. The translation convention of Jehovah didn’t come into use until after that time. Jehovah is a completely made up word. It is not in the original texts. The consonants from the tetragrammaton were blended with the vowel sounds from the word adonai. There is no, “J” in Hebrew. There is no, “J” in Greek, or Latin. Please stop making such a big deal out of using this translation convention now that you know better. Insisting on the use of Jehovah is an act of ignorance.
