The complete book: The Tetragrammaton and the
Christian Greek Scriptures
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Apparatus, critical: See Textual Apparatus.
B.C.E.: Before common era. See C.E.
Blasphemy: To speak lightly or carelessly of God. An
offense punishable in the time of the Hebrew Scriptures by
stoning (Lev. 24:10-16). Pronunciation of the divine name
(יהוה) was, during certain periods of
Jewish history, considered blasphemy.
C.E: Common Era. The dating system based on the
Gregorian calendar wherein year 1 follows the traditional birth
Canon: The writings which are accepted as being inspired
of God. In reality, the accepted canon of Scripture is the
acknowledgment by men of the process of inspiration which has
already been acted out by God. Jehovah's Witnesses (and many in
Christendom) recognize the 66 books of the Bible as the canon.
Christendom: As used in this book, all organized
religions outside the auspices of the Jehovah's Witness
organization which claim allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Church fathers: See Patristics.
Circumlocution: Evasion in speech of a word which should
not be pronounced; the pronounceable word itself. In Hebrew
culture, the ineffable (unpronounceable) name of God was often
replaced with the circumlocution Adonai.
Codex: A book form of ancient manuscripts. By the second
or third century of the Christian era, documents were bound
with thongs forming volumes, rather than being rolled in the
form of scrolls. The Greek Scriptures were originally written
and circulated as scrolls. Soon after, however, they were
re-copied and bound in codex form. The codex could contain more
written material than the scroll. The majority of the early
manuscript copies available today are codices.
Cognate: The stem or root from which descendant words
with a common meaning are derived. As illustrated earlier in
this book, sit, sat, and, to be seated, are cognates of the
infinitive verb to sit.
Consonant: A speech sound characterized by constriction
or closure at one or more points in the breath channel. In
contrast, a vowel is an unrestricted sound. In some ancient
languages (Hebrew, for example) only the consonant sounds had
corresponding written characters (letters). Thus, the alphabet
used by the Hebrew Scripture writers consisted only of
consonant sound symbols and did not record vowel sounds.
Divine name: The personal name of God as represented by
the Tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters
יהוה). The divine name is
transliterated as YHWH, and is often written as Jehovah or
Embed: As used in this book, the placement without
alteration of a foreign language word into the body of a text
of another language. Specifically, it describes the placement
of the Tetragrammaton written in Hebrew characters within a
Extant: As used of ancient manuscripts, a preserved or
Gloss: A brief explanation of a difficult word or phrase
in the margin of an ancient manuscript. The gloss may be the
work of either the original copyist or a later scribe, but it
was not the work of the inspired author himself.
Gnostic Gospels: Writings of the Gnostics. (See
Gnosticism: A widely held philosophy during the time of
the early church. The name is derived from the Greek word
gnosis meaning knowledge. Though religiously independent of
Judeo-Christian thought, it often incorporated certain biblical
teachings and raised its influence among early Christians. It
is classified as a mystery religion because it laid emphasis on
secret or esoteric revelations.
Greek Christian Scriptures: The 27 books of the Bible
from Matthew through Revelation. Also known as the New
Hebrew Scriptures: The 39 books of the Bible from
Genesis through Malachi. The Septuagint (which see) is properly
called the Hebrew Scriptures. Also known as the Old Testament.
Inerrant (Inerrancy): In reference to the Scriptures,
the quality of the original written documents which were free
Inspiration: A prerogative of God whereby he caused
human writers to express his will and his intended words
through their writings. Specifically, the Bible is held by
Jehovah's Witnesses and many in Christendom to be the inspired
revelation of God to man.
Inspired: In reference to the Scriptures, their
possession of the quality of inspiration. (See Inspiration.)
Interlinear text: A text wherein an exact word-by-word
translation is juxtaposed below the original foreign language
text. For our consideration in this book, a Greek Scripture
interlinear text has the Greek text as written by the inspired
authors with a literal English translation for each word.
Jehovah: An English pronunciation of the divine name.
Historically, the name Jehovah is derived from the consonants
of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) in
combination with the vowels of Adonai. (See Divine name.)
Kyrios (Kurios): The English transliteration of the
Greek word Κύριος. The word is
generally translated as Lord in reference to Jesus Christ. It
conveys the meaning of Master when used as a proper noun.
Lectionary: An ancient Scripture manuscript which was
arranged according to calendar order for public or private
reading. Entire Scripture portions are included in
lectionaries, though they consist of selected biblical passages
for reading on given days rather than in their traditional
biblical form. Lectionaries are valuable in the work of textual
criticism (which see) because they reproduce Scripture portions
Manuscript: An ancient handwritten literary document.
Biblical scholars study Greek manuscripts of the Greek
Scriptures in order to determine the actual words used by the
inspired authors. The oldest extant Christian Scripture
manuscripts are from the second century. Some manuscripts as
late as the seventeen century may also be useful. An early
version (which see) is also identified as a manuscript.
Masoretes (Masorah): The Jewish tradition (Masorah)
which defined and preserved the pronunciation of the Hebrew
Scriptures during public reading. The original Hebrew
Scriptures were written without indicating vowel sounds;
accepted vowel pronunciation was taught to a young Jewish boy
through rote memory and practice in the formal schools. (See
Consonants.) The Masoretes (a Jewish sect which advocated
traditional pronunciation of the Hebrew Scriptures), worked in
the period of time between the sixth and eleventh centuries
C.E. Our interest in the Masoretes concerns their work in
adding vowel points to the Hebrew Scriptures. (See Vowel
Minuscule: A Greek script of smaller letters developed
about the beginning of the ninth century especially for the
production of books. Minuscule consisted of joined letters in a
cursive or running hand. Most extant Greek Scripture
manuscripts available today are Minuscules. (See Uncial.)
New Testament: The 27 books of the Bible from Matthew
through Revelation. (See Christian Greek Scriptures.)
Nomina Sacra: From the Latin for Sacred Name, used for a
certain class of surrogates (which see) indicating sacral
importance. Some scholars have argued that the entries k-"-
(for Lord) and q-"- (for God) do not represent mere
contractions or abbreviations, but rather that they were used
to identify specific names of great importance in Scripture.
The term Nomina Sacra is not used by these scholars as a
synonym for divine name.
Old Testament: The 39 books of the Bible from Genesis
through Malachi. The Septuagint (which see) is properly called
the Hebrew Scriptures. (See Hebrew Scriptures.)
Palimpsest: A velum (animal skin) document which was
scrapped to remove the original writing and re-used for a later
document. Due to the scarcity and cost of writing materials,
quality vellums were often erased so that the skins could be
used again. In most palimpsests, it is the original document
which is of greatest importance. The first writing can often be
seen with ultra-violet light or special photography techniques.
Patristics: In a general sense, the leaders of the
Christian congregations (church) in the first five centuries.
The term more specifically identifies the leaders who left
written material, irrespective of their theological persuasion.
The significance today of the patristics is their written
documents which give insight into the activities of the early
Christian congregation period. Scripture was often quoted in
their writings. Therefore, they become a source of verification
for the wording of the Christian Greek- and Hebrew Scriptures.
These writers are usually identified as the church fathers in
general religious writing.
Papyrus (Papyri): A reed paper produced in Egypt and
exported to much of the known world during the period of the
inspired Christian writers. Undoubtedly, the Greek Scriptures
were originally written on this material. The manuscripts
written on this material are called Papyri.
Recension: A critical revision of a text. A biblical
manuscript recension is the result of deliberate critical work
by an early (and generally unknown) editor to correct presumed
errors in the text. In regard to biblical manuscripts, the term
recension is often used to mean a particular family of
manuscripts; one may refer to the Alexandrian recension.
Recto: From the Latin rectus meaning "right." The right,
or front, side of a leaf in reference to an ancient manuscript.
The side on which the papyrus run horizontally. Because of the
folding system in codices, the text on the back (recto)
sometimes preceded that on the front (verso).
Scribe: A copyist who reproduced the Scriptures by hand.
In the early Christian congregation era, many copies were
probably done privately. In later centuries (beginning with
Constantine), copies were often made in scriptoriums, where the
text was read phrase-by-phrase while a group of scribes (often
educated slaves) copied as they listened.
Septuagint: A Greek translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures. It was completed approximately 280 B.C.E., and was
the Scripture predominantly used in the early Christian
congregation. It is often identified by the Roman numeral "LXX"
(70). The term Septuagint is often-though imprecisely-used to
identify any of a number of unique Greek translations of the
Surrogate: Common words often abbreviated in ancient
(hand written) documents in order to save writing effort and
manuscript material. These abbreviations are known as
surrogates. A line was usually drawn over the surrogate to mark
it as such. Examples of surrogates are k-"- (from
Κύριος for Lord) and q-"- from
(θεός for God). (See Nomina Sacra.)
Tetragrammaton (or Tetragram): The divine name written
in four Hebrew letters as יהוה. The
word Tetragram comes from the Greek words tetra, (tetrav )
meaning four, and gramma, (gravmma) meaning letters. Thus,
Tetragram means four letters. (See Divine name.)
Textual Apparatus: Citations for the Greek Scripture
text which establish probability. In certain instances, a given
passage will have alternate wording possibilities from assorted
ancient manuscripts. The Textual Apparatus will cite alternate
wordings as an aid to the translator in selecting the most
probable word(s) used by the original writer.
Textual criticism: The study of copies of any written
work of which the original is unknown, with the purpose of
ascertaining the original text. For our purposes, textual
criticism is the art which brings us the actual wording of the
inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Theos: The Greek word θεός
translated into English as God.
Translate: The process of reducing (written)
communication in the language of origin to (written)
communication which conveys the same message to a receiving
language. Notice that by definition, translation does not
preserve word order, but rather communication sense.
Transliterate: The process of transcribing the phonetic
sounds of one language into a written (or pronounceable) word
in the receiving language. The word Christ is a frequently
encountered example. The Greek word cristo;" (christos) is
transliterated into the English word Christ.
Uncial: The formal Greek penmanship style used during
the time of the early Christian congregation. As against the
cursive (or running hand) used for non-literary documents,
uncial orthography was used for literary compositions. It
consisted of individually formed upper-case letters. The
written document had no spacing between words. Most Greek
Scripture manuscripts written before the tenth century use
uncial letters. (See Minuscule.)
Variant: An alternate reading which differs from the
common wording within a majority of Greek manuscripts for a
given passage. Generally, the majority of extant Greek
manuscripts will favor one reading (or word) whereas a smaller
number will favor a second. In this case, the second reading is
called a variant.
Version: A synonym for a translation when referring to a
Verso: From the Latin vertere meaning "to turn." The
back side of a manuscript leaf where the fibers run vertically.
Vowel point: A vowel marker added to written Hebrew
consonants by the Masoretes. (See Masoretes and Consonants.)
Vowel: (See Consonant.)
Yahweh: A representation of the personal name of God
derived from the four Hebrew letters
יהוה (YHWH). When incorporating the
vowels from Adonai, this form of the divine name is written in
English as JEHOVAH.