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You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

WHY WE USE “THE SCRIPTURES” TRANSLATION

Over the years many have made statements as to which translation of the Set Apart Scriptures they prefer.  Some have dogmatically stated that the King James Authorized Version is the one that should be used.

However, in most all the English translations, the order of the Tanakh (Old Testament) has been changed from the original order.  In addition, changes to the Name have been adapted from the changes the Sopherim made to the scriptures.  Therefore, there are a minimum of 134 errors that are brought forward in these translations.  It is well known that translators have often translated the Scriptures in accordance to what they believe and what they think the Scriptures should say.  That is one reason I have not taken it upon myself to make scripture cards and memorize scriptures.  It has never been the intent to memorize what may well contain errors introduced by translators.

The search for the “perfect” translation may well continue.  However, now there is a translation that does strive to correct all errors.  I appreciate their candor that what they have currently is not “perfect” and has room for improvement.  It is also appreciated that they have opened the door to others to contact them with additional information that can affect the outcome of the translation.  It is a literal translation where possible.  Efforts are being undertaken to restore the scriptures from what was originally inspired.

The translation to which I am referring is entitled “The Scriptures.”  As this is the translation which is being used in our articles at this current time, I would like to make known as to where this translation might be obtained.

The Scriptures is published by

Institute For Scripture Research

P.O. Box 1830

Northriding

2162

South Africa

Internet Web Page – http://www.messianic.co.za

Email – isr@messianic.co.za

This translation is a free download and can be downloaded through www.e-sword.net, which is an excellent site for free Bible and Bible related material.

At this point I would like to enclose a copy of the PREFACE to this translation as it will give you, in their own words the intent and purpose of this marvelous translation.  Please keep in mind that my computer did not have the capacity for the actual Hebrew letters, so these appear in the English (example HWHY, the Tetragrammaton, read from right to left.  In the translation, the letters are the actual Hebrew letters).

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

In the past few centuries the Spirit of Elohim has moved scholars, calling and

equipping them, to search and to do research in the Scriptures: Hebrew, Greek and

related subjects. This research has led to the increase of knowledge, as was indeed

prophesied (Dani.Ãl / Dan. 12:4).

This great move of the Spirit among these scholars has greatly blessed millions of

sincere believers. They were indeed bringing to light (out of the treasure) hidden

truths, renewed truths and old truths (Mattithyahu / Mt. 13:52). All this treasured

knowledge was given through these scholars to all of us, and we are greatly indebted

to all of them.

This present work of translating the Scriptures had its origin in the year 1971

when a few of us began to search and to do research, after having been called -

explicitly called. Soon after this work started .called out. believers from all over

the world joined in to help.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS TRANSLATION

While there have been many fine translations which have been a source of blessing

to so many, we have felt the need for a translation of the Scriptures which:

i. restores the Name of the Almighty to its rightful place in the text (see THE

RESTORATION OF THE NAME, below).

ii. is recognisably Messianic in that it affirms the Hebraic roots of the Messianic

belief by its appearance, by the use of Hebraic forms of certain words and titles, and

by its usage of the same division of the pre-Messianic books of Scripture (the Tana¿

or .Old Testament.) that was current at the time of our Messiah.

iii. restores the meaning to so many words which have become popular to use, but

do not accurately reflect the meaning of the original - for example, church, glory,

holy, sacrifice, soul, etc.

iv. seeks to be as far as possible a .literal. translation, wherever possible rendering

key words uniformly (exceptions being noted in footnotes or the Explanatory

Notes).

THE RESTORATION OF THE NAME

.The Scriptures. differs radically from most other translations in that it does not

continue in the tradition of substituting the Name of the Father and of the Son with

names ascribed to gentile (pagan) deities. All the names of deities which in the past

have been ascribed to the Father, the Son, and even used when engaged in worship,

have been avoided.

One of the post-exilic-apostasies of Orthodox Judaism was the avoidance of the

Name of the Almighty, the so-called Tetragrammaton, (the four lettered Name,

HWHY). Because of this and a similar and continued suppression and substitution of

the Name by the Church, much harm was done to the True Worship. When anyone

. xi .

enquires about this he is told: .The Name has been translated into English as

LORD, as was similarly done in other languages.. This argument does not hold

water. Guiseppe in Italian corresponds to Joseph in English; however, Guiseppe

Verdi cannot be translated as Joseph Green in English, even if that is what it means

in English! The proper name of any individual is not translated; it is always transliterated

or transcribed in order to approximate its original pronunciation. We repeat:

the proper name of any individual is simply not translated, more especially when we

are dealing with the most important Beings in all the universe: the Most High (HWHY)

and His Son (aSWHY)!

We thought of rendering the Father's Name (HWHY) as Yahuweh (pronounced with

the accent on the .u.). On the other hand, John H. Skilton, The Law and the

Prophets, pp. 223, 224, prefers .Yahoweh.. The Assyrians transcribed the Name as

.Ya-u-a., so Mowinckle and other scholars prefer .Yahowah.. Some scholars prefer

.Yehowah., because that is the way the Massoretes vowel-pointed it. (Whether

this vowel-pointing of the Name was done in truth, or whether it was done to .disguise

. the Name, in accordance with the instruction given in the Mishnaic text of

Tamid vii.2 (=Sota vii.6), we do not know for certain. There is also the Rabbinical

interpretation of the Massoretic text saying that the vowels e,o and a were added to

the Name as a Qerà perpetuum which means that the reading of Adonai or Elohim is

to be used instead. However, there is no definite proof that the Massoretes originally

did it for this reason). Then again, many scholars favour the rendering .Yahweh..

In any event, we decided to avoid controversy over the precise pronunciation and to

render it in Hebrew characters as HWHY.

Such a rendering has solid historical precedent in the earliest copies of the

Septuagint (LXX), and has the merit of being true to the text, neither adding nor

subtracting by means of substitutions (however well-intended). It has also the additional

merit of allowing the individual reader to progress in his own quest for accuracy

of pronunciation, as he seeks to obey the scriptural injunctions to call on the

Name (Shemoth / Ex. 3:15; Yeshayahu / Is.12:4; Yirmeyahu / Jer. 10:25; Tehillim /

Ps. 105:1,3;), to make it known (Shemoth / Ex. 9:16; Yeshayahu / Is. 64:1,2; Yeezq

Ãl / Ez. 39:7;), and to not obliterate or forget it (DeÄarim / Dt. 12:3.4; Yeshayahu

/ Is. 65:11; Yirmeyahu / Jer. 23:27; Tehillim / Ps. 44:20)! In the same way the

Messiah's Name in Hebrew, aSWHY, was chosen in order to avoid controversy. All

the available authoritative sources and references are in agreement and clearly admit

that our Messiah's Name was aSWHY (see for instance even Kittel's Theological

Dictionary of the New Testament, under Iesous). However, while some believe that

this spelling should be pronounced in the traditional way, i.e. .Yehoshua. others

influenced by the Murashu Text suggest the pronunciation .Yahushua.. So we

decided to print the Name of the Messiah (aSWHY) in Hebrew characters as we have

done with the Name HWHY.

While the short post-exilic form .Yeshua. (aWSY) is popular with many (indeed

the Shem ToÄ Hebrew text of Mattithyahu renders it as such, as also the Hebrew

translation of the .New Testament. by F. Delitzch), Dr. Solomon Zeitlin refutes this

form as the Name of our Messiah, favouring instead the form aSWHY (see The

Jewish Quarterly Review, Jan.1970, p.195). Also see Post-exilic Apostasy in the

. xii .

Explanatory Notes at the back.

At this stage we need to explain the word .Elohim. used in this translation.

English translations have traditionally rendered it as .God. or as .god(s). in most

instances. However, the Hebrew word .elohim. is the plural form of .eloah., which

has the basic meaning of .mighty one.. This word is not only used for deity, but is

used in Scripture for judges, angels and idols (Shemoth / Ex. 7:1; 9:28; 12:12;

22:8,9; Tehillim / Ps. 8:5; 82:1,6) besides being used frequently for the Almighty.

The shorter forms, .el. and .elim. have the same basic meaning and similar usage.

(Needless to say, the same applies to the Aramaic equivalents, such as .elah. and

.elahin.). By transliterating these expressions instead of translating them as

.Mighty One. we discovered a richness in them, and therefore retained them, with

the exception of a few instances (noted in footnotes), where the translation of

.mighty one. or .mighty ones. seemed more appropriate.

THE ORDER AND TITLES OF THE BOOKS

In accordance with our aim to affirm the Hebraic roots of our Belief we have:

i. transliterated the names of the books of the Tana¿ (Old Testament), and where

appropriate have done the same in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament). For

your convenience the traditional English names of the books, together with the

transliterated forms are to be found in the Table of Contents. Also, in the Table of

Contents alongside of the English forms of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,

and Deuteronomy, we have used the forms 1 Mosheh, 2 Mosheh, etc. as per the

usage of some German translations, which thereby display the unity of the five

books, and their common Mosaic authorship.

ii. followed the traditional Hebraic order of the Tana¿, (Torah, NeÄi.im,

KethuÄim) viz.

First, The Torah - Law

We have rendered it by the Hebrew word itself, Torah, i.e. the five books of

Mosheh (Moses), also known as the Àumash, or (The Pentateuch), Law or

Teaching. They consist of the following 5 books:

BerÃshith (Genesis, 1 Mosheh)

Shemoth (Exodus, 2 Mosheh)

Wayyiqra (Leviticus, 3 Mosheh)

BemiÅbar (Numbers, 4 Mosheh)

DeÄarim (Deuteronomy, 5 Mosheh)

Then, The NeÄi.im - Prophets

These books are known as The Prophets, not because of the element of prediction

(a considerable amount of their content is historical rather than predictive!), but

because of being written by prophets. They are divided into two categories, the

Former Prophets, and the Latter Prophets, referring to their time of writing. The

. xiii .

Latter Prophets were further divided into Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets

(known as The Twelve). Please note that we have restored the book of Dani.Ãl to it's

rightful place among the Prophets*, as also did Josephus. We have placed it

between YeÁezqÃl / Ezekiel (the third of the Latter Prophets), and ShnÃm Asar / The

Twelve (the fourth of the Latter Prophets), instead of including it among The Kethuim

(Writings), as is usually done. They consist of the following 9 books, i.e. 8

books, plus* Dani.Ãl:

The Former Prophets (4 books) The Latter Prophets (4 books, plus Dani.Ãl)

Yehoshua (Joshua) Yeshayahu (Isaiah)

Shophetim (Judges) Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah)

Shemu.Ãl (1 & 2) YeÁezqÃl (Ezekiel)

Mela¿im (1 & 2) ShnÃm Asar (The Twelve)

*Dani.Ãl (Daniel)

ShnÃm Asar is one book, containing the works of twelve prophets.

HoshÃa (Hosea)

Yo.Ãl (Joel)

Amos (Amos)

OÄaÅyah (Obadiah)

Yonah (Jonah)

Mi¿ah (Micah)

NaÁum (Nahum)

ÀaÄaqquq (Habakkuk)

Tsephanyah (Zephaniah)

Àaggai

Ze¿aryah (Zechariah)

Mal.a¿i (Malachi)

Then, The KethuÄim - Writings

They are the remaining books of the Tana¿ (Old Testament). These consist of the

following: (10 books, i.e. 11 less Dani.Ãl)

Tehillim (Psalms)

Mishlà (Proverbs)

IyoÄ (Job)

Shir haShirim (Song of Songs)

Ruth

¿ah (Lamentations)

Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes, Convener)

EstÃr (Esther)

Ezra - NeÁemyah (Nehemiah)

DiÄre haYamim (1 & 2) (Chronicles, Annals)

. xiv .

Thus, the Torah, NeÄi.im, and KethuÄim go to make up the TaNaË, which is

commonly known as the .Old Testament.. There are 24 books in all, according to

the Hebraic reckoning (as given above), although the same books are reckoned by

others to add up to 39, by counting the individual segments (such as 1 Shemu.Ãl, 2

Shemu.Ãl, Ezra, NeÁemyah, etc.)

THE TEXT

THE TANAË (Pre-Messianic Scriptures, commonly called The Old Testament)

The Tana¿ in this translation is based on the Massoretic Hebrew and Aramaic text

of the Scriptures, printed in the 1937 edition of Rudolph Kittel's Biblia Hebraica.

This is based on the ben Asher text of Leningrad, B 19a. Generally speaking, there

are few problems with the Massoretic text, because the Massoretes copied the

Scriptures in great fear of making mistakes and altering the text. They used the

device of the KethiÄ and Qerà by means of which they indicated in the margins

their preferred readings.

However, they did make a few changes in the text itself which have been recorded

for us, but unfortunately not all in one manuscript. In 134 places the Sopherim

(Scribes) removed the Name HWHY and substituted the term Adonai. In a further 8

places the Name HWHY was substituted by the term Elohim. These have been collected

by Dr. C.D. Ginsberg in his Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of

the Hebrew Bible, (Ktav Publishing House Inc. New York), and are also recorded

in Appendix 30-34 of Dr. E.W. Bullinger's The Companion Bible (Zondervan) .

We have accordingly restored the text to its original readings in these 142 places,

and have also restored the text in accordance with the .Eighteen emendations of the

Sopherim., which are also recorded for us by Dr. C.D. Ginsberg. A list of these 160

places is provided in the Explanatory Notes for your convenience.

THE MESSIANIC SCRIPTURES (commonly called The New Testament)

An increasing number of scholars have, especially lately, taken a stand against the

popular belief that the .New Testament was inspired in the Greek language.. With

this we heartily agree. There are close to 28 000 Greek manuscripts or fragments

containing all or part of the Messianic Scriptures. The alarming fact is that .every

one of these handwritten copies differs from every other one.! This being the case

then, which one was the Greek manuscript breathed-out by the Almighty? For

example, in the text of Ephesians 1:18, one Greek manuscript reads, .the eyes of

your heart being enlightened., whereas a different Greek manuscript reads, .the

eyes of your understanding being enlightened.. Now which word represents the

actual word which the .Almighty inspired to be written - .heart. or .understanding

.? Believing as we do, that the very words of Scripture themselves are inspired

(in the original manuscripts, of course), presents the problem of deciding between

the two readings. But, if the original text was not Greek, but Hebrew or Aramaic,

the different Greek readings are easily explained as being translations. In Hebrew

idiom the heart is the seat of the mind or thoughts, whereas in Greek idiom (as with

English) the heart is the seat of the emotions. Thus one translator rendered the

Hebrew word for .heart. by the Greek word for .heart., while the other rendered it

. xv .

by the Greek word for .understanding.. Both renderings then are valid; one as a

.literal. translation of the Hebrew word (carrying also the danger of being misunderstood

as .emotions. by the Greek or English reader); the other as a translation of

the Hebrew concept. Thus variant Greek manuscripts may not necessarily be in conflict

with one another if we consider them to be translations of an inspired Hebrew

or Aramaic original.

So, there is a good case to be made for the view that the originals were inspired in

a Semitic language and not in Greek, as is commonly supposed. This means of

course, that we are attempting to faithfully put before the reader an English text that

accurately reflects the inspired Semitic originals, when in fact the oldest and vast

majority of texts we have available are Greek! To the extent that we have succeeded

in this, we can only give praise to the Most High. However we are well aware of

our shortcomings, and the possibility, even the probability that we have fallen far

short of our goal. In this respect, let it be said that we do not view our work as in

any way final or definitive. Rather, we hope that it will encourage others to reexamine

what they may have always taken for granted, and to research these matters

for themselves. (We extend an ongoing invitation to any who can give input

that will improve future editions of The Scriptures, especially in regard to the matter

of Semitic originals).

In addition to the above, there is the matter of substituting the Name of the Father

and the Son with other terms, especially in light of the scriptural prohibition against

adding to or diminishing from the words of the Most High (DeÄarim / Dt. 4:2;12:32;

Mishlà / Pr.30:4-6). And if it be further admitted (see for example, Explanatory

Notes, under Jesus) that the Greek text uses terms that come direct from pagan

deities for both the Father and the Son, then it becomes abundantly clear from

Scripture itself (DeÄarim / Dt. 23:13; Yehoshua / Jos. 23:7; etc.) that such texts

could not possibly be the inspired originals, but rather they are translations, ultimately

descending from the Semitic originals.

What text then were we to use? Since the originals are no longer extant, there was

no alternative but to make use of the existing Greek manuscripts, carefully considering

the additional testimony of Semitic texts such as the Peshitta (Aramaic), the

Shem ToÄ (Hebrew), etc. Even here, however there are problems, in that for each of

the main streams of textual types (e.g. Byzantine / Textus Receptus vs.

Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, and Vaticanus) there are those who contend that a particular

type and that one alone represents the true original.

We determined however, not to become embroiled in such controversies, since

our position advocates a Semitic original, true to the Tana¿ / Old Testament. Hence

whatever readings we have adopted will inevitably offend those contending for any

one of the main textual types as the true original. We cannot therefore claim that our

text represents a translation of any particular underlying text.

As a modus operandi then, we have started out using the Textus Receptus, modifying

our rendering as seemed appropriate in light of those other texts which we

consulted, such as the Nestle-Aland text and the Shem ToÄ text, noting certain differences

in the footnotes, where necessary.

In harmony therefore with the above principles, we restored the Names of the

. xvi .

Father and of the Son, and the names of all the Hebrew individuals, in accordance

with the Hebrew, especially as found in the Tana¿ / Old Testament. We also

restored the names of the places in Yisra.Ãl, for after all, we are dealing with a

Jewish worship; we are dealing with the Elohim of Yisra.Ãl; we are dealing with

aSWHY, the Sovereign of the Yehudim - as He is called in no less than 23 places in

the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament).

TRANSLITERATION

In rendering Hebrew names we tried to be as exact as possible. However, with a

few names there was a problem, e.g. the name Dani.Ãl is spelt in three different

ways, but all three of these spellings result in the same pronunciation. Therefore it

was decided to strive for consistency and render such names according to a single

spelling, in order to retain the original pronunciation as best we could. We departed

from this, however, in two cases, viz. in that of the .theophoric. names (those containing

part of the Name HWHY), where we felt compelled to add the suffix -yah or -

yahu, exactly as it appears in the Hebrew text, and in the case of certain terms such

as Âlohim, where we opted to use an Anglicised form, Elohim, instead.

Also, where it proved impossible for us to trace an original Semitic form of certain

names, we have retained the Anglicised form that has become traditional, such

as Mark, Luke, etc.

For your guidance we have inserted a Table of Pronunciation immediately after

the Preface.

PROPHECIES

A vertical hairline has been drawn alongside certain prophecies. These prophecies

are those which appear to have not yet come to consummation as at the time of

this edition (1998) being prepared for printing. Some of these prophecies may have

already been partially fulfilled, or even had an earlier (or first) fulfillment, for

instance Yo.Ãl 2:28-32. But this passage in Yo.Ãl shall only come to consummation

in the end-times, the latter days, the time of the latter rain. Some scholars speak of

these prophecies as having a double reference. These prophecies have been marked

by us with a vertical hairline to underscore the relevance of the Scriptures in our

own times!

FINAL WORD

We stand in awe and fear before the Most High, knowing that every word rendered

in this version, The Scriptures, shall be accounted for. Much is going to be

required from those to whom much has been given (Luke12:48). As previously stated,

we do not offer our labours to the public as the .last word. on these matters, and

welcome feedback and useful input from any who have insight or information relevant

to the improvement of this translation.

With this new translation, The Scriptures, we wish to reach out a hand of love

toward all believers of all backgrounds, pleading that we join hands and turn back to

HWHY Who will then turn back to us (Ze¿aryah 1:3 and HoshÃa 6:1-3). Let us do so

. xvii .

by turning to aSWHY Who came to save us from our sins, thereby reconciling us

with His Father. Let us heed Messiah.s call in Revelation 18:4 to come out of

Babel and stop sharing her sins. This call is Messiah.s call to .Come out of her., to

come out of this world of sin in which we live, and be set apart by HWHY, and unto

HWHY. It is an invitation to people of all nations, tribes, kindred and tongues: to

repent of sin, to accept aSWHY as Saviour, Master and Sovereign. Let HWHY rule us,

let aSWHY be our Sovereign, let aSWHY graft us into the Olive Tree, the true Yisra.el

who truly believe and truly obey HWHY!

The Institute for Scripture Research

PRONUNCIATION TABLE

English letter Hebrew Name of Hebrew letter Pronounced like

É and Ä b Bet(h) bh, as -v in view

Ê and Å d Dalet(h) dh, as -th in this and that

Ì and Í g Gimel gh, a soft g

À and Á x Àet(h) Á as -ch in the Scottish loch

Ë and ¿ k Kaf kh, as -ch in the Scottish loch

or -g in Afrikaans gee

Q and q q Qof k in kitten

 and à the vowel tsÃrà ey as in they

I and i the vowel Äireq i as -ee in tree

Please note that the . within a Hebrew name represents an aleph, a smooth breathing, and for

practical purposes may be considered a .silent. letter.

Similarly, the È represents the letter ayin, a rough breathing, and it too, may for practical purposes

be considered a .silent. letter. So ÈAmorah (Gomorrah) may be read as Amorah, and in fact

we have rendered it as such. Thus aleph and ayin take on the sound of the vowel that they .carry..

. xviii .

Note:  We also support and recommend the Hebrew Roots Version which is put out by the same people.

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