Followers of the Messiah - Strategy 2
I love, & really enjoy studying Yahweh’s Word because :
A: Yahweh’s Word is alive – it’s powerful. It is filled with wisdom, & instruction, & stories about how amazing Yahweh is.
B: Yahweh’s Word explains in great detail that Yahweh is awesome, powerful, loving & merciful. It tells us amazing details about what He did (Noah’s flood, the plaques of Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, the giving of Torah at Mt Sinai, to name but a few).
Suppose someone came to you, & claimed that the Third Commandment has been mistranslated. What TEST could you apply in order to check this claim ? I’ll use this example to show Strategy 2 of studying Yahweh’s Word.
Many people use the King James version of the Bible (KJV), so let’s begin by quoting the verse that tells us about the Third Commandment, Exodus 20:7 using the KJV.
Exod 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (KJV)
How can we know whether this translation of Exodus 20:7 is accurate, true and/or correct ?
One simple way is to use Strategy 2 by comparing it with how others have translated it. Let’s do that, & see if this basic method sheds any more light on the person’s claim.
We will use the Hebrew Roots Bible (HRB), the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB), the Scripture Bible (SB), & the Lexham English Bible (LEB) here, but you could use any other versions if you wish.
I’ll begin with the KJV as we can compare all five translations.
(KJV) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
(HRB) You shall not take the name of YAHWEH your Elohim in vain; for YAHWEH will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.
(CJB) "You are not to use lightly the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who uses his name lightly.
(The Scriptures 1998+) “You do not bring the Name of Yahweh your Elohim to naught, for Yahweh does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.
(LEB) “You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, [Literally “take up/bear/carry the name of Yahweh your God for what is worthless/false/empty”] because Yahweh will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name. [Literally “bears his name for what is false”]
I have colour-coded each phrase so that they can be more easily compared.
(KJV) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
(HRB) You shall not take the name of YAHWEH your Elohim in vain; for YAHWEH will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.
(CJB) "You are not to use lightly the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who uses his name lightly.
(The Scriptures 1998+) “You do not bring the Name of Yahweh your Elohim to naught, for Yahweh does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.
(LEB) “You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, [Literally “take up/bear/carry the name of Yahweh your God for what is worthless/false/empty”] because Yahweh will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name. [Literally “bears his name for what is false”]
I am sure that you noticed that each phrase is either quite different, or slightly different.
Q: As a side issue, why are there variations in the translation of some of the words and phrases, in different English versions ?
A: I believe that there could be two main reasons for this. Firstly, it can be based on the denominational mind-set of those who translated their version, and/or secondly, in some cases, the translators MAY NOT really know what the meaning of the original word or phrase was.
Back to Strategy 2 - If we compare each phrase, & use the collective “wisdom” of these comparisons, perhaps we can determine what this verse is really telling us.
The first phrase in each version seems to carry the same idea of “you shall not”, so it would be reasonable to assume that the translation of this phrase is accurate.
The other phrases in each version however, seems to vary slightly, so perhaps we can incorporate the different ideas to help our understanding of this verse.
Exod 20:7 might be read as follows :
You shall not take the name of Yahweh (Adonai, Lord), your Elohim (God) in vain, misuse it, or use it lightly, or bring it to naught. Yahweh (Lord), your Elohim (God) will not hold him guiltless, nor leave unpunished, anyone who takes the name of Yahweh (Adonia, Lord), your Elohim (God) in vain, nor misuses it, nor uses it lightly, nor brings it to naught.
While this gives us a good idea of how people translate this verse, isn’t it true that it doesn’t really tell us what each different phrase means ?
One strategy to help us figure out what a phrase may mean is to find other places in Scripture where that term is translated. We can do this by checking the Subject Concordance that most Study Bibles have.
Let’s use this strategy to locate some verses where the phrase translated as “in vain” occurs. I located Lev 26:16, 1 Sam 25;21, Job 9:29 & Psalm 127:1, & have copied them below.
Lev 26:16 I will also do this to you, and I shall appoint terror over you, the wasting, and the burning fever, destroying the eyes, and consuming the soul; and you shall sow your seed in vain, and your enemies will eat it.
1Sa 25:21 And David had said, Surely, in vain I have guarded all that belongs to this fellow in the wilderness, so that not anything was missed of all that was his. And he has returned to me evil for good.
Job 9:29 I have been condemned; why should I labor in vain?
Psa 127:1 [A Song of Ascents, for Solomon.] If YAHWEH does not build the house, they who build it labor in vain; if YAHWEH does not keep the city, the one keeping it stays awake in vain.
If we read each of the above verses carefully, the term "in vain" seems to mean “without success”, or “without purpose”, or “to no vail”
To test whether any of these meanings may be appropriate, we can insert them into our original text, & see if it adds any clarity. Let’s do this with the KJV of Exod 20:7
(KJV) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain (without success or purpose, or to no avail); for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (without success or purpose, or to no avail).
Would you agree that each probably adds some clarity ?
Let’s check some other verses where the idea of bringing something “to naught” is used.
Neh 4:15 And it came to be, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that Elohim had brought their counsel to naught, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
Psa 1:6 For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wrong comes to naught.
Isa 8:10 “Take counsel, and it comes to naught; speak a word, and it does not stand, for Ěl is with us.”
2Cor 10:10 Because they say, “His letters are truly weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech amounts to naught.”
The plain reading of each of these verses seems to indicate a meaning of, “to nothing”.
Again, if we insert this meaning, “to nothing”, back into the original text, we get :
Thou shalt not bring the name of the LORD thy God in vain (to nothing); for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (to nothing).
It probably adds some clarity but I'm not sure it adds a significant understanding to the previous meanings.
If we compare the terms LORD our God, Yahweh or Yahweh our Elohim, & Adonai your God, we can see that they are similar, & so in terms of clarity, any of them could be used.
The next phrase in Exod 20:7 has been translated as “for the LORD our God, Yahweh or Yahweh our Elohim, & Adonai your God will not leave you unpunished or guiltless”. This phrase seems to be accurate.
If we examine the LEB version of Exod 20:7, we notice that it has added a couple of phrases to explain its translation.
(LEB) “You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, [Literally “take up/bear/carry the name of Yahweh your God for what is worthless/false/empty”] because Yahweh will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name. [Literally “bears his name for what is false”]
While this is helpful, again, how can we know that the LEB translation is correct & accurate ?
So putting all this together, we can come up with the following understanding of Exod 20:7 :
You shall not take the name of Yahweh (Adonai, LORD), your Elohim (God) in vain, by misusing it, or using it lightly, or bringing it to naught. Yahweh (Adonai, LORD), your Elohim (God) will not hold him guiltless, nor leave unpunished, anyone who takes the name of Yahweh (Adonia, LORD), your Elohim (God) in vain, by misusing it, nor using it lightly, nor bringing it to naught.
Even though this expands our understanding a little, is it a correct & accurate translation of Exod 20:7 ?
Exercise
Use Strategy 2, comparing how different versions translate a verse, to find out how to better understand Matt 5:17.