The King James Version uses the name "Jehovah" four times (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4) out of the nearly 7,000 times it appears in the OT, (6,828 times in the Hebrew text printed in Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia).
Why were they left in these four (4) places? Is there any significance in this, or is it random?
Please note that while a few place-names which include "Jehovah" are also left intact (see Genesis 22:14; Exodus 17:15; Judges 6:24), I'm not referring to these, but to these four places where Jehovah is a name:
Exodus 6:3
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by [the name of] God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
Psalm 83:18
That [men] may know that thou, whose name alone [is] JEHOVAH, [art] the most high over all the earth.
Isaiah 12:2
Behold, God [is] my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH [is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation.
Isaiah 26:4
Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH [is] everlasting strength:
Best Answer:
1) Why does the King James Version retain Jehovah four times?Consistency in translation (when appropriate) is an important issue in modern translation - but was deemed much less important in 1611. Different individuals translated different portions of the KJV without extensive guidelines regarding translation consistency. (Ideally, consistency in translation means that a particular word in the source language is always rendered in the same way in the target language. In practice the best translations implement consistency when it benefits the accuracy and precision of the translation, but not at other times.)
A good example of inconsistency in the KJV is in the transliteration of names. Several names that are identical in Hebrew are rendered differently by the various translators.
However, probably an even more important reason is that "Jehovah" was used in the Bishops' Bible. The translators of the KJV were under strict orders to use the same wording as the Bishops' Bible whenever accuracy would allow.
So: I think the real answer is:
a) The KJV translators had to follow the Bishops' Bible, which used "Jehovah" in Exo 6:3
b) Because there was only a minimal attempt (by today's standards) to ensure consistency of translation in the KJV
Note that the translators were instructed to follow the wording of older Bible versions when the Bishops' Bible was inaccurate; it may be that in those 3 other verses the word "Jehovah" appears in older Bibles such as the Geneva Bible and the Great Bible.
http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=I...
(Bible Research Tools)
Another contributor (the late Solomon Landers) said:
It is probably random. There is no indication in the Hebrew text that "Jehovah" should only be represented in these four places, and not elsewhere.If the KJV translators had followed their Hebrew text, they would have used "Jehovah" consistently throughout their Bible, as the later KJV revision, the American Standard Version (1901) does.
The use of "Lord" in Bibles as a substitute title for God's name (YHWH, "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" in English) is based on a tradition that is not found in the Bible itself, where people from all walks of life freely speak God's name openly.
If the KJV were accurately translated, the fact of the frequent and customary reference to God by name would be evident.
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