If You Want To Study The Bible, Try Correcting It

One of the most valuable features of The Companion Bible is its one hundred and ninety-eight appendixes. Among these are appendixes 30, 31, 32, and 33, which deal with changes made by the Jews to the Hebrew text. This is information from the Massorah, the notes in the margins of the ancient manuscripts which recorded all the changes made to the text. These notes were NOT incorporated when the Hebrew text was translated into other languages. Appendix 30 discusses the Massorah itself; appendix 31 lists words with extraordinary points (important, but of no consequence in translation); appendix 32 lists 134 passages where the name of God, YHWH (LORD), was changed to Adonai ("Master" or "Lord"); and appendix 33 lists a number of "emendations." I found it interesting to hunt down all of the verses mentioned in 32 and make certain the right term, YHWH, was penned in the text. Some of the emendations from 33 are really interesting. E.g., in Genesis 18:22, where it says "Abraham stood yet before the Lord," it originally said, "Jehovah stood yet before Abraham." I.e., PHYSICALLY!! Jews couldn't accept that, even if it is allegorical.