Endnote 1 – Cyrus the Messiah

YHWH is the Hebrew name of the God of Israel, the God of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, transcribed into English letters. (The Hebrew letters are yud [Y], heh [H], wow [W], and heh [H].) They spell God’s personal name. Since the Hebrew text uses consonants only—no vowels—scholars are not certain how the name is to be pronounced. The first translation of the Hebrew Bible (which was from Hebrew into Greek) did not employ God’s name, but substituted instead kyrios, “Lord,” everywhere that the name occurs. This custom was followed by nearly every other translation of the Bible, so that in most English versions we have “The Lord” instead of his name. In German we have Der Herr. When translating the biblical texts, I prefer to use God’s name as the biblical writers did.