However, there is some evidence that before Jerusalem’s destruction by the Romans, there developed a superstitious tendency to avoid using the divine name.a This may have been due to an extremist, fanatical interpretation of the third commandment​—not to use God’s name in a worthless way. (Ex. 20:7) But when God gave that command, did he mean that his name should never be used except on rare, special occasions, perhaps only at the sanctuary? That could not be the case, for when the divine name was widely used (as in David’s day), God’s blessing was very evident in Israel. But divine blessing was conspicuously absent from that nation as a whole at the time of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry on earth when God’s name had gone out of use due to the religious tradition of the Jews. The Jewish religious leaders of that day had become so alienated from God and his principles that not only did they shroud his name in secrecy but they also made themselves responsible for the death of his beloved Son. Not many years later, in 70 C.E., the Jews paid a terrible price for this when their temple and the holy city of Jerusalem were destroyed by the Roman armies.

WHAT DID CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES DO?

Did Jesus Christ and his disciples follow the Jewish tradition concerning God’s name? In a fearless way, Jesus condemned the tradition of the Pharisees and scribes, freeing his disciples from such spiritually deadening influences. He said to those “hypocrites”: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition? . . . You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.”​—Matt. 15:3-9.

Did Jesus and his disciples, then, use God’s name freely? Assuredly so, for they all quoted frequently from the Scriptures that contained Jehovah’s name. They often used the Septuagint Version, a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek that began to be prepared in Alexandria about the third century B.C.E., copies of which still contained the Tetragrammaton. True, copies of the Septuagint Version made centuries later followed the Jewish tradition of omitting God’s name.

In this category is An American Translation (by Smith and Goodspeed) with a slight variation of using “Yahweh” instead of “Jehovah.” Yet, one may ask: “Why have the translators done this? If using ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Yahweh’ is wrong, why put it in at all? If right, why not be consistent and use it every time it appears in the Bible text?”

Against the preceding historical and factual background, let us now examine what the translators say in answer.

THE TRANSLATORS’ ANSWER

Says the Preface of An American Translation: “In this translation we have followed the orthodox Jewish tradition and substituted ‘the Lord’ for the name ‘Yahweh.’ “ But by following “the orthodox Jewish tradition,” did the translators realize how harmful it can be to ignore God’s clear determination that his ‘name be declared in all the earth’? Moreover, Jesus condemned man-made tradition that would invalidate God’s word.​—Ex. 9:16; Mark 7:5-9.

The Preface of the Revised Standard Version states: “The present revision returns to the procedure of the King James Version, which follows . . . the long established practice in the reading of the Hebrew scriptures in the synagogue. . . . For two reasons the Committee has returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version: (1) The word ‘Jehovah’ does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew; and (2) the use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom he had to be distinguished, was discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.” (Italics ours.)