RESTORATION SCRIPTURES TRUE NAME EDITION Study Bible

The Ancient Letter “Waw”
In order to remain consistent with the correct pronunciation of vuvh as Yahweh, or Yahuweh, with the ancient letter
“waw” being pronounced as a “whh,” or “woo,” rather than as “v,” or “ve,” we have restored ancient pronunciations such
as Lewi and Dawid, rather than the post Babylonian Hebrew pronunciation of Levi and David. Aramaic Nazarene
Yisraelite scholar Andrew Gabriel Roth confirms this with the following keen insight:
“Paleo-Hebrew, going back about 5,000 years, has always had three letters that are ‘semi-vowels’, which is to say,
sometimes they are consonants and sometimes they act as vowels, as opposed to the English A-E-I-O-U, which always
function as vowels. These dual-use Hebrew letters are Aleph, Waw and Yud, and it is the second of these that has created
confusion in the believing community. Some insist that the letter is a W and others that it is a V. The fact is the Vav-ish
tendency is a relatively recent one when compared with the long history of ‘waw’ in both Hebrew and Aramaic. The
‘waw’ sound has been constant from the beginning simply because of its use as an ‘o,’ or ‘oo,’ and the way those sounds
morphed when paired with other letters in a word. As a result, a formation like beyt-waw could be sonically rendered as
either ‘bo,’ or more correctly, ‘bow,’ but the sounds often merged, creating a shorter aspirated ‘bw.’ So when Yahshua the
Moshiach teaches His famous prayer beginning with ‘Our Abba who is in heaven,’ the Aramaic of His day renders ‘Our
Abba’ (spelled aleph-beyt-waw-noon) as ‘Ab-w-oon.’
From there, we can track this same sound through even the later western Aramaic that arose around the year 200CE and
became very popular about three centuries later. As for ‘vav,’ it seems to have its roots in Mishnaic and later forms of
biblical Hebrew, since it was the Masoretes, perhaps beginning as early as about the year 500 CE, who added the dots
(vowel pointing) that hardened the ‘waw’ into ‘vav.’ Since the Masoretic Text is the standardized received version of the
First Covenant for Orthodox Jews and many believers, that convention became fixed in the minds of a significant group of
lay and religious authorities.”
As this issue relates to the True Sacred Name, much of this evidence is contained in the traditions of many Hebrew names
in the First Covenant-Tanach. For examples, look at these names: Yeshayahu (Isaiah), or Eliyahu (Elijah), or Yahu (Jehu),
or Tzidkiyahu (Zedekiah), or Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah). Obviously in this case the HEY is followed by a WAW, and the
meaning of the truncated phrase is rendered as “Yah is.” The pronunciation of "YHWH" includes a kind of aspirated "oo"
that is rushed past and slurred into "YAHooWEH," in effect sandwiching the verb "is" (hu) as we might use a contraction
like “don't” instead of “do not” in English. The end result of this truncation/aspiration of the middle part of the phrase
extends its very minor "oo" for a fraction of a second, so that it becomes nearly indistinguishable from the final syllable,
hence the proper sonic rendering of “Yahweh.”
As can be seen the correct way to use the “waw” is as a “W” not a “V.” This would be the pronunciation of the patriarchs
and ultimately Yahshua Himself. The Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible has restored this ancient truth
throughout its pages.
Order of the Scrolls
The order of the scrolls as listed in The Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible is such that it highlights
YHWH and His eternal covenants with all Yisrael, from the days of the marriage on Sinai, the united nation under Dawid
and Solomon, through the exiles, and all the way to the Good News brought by Yahshua to both houses. The Good News
was declared to the nation’s leaders, then the renewed assembly, and ultimately to the final generation of Yisraelites in the
Scroll of Revelation. The order of the scrolls as presented also helps to dispel any myths of dispensationalist
understanding.
Use of Hebrew Words
In this “thought for thought” translation, The Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible desires to preserve key
Hebrew words and phrases to add to the Hebraic flavor of the translation. These key Hebrew words used as nouns, give
added insight into the full restoration message. Towards that end, we have inserted key Hebrew words from the ancient
texts. However, we have chosen not to preserve variations of words in their past, future, or verb forms. To do so would
create huge problems in exact wording and an overabundance of Hebrew words, thus obscuring the basic English text with
some Hebraic flavoring. We maintained the Hebrew root of a given word, in the simple present tense. In this manner, the
reader can easily process the Hebrew with his, or her own comprehension of both the text and the Hebraic thoughts of
YHWH towards His people Yisrael.
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