"What is His name and what is His Son's Name, if thou canst tell?" Proverbs 30:4

The name of the Messiah, (Yahushua), literally means " is salvation".

"I am come in My Father's Name and ye receive Me not..." John 5:43

"Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the Name of ." John 12:13

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in My Name I will do it." John 14:13-14

"...for there is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12

"And I looked and Lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand having His Name and His Father's Name written on their foreheads." Revelation 14:1 revised version

The combined result of the four reasons mentioned in the foregoing has brought into the New Testament many pagan elements of varying degrees, so that the original prophetic and apostolic teachings on the Set-apart Scriptures have reverted to the apostate Baalism of Jezebel (Revelation 2:20). No wonder then the Scriptures call this system Babylon.

Misleading ideas and beliefs were implanted during the process of carrying the Hebrew ideas and ideals into the context of a pagan Greek and Roman world. The Hellenizing of the original books of the Bible brought about distortions which still plague earnest Scripture students. An illustration of this occurs in the use of the Greek word hades (with all its mythological connotations as a place of endless torture to which the Greek gods relegated those who displeased them), as a purported equivalent of the Hebrew sheol and gehenna, neither of which conveyed any such notion. The doctrine that the Messiah "descended into hell" was thus an outgrowth of adopting the Greek context of hades in place of the Hebrew connotation of sheol (the tomb).

Many of the errors of literal translation which crept into the New Testament after the first century have been kept alive and intact because of the belief by numerous excellent scholars that the New Testament originals were written in, nay inspired in, the Greek language. Such a state of mind made it seem sacrilegious to question the authenticity of the Greek text even though portions of it seemed unintelligible. In recent years, however, much light has been shed on this hitherto taboo subject. The eminent Dr. Charles Cutler Torrey, Professor of Semitic Languages at Yale University, states in Our Translated Gospels,

"At the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis in New York City in December 1934, I challenged my New Testament colleagues to designate even one passage, from any of the Four Gospels, giving clear evidence of a date later than 50 A.D., or of origin outside Palestine. The challenge was not met, nor will it be, for there is no such passage."

Dr. Torrey then proceeds to cite hundreds of instances of Greek mistranslation from the Aramaic, which the Christian community has rather indiscriminately accepted as gospel.

The process of substitution continued in various lands and languages, so that much of the original meaning of the New Testament has been obscured. Consider the distortion involved in changing the names of the prophets, the Messiah, and the Creator. Hosea became "Osee"; Elisha became "Eliseus"; Isaiah became "Esaias"; Miriam became "Mary"; became "Jesus" and became "Lord", "God", "Gott", "dios", "Manitou" or whatever happened to be the name of the local idol.

Now you may inquire why these distortions are so vitally important to us. They are of utmost importance because they introduce seeming contradictions which in turn raise conscious or subconscious doubts in the minds of sincere individuals: The pagan elements today found in Christianity have made it appear falsely similar to other religions and have thus cast stumbling blocks before those who recognize this heathenism for what it is. By correcting the known distortions and purging the pseudo-Christian beliefs which have resulted, doctrinal integrity and consistency can be restored, thus making possible the wholeheartedness which the first-century brethren demonstrated but which is so sadly lacking among so-called Christians today.

Lack of wholeheartedness in belief and conduct is taken for granted by our society. Ours is an era of "lip service," notorious for the hiatus between avowed ideals and sordid performance. Its symptoms are found in all walks of life, from interpersonal relationships to international diplomacy. Socially-minded writers, including members of the clergy, frequently deplore this condition but seem unable to recognize that it is a symptom of the underlying conceptual malaise: the theological neurosis of modern Christianity so pointedly described in Revelation...

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth, because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked." Revelation 3:15-17

This ailment is lamented by our contemporaries as "secularism," "illness of the spirit," and "death of the heart"; but whatever it is labeled, the condition is caused by failure to integrate that which professed believers do with that which they profess to believe. It amounts to an unconscious outward manifestation of a mass of unresolved internal conflicts and a kind of unconscious rebellion against further self-deception and confusion of values.

Since church hierarchies so unanimously complain about the symptoms of the disease, why have they not long ago taken the steps essential to removing its cause? Why do they in fact display such astonishing ingenuity in avoiding recognition of their own share in the ideological confusion? Perhaps the answer may be found in the well-known phenomenon of neurosis wherein its professor blinds himself to its very existence and resists any efforts to effect a cure. This explanation appears to be borne out by the verses quoted above, and by verse 18 which counsels the application of "eye salve." Is this not strikingly reminiscent of the condition described in Isaiah 6:9-10:

"...lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and change and be healed"?

What, then, may twentieth century believers do to become more open-eyed and wholehearted in their belief - genuine doers of the Word? How can they attain deep and enduring faith comparable to that of the first century brethren? One prerequisite is a degree of doctrinal coherence comparable to that of the first century; another is recognition of unsubstantiated scientific dogma as such.

The popular a priori theories concerning the origin and antiquity of man and of the universe are examples of such generally-accepted assumptions about which there remain extremely large gaps in scientific knowledge. Our immediate objective concerns the first of these essentials: the elimination of doctrinal incoherence supported by the common versions.

The Set-apart Name Bible is a comprehensive effort to bring to twentieth century believers that integrity of concept which was present in the Hebrew and Aramaic originals - to make possible in the twentieth century the wholehearted integration of doctrine, belief, and conduct characteristic of the congregation of from its inception in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-4) through the apostolic phase of the first century. The congregation of the Old Testament cannot be separated from that of the New, except that the former looked forward by faith to the offering of . The victorious congregation is the one which adheres to all of the eternal truths of ; it sings the song of Moses and the Lamb (Revelation 15:3).

Method

Why have we retained so much of the text of the King James Version? Why have we not chosen to use "modern" language entirely? The reverent style of the King James language makes it appropriate for its set apart purpose. Our chief concern is to convey the original meanings as faithfully as possible. Therefore, changes have been made in the King James Version only where necessary to clarify meanings. This policy has additional features, also. The popularity of the King James Version with readers of the scriptures is generally recognized. The Set-apart Name version is intended for use by many of these same scripture readers. Comparisons of the two texts provide a convenient method of identifying the corrections which have been made in the Set-apart Name Version. Further, the scripture verses which many of us have memorized, or with which we have long been familiar, are especially precious to us and we would not, except for excellent reasons, alter them.

The instances where corrections have been made may be generally classified in the following categories:

1. Where it seemed that archaic language would obscure the meaning for the average reader, modern equivalents have been employed.

2. Where literal translation of Hebrew idioms into English, or, Aramaic idioms into Greek and thence into English has resulted in loss of initial meaning.

3. In certain instances, where substitution of any English word would be misleading, the original Aramaic or Hebrew has been restored. That is, words are left untranslated where no satisfactory English equivalent exists.

4. Where there had been an addition, generally recognized by scholars as spurious, such added material has been omitted.

5. Where the new testament text quotes directly from the old testament, quotation marks and citations have usually been employed.

6. Where Hellenized proper names have been carried over in the King James new testament, most of the original forms have been restored.

7. Special attention has been given to restoration of the set apart names. Their profound significance has been generally overlooked by Christian students.

The extensive yet careful research and analysis of source material which has been necessary in the preparation of the Set-apart Name Version has, because of our rather limited resources, required some twenty years. Our gratitude must be expressed, not only to members of the Association who during this period have contributed to the various labors of research, clerical work, typing and proof-reading, but also to friends throughout the country who have given encouragement in various ways to the execution of the task, by making books and documents available, and by critical discussions which have been both stimulating and fruitful.

Special acknowledgement is made of the help received from the works of Burney, Cureton, Gibson, Gwynn, Lewis, Schonfield and Torrey and from the Oracles ascribed to Matthew by Papias of Hierapolis. Thanks must go to the Zion Research Library of Brookline, Massachusetts, for permitting the use of numerous valuable books and documents, and to various publishing houses for permission to quote from their publications.

We believe in the principle that dogmatic rejection of scriptural enlightenment leads to spiritual barrenness and rigidity, whereas its acceptance, after proper investigation, brings continued spiritual growth. With this thought in mind, we prayerfully and hopefully present this Set-apart Name Bible.

SCRIPTURE RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

Irvington, New Jersey

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