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Writer's pictureEphraim D'Angelo

The Reina-Valera Bible its Authors and Jehová


By Ephraim D’Angelo Hernandez de Mascarenhas

 

 

Gregorian: TU September 24, 2024 | 10:22am

Biblical: Day 24 | Month 5 | Year 6996 | Shemita Year 1| Jubilee Unknown

Published by TORAH WORKS MINISTRIES

 



 

In recent weeks I have been wanting to get down to the bottom of why the well-known Reina-Valera Spanish Bible seemed to have an attitude of zeal in keeping and in using the ancient name of God when other bible translations did not.  The continued printed use of the ancient holy name of God, יהוה of Hosts, or Jehová as it appears in the 1569, 1602, 1862, 1909, 1960 versions is most curious. In the 1995 and later versions modern translators decided to follow suit with other bible translations and omit the sacred name of God; replacing it with LORD.

 

Let me start with some interesting information to reveal realities about this version of the bible most brethren I’m sure have never considered.  Its original author was Casiodoro de Reina and his translation was titled La Biblia Que Es Los Sacros Libros Del Vieio y Nuevo Testamento translated it means The Bible that is the Sacred Books of the Old and New Testament. Reina’s bible version was commonly known as La Biblia del Oso.  Reina was a Sephardic Jew and it would make sense that he was but is there any proof of this?  According to www.sephardim.com’s list of Sephardic family surnames “Reina” states the following:


Reina: “Sangre Judia” (“Jewish Blood”) by Pere Bonnin. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in inquisition records. Los Apellidos estan sacados de las listas de penitenciados por el Santo Oficio, de los censos de las juderias y de otras fuentes que indican claramente que la persona portadora del apellido es judia o judeo-conversa. Tiene Vd. sangre judia?

 

Reina is a Spanish word for King or Sovereign, this name itself implies he may descend from the tribe of Judah, Judah being the royal tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The term Jew is derived from Judah, in Ladino Spanish would have been Yehudi; this being the appropriate term.  The terms, Sephardi; Sephardic or Sephardim are the over-encompassing words used to describe Spanish Jewry since Spain was known in that time as Sefarard.  The original name for Spain in ancient times was Iberia which translates to Hebrew.  The Hebrews were likely the first who populated Spain hundreds of years before the time of Christ.  According to this information it becomes likely that Casiodoro de Reina himself was Sephardi, but we need more in order to come to a better more solid conclusion.  In the book The Spanish Fountain: A History and Review of the Reina-Valera Version, Doctor of Theology Thomas Holland writes:

 

“In 1557 Reina and ten of his friends went to Frankfurt, Germany and joined the Huguenot church. There he became the pastor of a small group of Spanish Protestants who likewise had escaped the claws of the Spanish Inquisition. However, the hand of Rome once again threatened him, so he and his wife (who disguised herself as a seaman) fled to Antwerp in the Netherlands. In 1564, King Philip of Spain put a price on Reina's head, causing him to return to Frankfurt. It was during his second flight to Frankfurt when Reina began his work on the Spanish Bible.” [Emphasis Mine]

 

I bolded the portions of Dr. Hollands work in order to bring attention to Reina’s obvious Sephardi heritage.  No one would be running to escape the Spanish Inquisition unless he was a Yehudi (From the tribe of Judah).

 

With these two witnesses we can conclude that Casiodoro de Reina and his wife, were indeed Sephardic Israelites.  The core of my search and questions are not just about the fact that the authors were Sephardi Yehudi, but also, why they intentionally published the name of God, and about how the Spanish continued to know how to pronounce it, when their Ashkenazi cousins had stopped uttering the sacred name since the time of the Maccabees.  As I was doing research for this article I found this question on Quora; I include it for contrast:

 

Why did the Jews stop saying or writing God’s name?

 

A one Silvester Farkas, (Writer) answer was as follows:

 

“Prior to the second-temple era (started in the late sixth century B.C.) the name would be spoken openly. Eventually, the name stopped being spoken (yet still written). This was due primarily to two reasons; the first was out of reverence of the divine name, transliterated YHWH, it being seen as too holy to utter, and the second was out of fear of breaking the commandment to not take the name in vain. But once upon a time the ancient Israelites spoke it freely. The pronunciation is now lost, but is believed strongly by the general consensus of scholars to be pronounced “Yahweh”. This is, of course, not an absolute. The side effects of not pronouncing the name is that future generations no longer know the exact pronunciation.”

 

This man’s conclusion is correct if one is only looking at the Ashkenazi side of the situation, what was happening among the Sephardi Yehudi in Spain is a separate history and set of events.  Below was my answer to the same question:

 

"The use and invocation of the ancient sacred name of God was never lost to the Sephardim. Casiodoro de Reina the author of the original Castilian Spanish translation of the bible was indeed of Sephardi heritage who insisted on pronouncing God’s name in the tradition of the Spanish or Ladino language and as scripture permitted.  It is our Ashkenazi cousins associated with Orthodox Judaism and the oral law that perpetuate the idea that God’s name is too holy to utter and at one time justifiably so, as I will explain. As anyone who strives to be a student of the Word well knows, God himself expects His people to read His name aloud, to swear by His name. I myself descend from a Levitical Sephardic family, I heard the sacred name of God being uttered during bible readings, sermons, and prayers throughout my life.  My own Grandmother pointing out to me at a tender age that when reading the bible and coming to LORD in all caps that it represented God’s name Yehovah."

 

It was only in recent years that a legitimate Hebrew scholar, a Karaite Jew by the name of Nehemiah Gordon studying ancient Hebrew texts, discovered the proper way to pronounce God’s holy name. This discovered pronunciation lines up with the way Spanish speaking Sephardi families have been invoking the Creators name since they left Israel for Spain (Iberia) and traversed the Atlantic Ocean to New Spain in the New World.


The original reason the authorities during the time of the Maccabees in Israel began the tradition of not uttering God’s name is because they were undergoing severe persecution. Antiochus Epiphanes persecuted Jews on the key things that made them Jewish like keeping the Shabbat, eating kosher, keeping the biblical feasts, and of course uttering the name of their God. The reasons stated by Mr. Farkas are true, but I believe those two reasons were how the Rabbi’s/Pharisees convinced the people to stop uttering it. 

Ephraim D’Angelo

 

Dr. Holland goes on to say in His work the Spanish Fountain:

 

“Consequently, few copies of Reina's Bible ever made it to his homeland. It was used, however, by Spanish-speaking refugees who had fled Spain because of the Inquisition. After his Bible was published in 1569, Reina organized a church in Frankfurt which he pastored until his death on March 16, 1594.”

 

Spanish-speaking refugees who had fled Spain because of the Inquisition?  Hmm, could these refugees be the same Spanish speaking people who left Spain with Christopher Columbus for New Spain?  The same people that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had commanded to leave Spain with their famous edict, ‘The Alhambra Decree?”  As I discover all of the people who worked to translate the bible into the Castilian tongue, I realize that all of these men had to know Hebrew and maybe Greek.  Here is a list of the men who worked on Spanish translations of the bible:

 

Names of Translators

Alfonso el Sabio/Alfonso X

Rabbi Moises Arrajel

Bonifacio Ferrar                                                                              

Juan de Valdes  

Jeronimo de Vargas/Duarte Pinel

Francisco de Enzinas

Juan Perez de Pineda                                   

Cassiodoro de Reina                                          

 

According to the book Dogs of God by James Reston, Jr. the Spanish Yehudi (Israelites) had been dwelling in Spain for 1500 years, he was speaking from the time of 1492, when the Sephardim were expelled from Spain.  That means that according to his research they had been there since the time of Christ.  As I state earlier the original name for Spain was Iberia, Iberia is the Spanish word for Hebrew, is it possible that the Israelites were the first to discover Spain?  Jesus was said to have gone to Spain, and of course His mission, according to His own words, was to seek out the lost of the tribes of Israel.  According to one documentary, Jesus Christ Voyage to Spain, Investigative Journalists Simcha Jacobovici proves that He did, and the documentary states that the Gadites (Tribe of Gad) were dwelling in south-eastern Spain at the time Jesus went there.

 

In 1602 another Spaniard took part in a revised version of the La Biblia del Oso.  It seems there were a group of compadres that were all likely Sephardic.  The following texts were extracted from Chapter 2 of the book, “The History and Truth of the Spanish Bible Controversy by Robert Breaker III.” Listing the names of those compadres:

 

“Juan Perez Pineda, friends with notable Spanish Protestants such as Egidio, Constantino Ponce de la Fuente, Juan Valdez and Cipriano de Valera.”

 

 

This leads me to the next main contributor, a one Cipriano de Valera who revised Reina’s La Biblia del Oso version and published this revised version in 1602.

 

In all of my years of studying scripture and discovering God and His Holy ancient name YHWH and the term Yah myself through study and revelation, the understanding that He has given me as I have sought to know Him and to call upon His name with respect, reverence and intent.  I now, years later, discover the words of Señor Valera citing numerous biblical examples centuries before in the following excerpt:

 

"...As for the sacred name Jehovah, which is the very name of the divine essence, and incommunicable to creatures, we have retained it for the learned and pious reasons that the first Translator gives in his Admonition, which you will find after this Exhortation I will only add two reasons here, which seem to me very peremptory to refute the superstitious obstinacy of the Jews, regarding this man's pronouncing Jehovah. And before I add them, I will note here that Jehovah is a Hebrew name derived from the noun verb Being and thus Jehovah q.d. the. that has Being of itself: He who Was, Is, and Will be eternally, and is the one who gives being to creatures. This is the proper name of the divine Essence, and incommunicable to creatures Jah so frequently in the psalms. and in some other places in Scripture, it is its abbreviation: and Thus, is the proper name of the divine Essence, which means and is the same as Jehovah, and thus psalm 68:5, In Jah (Yah) its name is derived from the same substantive verb."

 

In Spanish the J is pronounced as a Y.  Notice how Señor Valera calls out the “Jews” for their “’superstitious obstinacy” regarding the pronouncing of God’s name.  He is referring to the Ashkenazi Pharisaic/Rabbinic derived behaviors that I have noted since rejecting Orthodox Judaism after practicing for nearly three years. He goes on to say the following:

 

"David Kimhi, a Jew by profession and a Spaniard by nation, says that God is called Jah because he is the Creator of the world and because he is the cause of his own being. The first reason that I add here is this: The idolatrous Gentiles who had some

 

trade and dealings with the Hebrew people pronounced the name Jehová. I ask now from whom did they learn to pronounce it when they spoke with the Hebrews, if not from the Hebrews themselves, who, speaking with the Gentiles, pronounced it? Gen. 24:31, Laban says to Abraham's servant: Come, blessed of Jehová, and verse 50, Laban and Bathuel say to the same servant: This has come from Jehová, we cannot speak evil or good to you. Exod. 5:2, Pharaoh answered Moses and Aaron: Go, serve Jehová your God: and verse 10 Pharaoh himself said to them: So be Jehovah with you, as I will let you go and verse 11, Serve Yehovah etc. Exod. 18:10 Jethro Priest of Midian said to Moses his son-in-law: Blessed is Yehovah, who escaped you etc.

 

Num. 23:17, Balak King of Moab said to Balaam: What has Jehová said? And chapter 24:11 tells him: Jehová has deprived you of honor, and verse 13, Balahm says: I will not be able to transgress the saying of Jehová, and then: What Jehová will speak etc. Joshua 2:10 Raab says to Joshua's spies: For the fame of Jehová your God. Ruth 1:17, Ruth says to her mother-in-law Naomi: So do Jehová to me etc. 1 Sam. 29:6 Achis king of the Philistines said to David, As the LORD lives, you have been upright, etc. 1 Kings 5:7, Irma king of Tyro says to Solomon: Blessed is the Lord, etc., and chapter 10:9, the Queen of Sheba says to Solomon: Lord, blessed be your God, and in the same verse: The Lord has always loved to Israel. 2 Kings 5:11, Naaman Syro speaking of Elisha says: He was thinking of me: He will immediately come out and stand and call on the name of Jehová his God, 2 Kings 18:25, Rapsaces speaking to the Jews says to them: I have come without Jehovah? etc., Jehovah has told me: Go up to this land, etc., and verse 30 do not make Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, By delivering us, Jehová will deliver us, and verse 32.

 

The same story is told in Isaiah 36, whence Laban, Bathuel, Pharaoh, the Egyptians, Jethro, Balak Balaham, Raab, the Gibeonites, Ruth, Achis, Hiram, the Queen of Sheba, Naaman, Rapsaces, and other infidels and idolaters who will be found in the Scripture, they knew the name of the God of the Hebrews to be Jehová, and they pronounced it speaking with the Hebrews, but from having heard it pronounced by the Hebrews themselves, with whom they familiarly dealt. And what is very noteworthy is that neither Moses, nor David, so holy, nor Solomon, so wise, ever rebuked them for having spoken. Which without a doubt none of them would do if it were not legal to say it. Whence the ancient idolatrous Latins called their great god Jovis (Jovis is the ancient nominative: later they said Jupiter) as when Virgil said Ecloga 3: A JOVE principium Mus, Jovis omnia plena

  

But of the Hebrew number Jehovah, which they had heard was the number of the God of the Hebrews? Nuestro Sevillano Benito Arias doctísimo en lenguas, talking about the numbers of God, makes particular mention of the essential number Jehovah and thus says these words: “And if it is permissible to show for the reason of other similar numbers the certain pronunciation, JEHVEH would have to be said. And this is how I think the Fathers pronounced it: so Israelites, like other men from other nations, who had news of this number.” Benito Arias himself, after having said the preceding, promises that he will deal elsewhere with the true pronunciation of the name Jehovah. If he did, I don't know.

 

The second reason is Deut. 6:13 and 10, 20, it is said, You will fear the Lord your God, and you will serve him, and you will swear by his name. The form of the oath, and its conditions are Jeremiah 4:2, And you shall swear (says) as the Lord lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness. Therefore those who take the name of Jehovah with the conditions that Jeremiah says, it is so necessary that they sin, that they rather do service, and something pleasing to God, as it is said in Psalm 63:12, Anyone who swears by him will be praised. As on the contrary, he who swears by another than Jehovah is reproached. And so Exod. 23:13 it is said: You shall not mention the names of other gods, nor shall they be heard in your mouths. When God Exod. 20:7 it is said: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God, adds in vain.

 

So when the name Jehovah is taken not in vain, but with truth, judgment and justice, it is not a sin but part of the worship that God demands of us. The Jews are therefore deceived when they not only do not swear by the sacred holy name Jehovah, but they do not even pronounce it. But the holy Patriarchs and Prophets taking great comfort in this name wrote it and pronounced it, and swore by it. Read their writings, how many times they said: As Jehovah lives. Psalm 69 has thirteen verses, and in them the name Jehovah is mentioned eleven times. Psalm 29 has twelve verses, in which David names Jehovah eighteen times.

 

I marvel at one thing, that the Jews make so much scruple about writing and pronouncing Jehovah (writing and pronouncing Adonai instead) and without any scruple write and pronounce Jah, which is so proper a name

 

for the divine Essence, and so incommunicable to the creatures like Jehovah: there is no difference between these two sacred names except this, that Jehovah is written with four consonants, and Jah, as an abbreviation of Jehovah, is written with two. Having proven to be lawful to pronounce it, and that the ancients, both Hebrews and Pagans, pronounced it, it now remains to warn the one who pronounces it that when he conceives this glorious name in his mind, when he writes it, or pronounces it, he does so with the reverence that is due. to such a sacred name: remember the conditions, which we have little noticed, that Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 2 of his Prophecy sets.

 

The name of Jehovah (as Psalm 111:9 says) is holy and terrible. If it is holy, why are you miserable sinner, do you profane it by taking it without any reverence at every third word in your mouth? If it is terrible, why don't you tremble when you take your miserable worm, dust, and ashes when you take it in your dirty mouth? Remember that God will not hold anyone innocent who takes his name in vain. Exod. 20. Remember the horrendous Punishment with which God punished the blasphemer, Lev. 24:14, God commanded that he be stoned. And so it was. Forgive me Christian Reader if I have been long in this: the superstition of the Jews, and the scruples of some Christians have made me be prolix..."

 

 

It is obvious by these writings that the authors were not sure if their pronunciation of the Holy name of God was correct, but it has been proven in our day through Nehemiah Gordon that the Sephardic Spanish speaking Yehudi have been pronouncing it correctly the whole time.  I talk about this in my blog post The Sephardim and the Holy name of YHWH.  The only thing I still feel in my spirit is missing is that the latter H should be pronounced.  I have an interesting reason to say why, but I have no real proof to support this idea as of yet; that will have to wait for another blog post.

 

I have included the following information as to where the La Biblia del Oso bible was printed in each year that this article cites as publication years with source links for reference.

 

The information was sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reina_Valera and is included verbatim.

 

1569 First Print- It was first published on September 28, 1569, in Basel, Switzerland.[6][7] The translation was based on the Hebrew Masoretic Text (Bomberg's edition of 1525) and the Greek Textus Receptus (Stephanusedition of 1550). As secondary sources, de Reina used the Ferrara Bible for the Old Testament and the Latin Edition of Santes Pagnino throughout. For the New Testament, he was greatly aided by the translations of Francisco de Enzinas and Juan Pérez de Pineda. The 1569 version included the deuterocanonical books within the Old Testament and the 1602 version included the deuterocanonical books sandwiched between the Old and New Testaments.

 

 

1602 Revised Publication - In 1602 Cipriano de Valera, a student of de Reina, printed in Amsterdam a revision of the Biblia del Oso in which the deuterocanonical books were placed in a section between the Old and New Testaments called the Apocrypha.[8] Among the reasons for the revision was the fact that in the intervening period words had changed their meanings or gone out of use.[9] For a time, it was known simply by de Valera's name.[10]

 

 

Further revisions

The British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society and the United Bible Societies published a total of fifteen revisions between 1808 and 1995[10] of which those of 1909, 1960 and 1995 are the most significant today and remain in print[3] and a further revision appeared in 2011. Modern editions often omit the Apocrypha. The principle behind these revisions has been to remain as close to the original Reina–Valera as possible without causing confusion or misunderstanding.[11] Even the 1995 New Testament is based on the traditional Textus Receptus despite the fact that the United Bible Societies use modern critical Greek texts as the basis for other translations.[12] It retains the traditional form of the name of God, "Jehová" (with the notable exceptions of the Nueva Reina Valera 1990, revision which replaces "Jehová" with "El Eterno" and the Reina Valera Contemporánea, revision of 2011 which replaces "Jehová" with "El Señor").

 

Juan Pérez de Pineda was Reina’s Patron so to speak as it seems that Señor Perez financially supported Reina’s translation efforts.


I pray that Abba draws to me and these works other amateur and professional historians and scholars. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading.

 

Sources:

 

 

 

 

 

“The History and Truth of the Spanish Bible Controversy by Robert Breaker III

 

Juan Pérez de Pineda (Pierius): a Spanish Calvinist minister of the Gospel in sixteenth-century Geneva

 

Valera's words about why he chose to use JEHOVÁ instead of SEÑOR


DOGS OF GOD - By James Reston, Jr. FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION OCTOBER 2006


Jesus Christ Voyage to Spain By Investigative Journalist Simcha Jacobovici 

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