B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

I have read that Deuteronomy 6:4 shouldn't be translated as "the L-rd is our G-d", but "the L-rd our G-d." The only quote that says "the L-rd is our G-d" is in 2 Chronicles 13:10. I also found Psalm 33:12 "the L-rd is it's G-d", Psalm 144:15 "the L-rd is it's G-d" (a people or a nation's G-d), and Zechariah 13:9 "the L-rd is my G-d."

Do these other quotes show that Deuteronomy 6:4 could say "the L-rd is our G-d" or am I misunderstanding what they are saying?

Kenneth Greifer

Deuteronomy 6:4 should be translated "The Lord our God is One" 'is' being implied 'our' is emphatically present as a pronominal suffix added to 'eloheinu'.
שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה ׀ אֶחָֽד If there is another acceptable translation I will eat my keyboard and take up cross-stitching.
Kind regards
chris watts

Chris,

You left out the second "L-rd."

Kenneth Greifer

This does not qualify me to eat my keyboard ok, haste was my mistake, so then, the Lord our God the Lord is one. How's that?

If we look at the Hebrew of all those verses you've got there, Kenneth:

Deut 6:4
שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד

2 Chronicles 13:10
... ואנחנו יהוה אלהינו ולא עזבנהו

Psalm 33:12
אשרי הגוי אשר יהוה אלהיו העם בחר לנחלה לו

Psalm 144:15
אשרי העם שככה לו אשרי העם שיהוה אלהיו

Zechariah 13:9
... ואני אענה אתו אמרתי עמי הוא והוא יאמר יהוה אלהי

You'll see they all have the pattern [suffix+]יהוה אלה. As Hebrew likes to omit the verb for "to be", it's really down to the context to determine where, in English translation, we insert "is".

Looking at the above, is there technically anything in Deut 6:4 that is different to the other verses that have "YHWH is [my/its/our] God" to lead us to conclude how it should be translated?

I personally don't see anything against "Hear, Israel: YHWH is our God; YHWH is one".

(As an interesting aside, the LXX never includes the Greek ειμι ('to exist') between YHWH and God in its translation of the above verses. In Psa 33:12 (32:12 LXX), it has it prior to Κυριος (YHWH))

Could it be translated?:
Listen, O Israel, to the LORD, your God: The LORD is one.