Question 1

Where / when can I buy hard copies of the translations?

Accepted Answer

Keywords: print book, hard copy; Amazon books.

We have not printed / published any of our translations, but we are planning to do so once we have made some minor updates / changes to the translations.

Please also note that the print books from Amazon are pirate copies with some changes made by the pirates.

You are most welcome to print out the translations for yourself and friends. (Only non-commercial copies.) All our PDFs allow printing.

Question 2

When will the Gospel of Luke be completed?

Accepted Answer

We are making good progress with the Gospel of Luke, but it will take several more months to complete.

We never released Luke version 1 for several reasons. One of the reasons is because it seemed that the Vatican manuscript had several scribal mistakes in Luke which needed correction. Rather than changing the text, we prayed and searched for more Hebrew manuscript copies of the same text type. These would enable us to correct any possible scribal error in the Vatican manuscript.

A few months ago, we were blessed to gain access to, and identify several more copies of the Hebrew Gospels from Sepharad! (See this video (https://www.hebrewgospels.com/manuscripts-update)for more information.)

After we got hold of the three other copies of the Sephardic Hebrew Luke, we restarted the whole process, first creating a transcript based on the three best manuscripts (not just on one), then vowel pointing the transcript, then rechecking the translation.

We are working on a project to vowel point the whole Hebrew transcript of Luke, which will make it much easier to use and read for most people.

Question 3

Can I print out a personal copy of your PDF translations?

Accepted Answer

You are most welcome to print out the translations for yourself and friends. (Only, of course, if the copies are not being sold). No commercial use is allowed.

Please also note that the print books from Amazon are pirate copies with some changes made by the pirates. We have not printed / published any of our translations, but are planning to do so once we have made some minor updates / changes to the translations.

Question 4

Is Yeshua Elohim? (Is Jesus God?) What about the Trinity?

Accepted Answer

Keywords: Jehovah's Witnesses; Unitarianism, Trinitarianism; Trinity; unity; echad; ehad; אחד; YHWH is one; Yahweh is one; the Shema; worshiping Yeshua;

We have done some study on this topic. We do not use nor defend the term 'trinity,' because that word is not in the Bible. It is always best to use Biblical terminology to describe or refer to Elohim, rather than man-made words.

Below, we will share a short study on whether Yeshua is Elohim or not.

Here are some reasons from the O.T. for believing that Messiah is Elohim, and that Elohim is not just one person, and also an explanation of the Hebrew meaning of "one":
 
Ps. 45:6-7 speaks of the throne of Elohim. Throne is the first key word showing that we are reading about the Messiah who was to sit on David's throne, and here he is clearly called Elohim!  In verse 7 it says "therefore O Elohim, your Elohim anointed you" - 'anointed' is yet another key word in Hebrew (Mashach) from which the word Mashiach is formed. So here we see that the Messiah is Elohim, and his Elohim anointed him! This passage is quoted in Hebrews 1:8-9. See also Mat. 1:23, which is quoted from Is.7:14; Is.9:6-7; John 10:30 where Yeshua says in allusion to Is.9:6 and Deu. 6:4 that "I and the father are one".
 
It is well known that Elohim is a plural noun, but plural nouns are used for singular persons in the Hebrew O.T.  So, to see whether Elohim is really more than one person, we need to look at verbs and pronominal suffixes etc. Though Elohim is mostly used with singular verbs etc. (which places emphasis on the fact that Elohim is one / united), here are some clear examples in the O.T. of Elohim being plural:
 
Gen 1:26 - Elohim refers to himself as being plural
Gen 11:6-9 - YHWH refers to himself as being plural
Gen 20:13 - Abraham uses plural verb referring to the true Elohim
Gen 35:7 - Jacob uses plural verb referring to the true Elohim
Josh 24:19 Joshua uses plural adjective referring to the true Elohim
 
Now, what about the "YHWH is One" verse?? Good question, this is probably the no.1 argument of Jews against believers in Yeshua. I see that the answer is extremely clear from the Hebrew use of the word 'echad' (one) in the O.T. in fact we don't have to look any further than Genesis to get the answer:
 
In Gen. 2:24 it says that "they (plural, a man and a woman) will be one flesh." Two distinct persons can be one flesh. So, you have seen my Dad on the videos, but you have never seen my Mom, right? Yet Biblically speaking, they are one. This explains how humans can see Elohim without dying, they can see Yeshua who is the mediator and who is one with the Father.
 
The second example is from Gen. 41:22-26: It clearly says that Pharaoh had TWO dreams, that he woke up in-between, that the two dreams were different, and here comes Joseph and says to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's dream is one"!! It doesn't even say "are" but "is". So, is Joseph making Pharaoh a liar by saying that his dream (singular) is (singular) one (singular)?? No, this is the Hebrew way of saying 'united' - 'Echad'. Joseph is not denying that Pharaoh had two dreams, or that they were different, he is saying that the two dreams are united, and that they give the same message.
 
The same is true with YHWH. "YHWH is one" does not deny that there is more than one person. This rather means (among many other things) that Yeshua will not teach differently than the Father, and that YHWH's spirit will not teach differently either. Apart from the Father being called Yahweh, the mediator between the Father and man is often called Yahweh in the Tanach.

For example, Ex. 33:11 first says that “Yahweh spoke to Mosheh face to face,” and then later in the same chapter (33:20), Yahweh said, “You cannot see my face, for no man will see me and live.” What is the solution to this seeming contradiction, that no one can see Yahweh and live, yet Yahweh speaks to Moses face to face just like a man speaks with his friend? It is very clear that whenever Yahweh/
Elohim appeared face to face, throughout the entire history of the world, it was not the Father; but rather the Son (Yeshua), who can be seen, who is the mediator between Yahweh the Father and man, and who is also called Yahweh and Elohim. Yahweh (the Son) appeared to Adam and Eve, walking with them in the garden, he appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu together with 70 elders of Israel on Mount Sinai. Yeshua also said in John 8:58, “Before Abraham existed, I am!” – Clearly claiming that he was there at the time of Abraham!

Yeshua as the Creator should not make one feel distant from the Father, Yeshua is our mediator and He (Yeshua) is the Elohim of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. We understand that some Christians never pray to the Father and that this is not Biblical, we should pray to the Father in the name (authority) of his Son. However, Yeshua accepted worship and prayer on several occasions, and never rebuked his disciples etc. for worshiping a 'mere' human.

>>>>
We do not use nor defend the term 'trinity,' because that word is not in the Bible. It is always best to use Biblical terminology to describe or refer to Elohim, rather than man-made words.

Below, we will share a short study on whether Yeshua is Elohim/Yahweh or not.

Here are some reasons from the O.T. for believing that Messiah is Elohim, and that Elohim is not just one person, and also an explanation of the Hebrew meaning of "one":
 
Ps. 45:6-7 speaks of the throne of Elohim. Throne is the first key word showing that we are reading about the Messiah who was to sit on David's throne, and here he is clearly called Elohim!  In verse 7 it says "therefore O Elohim, your Elohim anointed you" - 'anointed' is yet another key word in Hebrew (Mashach) from which the word Mashiach is formed. So here we see that the Messiah is Elohim, and his Elohim anointed him! This passage is quoted in Hebrews 1:8-9. See also Mat. 1:23, which is quoted from Is.7:14; Is.9:6-7; John 10:30 where Yeshua says in allusion to Is.9:6 and Deu. 6:4 that "I and the father are one".
 
It is well known that Elohim is a plural noun, but plural nouns are used for singular persons in the Hebrew O.T.  So, to see whether Elohim is really more than one person, we need to look at verbs and pronominal suffixes etc. Though Elohim is mostly used with singular verbs etc. (which places emphasis on the fact that Elohim is one / united), here are some clear examples in the O.T. of Elohim being plural:
 
Gen 1:26 - Elohim refers to himself as being plural
Gen 11:6-9 - YHWH refers to himself as being plural
Gen 20:13 - Abraham uses plural verb referring to the true Elohim
Gen 35:7 - Jacob uses plural verb referring to the true Elohim
Josh 24:19 Joshua uses plural adjective referring to the true Elohim
 
Now, what about the "YHWH is One" verse?? Good question, this is probably the no.1 argument of Jews against believers in Yeshua. I see that the answer is extremely clear from the Hebrew use of the word 'echad' (one) in the O.T. in fact we don't have to look any further than Genesis to get the answer:
 
In Gen. 2:24 it says that "they (plural, a man and a woman) will be one flesh." Two distinct persons can be one flesh. So, you have seen my Dad on the videos, but you have never seen my Mom, right? Yet Biblically speaking, they are one. This explains how humans can see Elohim without dying, they can see Yeshua who is the mediator and who is one with the Father.
 
The second example is from Gen. 41:22-26: It clearly says that Pharaoh had TWO dreams, that he woke up in-between, that the two dreams were different, and here comes Joseph and says to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's dream is one"!! It doesn't even say "are" but "is". So, is Joseph making Pharaoh a liar by saying that his dream (singular) is (singular) one (singular)?? No, this is the Hebrew way of saying 'united' - 'Echad'. Joseph is not denying that Pharaoh had two dreams, or that they were different, he is saying that the two dreams are united, and that they give the same message.
 
The same is true with YHWH. "YHWH is one" does not deny that there is more than one person. This rather means (among many other things) that Yeshua will not teach differently than the Father, and that YHWH's spirit will not teach differently either. In fact, in Ex 34 it first says that Moses spoke to YHWH face to face, and then later in the same chapter it says "You can not see my face, for no flesh shall see me and live". - In the same chapter! NO ONE can see him and live? What is the solution to this seeming contradiction? It is very clear to me that whenever YHWH / Elohim appeared, throughout the entire history of the world, it was Yeshua, who can be seen, who is also the mediator between the Father and man, and who is also YHWH / Elohim. YHWH appeared to Adam and Eve, walking with them in the garden, he appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu together with 70 elders of Israel on Mount Sinai. Yeshua said, "Before Abraham was, I am" clearly claiming that he was there at the time of Abraham!

Yeshua as the Creator should not make one feel distant from the Father, Yeshua is our mediator and He (Yeshua) is the Elohim of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. We understand that some Christians never pray to the Father and that this is not Biblical, we should pray to the Father in the name (authority) of his Son. However, Yeshua accepted worship and prayer on several occasions, and never rebuked his disciples etc. for worshiping a 'mere' human.
>>>

Our conclusion is based on the argument that many people saw Yahweh in the OT, even face to face. We therefore conclude that although Yahweh the Father and Yeshua Yahweh are two distinct persons, they can share a common name (like a surname) and also share titles.

We believe that Yahweh the Father and Yeshua Yahweh are echad in the sense that they are united, not the same person as such. Also, it is interesting that the Ruach is described with the number seven or seven-fold. But in the Hebrew Gospels Yeshua's Ruach is called Ruach Ha-Qodesh, pretty intriguing!

To summarize again, we do not say that the Father and Son are the same person, but rather we think that the Son was mediator even in the OT and was also called Yahweh.

Here are a few examples:

Gen 3 "they heard the sound of Yahweh Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day,and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of Yahweh Elohim" [they could see his face?]

Gen 4:14 "from Your face I will be hidden" [Cain saw Yahweh's face?]

Ex. 3 "the messenger of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush...And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, so Elohim called to him from the midst of the bush... He said also, “I am [note that in context he is speaking about himself, he did not say 'thus says Yahweh... I am' but claimed to be the Elohim of Abraham etc.] the Elohim of your father, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob... And Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people... I have come down to deliver them... gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, "Yahweh, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me""  [very clearly the messenger of Yahweh is called Yahweh (the Son), he called Himself Yahweh, he is the El of Abraham etc., He appeared to Moses.]

Gen 18: "Then Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre... Now Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do... I have known him... Yahweh said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great... Abraham was still standing before Yahweh." [The whole story describes a 'face to face' discussion between Yahweh and Abraham, then in verse ] Gen 19:23 "And Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven..." [Yahweh (the Son) is on earth, and He rains fire from Yahweh (the Father) in heaven.]

Ex 30 "Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. [a man does not speak with his friend behind a veil or looking away from him, but face to face]... show me Your glory." ... But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! [Yahweh the Son speaks face to face but Yahweh the Father's face cannot be seen.]

Judg. 2 "Then the angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you" [the messenger of Yahweh is Yahweh (the Son) who made a covenant with David]

Judg. 6 "Then the angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah... And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ...Then Yahweh turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" [the messenger of Yahweh is called Yahweh (the Son)].

Zech 12 "Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah... Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem... I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced..." [It seems that Yahweh (the Son) is the one who was pierced].

>>>>

Hope you find this interesting! Some are more compelling, but all these, plus many other passages match the general theme!

Blessings to your family in Yeshua our Mashiach,
The Van Rensburg family

Question 5

Where can I learn Hebrew? Do you have resources for learning Hebrew?

Accepted Answer

Below is some info on learning Biblical Hebrew. This should be a long term endeavour, the main challenge is -- you'll need to keep pursuing it for about 2 years before you really get paid back for what you've been doing. Many people stop after 3 or 6 months, but that is not enough to get started. If you learn the language well, you can finally do revision by simply reading and translating from the Hebrew Bible on a daily basis.

Justin and some other members of the family also learned Hebrew at home, initially from Dr. Bill Barrick, who made his course available on YouTube. His textbook and workbook are also available for free. (see also the other attachments) Here is a link to his YouTube playlists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvh8yziVsCE&list=PL9392DD285C853693 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvh8yziVsCE&list=PL9392DD285C853693)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCF2FLuti70&list=PL8C1262F23B3FA218 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCF2FLuti70&list=PL8C1262F23B3FA218)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joDB5azc_CM&list=PL4DC84F8EBBE6A3F9 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joDB5azc_CM&list=PL4DC84F8EBBE6A3F9)

Though some of us went far beyond Dr. Barrick's requirements, this free course was a huge blessing to us. We did the first three and a half semesters, and then continued on our own as he then got into preaching and theology more than Hebrew. Although not a "Hebrew roots" person, Dr Barrick believes in literal creation, and in the accuracy and validity of the O.T. scriptures.

(Regarding pronunciation, we mostly agree with Dr. Barrick's advice, except that we believe the Patach vowel should not be pronounced as the 'a' in 'pat' but more like the vowel in 'up' - similar to the 'a' in 'father'.)

The first few videos are very slow and you can skip over the topics you have already learnt if you want to. If you keep up with this course, you will have a good basic understanding of Hebrew Grammar at the end of the first two semesters and will also practice to use this in the third semester.

After completing these three semesters we used many other resources but found that reading and translating the Masoretic Text is probably the best way of learning more and more about Biblical Hebrew. After you understand how to read pointed Hebrew and how the vowel points and the vowel letters work you can move on to reading unpointed Hebrew e.g. the Dead Sea Scrolls.

To read the Hebrew Bible without constantly referring to a lexicon for every verse, you will need a large Hebrew vocabulary (2000+ words). We'll attach a PDF of a good book for learning Hebrew vocabulary. Because this book arranges words by root it is excellent and helps one understand better how different Hebrew words are linked together. If you spread out the 2000 Hebrew words over two years, it is not so impossible. To memorize these words it works best to read them out loud, and the louder the better!

To properly understand post-exilic Hebrew it will also be great if you could later learn Biblical Aramaic. Hebrew was influenced by Aramaic to some degree, especially during the Babylonian captivity.

See also attached searchable Hebrew Dictionary that you will find useful...

Also find our own conjugation table (for much later) as many Hebrew teachers use the verb 'qatal' - 'to kill' for their conjugation tables -- which we don't like to repeat over and over and over...

We hope that you will be blessed as you learn more Biblical Hebrew! It has been a great blessing for us...

B_B_Hebrew_Grammar_2005.pdf (https://c68db994-c809-43d2-9c74-5f971233b0fd.usrfiles.com/ugd/c68db9_87a0c357b5f3420ba7de5d5ff58c664b.pdf)
 B_B_Hebrew_Grammar_Wkbk_Full.pdf (https://c68db994-c809-43d2-9c74-5f971233b0fd.usrfiles.com/ugd/c68db9_91e9a0192e2c44f1a657feaa49bcdd6c.pdf)
 George Landes Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary.pdf  (https://c68db994-c809-43d2-9c74-5f971233b0fd.usrfiles.com/ugd/c68db9_d134cedf4e644cb2a972b769447db957.pdf)
 The Seven Conjugations.pdf (https://c68db994-c809-43d2-9c74-5f971233b0fd.usrfiles.com/ugd/c68db9_44658806147b4ecebd98911679c38879.pdf)
 Klein's Dictionary.pdf (https://c68db994-c809-43d2-9c74-5f971233b0fd.usrfiles.com/ugd/c68db9_2a69ec56adf74a5581ad4d7f1ecdfefd.pdf)

Question 6

Can I quote from your translations? Can I link to your website?

Accepted Answer

Thank you for wanting to share the news with others, and for wanting to use our translations in quotations.

Firstly, we require that people do not refer to our website or resources in any way which suggests that we endorse claims which we did not make ourselves. No commercial use is allowed.

Only if the above principles are followed;

Our translations may be quoted freely (for non-commercial purposes only), as long as you clearly reference www.HebrewGospels.com. (www.HebrewGospels.com.)This will ensure that people know which translation you are quoting from, and will also enable others to download the translations from our website.

You may link your website, channel, blog etc. to our website.

You may add links to our website in any books / articles you write, but for non-commercial purposes only.

Question 7

ישוע - The name Yeshua. Why not Yashua, Yahusha, etc.?

Accepted Answer

Keywords: Yeshua, Yahshua, Yahusha, Yahushah, Yahawashai, Yahushua, Yahhoshua, Yehoshua, Yohoshua, Joshua, ישוע, יהושוע, יהושע.

Many question why we use the pronunciation Yeshua.

However, we can know the correct pronunciation based on the Hebrew manuscripts with vowels. Unlike the Name YHWH, the scribes never put dummy vowels on the name Yeshua, and they still pronounce that name to this day. Thus there is no proof or evidence that the Masoretic pronunciations are wrong. They preserved the ancient pronunciation of Hebrew much better than any other source, except of course, where they purposefully changed the vowels (like with YHWH).

There is the older and longer form Yehoshua (Pronounced Yohoshua by the Masoretes), and the later more contracted Yeshua. Both these are authentic, but the shorter spelling started to replace the long spelling hundreds of years before the birth of Yeshua.

The Name Yeshua is from a contraction of a contraction of a contraction. That is why the contracted part "Ye-" ended with E instead of A. Yahweh contracts to Yahu, which in turn shortens to Yeho at the beginning of a word, and Yeho again shortened to Ye during the Babylonian Exile.

The pronunciation Yahusha is claimed to be an 'alternative' pronunciation of 'Yehoshua.' It is based on the assumption that Yahu should not contract to Yeho at the beginning of a compound name. That is not true, as we showed in v(https://www.hebrewgospels.com/yhwh/video-12)ideo 12 on the Name YHWH.(https://www.hebrewgospels.com/yhwh/video-12)

Also, the full spelling "יהושוע" which shows the vowel U "oo" between the last two letters already occurs in Deu. 3:21 and Josh 2:7! That shows us that the pronunciation YehoshUa was not invented by the Masoretes at a later stage. (This is the false claim of the some of the proponents of the pronunciation Yahusha).

The shorter biblical spelling “ישוע” (Yeshua) has been used since the time of Ezra – long before the birth of Yeshua the Messiah! (See e.g. Ezra 2:2, 2:6, 2:36 etc. and especially Nehemiah 8:17 where Joshua the son of Nun is even called “ישוע” (Yeshua), using the shorter spelling.) Thus the pronunciation ‘Yeshua’ was not invented later by anti-messianic Jews, as some have claimed.

This shorter yet official, biblical spelling does not even contain a Hebrew 'He', and cannot be pronounced in Hebrew as YaH-shua or YaHusha - there is no 'He'!

In video 12 we also showed that the same evidence which proved Yehovah to be false, also proves that the names Yehoshua etc. have their true vowels:

https://www.hebrewgospels.com/yhwh/video-12(https://www.hebrewgospels.com/yhwh/video-12)

Question 8

Where is the Old Testament?!

Accepted Answer

We are grateful to hear that you are interested in these Hebrew texts.

Take note that in the past, only Greek manuscripts were available for the New Testament (Except the Shem Tov Matthew).

We have been translating Hebrew manuscripts since 2019 that have become available through digitization in modern times.

Our app is focused on the Hebrew Gospels, and Luke is still in progress!  Revelation, James and Jude have also been translated and we are preparing them for printing in one volume.

We do not currently know of any other authentic NT manuscripts, please pray with us for Elohim's provision with this.

We will consider adding more O.T. books in the future as we get time to translate. Please note that these are new translations from scratch, and it takes years to get a translation near perfect.

Have you perhaps seen our introductions to Revelation, James and Jude? They are available in the PDF version on our website, and explain many of the interesting differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions.

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