Key Words

As with every Book of the Bible, and any book of substance, there exists Key Words that form our framework for understanding.  Below are the primary ones in the Book of Job.  Such words differ from our use of Big Thermes, or ideas in general, in that the below are actual words that occur in the text.  A Book can, and does, have central themes and ideas which may be usefully grasped and summarized by words that are not part of the original text;  the Trinity and our “old sin nature” are two examples.

LORD

Hebrew:  YHWH, known by the term the  “Tetragrammaton,” meaning four consonant letters with no vowels;  English Translation:  Yahweh or Jehovah

Hebrew translation to Greek (LXX):  Kurios;   English Translation:  LORD

YHWH occurs some 6,000 times in the Old Testament.  It is the common name ascribed to the God who is with us.  The telling example occurs early in the Book of Genesis, the book of beginnings.  Chapter 1 and most of Chapter expresses God as “Elohim.” conveying the very most “high” (“El” is the root of “high,” even in English; think elevated, elevate, elevator, etc.).  However, when the history of God’s creation of man, and interaction with man in the Garden, the term used for God is the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), which is translated into “LORD” by the Septuagint (LXX), the ancient Greek translation (ca. 200 B.C.) of the Hebrew Old Testament.

“Kurios” (translated “LORD” in English) occurs more than 700 times in the New Testament, and is honorifically ascribed to Jesus, as by the phrase “LORD Jesus Christ.”

In the Book of Job we likewise have both these two names for God in the Hebrew texts, namely “Elohim” and “YHWH.”  These words are translated into most English versions as “God” and “LORD,” respectively.  The all caps expression for “LORD” is intended to show that it stands for “YHWH.”


 Fear of the LORD (FOTL)

FOTL of connected with two other important Biblical words:  Wisdom and Understanding (see the great conclusion of Job 28:28).

Attached pdf provides an over view of Wisdom and Understanding as used in the Bible.

Fear of the LORD; Wisdom and Understanding