Quite a few of you have urged us to adopt “Hebraic” names and terminology for persons and places mentioned in the Bible. Thus “Abraham” would be “Avraham,” “Jacob” would be “Yaaqov,” “Jerusalem” would be “Yerushayim,” and “Judah,” would be “Yehuda.” The idea is that the English reader would be able to hear and become familiar with the “original” Hebrew way of pronouncing names. The idea has a certain appeal, but how many of you could figure out the following: Mitzraim (Egypt); Paras (Persia); Yishme’elim (Ishmaelites); and Par’o (Pharaoh)? Several English translations have adopted this practice, including the Koren Jerusalem Bible Tanakh and David Stern’s edition of The Complete Jewish Bible. We made a decision several years ago that since this is an English translation, we should stay with English versions of Biblical names. What is the point of pronouncing names as if one were speaking Hebrew? Think about it—the word Yochanan in Hebrew becomes Ioannes in Greek, John, in English, but then Juan in Spanish, Johann in German, and Jean in French! There is one obvious exception—we have determined, as most of you know, to leave the various names of God untranslated—thus YHVH, ELOHIM, EL SHADDAI, and so forth.