Today I dug much deeper than years ago, I came across a site that sounded pretty convincing until they mention the Talmud and Midrash in high standing.
So, then I had to scrap that, I looked into the Matthews Bible, Coverdale Bible, and the 1611. Here are their translations.
Matthews 1537 John 19:19 And Pylate wrote hys tytle and put it on the crosse. The wrytyng was Iesus of Nazareth, kynge of the Iewes.
Tyndale John 19:19 And Pylate wrote his tytle and put it on the crosse. The writynge was Iesus of Nazareth kynge of the Iewes.
Coverdale John 19:19 Pilate wrote a superscripcion, and set vpon the crosse. And there was wrytten: Iesus of Nazareth, kynge of the Iewes.
1611 John 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the crosse. And the writing was, IESVS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE IEWES.
My own struggle is, which one is correct and does one seemingly insignificant word as “the” really matter? And why did the 1611 translators include “the”, but the other reformation bibles did not? So, I kept looking and I found it in the
Geneva Bible 1560/1599 John 19:19 And Pilate wrote also a title, and put it on the crosse, and it was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWES.
Wycliffe John 19:19 And Pilat wroot a title, and sette on the cros; and it was writun, Jhesu of Nazareth, king of Jewis.
Julie Smith 1876 John 19:19 And Pilate also wrote a title, and put upon the cross. And it was written, JESUS THE NAZARITE, KING OF THE JEWS.
Youngs Literal John 19:19 And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the cross, and it was written, ‘Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews;’
In the Latin and their acrostic INR,I it matters little, because the word “the” is not even a factor as they do not have “the” in there. Which is another suspicious thing to me, so I checked it out and found this,
“Is there no word for “the” in Latin? There is no equivalent to “the” in Classical Latin. In Vulgar Latin, the demonstrative ille (which means “that” in Classical Latin) got bleached into a definite article, with a meaning similar to English “the”. That’s where forms like Spanish el, Italian il, French le, and so on come from.”
“INRI is an acrostic for the Latin phrase Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum, which translates to “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. The Roman procurator Pontius Pilate ordered the phrase to be written in three languages over Jesus’s cross during his crucifixion. The phrase is sometimes referred to as a sacred monogram.”
So that satisfied me with the Latin, the Greek I really am unaware of their acrostic that would have been above Jesus, and it seems of little importance, boy was I WRONG! I will show later. But the Hebrew is very important as well. So, I then decided to ask Google how to spell words in Hebrew.
Jesus’ name in Hebrew is “Yeshua” (יֵשׁוּעַ), which is a shorter form of “Yehoshua” (יְהוֹשׁוּעַ). “Yeshua” is pronounced “Yeh-SHOO-ah”. “Yehoshua” means “the Lord is salvation”
No word in Hebrew for “of” in Hebrew
The word “of” as used in English does not exist in ancient Hebrew. As someone else replied, to say “word of G-d” you just say “word G-d”, the idea that the first word belongs to the second is understood, no “of” needed. To say an object is made of something you would say its made “from” something. In Modern Hebrew there is a word “shel” that means “of” and it can be conjugated to mean “of me” meaning “mine”, “yours”, “his” etc., for each pronoun.
Hebrew and English have VERY different grammatical structures and so you can’t translate literally or expect to find identical ways of expressing things. English is over 30% longer than Hebrew, a lot because of the need for “of, to, mine, the” and words like this that you don’t need in Hebrew or are expressed as a single letter prefix or suffix.
Hebrew for “the”
Unlike the indefinite article in English (e.g., “a” or “an”), Hebrew has only the definite article “ה” (Ha), which corresponds to the English “the.” In both Modern and Biblical Hebrew, the definite article (Ha) is used before a noun to indicate that the noun is specific, known, or previously mentioned.
Hebrew for Nazareth
The Hebrew word for Nazareth is Natzeret (נָצְרַת). It might come from the Hebrew word na·tsar, which means “to watch”, or from ne·tser, which means “branch”. Both words share the same root, N–TZ (Tzadik) –R, which means “watchman”, “guardian”, and “keeper”
King in Hebrew
What is the Hebrew word for King?
Melech (מלך) is a Hebrew word that means king, and may refer to: Melech (name), a given name of Hebrew origin.
Jew in Hebrew
The Hebrew word for “Jew” is Yehudi. It comes from the name Judah, which was one of Jacob’s 12 sons. Judah was the ancestor of one of the tribes of Israel, which was named after him. The word “Judaism” literally means “Judah-ism,” which is the religion of the Yehudim.
So we get, Yeshua, Natzeret Melech Yehudi, leaving out “of” and “the”.
So the acrostic would be YNMY OR YMNY
Or we get
Yeshua, Natzeret Ha Melech HaYehudi leaving out “of”.
So the acrostic would be YNHH or HHNY
Or we get
Yeshua, HaNatzeret Melech HaYehudi
The acrostic would be YHMH or HMHY
Blue letter bible uses “ha” for of
Taken from Blue Letter Bible:
HaYehudim W‘melech HaNazarei Yeshua
Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews
YHWH
Now remember how I had said earlier the Greek was not important? Well, if the whole NT wasn’t written in Greek it would not have been, BUT IT IS! Now, remember the translators, translated the NT INTO ENGLISH important to grasp here. Now I am going to put this verse in Greek and highlight what you need to see.
John Greek
Joh 19:19 ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ τίτλον ὁ Πιλᾶτος καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ· ἦν δὲ γεγραμμένον· ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.
᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων means, “Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews”.
G2424
Ἰησοῦς
Iēsous
Thayer Definition:
Jesus = “Jehovah is salvation”
G3588
ὁ / ἡ / τό
ho / hē / to
Thayer Definition:
1) the definite article, “the” in its masculine, feminine or neuter gender
2) the demonstrative pronoun
Examples:
“this”
“that”
“these”
Part of Speech: definite article or demonstrative pronoun in all their inflections. The specific part of speech is dependent upon the context
G3480
Ναζωραῖος
Nazōraios
Thayer Definition:
Nazarite = “one separated”
1) an inhabitant of Nazareth
2) a title given to Jesus in the NT
3) a name given to Christians by the Jews, Act_24:5
Part of Speech: noun proper masculine
G3588
ὁ / ἡ / τό
ho / hē / to
Thayer Definition:
1) the definite article, “the” in its masculine, feminine or neuter gender
2) the demonstrative pronoun
Examples:
“this”
“that”
“these”
Part of Speech: definite article or demonstrative pronoun in all their inflections. The specific part of speech is dependent upon the context
G935
βασιλεύς
basileus
Thayer Definition:
1) leader of the people, prince, commander, lord of the land, king
Part of Speech: noun masculine
G3588
ὁ / ἡ / τό
ho / hē / to
Thayer Definition:
1) the definite article, “the” in its masculine, feminine or neuter gender
2) the demonstrative pronoun
Examples:
“this”
“that”
“these”
Part of Speech: definite article or demonstrative pronoun in all their inflections. The specific part of speech is dependent upon the context
G2453
Ἰουδαῖος
Ioudaios
Thayer Definition:
1) Jewish, belonging to the Jewish nation
2) Jewish as respects to birth, origin, religion
Part of Speech: adjective
So, looking at the verse in the Greek and understanding what the omicron means, the Greek would translate as this,
“John 19:19 And Pilate wrote an inscription and fastened it to the (tou | τοῦ | gen sg masc) cross. It read, “Jesus of (ho | ὁ | nom sg masc) Nazareth, the (ho | ὁ | nom sg masc) King of the (tōn | τῶν | gen pl masc) Jews.”
Now the question still remains should “the” king of the Jews be in the translation?
The W that represents the VAV OR WAW in Hebrew is a “hook” in shape as well as meaning, it hooks the words together. In Biblical Hebrew, sentences often start with the conjunction vav as either a consonant or a shureq vowel. This conjunction cannot stand alone as an independent word but must be connected to another word as a prefix. This can be added to a noun, a verb, a pronoun, or a particle.
Now with that said, the vav or waw would be used in front of the pronoun king so that changes things greatly when it comes to how the Greek is written and how the 1611 translated it.
19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the crosse. And the writing was, IESVS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE IEWES. Y=JESUS/YESHUA, Ha=OF NAZARETH, V/W=THE KING VMELECH, HaYehuda= OF THE JEWS
“Jesus of (ho | ὁ | nom sg masc) Nazareth, the (ho | ὁ | nom sg masc) King of the (tōn | τῶν | gen pl masc) Jews.”
In English we would write it “YHVH” OR “YHWH” this is the sacred Name of God, and we would pronounce it “Jehovah, Yahweh, or “YaHaVaHa”, all depends on who you ask.
Now with an ALL DAY study on this one topic, I am persuaded not to add my opinion on this at all. I find it peculiar though when the Jews looked up and read the inscription placed above Jesus that day, what they read infuriated them, first off but secondly if you read the early translations Tyndale, Matthews, Coverdale you will notice in verse 21 there is no “the” king of the Jews spoken but king of the Jews. So, they wanted Pilate to change it to, “he said He was king of Jews”. But Pilate said, I have written what I have written. Also, we cannot forget the language the Jews speak today is not biblical Hebrew it is Yiddish…fun little tidbits about Yiddish,
“Is Yiddish the same as Hebrew?
What is the Difference Between Yiddish and Hebrew?
Hebrew is a Semitic language (a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages, languages spoken across the Middle East), while Yiddish is a German dialect which integrates many languages, including German, Hebrew, Aramaic, and various Slavic and Romance languages.”
Who speaks Yiddish and Hebrew?
“Ashkenazim
Yiddish is the language of the Ashkenazim, central and eastern European Jews and their descendants. Written in the Hebrew alphabet, it became one of the world’s most widespread languages, appearing in most countries with a Jewish population by the 19th century.”
DOES ROTHSCHILD (RED SHIELD/STAR OF MOLOCH) FROM GERMANY COME TO MIND AT ALL? LOL
That’s all I am going to say about that. Do your own research and go to the LORD in prayer.
Watchmen On The Pod 