In this post, we touched on the origin of God’s name in various languages and how the approach in English and Hebrew resulted in the choice of “The LORD” for what is “耶和華” in Chinese. But what about “萬軍之耶和華”? In literal terms, it means “The LORD of Myriad Armies”, which sounds unmistakably awesome, but where does that come from? How should we interpret it?
That phrase originates from “יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת“. I know, not helpful. The first word (the one on the right) means “the LORD”, which we already know. The second word (on the left) has no direct translation to either English or Chinese, because it’s a heavenly term referring to the angels, the angelic armies, heavenly beings, or heavenly hosts that God rules over in Heaven.
In contemporary terms, you can understand it as “armies of angels”. Now you see why it is translated to “萬軍” in Chinese. What about English then? It depends on what versions you use. My favorite three go like this in Psalm 46:7
(NASB) The Lord of armies is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
(NKJV) The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.
(NIV) The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
You can’t go wrong with any of the three.