What Is the Proper Name Version? How It Compares with The Bible with Original Names
The Proper Name Version is basically a modernized King James Bible that brings a few major biblical names back into view. It uses Yahweh and Yah for the divine name and Yahshua for Jesus.
If you like the sound and structure of the KJV but want those names made visible, that is the main idea.
The Bible with Original Names starts from the same basic thought that names matter, but it goes much further. It also looks at wording, Semitic speech, gender, idiom, and source-language meaning across the whole Bible.
The Way’s process is public. AI-assisted research, questions, proposals, earlier versions, change logs, and quality checks are kept in the GitHub repository, so readers can see how changes were researched.
The difference in one table
Question | Proper Name Version | The Bible with Original Names |
|---|---|---|
Starting point | King James Version | World English Bible, followed by continuing source-language research |
Divine name | Yahweh and Yah | YHWH |
Jesus’ name | Yahshua | Yeshua |
Other names | Mostly familiar KJV forms | Many earlier Hebrew and Aramaic forms |
Sentence wording | Stays close to KJV structure | Can change when the source evidence supports a clearer or earlier meaning |
Research record | Published edition and publisher notes | Public GitHub issues, research notes, earlier versions, change logs, and QA |
What the Proper Name Version is trying to do
The publisher says the Proper Name Version is based on the Authorized King James Version. It updates many old English words but keeps the familiar KJV sentence structure.
The biggest change is names. Yahweh or Yah appears where the edition wants the divine name to be visible, and Yahshua appears for Jesus.
A sample of John shows the approach clearly. John 14:6 still sounds like the KJV, but the speaker is named Yahshua.
That is why the Proper Name Version can feel familiar right away. It changes the names readers are meant to notice most while leaving much of the rest of the Bible in a KJV shape.
Why The Way uses YHWH instead of Yahweh
Both editions are trying to show the four Hebrew consonants often written as YHWH.
The Proper Name Version prints Yahweh, which is a common scholarly reconstruction of the pronunciation.
The Way prints YHWH. That keeps the consonantal name visible without asking the running text to settle one pronunciation as certain.
This is not a claim that readers who say LORD are using a false Bible. It is simply a different way of showing what is present in the Hebrew text.
Why Yahshua and Yeshua are different
The Proper Name Version uses Yahshua. The Way uses Yeshua.
Both are attempts to move closer to a Semitic form behind the English name Jesus. The Way uses Yeshua because it is a well-attested late Hebrew and Aramaic form connected with Yehoshua.
The familiar English name Jesus came through normal language change across Greek, Latin, and later English. Restoring an earlier form does not mean the English form is invalid.
Where the projects really separate
The bigger difference appears when the question is not a name.
For example, Matthew 4:17 in The Way reads, “Turn back, for the reign of the heavens has drawn near.” That is not a name change. It comes from looking again at words usually rendered “repent” and “kingdom.”
The Way can also ask whether a mixed group should be called “brothers and sisters,” whether Ruach should stay visible, or whether several different source words have been flattened into one familiar English word.
Those questions are researched across the whole Bible. AI helps find patterns and exceptions. Source texts and scholarship help test them. GitHub keeps the work public.
What readers seem to like about the Proper Name Version
Reader comments often praise two things: the familiar KJV feel and the visibility of Yahweh and Yahshua.
That makes sense. The Proper Name Version is a good fit for someone who wants those names restored without having to learn a very different style of Bible.
Some readers expected it to go further. Reviews sometimes mention that familiar words such as God remain in many places or that other names stay in their normal KJV form.
That is less a mistake than a clue to the edition’s purpose. It is not trying to rebuild every name or phrase from the source languages.
The simplest way to remember it
Proper Name Version: a KJV-shaped Bible with major sacred names brought back into view.
The Bible with Original Names: a broader project that restores names and also re-examines wording through Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, AI-assisted comparison, and a public GitHub record.
They begin in a similar place, but they are trying to solve different-sized problems.
Sources and further reading
Read the Bible With Original Names
Explore familiar passages with YHWH, Yeshua, Elohim, Ruach, and earlier-language names kept visible.
Free browser reader and EPUB. No purchase required.