Yahweh

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(Yahweh) William Gesenius's proposed Hebrew vocalization of YHWH

The Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew (10th c. BCE– c. 135 CE), Aramaic (800 BCE– 600 CE) and modern Hebrew (3rd c. BCE– Present.

This article contains significant unique material and should not be replaced by an imported or updated Wikipedia article.

For more information about Yahweh, see Theories on Yahweh, Criticism of Yahweh, Yahweh (professional), Yahwism, Yahwist or God in Abrahamic religions, which provides useful links.

Yahweh is the English rendering of יַהְוֶה, a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה that was proposed by the Hebrew scholar Gesenius in the 19th century.

יהוה had been vocalized as יְהֹוָה in the Masoretic Text that underlies the Old Testament of the King James Bible, however this vocalization יְהֹוָה had been disputed by Hebrew scholars from as early as 1604 A.D.

יַהְוֶה was proposed in a period of the 19th century when the vocalized Hebrew punctuation יְהֹוָה, from which Jehovah is derived, was finally rejected by Hebrew scholars, who did not believe that it accurately represented the original pronunciation of God's Hebrew name.[5]

Gesenius's proposed punctuation יַהְוֶה is believed to represent Ιαβε which is Epiphanius's Greek Transcription of the Tetragrammaton. [6]

Modern observant Jews no longer voice the name יהוה aloud. It is believed to be too sacred to be uttered and is often referred to as the 'Ineffable', 'Unutterable' or 'Distinctive Name'.^[1][2] (See Name of God in Judaism.) Various proposals still exist for the vocalization of יהוה in which the stem of the name Yahweh (Yah) remains widely accepted but discrepancies exist on agreement of the ending ('weh'). Early Christian literature written in Greek used spellings like Ιαβε and Ἰαουε that can be transcribed by 'Yahweh'. This pronunciation and spelling, as with many religious and scholarly issues, remains the subject of ongoing debate, see Criticisms and theories on Yahweh.^[3]

This proper name for God is rendered as LORD or GOD (in small capitals to distinguish it from Adonai, another word translated as "Lord") in most modern translations of the Bible.

Historical overview

Phoenician silver drachm from ca. 350 BC possibly depicting Yahweh.[4]

During the Babylonian captivity the Hebrew language spoken by the Jews was replaced by the Aramaic language of their Babylonian captors. Aramaic was closely related to Hebrew and, while sharing many vocabulary words in common, contained some words that sounded the same or similar but had other meanings. In Aramaic, the Hebrew word for “blaspheme” used in Leviticus 24:16, “Anyone who blasphemes the name of YHWH must be put to death” began to be interpreted as “pronounce” rather than “blaspheme”. When the Jews began speaking Aramaic, this verse was (mis)understood to mean, “Anyone who pronounces the name of YHWH must be put to death.” Since then, observant Jews have maintained the custom of not pronouncing the name, but use Adonai (“my Lord”) instead. During the first few centuries AD this may have resulted in loss of traditional memory of how to pronounce the name (except among Samaritans).

Observant Jews do not pronounce the Tetragrammaton, because it is considered too sacred to be used for common activities. Even ordinary prayer is considered too common for this use. The Tetragrammaton was pronounced by the High Priest on Yom Kippur when the Temple was standing in Jerusalem. Since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the Tetragrammaton is no longer pronounced, and while Jewish tradition holds that the correct pronunciation is known to a select few people in each generation, it is not generally known what this pronunciation is. Instead, common Jewish use has been to substitute the name "Adonai" ("My Lord") where the Tetragrammaton appears. In cases where the Tetragrammaton follows the name Adonai in biblical texts, the name Elohim ("God") is substituted instead.

The Septuagint (Greek translation) and Vulgate (Latin translation) use the word "Lord" (κύριος (kurios) and dominus, respectively).

The spelling of the Tetragrammaton and connected forms in the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Bible, with vowel points shown in red. (Click on image to enlarge.)

The Masoretes added vowel points (niqqud) and cantillation marks to the manuscripts to indicate vowel usage and for use in the ritual chanting of readings from the Bible in synagogue services. To יהוה they added the vowels for "Adonai" ("My Lord"), the word to use when the text was read.

Many Jews will not even use "Adonai" except when praying, and substitute other terms, e.g. HaShem ("The Name") or the nonsense word Ado-Shem, out of fear of the potential misuse of the divine name. In written English, "G-d" is a substitute used by a minority of Christians.

Parts of the Talmud, particularly those dealing with Yom Kippur, seem to imply that the Tetragrammaton should be pronounced in several ways, with only one (not explained in the text, and apparently kept by oral tradition by the Kohen Gadol) being the personal name of God.

In late Kabbalistic works the Tetragrammaton is sometimes referred to as the Name of Havayah - הוי'ה, meaning "the Name of Being/Existence".

Translators often render YHWH as a word meaning "Lord", e.g. Greek Κυριος, Latin Dominus, and following that, English "the Lord", Polish Pan, Welsh Arglwydd, etc. However, all of the above are inaccurate translations of the Tetragrammaton.

Because the name was no longer pronounced and its own vowels were not written, its own pronunciation was forgotten. When Christians, unaware of the Jewish tradition, started to read the Hebrew Bible, they read יְהֹוָה as written with YHWH's consonants with Adonai's vowels, and thus said or transcribed Iehovah. Today this transcription is generally recognized as mistaken; however many religious groups continue to use the form Jehovah because it is familiar.

Using the Name in the Bible

Exodus 3:15 is used to support the use of the Name YHWH: “This is my Name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.”. The word “forever” is “olahm” which means “time out of mind, to eternity”. "The Hebrew word ‘olahm’, translated ‘for ever’ clearly doesn’t always mean literal future infinity- although in some places it can have that sense. It’s actually used in places to describe the past; events of a long time ago, but not events that happened an ‘infinitely long time’ ago. It describes the time of a previous generation (Dt. 32:7; Job 22:15); to the time just before the exile of Judah (Is. 58:12; 61:4; Mic. 7:14; Mal. 3:4); to the time of the Exodus (1 Sam. 27:8; Is. 51:9; 63:9); to the time just before the flood (Gen. 6:4)." ^[4] Many Scriptures do favour the use of the Name. The biblical law does not prohibit the use of the Name, but it warns against “misuse”, “blaspheming” or in ordinary terms, “taking lightly” the Name of YHWH. The Biblical texts suggest the people of the Bible - including the patriarchs - used the Name of YHWH. A wealth of scriptures support this notion.^[5]

Gesenius proposes that YHWH should be punctuated as יַהְוֶה = Yahweh

Main article: Pronouncing Yahweh

In the early 19th century Hebrew scholars were still critiquing "Jehovah" [a.k.a. Iehovah and Iehouah] because they believed that the vowel points of יְהֹוָה were not the actual vowel points of God's name. The Hebrew scholar Wilhelm Gesenius [1786-1842] had suggested that the Hebrew punctuation יַהְוֶה, which is transliterated into English as "Yahweh", might more accurately represent the actual pronunciation of God's name than the Biblical Hebrew punctuation "יְהֹוָה", from which the English name Jehovah has been derived.

William Gesenius's Hebrew punctuation (i.e. Yahweh)

Wilhelm Gesenius is noted for being one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars [7]. His proposal to read YHWH as "יַהְוֶה" (see image to the right) was based in large part on various Greek transcriptions, such as ιαβε, dating from the first centuries AD, but also on the forms of theophoric names.

In his Hebrew Dictionary Gesenius (see image of German text) supports the pronunciation "Yahweh" because of the Samaritan pronunciation Ιαβε reported by Theodoret, and that the theophoric name prefixes YHW [Yeho] and YH [Yo] can be explained from the form "Yahweh".

Today many scholars accept Gesenius's proposal to read YHWH as יַהְוֶה.

(Here 'accept' does not necessarily mean that they actually believe that it describes the truth, but rather that among the many vocalizations that have been proposed, none is clearly superior. That is, 'Yahweh' is the scholarly convention, rather than the scholarly consensus.)

Yahweh's Characteristics

In its mature form, the concept of Yahweh represents God as the absolute, eternal, unchanging Creator of the universe who is also a personal being that cares intensely for mankind as a father does for his child or a husband does for his wife. Among his divine attributes are mercy, wisdom, righteousness, loving kindness, justice, compassion, patience, and beauty, and hard to anger.^[6] The classical expression of this theology is found in Exodus 34, in the scene in which God appears to Moses just after Moses ascends Mount Sinai to received the Ten Commandments a second time:^[6]

Catholic Encyclopedia teaching about the name Yahweh

In the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910,in the article Jehovah (Yahweh), under the sub-title:"To take up the ancient writers", the editors wrote:

• Diodorus Siculus writes Jao (I, 94);
• Irenaeus of Lyons ("Adv. Haer.", II, xxxv, 3, in P. G., VII, col. 840), Jaoth;
• the Valentinian heretics (Irenaeus, "Adv. Haer.", I, iv, 1, in P.G., VII, col. 481), Jao;
• Clement of Alexandria ("Strom.", V, 6, in P.G., IX, col. 60), Jaou;
• Origen of Alexandria ("in Joh.", II, 1, in P.G., XIV, col. 105), Jao;
• Porphyry (Eusebius, "Praep. evang", I, ix, in P.G., XXI, col. 72), Jeuo;
• Epiphanius ("Adv. Haer.", I, iii, 40, in P.G., XLI, col. 685), Ja or Jabe;
• Pseudo-Jerome ("Breviarium in Pss.", in P.L., XXVI, 828 ), Jaho;
• the Samaritans (Theodoret, in "Ex. quaest.", xv, in P.G., LXXX, col. 44),Jabe;
• James of Edessa (cf. Lamy, "La science catholique", 1891, p. 196), Jehjeh;
• Jerome ("Ep. xxv ad Marcell.", in P. L., XXII, col. 429) speaks of certain ignorant Greek writers who transcribed the Hebrew Divine name II I II I.

The editors of the Catholic Encyclopedia continue:

The judicious reader will perceive that the Samaritan pronunciation Jabe probably approaches the real sound of the Divine name closest; the other early writers transmit only abbreviations or corruptions of the sacred name. Inserting the vowels of Jabe into the original Hebrew consonant text, we obtain the form Jahveh (Yahweh), which has been generally accepted by modern scholars as the true pronunciation of the Divine name. It is not merely closely connected with the pronunciation of the ancient synagogue by means of the Samaritan tradition, but it also allows the legitimate derivation of all the abbreviations of the sacred name in the Old Testament.

Usage of YHWH

In ancient Judaism

Several centuries before the Christian era the name of their god YHWH had ceased to be commonly used by the Jews. Some of the later writers in the Old Testament employ the appellative Elohim, God, prevailingly or exclusively.

The oldest complete Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) versions, from around the second century A.D., consistently use Κυριος (= "Lord"), where the Hebrew has YHWH, corresponding to substituting Adonay for YHWH in reading the original; in books written in Greek in this period (e.g. Wisdom, 2 and 3 Maccabees), as in the New Testament, Κυριος takes the place of the name of God. However, older fragments contain the name YHWH.^[7] In the P. Ryl. 458 (perhaps the oldest extant Septuagint manuscript) there are blank spaces, leading some scholars to believe that the Tetragrammaton must have been written where these breaks or blank spaces are.^[8]

Josephus, who as a priest knew the pronunciation of the name, declares that religion forbids him to divulge it.

Philo calls it ineffable, and says that it is lawful for those only whose ears and tongues are purified by wisdom to hear and utter it in a holy place (that is, for priests in the Temple). In another passage, commenting on Lev. xxiv. 15 seq.: "If any one, I do not say should blaspheme against the Lord of men and gods, but should even dare to utter his name unseasonably, let him expect the penalty of death." ^[9]

Various motives may have concurred to bring about the suppression of the name:

1. An instinctive feeling that a proper name for God implicitly recognizes the existence of other gods may have had some influence; reverence and the fear lest the holy name should be profaned among the heathen.
2. Desire to prevent abuse of the name in magic. If so, the secrecy had the opposite effect; the name of the God of the Jews was one of the great names, in magic, heathen as well as Jewish, and miraculous efficacy was attributed to the mere utterance of it.
3. Avoiding risk of the Name being used as an angry expletive, as reported in Leviticus 24:11 in the Bible.

In the liturgy of the Temple the name was pronounced in the priestly benediction (Num. vi. 27) after the regular daily sacrifice (in the synagogues a substitute— probably Adonai— was employed);^[10] on the Day of Atonement the High Priest uttered the name ten times in his prayers and benediction.

In the last generations before the fall of Jerusalem, however, it was pronounced in a low tone so that the sounds were lost in the chant of the priests.^[11]

In later Judaism

After the destruction of the Temple (A.D. 70) the liturgical use of the name ceased, but the tradition was perpetuated in the schools of the rabbis.^[12] It was certainly known in Babylonia in the latter part of the 4th century,^[13] and not improbably much later. Nor was the knowledge confined to these pious circles; the name continued to be employed by healers, exorcists and magicians, and has been preserved in many places in magical papyri.

The vehemence with which the utterance of the name is denounced in the Mishna—He who pronounces the Name with its own letters has no part in the world to come!^[14] —suggests that this misuse of the name was not uncommon among Jews.

Some Karaites, but not all of them, also continuted to pronounce the name within their daily speech, whether greeting one another, reading the Torah, or during prayer, and this practice among them evne continues today. Karaite ideology deems the prohibition against pronouncing the name to be foreign to what the Torah actually teachings, where it says, "Do not speak the name of YHWH in vain", which means not to speak such in falsehood.

In Modern Judaism

The new Jewish Publication Society Tanakh 1985 follows the traditional convention of translating the Divine Name as "the LORD" (in all caps). The Artscroll Tanakh translates the Divine Name as "HaShem" (literally, "The Name").

When the Divine Name is read during prayer, "Adonai" ("My Lord") is substituted. However, when practicing a prayer or referring to one, Orthodox Jews will say "AdoShem" instead of "Adonai". When speaking to another person "HaShem" is used.

Among the Samaritans

The Samaritans, who otherwise shared the scruples of the Jews about the utterance of the name, seem to have used it in judicial oaths to the scandal of the rabbis.^[15] (Their priests have preserved a liturgical pronunciation "Yahwe" or "Yahwa" to the present day.) ^[16] However, the Aramaic "Shema" (שמא) remains the everyday (including liturgical) usage of the name, akin to Hebrew "Hashem" (השם).

Catholics (2008)

On August 8, 2008, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishop's Committee on Divine Worship, announced a new Vatican directive regarding the use of the name of God in the sacred liturgy. "Specifically, the word 'Yahweh' may no longer be 'used or pronounced' in songs and prayers during liturgical celebrations."

Modern

Tetragrammaton at the 5th Chapel of the Palace of Versailles, France. This example has the vowel points of "Elohim".

The New Jerusalem Bible (1966) uses "Yahweh" exclusively.

The Bible In Basic English (1949/1964) uses "Yahweh" eight times, including Exodus 6.2.

The Amplified Bible (1954/1987) uses "Yahweh" in Exodus 6.3.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible (1999/2002) uses "Yahweh" over 50 times,including Exodus 6.2.

The World English Bible (WEB) [a Public Domain work with no copyright] uses "Yahweh" some 6837 times.

The New International Version (1978/1984) uses "the Lord" throughout.

In Larry Gonick's The Cartoon History of the Universe, the narrator suggests that YHWH might instead be pronounced "Yahoo Wahoo." The narrator is then shown being struck by lightning.

Some modern writers, particularly in mythology and anthropology, use 'Yahweh' specifically, rather than 'God', to describe the Biblical God as a way of trying to display Christian and Jewish concepts as being on an even plane with concepts and deities from other religions. This does not necessarily represent a majority view, but the practice has grown in recent years.

Randy Weaver, of the Aryan Nations church, used the word Yahweh to describe God.

Short forms

"Yahū" or "Y^ehū" is a common short form for "Yahweh" in Hebrew theophoric names; as a prefix it sometimes appears as "Y^ehō-". In former times that was thought to be abbreviated from the supposed pronunciation "Yehowah". There is nowadays an opinion [8] that, as "Yahweh" is likely an imperfective verb form, "Yahu" is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form: compare yiŝt^ahawe^h (imperfective), yiŝtáhû (preterit or jussive short form) = "do obeisance".

In some places, such Exodus 15:2, the name YHWH is shortened to יָהּ (Yah). This same syllable is found in Hallelu-yah. Here the ה has mappiq, i.e., is consonantal, not a mater lectionis.

It is often assumed that this is also the second element -ya of the Aramaic "Marya": the Peshitta Old Testament translates Adonai with "Mar" (Lord), and YHWH with "Marya".

"I am"

Mishearings and misunderstandings of this explanation has led to a popular idea that "Yahweh" means "I am", resulting in God, and by colloquial extension sometimes anything which is very dominant in its area [9], being called "the great I AM".

Another possibility according to the Complete Jewish Bible by author David H. Stern, proposes that the Tetragrammaton be pronounced letter for letter in Hebrew and that the name of God should be rendered by spelling out the four letters, "Yud He Vav He", the meaning assumed to be "I am that I am" or "I am Who I am", as revealed to Moses in the Torah (Exodus 3:14).

Witnesses to the Name

There are many witnesses which approve of the correct Name being Yahweh; both Jewish and Christian authorities, such as the Jewish Encyclopedia. Bible translators James Mofatt and Dr J. M. Power Smith as well as Bible Encyclopedias, lexicons and grammars, declare the Tetragrammaton should have been transliterated “Yahweh”. Other sources include the Seventh Day Adventist Commentary Vol. 1, p511, under Exodus 3:15; Herbert Armstrong, the New Morality, pp. 128 – 129; David Neufeld, Review and Herald, December 15, 1971, page11; A New Translation of the Bible, pp 20 – 21 (Harper and Row © 1954) and J.D Douglas; New Bible Dictionary, (Wm B Eerdman’s Pub Co. © (1962), p9 as concluded: “Strictly speaking Yahweh is the only ‘Name’ of God”.

The Name in the Septuagint

Septuagint study does give some credence to the possibility that the Divine Name appeared in its texts. Dr Sidney Jellicoe in the Septuagint and Modern Study wrote: “The Divine Name was within the ancient (palao Hebrew) scripts…[YHW]…LXX texts held [the] Divine Name”. Jellicoe also agrees that the absence of “Adonai” from the text suggests that the insertion of the term “Kurious” was a later practice. In the Septuagint “Kurious”, or in English “Lord”, is used to substitute the Name YHWH. Jellicoe also suggests that the name Yahweh appeared in the text, but Christians removed it. In this book, Jellicoe draws together evidence from a great deal of scholars (B. J. Roberts, Baudissin, Kahle and C.H Roberts) and various segments of the Septuagint to draw these conclusions. There is therefore a strong possibility that the Sacred Name was once integrated within the Greek text, but eventually disappeared.

Meyer suggests as one possibility that “as modern Hebrew letters were introduced, the next step was to follow modern Jews and insert “Kurious”, Lord. This would prove this innovation was of a late date.” ^[17]

Bible scholars and translators as Eusebius and Jerome (translator of the Latin Vulgate) used the Hexapla. Both attest to the importance of the sacred Name and that the most reliable manuscripts contained the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew letters.

Dr F. F. Bruce in the The Books and the Parchments ^[18] illustrates that the religious language of the Greeks is in effect, pagan. Bruce demonstrates that the words commonly used today in Christianity are pagan Greek words and substitutes; this includes words such as “Christ”,”Lord” and “God” (The English “Jesus” is not the same as “Iesous” in Greek). For this reason, a few groups such as the Assemblies of Yahweh and the Jehovah's Witnesses have maintained that they are restoring the purity of worship - by using the sacred Names and Hebrew titles. On the other hand, Christianity still generally regards the sacred Name as a minor issue while observant Jews believe it is respectful not to speak the Name at all ^[19].

Relevance in the New Testament

Bible translations such as the Rotherham Emphasized Bible, the Anchor Bible, and the Jerusalem Bible have retained the Name Yahweh in the Old Testament, while traditional translations such as the King James Version and the American Standard Version have retained the Name Jehovah.

Although no Greek manuscript of the New Testament contains any form of the divine name, the Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition inserts the name Yahweh in the New Testament, while the New World Translation inserts the name Jehovah in the New Testament.

The vast majority of New Testament translations render the Greek kyrios as "lord" and theos as "God." Since the Divine Name does not appear in the Greek manuscripts, virtually all translations refrain from inserting it into the English.

Scholars recognize that the original copies have perished, and the Greek manuscripts available to us are far from the originals. ^{[20] [21][22]}

This has led many scholars to explore the likelihood that the original copies were written in Hebrew or Aramaic. Although the Divine Name is not found in any Greek manuscript of the New Testament text, scholars have discussed the strong possibility of the original texts being written in Hebrew or Aramaic and containing the sacred Name YHWHTemplate:Syn ^{[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]}

See also

• Yahwism
• Adon
• Ea
• El (god)
• Ellil
• Elohim
• God in the Bahá'í Faith, God in Christianity, God in Islam, God in Judaism
• Jehovah
• I am that I am
• -ihah
• INRI
• Jah
• JHWH
• List of Septuagint versions that have the Tetragrammaton
• List of Hebrew versions of the New Testament that have the Tetragrammaton
• Names of God in Judaism
• Tetragrammaton in the New Testament
• Theophoric names
• Yam (god) (Ya'a, Yaw)
• YHWH
• JHVH-1
• "Tetragrammaton" in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
• "Jehovah_(Yahweh)" in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

References

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Yahweh article on New World Encyclopedia.
• A great source on the Tetragrammaton
• Bibliography on the Tetragrammaton in the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. Arbel, Ilil. "Yahweh."
• Metatron as the Tetragrammaton
• Hebrew Names of G-d (including YHVH), with audio
• Easton's Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.) 1887. "Jehovah."
• Jewish Encyclopedia count of number of times the Tetragrammaton is used
• YHWH/YHVH -- Tetragrammaton
• The Sacred Name Yahweh, a publication by Qadesh La Yahweh Press
• http://www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=294599
• Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies