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2006-12-02 01:59:30 · 16 answers · asked by oddpoeticdude 2 in Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

16 answers

The bible contains the personal name of Almighty God nearly 7000 times; it is written as four Hebrew consonants which are approximately represented as "YHWH" and called "the Tetragrammaton".

The Hebrew name “Yahweh” (or “Yehowah”) does seem to accurately pronounce the divine name "YHWH". Just as the Hebrew name “Yeshua” (or “Yehoshua”) is translated into “Jesus” in English, the Hebrew name “Yahweh” is translated into “Jehovah” in English.

The important thing is to use God’s personal name in whatever language you speak, rather than insisting upon the impersonal! The name “Yahweh” is certainly preferable to the non-name “God” or “Lord”, especially if you speak Hebrew. If you speak English, feel free to use the name "Jehovah". Some other languages spell it as "Jehova".

(Psalms 83:18) That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth

(John 17:26) [Jesus said] I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/na/

2006-12-02 10:42:35 · answer #1 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 2 0

Jehovah is an anglicized pronunciation of the Hebrew tetragrammaton, YHWH, which are the four consonant letters used to spell God’s name in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14). The Hebrews considered the name of God too holy to pronounce and substituted the word “Lord” (adonai) when the text was read. The vowels of the word “adonai” was combined with YHWH to get the word “Jehovah” which was first used in the 12th century. A more accurate pronunciation of YHWH would be “Yahweh.” However, the exact and proper pronunciation has been lost.

2006-12-02 10:06:35 · answer #2 · answered by Jo 4 · 0 1

These four letters, called the Tetragrammaton, are read from right to left in Hebrew and can be represented in many modern languages as YHWH or JHVH. God’s name, represented by these four consonants, appears almost 7,000 times in the original “Old Testament,” or Hebrew Scriptures.

The name is a form of a Hebrew verb ha·wah´ (???), meaning “to become,” and actually signifies “He Causes to Become.” Thus, God’s name identifies him as the One who progressively fulfills his promises and unfailingly realizes his purposes. Only the true God could bear such a meaningful name.

The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. Why not? Well, the first language used in writing the Bible was Hebrew, and when the Hebrew language was written down, the writers wrote only consonants—not vowels. Hence, when the inspired writers wrote God’s name, they naturally did the same thing and wrote only the consonants.

While ancient Hebrew was an everyday spoken language, this presented no problem. The pronunciation of the Name was familiar to the Israelites and when they saw it in writing they supplied the vowels without thinking (just as, for an English reader, the abbreviation “Ltd.” represents “Limited” and “bldg.” represents “building”).

Two things happened to change this situation. First, a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong to say the divine name out loud; so when they came to it in their Bible reading they uttered the Hebrew word ’Adho·nai´ (“Sovereign Lord”). Further, as time went by, the ancient Hebrew language itself ceased to be spoken in everyday conversation, and in this way the original Hebrew pronunciation of God’s name was eventually forgotten.

In order to ensure that the pronunciation of the Hebrew language as a whole would not be lost, Jewish scholars of the second half of the first millennium C.E. invented a system of points to represent the missing vowels, and they placed these around the consonants in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, both vowels and consonants were written down, and the pronunciation as it was at that time was preserved.

When it came to God’s name, instead of putting the proper vowel signs around it, in most cases they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say ’Adho·nai´. From this came the spelling Iehouah, and, eventually, Jehovah became the accepted pronunciation of the divine name in English. This retains the essential elements of God’s name from the Hebrew original.

Which Pronunciation Will You Use?

Where, though, did pronunciations like Yahweh come from? These are forms that have been suggested by modern scholars trying to deduce the original pronunciation of God’s name. Some—though not all—feel that the Israelites before the time of Jesus probably pronounced God’s name Yahweh. But no one can be sure. Perhaps they pronounced it that way, perhaps not.

Nevertheless, many prefer the pronunciation Jehovah. Why? Because it has a currency and familiarity that Yahweh does not have. Would it not, though, be better to use the form that might be closer to the original pronunciation? Not really, for that is not the custom with Bible names.

To take the most prominent example, consider the name of Jesus. Do you know how Jesus’ family and friends addressed him in day-to-day conversation while he was growing up in Nazareth? The truth is, no human knows for certain, although it may have been something like Yeshua (or perhaps Yehoshua). It certainly was not Jesus.

Must we stop using the name of Jesus because most of us, or even all of us, do not really know its original pronunciation? So far, no translator has suggested this. We like to use the name, for it identifies the beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gave his lifeblood for us. Would it be showing honor to Jesus to remove all mention of his name in the Bible and replace it with a mere title like “Teacher,” or “Mediator”? Of course not! We can relate to Jesus when we use his name the way it is commonly pronounced in our language.

Similar comments could be made regarding all the names we read in the Bible. We pronounce them in our own language and do not try to imitate the original pronunciation. Thus we say “Jeremiah,” not Yir·meya´hu. Similarly we say Isaiah, although in his own day this prophet likely was known as Yesha`·ya´hu. Even scholars who are aware of the original pronunciation of these names use the modern pronunciation, not the ancient, when speaking about them.

And the same is true with the name Jehovah. Even though the modern pronunciation Jehovah might not be exactly the way it was pronounced originally, this in no way detracts from the importance of the name. It identifies the Creator, the living God, the Most High to whom Jesus said: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.”—Matthew 6:9.

‘It Cannot Be Supplanted’

While many translators favor the pronunciation Yahweh, the New World Translation and also a number of other translations continue the use of the form Jehovah because of people’s familiarity with it for centuries. Moreover, it preserves, equally with other forms, the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH or JHVH.

“Give thanks to Jehovah, you people! Call upon his name. Make known among the peoples his dealings. Make mention that his name is put on high.”—Isaiah 12:4.

2006-12-02 10:06:51 · answer #3 · answered by Emma 3 · 3 0

Psalms 83:18 "That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth."

So here we see that Jehovah is God alone.

Learn more!
www.watchtower.org

2006-12-02 10:30:00 · answer #4 · answered by Learn about the one true God 3 · 2 0

Jehovah = Yahweh:

Yahweh (the so-called "God" of the bible) was a pagan god.

Yahweh was originally a sky god - a god of thunder and lightning. He was associated with mountains and was called by the enemies of Israel 'a god of the hills'. His manifestation was often as fire, as at Mount Sinai and in the burning bush.

Originally, the four consonants YHWH represented the four members of the Heavenly Family: Y represented El the Father; H was Asherah the Mother; W corresponded to He the Son; and H was the Daughter Anath. In accordance with the royal traditions of the time and region, God's mysterious bride, the Matronit, was also believed to be his sister.

This Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah character once was part of a hierarchy of gods, but he was honored in particular because he was in charge of storms and rain - vital to the survival of a desert people.

Later Yahweh replaced Ra the Egyptian sun god, thanks to the Atenist priest Moses, at which time his image was morphed into a brutal war god. It was then he was elevated to solitary "God" status by the Jews so that they could organize an army and take land, property and slaves for themselves, and, as the situation required it, to claim the divine right to commit atrocities in the name of their 'God'.

2006-12-02 10:02:47 · answer #5 · answered by Sweetchild Danielle 7 · 0 3

God is refered to as "Jehovah" in the Bible, mostly in the Old Testament....just a name the Jewish folks of the day used for God and it is still used today. Same God of the Christians and the Jews.....the only ONE!!

2006-12-02 10:04:33 · answer #6 · answered by Chef Bob 5 · 1 1

The Hebrew national name of God

2006-12-02 10:02:52 · answer #7 · answered by Mark J 1 · 1 1

Jehovah is God's name.

2006-12-03 02:30:26 · answer #8 · answered by nanabe 4 · 1 0

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/11/robertson_says.html

Every location in the Bible where lord is spelled LORD in caps, is where God's name was replaced.

2006-12-02 16:37:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

The name of God - yahweh

2006-12-02 10:01:57 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

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