Where did the word YHWH come from?

Question

Where did the word YHWH come from?
According to history, both the Torah and the Bible were originally written in Aramaic.

As it is, the following aramaic dictionary translates any word from english to aramaic.

http://www.peshitta.org/lexicon/...

Type in the word GOD

What do you see?

So where did the word YHWH come from?

Sorry the link doesnt work on Yahoo

But the dictionary is under:

www.peshitta.org

under Tools>Lexicon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language

Answer 1

AFAIK Aramaic came in to use among the Israelites during the Babylonian exile (not sure but probably around 600BC). Most of the Bible was written before then in ancient Hebrew. However, because the people of Israel living in Babylon picked up Aramaic as their language, the Hebrew Bible was transliterated into the Aramaic script (much like how serbian can be transliterated into croatian).

Some portions of the Old Testament were definitely written in Aramaic. Better consult the experts for the details.

The New Testament as we have it is written in Greek. As much of it was written to Greek-speaking recipients, that was most certainly the original language. However, since Jesus would have spoken Aramaic (for the reason given above), it stands to reason that his teaching as recorded in the New Testament is a translation into Greek.

OK, that cleared up, YHWH comes from the Book of Exodus. When Moses asked God what his name was and what the Israelites were to call him, God answered, "I am that I am". AFAIK YHWH is an abbreviation for that and that's what is used as God's name in the Bible. The Hebrew word for "god" is "El" or "Elohim", and in principle could refer to any type of god, whether the real God or an idol. YHWH is God's name.

If you pick up most English translations of the Bible and look at the Old Testament, the word "God" would be a translation of El or Elohim. However, "LORD" written in captials would be a translation of YHWH. ("Lord" in lower case would of course be a translation of the word for "lord".)

Hope this helps. There are numerous theological dictionaries that would explain this better.

Answer 2

The Torah was NOT originally written in Aramaic. The Torah only refers to what we call Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy - the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Tanach. Only small portions of the book of Daniel and Ezra books written hundreds and hundreds of years after most of what Christians call the Old Testament, were written in Aramaic.

The Torah was originally written in Hebrew, as were every other single book in the Hebrew Bible (except as I said portions of Daniel and some of Ezra).

The word YHWH is an English representation of the Hebrew word with the root meaning of being.

Answer 3

You are wrong about the Bible being written in Aramaic. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. And the New Testament was written in Greek. This term is a Tetragrammaton which was to represent the Hebrew God and was not to be said aloud.

Look up YHWH in Wikipedia and it will tell everything you want to know about the term.

Answer 4

The Tetragrammaton (Greek: τετραγράμματον; "word with four letters") is the usual reference to the Hebrew name for God, which is spelled (in the Hebrew alphabet): י‎ (yodh) ה‎ (heh) ו‎ (vav) ה‎ (heh) or יהוה‎ (reading right to left = YHWH). It is the distinctive personal name of the God of Israel.

Josephus wrote that the sacred name consisted of four vowels. Many sacred name ministries who believe that YHWH consists of four vowels pronounce these four vowels as "ee-ah-oo-eh" and believe that indicates God's name was either "Yahweh" or "Yahuweh". It is claimed that the Greek transcription "ιαουε" would have been pronounced "Yah-oo-eh". (Iota is used as both a vowel and a semi-vowel.) "Clement of Alexandria spelled the Tetragrammaton (Ya-oo-ai),(Ya-oo-eh)and (Ya-oh). In none of these is the central oo or oh vowel omitted", which is 'omitted in the name Yahweh.' [8] However, since there was no letter in the Classical Greek alphabet for a [w] sound, the letter combination ου was sometimes used to transcribe a [w] sound in words borrowed from foreign languages into ancient Greek.

Another tradition regards the name as coming from three different verb forms sharing the same root YWH, the words HYH haya היה‎: "He was"; HWH howê הוה‎: "He is"; and YHYH yihiyê יהיה‎: "He will be". This is supposed to show that God is timeless, as some have translated the name as "The Eternal One". Other interpretations include the name as meaning "I am the One Who Is." This can be seen in the traditional Jewish account of the "burning bush" commanding Moses to tell the sons of Israel that "I AM (אהיה‎) has sent you." (Exodus 3:13-14) Some suggest: "I AM the One I AM" אהיה אשר אהיה‎, or "I AM whatever I need to become". This may also fit the interpretation as "He Causes to Become." Many scholars believe that the most proper meaning may be "He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists" or "He who causes to exist".

In Smith's " A Dictionary of the Bible" [published in 1863] William Smith notes 5 that Wilhelm Gesenius punctuated YHWH as "יַהְוֶה‎" (see image to the right)
VR

Answer 5

I do not need your dictionary. The word YHWH comes from the word Yahweh which is a Holy name for God that Jews used thousands of years ago. They also used Elohim, Adonoy, Adoshem, Mellech Haolum. All these were lesser names to Yahweh which was used rarely. Jesus was a Nuvy (Holy man) and some called him Rebbeh.

Answer 6

It was the the true name of God which was said to be to holy to even be spoken. Modern translators added vowels though so it could be pronounced as Yahweh. Some speculate that it was not the original name of God however and believe it refers to an old Hebrew war god who had a son named Yehoshua. Either way it is pretty old and I believe it originated from the oldest Hebrew texts.

Hope that helps it's all I know

Answer 7

Before I share with you the theory that I have found most convincing, I need to give a little bit of linguistic background:

Semitic languages generally share several characteristics. The first of which is that most use the same 22 letter alphabet (with some exceptions like Akkadian, Arabic and Ethiopic) that is completely made up of consonants. Vowels in the ancient world that used this alphabet were not written down, and in order to read written semitic languages you had to have a grasp of the language to anticipate them.

Another very important feature in that all general words are formed from three letter roots. For example, the root from the three letters Meem-Shin-Khet (M-S[H]-KH) means "to anoint." For example we see:

MoSHiaKH - in Hebrew
MSHeeKHa - in Aramaic
MaSiKH - in Arabic

Now, two of the letters in this alphabet that are shared universally that are important to know are Alef and He.

Alef (I'll transliterate it as "A"), originally was a form of glottal stop (like a pause between the vowels), but later on became a silent letter, taking on whatever vowel would fall on it.

He is almost identical to our "H" (and I will transliterate it as such).

With these things in mind, the best etymological theory that I have been able to find is that it comes from an ancient semitic form of the word "to be."

YHWH (Yod-He-Waw-He) as recorded in the most ancient manuscripts is without vowel points. This is an unfortunate fact as pronouncing the tetragrammaton is taboo in traditional Judaism, for fear of saying in vain and breaking on of the 10 Commandments.

However, in some manuscripts, such as in the Massoretic textual tradition, we see that it is preserved as YeHWaH. This pronounciation and array of letters is -very- similar to the Aramaic form of the 3rd person imperfect (closest to our future tense) of the verb HWA, i.e. : YeHWaA = "He will be"

In eastern and western semitic languages, the letter He (H) and the letter Alef (A) tended to be interchanged. For example, certain verbal forms in Hebrew begin with He where the same cognate Aramaic verbal forms begin with Alef. Words with an ending "ah" sound end with a He in Hebrew and with an Alef in Aramaic, etc.

As such, YHWH may come from an older form of the word for "He will be" that is neither Aramaic nor Hebrew.

Evidence for this theory comes from the Book of Exodus:

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses:

“EHYEH ASHER EHYEH,”
(Hebrew, literally, for "I will be who I will be")

and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: "

YHWH
(possible old semitic for "He will be")

has sent me to you.”

Remember that this is still a theory, but the best one that I have heard. :-)

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Actually, the Torah was written in classical Hebrew, not Aramaic. Further, YHVH is the shortened form of "I AM WHO AM" not 'God'.

god is not a name. Do you think the French Christians call the deity you believe in God? NO! They call him Deus. The Italians call him Dio. Germans call it Gott. Christian Arabs call him Allah (yes, CHRISTIAN Arabs).

Answer 10

Actually, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic (A few chapters in Daniel), and Koine Greek.

In Hebrew (And Aramaic incidentally) both of which I study, there are no written vowels. The entire language is built on consants, and the reader is left to fill in the vowels. For example. When you see BLDG what do you think? Building right? That's the way their entire language worked. (See the Dead See Scrolls link I provided below) Only a thousand years ago they came up with a "vowel point" system to represent vowels if wanted. But even today, no vowels need to be written in Hebrew.

YHWH is the personal name of God. God is only a title. God, in Hebrew, is 'el. However, the Bible states that 'El or "God's" name is YHWH. (Psalms 83:18 in the original Hebrew).

"that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth." - Psalms 83:18 - Worlds English Bible.

YHWH is thought to stand for the pronunciation "Yahweh". That is the vowels that seem to fit.

Thus, as the Son of God's name was "Jesus", not just "Man" or "Son of God". Those were his titles. Jesus is his name.

The personal name of God, is Yahweh, in Hebrew. In English, It's Jehovah. In Russian: Yegovah. In Spanish: Jehova', etc. Just as Jesus name to his friends was probably Yeshua, or Yehoshua. In English, it's Jesus. Same thing. The name is transliterated.

Regardless of what the original vowels were, what is truly important, as the Bible teaches, is the meaning behind that name. The name means: "He shall become whatsoever he shall need to become". Presumably, meaning that he can become whatsoever he needs to beome to fulfill his purpose. Throughout the Bible, especially in Ezekiel, he states over and over again, the insistance of using his personal name, and that everyone should know it, stating:

"Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I don't do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." - Ezekiel 36:22,23 - Worlds English Bible.

"Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." - Ezekiel 36:22,23 - American Standard Version

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Not for YOUR sakes am I doing [it], O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which YOU have profaned among the nations where YOU have come in.”’ ‘And I shall certainly sanctify my great name, which was being profaned among the nations, which YOU profaned in the midst of them; and the nations will have to know that I am Jehovah,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘when I am sanctified among YOU before their eyes" - Ezekiel 36:22,23 - New World Translation

"Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Not for your sake am I working, O house of Israel, But -- for My holy name, That ye have polluted among nations whither ye have gone in. And I have sanctified My great name, That is profaned among nations, That ye have polluted in your midst, And known have the nations that I [am] Jehovah, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In My being sanctified in you before your eyes. ," - Ezekiel 36:22,23 - Youngs Literal Translation

Many Bible translations take this name out altogether, and replace it in their Bible with LORD in all capital letters. This isn't to give respect to the Lord, but to show they are replacing the divine name, with LORD. Most forwards to those Bibles will explain that.

Although in the original Bible texts (See the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the link I provided below) the name appeared almost 7,000 times.. But a few still keep it. The Worlds English Bible keeps it. As does the Revised Standard Version, the New World Translation, Youngs Literal Translation, and others.