Hey Jehovah's Witnesses did you know that scholars have learned the correct pronunciation is closer to Yahweh?

Question

So why don't you realize that the name of your church comes from poor scholarship and change it to Yahweh's Witnesses?

Answer 1

Both "Yahweh" and "Jehovah" seek to pronounce "the Tetragrammaton", which is the four-Hebrew-letter expression used in the bible (and elsewhere) to express the Divine Name of Almighty God (the Father). The four Hebrew characters are generally transliterated as "YHWH" (that is, each Hebrew character is directly replaced by a seemingly corresponding character in another character set such as Roman which English uses).

So, it certainly SEEMS that Yahweh (which undeniably includes Y, H, W, and H) would more accurately pronounce the Tetragrammaton as it was pronounced by the ancient Hebrews. However, there is an enormous "but"...

Other common Hebrew names actually include the divine name WITHIN them, giving hints as to its original pronunciation. Increasingly, scholars are leaning toward a pronunciation similar to the three-syllable "Yehowah" rather than two-syllable "Yahweh".

If "Yehowah" is close to the correct pronunciation, then it becomes a much more subjective answer about whether "Yehowah" is more similar to "Jehovah" or "Yahweh". Many or most English speakers are likely to embrace the pronunciation which their predecessors embraced at least four hundred years ago.

"Jehovah".

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

Answer 2

Some wonderful and well-researched responses to this question have been given all around, including the line of reasoning that even those who insist upon Yahweh as the proper pronunciation still continue to refrain from using it. But no professed Christian refrains from using the name Jesus even though that is clearly not the way his name was pronounced. In the common Greek of the day, it would be Iesous. And in the Hebrew, it would be, as others have pointed out, Yeshua. But no one calls him that. Shall every professed Christian change his acknowledgment to reflect: "My Lord and Savior Yeshua Christ," or "My Lord and Savior Iesous Christ"? Probably not.

Continuing, if there is some perceived inaccuracy with the "J", then we would have to change countless names: Jehubbah would become Yehubba; Jehud would become Yehud; Joshua would become Yehoshua and on and on for the dozens of Hebrew names found in the Hebrew Scriptures that begin with the letter "J." But no one seems to mind about these names. How curious that the disturbance arises when we come to the name of the Most High God. Could it be that the disturbance itself is more telling than the inability to properly pronounce?

Hannah J Paul

Answer 3

If that is true, do YOU use it? Or do you still say "God" or "Lord"?

Within the last century, however, Bible scholars have preferred the pronunciation “Yahweh,” generally agreeing that this is more nearly the way the Name was pronounced in the original Hebrew. But most people do not speak Hebrew today. They speak other languages. Therefore, when we speak English, for example, it is appropriate to use the English pronunciation of the Divine Name, which is “Jehovah.” This form faithfully preserves the sounds of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. In other languages the Divine Name is pronounced differently, although quite similarly most of the time.

Answer 4

Well actually this is not all that new.

"Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name. “Jehovah” is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although “Yahweh” is favored by most Hebrew scholars. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts present the name in the form of four consonants, commonly called the Tetragrammaton (from Greek te‧tra-, meaning “four,” and gram′ma, “letter”). These four letters (written from right to left) are הוהי and may be transliterated into English as YHWH (or, JHVH)."


I have to ask you though, do you use "Yeshua" instead of the more common English word "Jesus" when referring to the Son of God?

Answer 5

If it is accepted tha most scholars claim the correct pronunciation of God's name is Yahweh .... then what group or translation or Bible translator is going to take the lead and restore God's name in their text ? Probably none.
As for the arguement that the original language or alphabet had no J .... this is true but then you would have to correct every word beginning with J ..... jew .... Jerusalem ..... Jesus ... Elijah ....

Even when you look at the name Eli-jah .... you see that many names in the Bible consistantly use the same forms or different forms of words or names which are closely translated and similar.

The name Jehovah seems consistant with many of the other similar English -tranlated names.

Answer 6

because of the fact they did no longer understand that the letter “J” did no longer exist till many centuries after the hot testomony became written. The call “Jehovah” is an attempt to transliterate the Hebrew consonants YHWH, the sacred “tetragrammaton” it somewhat is got here across interior the Hebrew textual content cloth which the previous testomony of the King James Bible is in line with. As God's call became understood via Jews to be too holy to be pronounced, the letters YHWH have been used, and the word “Adonai,” meaning “Lord” became written below it, or substituted for it, and is in lots of cases held via pupils that in the process time, the vowels from Adonai grew to become inserted into YHWH, the “a” turning out to be to be an “e” and the “y” turning out to be to be “j” and “v” getting used for “w”. The letter “J” did no longer exist till many centuries after the hot testomony became written, and Yahweh is often held to be the extra maximum suitable attempt at transliteration. although, God does used translations, because of the fact the hot testomony has words translated into Greek, and the call call that God has declared souls are saved via, baptized via, healed via, and called via, is Jesus Christ, or Yehoshua M?šîa? from Hebrew, and I?soûs. Khristós from Greek.

Answer 7

Jehovah has been the accepted English translation of the tetragrammaton for centuries, long before Jehovah's Witnesses took the name.

Your going back to the same old thing that the Jews did and took God's name out of the scriptures because they were afraid they would use it in vain. Now you want to not use it because we might not pronounce it right. Don't you think God has had a hand in how his name is pronounced. If it doesn't bother Jehovah, why should it bother you?

Answer 8

Its the same thing Jehovah is Yahweh and Yahweh is Jehovah Just like Jesus is like son of God and the son of God Is Jesus

Answer 9

I don't happen to be a Jehovah's witness. I do believe that the name Jehovah is a construct by John Wycliffe when he translated the English bible because the early Hebrew characters did not include vowels and the letters were J (Y)HV(W)H. And the Name of God YHWH (meaning I AM THAT I AM, or the Perpetually existing One), was so sacred in the Jewish religion that they NEVER pronounced the name! so then, why does it matter to you how anyone pronounces it if the Jews never pronounced it, how do you know HOW or CARE how it is or was pronounced in the Hebrew. We are not talking hebrew here, we are speaking English and Jehovah is a very legitimate and tradtionally used name in the English bibles and in the Christian Church. I personally try to avoid too much repetition of the names of God and prefer instead, as Christ said, when I pray to address Him as FATHER. God knows His name in ANY language. I can preach or pray or praise and worship in English and God hears and honors me in that. Or if I choose to pray in another language using His name in another language, He will hear me and honor that.

Answer 10

“Jehovah” or “Yahweh”?

“MONGREL,” “hybrid,” “monstrous.” What would cause Biblical Hebrew scholars to use such emphatic terms? At issue is whether “Jehovah” is a proper English pronunciation of God’s name. For over one hundred years, this controversy has raged. Today, most scholars seem to favor the two-syllable “Yahweh.” But is the pronunciation “Jehovah” really so “monstrous”?

At the Root of the Controversy

According to the Bible, God himself revealed his name to humankind. (Exodus 3:15) Scriptural evidence shows that God’s ancient servants freely used that name. (Genesis 12:8; Ruth 2:4) God’s name was known by other nations as well. (Joshua 2:9) This was especially true after the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon came into contact with peoples of many nations. (Psalm 96:2-10; Isaiah 12:4; Malachi 1:11) The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says: “There is considerable evidence that in the postexilic period many foreigners were attracted to the religion of the Jews.” However, by the first century C.E., a superstition about God’s name had developed. Eventually, not only did the Jewish nation stop using God’s name openly but some even forbade pronouncing it at all. Its correct pronunciation was thus lost—or was it?

What Is in a Name?

In the Hebrew language, God’s name is written הוהי. These four letters, which are read from right to left, are commonly called the Tetragrammaton. Many names of people and places mentioned in the Bible contain an abbreviated form of the divine name. Is it possible that these proper names can provide some clues as to how God’s name was pronounced?

According to George Buchanan, professor emeritus at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., the answer is yes. Professor Buchanan explains: “In ancient times, parents often named their children after their deities. That means that they would have pronounced their children’s names the way the deity’s name was pronounced. The Tetragrammaton was used in people’s names, and they always used the middle vowel.”

Consider a few examples of proper names found in the Bible that include a shortened form of God’s name. Jonathan, which appears as Yoh·na·than′ or Yehoh·na·than′ in the Hebrew Bible, means “Yaho or Yahowah has given,” says Professor Buchanan. The prophet Elijah’s name is ’E·li·yah′ or ’E·li·ya′hu in Hebrew. According to Professor Buchanan, the name means: “My God is Yahoo or Yahoo-wah.” Similarly, the Hebrew name for Jehoshaphat is Yehoh-sha·phat′, meaning “Yaho has judged.”

A two-syllable pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton as “Yahweh” would not allow for the o vowel sound to exist as part of God’s name. But in the dozens of Biblical names that incorporate the divine name, this middle vowel sound appears in both the original and the shortened forms, as in Jehonathan and Jonathan. Thus, Professor Buchanan says regarding the divine name: “In no case is the vowel oo or oh omitted. The word was sometimes abbreviated as ‘Ya,’ but never as ‘Ya-weh.’ . . . When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one syllable it was ‘Yah’ or ‘Yo.’ When it was pronounced in three syllables it would have been ‘Yahowah’ or ‘Yahoowah.’ If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been ‘Yaho.’”—Biblical Archaeology Review.

These comments help us understand the statement made by 19th-century Hebrew scholar Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: “Those who consider that הוהי [Ye-ho-wah] was the actual pronunciation [of God’s name] are not altogether without ground on which to defend their opinion. In this way can the abbreviated syllables והי [Ye-ho] and וי [Yo], with which many proper names begin, be more satisfactorily explained.”

Nevertheless, in the introduction to his recent translation of The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox points out: “Both old and new attempts to recover the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the Hebrew name [of God] have not succeeded; neither the sometimes-heard ‘Jehovah’ nor the standard scholarly ‘Yahweh’ can be conclusively proven.”

No doubt the scholarly debate will continue. Jews stopped pronouncing the name of the true God before the Masoretes developed the system of vowel pointing. Thus, there is no definitive way to prove which vowels accompanied the consonants YHWH (הוהי). Yet, the very names of Biblical figures—the correct pronunciation of which was never lost—provide a tangible clue to the ancient pronunciation of God’s name. On this account, at least some scholars agree that the pronunciation “Jehovah” is not so “monstrous” after all.