The name Jehovah is a medieval misreading ?

Question

The MOST famous name for God in the OT is called the Sacred Tetragrammaton –It is YHWH.

Yahweh was changed into Jehovah by Christians -- Mark 12:29

Harpers Bible Dictionary says that the name JEHOVAH was "the result of the translators' ignorance of the Hebrew language and customs" (1985 edition , p. 1036)

Jehovah is a mistaken name of YHWH.

The Book "World Religions From Ancient History to the Present" says : "The name Jehovah is a medieval misreading and does not occur in the Hebrew Bible" (edited by Geoffrey Parrinder, p. 386)

The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible says the name Jehovah is "an artificial name" (vol. 2, p.817)

Asimovs Guide to the Bible says that the name Jehovah "arose by mistake" (vol 1, p. 135). The author further says : "This mistake has persisted and will probably continue to persist" (p.135)

"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 "Adonai". From this came the spelling Lehouah, and eventually Jehovah ...(pg. 8 ,Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1984)

"The truth is , nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced". -(page 7- Watchtower Bible and Tract Soceity, 1984.)

The name Yahweh is derived from the statement God made to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Moses asked God as to what his name was and he got the reply -- "ehyeh esher ehyeh" .

The editors of the NEW JERUSALEM BIBLE explain this as : "The Hebrew can be translated literally 'I am what I am' , which would mean that GOD did not wish to reveal his name to them" (p. 85)

"The truth is , nobody knows for sure how the name of God was pronounced" (Pg. 7 - Watchtower Bible and Tract Society)

Answer 1

Yahweh is just as much a guess as Jehovah considering that there are no written vowel sounds in YHWH.

Answer 2

Both "Yahweh" and "Jehovah" seek to enunciate "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, a Roman letter used in English is used to denote the sound of each Hebrew character).

So, it certainly SEEMS that "Yahweh" (which undeniably includes Y, H, W, and H) would 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 3

You are correct no one knows exactly how YHWH was pronounced. Just as scholars say that it is not correct many say it is. The argument will continue . There were no written vowles in ancient Hebrew theu had to be added by the reader. Jehovah just followes the convention of all other Hebrew names that start with J Job Jerimiah Johnadab Joshua Jakim Jemimah Jezabel Jerusalem etc So the English form Jehovah has been accepted for many centuries, Yahweh would possibley be closer, but then we would have to change all the Bibles with all the other J names would we not? So Jehovah is the most widely accepted form in English, why change it/

Answer 4

The Jewish High Priest spoke the name of God only once a year in the Temple Holy of Holies. After the destruction of the Temple how to say the name was forgotten.
The average Jew didn't necessarily know this name, it was for the High Priest.
Jehovah was an attempt to reconstruct the Aramiac or ancient Hebrew dialect. Biblical scholars believe that Yahweh or YHWH is the way it was to be said. One thing that is clear is that Jahovah is wrong.

Answer 5

Nelson's Bible Dictionary gives a more pleasant defintion of the english name for the tetragrammation.

There is holes in every paragraph you wrote. For instance---"The editors of the NEW JERUSALEM BIBLE explain this as : "The Hebrew can be translated literally 'I am what I am' , which would mean that GOD did not wish to reveal his name to them" (p. 85) . " That's wrong, because, just a few verses later, the tetragrammation is used, rather than ehyeh esher ehyeh

Jehovah is the english pronoucement for the tetragrammation, just like Yahweh is the jewish prouncement for it. The chinese has there own language use for YHWH just like other ethnic groups and languages.

Answer 6

I am not saying here that all religions are speaking of the same god. But:
Allah: is the Islamic word for 'god'
Jehovah: is the English translation (whether correct or incorrect) of Yahweh, and (now) means 'god'
Yahweh: (whether correctly or incorrectly translated) means 'god'
YHWH: means 'god'

I could continue but all the translations are for the same word: god.

What is important is how the word is used and what the word defines. When someone says Allah, we know they are referring to Islam. When someone says Jehovah, we know they are referring to the Old Testament God (Christians also use the reference "The Father"). The reference is used in respect to this entity and should be remembered as such. Christians refer to "the name above all names" and it is insinuated that this name is Jesus, but Jesus' name is only a reference to the person and as such 'Jesus' may have a 'true' name that is "above all names".

I'm not undermining any religion here and I am not trying to put more into this than there really is. My point is simple: It's what the 'name' represents that is important, not the name itself.

Answer 7

God's Name is essential to salvation.

God Himself says so at Joel 2:32, and Christ's apostles quote Joel's verse in Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13. Many Bible translations will say "the Lord" here, but in the original Hebrew of Joel's book it is YHWH, "Jehovah."

The original Hebrew pronunciation of God's Name may not be lost completely. Many Karaite Jews even today pronounce the Name as "Yehovah" in Hebrew. Karaite scholar Nehemiah Gordon has written extensively about this.

As for "Yahweh", that is only a scholarly guess or reconstruction, according to the Anchor Bible Dictionary (Volume 6, page 1011). Other scholars, like George Wesley Buchanan of Wesley Theological Seminary, have written that the original Hebrew pronunciation was "Yahowah," having 3 syllables, not 2 as in "Yahweh." (Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, March/April 1995)

So, "Jehovah" in English is not a "fictitious name." It is a very good English approximation of what the original Hebrew was likely to be: "Yehovah" or "Yahowah."

Hebrew does not have a "J" but that is really irrelevant. We speak English, and in English Bibles the Hebrew "Y" is represented by the English "J". In our English Bibles we have "John," not "Yochanan." We have "Jesus," not "Yeshua." We have "Jeremiah," not "Yirmeyahu." And so on. So it is with "Jehovah." Other languages put God's Name in the regular form for that language.

The first Christians often used the Greek Septuagint Bible. That Bible spelled Hebrew names according to the Greek form, and that was fine for Christians speaking Greek. They did not have to use entirely Hebrew spellings for names in Greek. Nor do we have to speak English according to an entirely Hebrew spelling.

What is fundamentally important is that we recognize that God has a personal Name that He Himself revealed to mankind through the pages of the Holy Bible. If God had wanted us to refer to Him merely as Lord or God, he would not have put his Name in the Hebrew Scriptures some 7,000 times.

Answer 8

The name Jehovah is the Most Widely know and USED ENGLISH name for God PRIMARILY because of the POPULARITY of the English Bible Translation called the KING JAMES VERSION ! ! !

In the KJV of the Bible the name JEHOVAH IS is used 4 different times in the OLD TESTAMENT (Exodus 6:3, etc )
The KJV has been around since 1611; so for hundreds of years ENGLISH SPEAKING people have HAVE THOUGHT of Jehovah as being GOD'S NAME

And you know the OLD Saying " Its THE THOUGHT That COUNTS" ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. NICE TRY !

Answer 9

your best bet would be to ask a non-practicing jew. noone knows the old testament better. observant jews won't say the name out loud- to do so is considered blasphemy under jewish law. but yes, the tetragrammation you listed is correct. ''Jehovah'' is the result of a german mistranslation.

also, i'm pretty sure i read that when Christ was crucified, the tetragrammation was placed on the sign over the cross. this is one of the big reasons the pharisees wanted it taken down. ''King of the jews'' was abbreviated to ''YHWH'' (the word ''yehudi'' means ''jews''... i can't remember the rest). we can't know for a fact that it's true, since it's not in the bible, but i can see how it would be likely, since it was the romans who put it there, and they wouldn't have had much respect for jewish custom.

Answer 10

Nope. but if it were true, all it is a spelling mistake. It doesnt mean the teaches of Yahweh is more or less true.