Why Jehova?

Question

Why do the Jehova witness call "GOD" Jehova, I don't understand, does it say anywhere in the scriptures , or did they just come up with a name?

Answer 1

It is true that the Almighty did not say, "Listen, thousands of years from now when a new language called English comes along, they can pronounce my name as 'Jehovah' and that's fine." Instead, like with any and every personal name, different languages TRANSLATE personal names to fit their lingual tendencies. George becomes "Hor-hey" in Spanish or "Gay-org" in German and no one gets upset.

The name "Jehovah" was not fabricated "from whole cloth" (as it were). As speakers of English find it easier to say "Jesus" than "Yeheshua", so "Jehovah" seems to have originated as an honest attempt 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 different character with the same sound in another language's character set). There is no certainty about how "YHWH" is best pronounced, but 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 is quite enlightening to juxtapose "Yehowah" with "Jehovah". 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

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

In the Hebrew language it is written הוהי. 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.
Nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. 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.
The important thing is the meaning of his name - “He Causes to Become.” In other words, he never fails to fulfill his promises.

Answer 3

Jehovah (or better the Tetragram) is the name of the God of the Old Testament. Due to the commandment to not take the Lord's name in vain, the Hebrews substituted other titles in their Scripture (such as Lord). Most modern translations follow the Hebrew tradition. However, the JW BIble has restored the name Jehovah in the Old Testament, then used it in the New Testament where they found the name Elohim. The back of the JW Bible also lists a few verses where they added the name Jehovah.

Answer 4

It is not only in the scriptures but in Churches and other religious buildings around the world. In decades past they used the name and so did the Catholic Church.
In the modern century they stopped using the name but I seen an old movie with a padre and his donkey on a journey to this mission. During the movie he used the name Jehovah to refer to God numerous times. Any Catholic person that is old will tell you they use to use that name. So if they thought it was God's name then, then what has changed?

Answer 5

First I consulted "Handbook of Biblical Criticism," by Soulen and Soulen, which led me to wikipedia . . . and this is correct.

Godspeed.


Yahweh is a proposed English reading of יהוה, the name of the God of Israel, as preserved in the original consonantal Hebrew Bible text. The four Hebrew consonants are usually transliterated JHWH in German, and YHWH or YHVH or JHWH or JHVH in English. These four Hebrew letters are often collectively called the Tetragrammaton (from the Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning 'four-letter [word]').[1]
Jews do not pronounce the name, but use e.g. HaShem ("The Name"). When Hebrew no longer was a living language, the Masoretes added vowel marks to the consonant text to assist readers. To יהוה they added the vowels for "Adonai" ("Lord"), the word to use when the Bible text is read. Also the Septuagint (Greek translation) and Vulgata (Latin translation) use the word "Lord" (kurios and dominus, respectively).
When Christians, unaware of the Jewish tradition, started to read the Hebrew Bible, they read יְהֹוָה with the Masoretic vowels together with the consonants as written, and obtained Iehouah. Today this transcription is generally recognized as mistaken. Many religious groups continue to use the form Jehovah, because it is familiar and because the correct pronunciation of יהוה is unknown.
Various proposals exist for a vocalization of יהוה. Current convention is יַהְוֶה, that is, Yahweh. The 'Yah' part seems fairly certain, for example from Biblical proper names ending in -ia(h) or -yahu. Early Christian literature written in Greek used spellings like Ιαβε that can be transcribed by 'Yahweh'.
Today many scholars accept this proposal.[2] (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.)

Answer 6

Many Protestants refer to God as Jehova, as well.
The reason is that when the old books were examined, the four letter name kept appearing,,,the Protestant Bible editors of the day, in the 1800s, translated the four letter name as Jehovah.
However, the Jews had always said this four letter name was Yahweh, and the Catholic Bible followed suit, calling God by the name Yahweh.
God is also known in the bible as IAM. There are several references to Him, by name.

Answer 7

This is a long answer, but it really gives the exact answer you are looking for...

IN YOUR copy of the Bible, how is Psalm 83:18 translated? The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures renders this verse: “That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” A number of other Bible translations give similar renderings. However, many translations leave out the name Jehovah, replacing it with such titles as “Lord” or “Eternal.” What belongs in this verse? A title or the name Jehovah?

This verse speaks about a name. In the original Hebrew in which much of the Bible was written, a unique personal name appears here. It is spelled הוהי (YHWH) in Hebrew letters. In English, the common rendering of that name is “Jehovah.” Does that name occur in only one Bible verse? No. It appears in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures nearly 7,000 times!

many claim that the name should not be used because the original way to pronounce it is unknown today. Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels. Therefore, no one today can say for sure exactly how people of Bible times pronounced YHWH. However, should this prevent us from using God’s name? In Bible times, the name Jesus may have been pronounced Yeshua or possibly Yehoshua—no one can say for certain. Yet, people the world over today use different forms of the name Jesus, pronouncing it in the way that is common in their language. They do not hesitate to use the name just because they do not know its first-century pronunciation. Similarly, if you were to travel to a foreign land, you might well find that your own name sounds quite different in another tongue. Hence, uncertainty about the ancient pronunciation of God’s name is no reason for not using it.

a Bible law that states: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.”—Exodus 20:7.

This law forbids the misuse of God’s name. But does it forbid the respectful use of his name? Not at all. The writers of the Hebrew Bible (the “Old Testament”) were all faithful men who lived by the Law that God gave to the ancient Israelites. Yet, they made frequent use of God’s name. For instance, they included it in many psalms that were sung out loud by crowds of worshipers. Jehovah God even instructed his worshipers to call upon his name, and faithful ones obeyed. (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21) Hence, Christians today do not hesitate to use God’s name respectfully, as Jesus surely did.—John 17:26.

In replacing God’s name with titles, Bible translators make a serious mistake. They make God seem remote and impersonal, whereas the Bible urges humans to cultivate “intimacy with Jehovah.” (Psalm 25:14) Think of an intimate friend of yours. How close would you really be if you never learned your friend’s name? Similarly, when people are kept in ignorance about God’s name, Jehovah, how can they become truly close to God?

Answer 8

If you ask what is god's name most people will answer Jesus. When Jesus was teaching folks how to pray the first thing on his outline was to pray to his father, and hold his name sacred. In English his father's name is Jehovah. The term 'god' is a title.
God's name is written in the bible in Exodus 6:3. It would be good for you to read the chapters leading up to it also and the rest of the bible as well.

Answer 9

Maybe this will help you, these scriptures are taken from the "King James Bible."

Exodus 6:3  And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

Psalms 83:18  That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

Isaiah 12:2  Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

Isaiah 26:4  Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

Answer 10

The proper name of God in the Old Testament; hence the Jews called it the name by excellence, the great name, the only name, the glorious and terrible name, the hidden and mysterious name, the name of the substance.

Jehovah is composed of the abbreviated forms of the Hebrew verb "to be" (ye=yehi; ho=howeh; wa=hawah). According to this explanation, the meaning of Jehovah would be "he who will be, is, and has been".

This meaning is reflected in "I shall become who I am becoming" - Ex 6:3.