Why do the Jewish people hold to the tradition...?

Question

of not speaking the Creator's Name when the scriptures clearly command us to praise His Name and tell us that His Name is His memorial "Zacharyah". By the way, I am not Jehovah's Witness "Jehovah" is not His Name, just a tragic mistranslation of the tetragramaton by ignorant and quarrelsome European scholars.

Hey, mzJakes: I stand corrected, the word is "transliterate", thank you.

However, There is clear evidence that the name is and was pronounced (yah-weh) and was not, originally reserved for either the Temple, the Priesthood or even the Hebrew people in particular.

Umm, attagirl, do we need to have a talk about tradition vs. Torah?

Answer 1

First I would like to commend you on your research and presentation. It shows you put in many hours of research into what you feel is an important issue.

I must agree that the name of the Most High Supreme Being is the most important issue a person can consider.

• Joel, Peter and Paul said that those who call upon His name will be saved.

• Jesus taught that His name was to be hallowed or holy.

• Jesus said he made God’s name known.

Adding to these reasons are God’s own commandments concerning the use and misuse of His name.

I must say at this time that after reading your arguments several times I’m more confused than enlightened.

From my reading of your comment and my research, I have come to understand that Yahweh is an educated guess on how the Holy name was pronounced in Hebrew. But no matter how educated that guess is it can still be just as wrong as it is correct. The important point concerning Yahweh (vs Yehwah) to any other combination of vowels is that Yahweh is the generally accepted form of the Hebrew name.

Next you discussed that it was improper to use Jehovah in English translations and improper for general use by Christians and I’m assuming non Christians because at best it was only the accepted English translation of the Hebrew name for God.

I asked a friend whose hobby is creating a catalog of English versions and translations of the Bible. How many of the 1600 plus English bibles in his catalog use Jehovah and how many use Yahweh? His answer was that Jehovah is used in over a hundred different bibles and Yahweh is used but not in as many translations as the name Jehovah.

Then I opened my Spanish copy of the Bible and to my surprise Matthew wasn’t Matthew but Mateo, Peter was Pedro, Luke was Lucas. I did find Jesus as Jesus but it is pronounced as “Hay-soos” and not Jesus. And instead of finding Yahweh I found Jehová.

I hope you can see my dilemma, if Jehovah is wrong in English why didn’t the Spanish translator know this concerning his translation into Spanish, and why were so many English Bible translators in error?

Next I went to my Greek interlinear and you can imagine my further confusion and surprise when I found that Jesus wasn’t Jesus but Iesouś. So in desperation I went to my Bible Encyclopedia and it proceeded to tell me that Jesus’ name was probably Yeshua, Yehosua or Yehohshua in Hebrew.

So according to your arguments we have not only been insulting Yahweh (Jehovah), but we have also insulted Jesus, or Iesouś, or Yeshua, or Yehosua or Yehohshua. This is a scary thought.
(Jesus’ Hebrew name could point to God’s name being spelled as Yehowuah)

Not only am I confused but the other day I went up to my friend and mentioned that I was reading in the books of Yirmeyahu and Yesayahu, and he was more confused than I was because all he said was “Huh!?” (Jeremiah & Isaiah) (These spellings could point to God’s name being spelled as Yahuweh)

Then I remembered the wise counsel my grade school English teacher taught me when she said “Ain’t ain’t a word cause ain’t ain’t in the dictionary.” (Actually it is now, with a note that through usage it has become acceptable in verbal conversation but not in the written form) So getting out my College dictionary under the word “Jehovah” it stated: “God’s name in Christian translations of the Old Testament. (equal to the Hebrew word Yahweh)” Then I looked up “Yahweh” in my dictionary and it wasn’t listed. This created a moment of further dismay until I realized that I had an English dictionary and not a Hebrew dictionary.

I believe that Jehovah “is the most accepted name of God in English”

So when I speak to people in English I use Jesus and Jehovah,
When I speak to my friends in Spanish I use Jesus (Hay-soos) and Jehová,
and if I could speak to people in Hebrew I would use Yeshua and Yahweh.

In all seriousness the greatest tragedy that a Bible Translator can do is knowingly replace a known word with a wrong word to further his or her own belief. In the case of Yahweh or Jehovah, both represent the personal name of God, which He has chosen. Is a bible translator wrong if he chooses one name over another? No, is a bible translator wrong when he uses LORD? Yes, this translator has chosen to remove God’s Name from His Word. The original writers of the bible, and the True Author of the Bible knows the difference between His Name and the title Lord, and if He had wanted to use a title He would have placed it in the text, which He had done on numerous occasions where Lord is the correct translation.

Not only is the replacing of God’s name with a title an error in translation, it also invalidates God’s Word. This has lead to many misconceptions concerning who God really is. The book of Revelation contains strong warning about changing God’s Word. My prayer would be that all 1600 plus English Bibles contain Jehovah or Yawheh in all of the approximately 7000 locations it occurs.

It is a shame when one modern day translating committee said that to use God’s name instead of LORD would have doomed the sales of their translation to just a few bible scholars and a few serious bible students. This comment testifies to the sad state of bible knowledge that has resulted from leaving God’s name out of the bible.

Imagine opening a Bible and finding that the name Jesus had been removed and the title “Anointed One” had been inserted. So in turning to the Preface of this translation we read “Since we the translators believe in the trinity, we believe that Jesus is the name of God. Hence we feel that the first four commandments of the Ten Commandments now apply to this Name of the Son of God. It is for the following three reasons we have taken the name Jesus out of our bible: First, Jesus is not the correct Hebrew name of the Son of God, second we can not accurately confirm which name is correct, and third we do not want any to miss use His Name, even by accident. Therefore in keeping with accepted translation traditions we have replaced it with a title. We feel that ‘Anointed One’ adequately describes Jesus and is an acceptable replacement to His Name. A second reason we have chosen to use ‘Anointed One’(Jesus) instead of LORD (YHWH) is so as not to confuse which name of God the original Bible writers meant to use.”

Where does it end?

Answer 2

Jews do not pronounce his name because it is forbidden to utter his exact name, unless you are a high priest in the holy temple in Jerusalem. Since it was destroyed, one cannot say his name, and the exact pronunciation has been lost through time.

It considered blasphemous to mispronounce, erase or defame the lord's name...so it isn't done. G-d has many names that Jews do pronounce in and out of prayer, appropriately. This is a really shortened and admittedly somewhat ignorant, (I am no great scholar) explanation.

Answer 3

To use God's name correctly, one must be able to say it correctly, at the proper time and with the proper intention....otherwise, it is uttering God's name in vain....a serious sin.

As the exact pronounciation was ever only known to a few at any time and passed down orally to a few in the succeeding generations, most have no real clue how to pronounce it. So we don't.

Btw: to be more accurate, 'Jehovah' is a mistransliteration, it is not a translation.

Answer 4

Originally I believe it was because of not wanting to treat God's name in "vain" - they developed such an extreme reverence for the name, they considered YHWH too holy to pronounce.

However, it seems now that they also don't even write "God", they write "G-d", so it's my guess that after the name was lost, "God" became his "name" to them and they transferred the same reverence to God as they had to YHWH.

That's my best guess. I'm not Jewish and don't really know, but I found your question interesting because I've wondered the same thing.

Answer 5

Some Jews follow the tradition on using God's name uttered in the burning bush (Yahweh), but others believed that God's name was so sacred, so holy, that they dare not speak it. They called upon Him as God (Eli).

Answer 6

Why are you all talking about God? I thought this question was about Yahweh.

Answer 7

because the Buddha said leave well alone?