Christian scholars say the name Jehovah is a fabrication or mistake ?

Question

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)

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)

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

Jehovah is a mistaken name of YHWH. In fact nobody on the EARTH knows how to pronounce IT !

"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.)

Answer 1

Usage determines pronunciation.

Notice what these 'scholars' say about Jehovah:

German professor Gustav Friedrich Oehler discussed various pronunciations and concluded: “From this point onward I use the word Jehovah, because, as a matter of fact, this name has now become more naturalized in our vocabulary, and cannot be supplanted.”—Theologie des Alten Testaments (Theology of the Old Testament), second edition, published in 1882, page 143.

Similarly, in his Grammaire de l’hébreu biblique (Grammar of Biblical Hebrew), 1923 edition, in a footnote on page 49, Jesuit scholar Paul Joüon states: “In our translations, instead of the (hypothetical) form Yahweh, we have used the form Jéhovah . . . which is the conventional literary form used in French.”

The Jerusalem Bible, though preferring “Yahweh” to “Jehovah,” makes a strong point for using it instead of “Lord.” The preface of that translation states: “To say, ‘The Lord is God’ is surely a tautology [a needless repetition], as to say ‘Yahweh is God’ is not.”

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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.

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 you stated it correctly when you said 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.

.

Answer 2

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 3

Not all scholars say / believe that.
'That'..being what u said.
I don't have to go look it up, bc TeeM already gave it up.
I will add, that while it is true No one knows exactly
how God's name YHWH is pronounced.
Bc the Israelites stopped saying the name;
out if their own superstition.
This alone, does not mean we (mankind) should not use
His divine name.
He had it included in the inspired Scriptures,
FOR US TO KNOW & USE.
Scholars have agreed on 2 spellings of the divine name. Yahweh & Jehovah.
Jehovah being more well known around the world.
And in most Bibles @ Ps 83:18 & Ex 6:3,
some have footnotes regarding His divine name,
@ these texts.

edit:
LineDancer...
Good! One!!!!!!!!!!!
I vote B/A!

Answer 4

If you are going to take issue with "Jehovah" being the accepted name of God in English, take a look at God's name in other languages:

Awabakal - Yehóa
Bugotu - Jihova
Cantonese - Yehwowah
Danish - Jehova
Dutch - Jehovah
Efik - Jehovah
English - Jehovah
Fijian - Jiova
Finnish - Jehova
French - Jéhovah
Futuna - Ihova
German - Jehova
Hungarian - Jehova
Igbo - Jehova
Italian - Geova
Japanese - Ehoba
Maori - Ihowa
Motu - Iehova
Mwala-Malu - Jihova
Narrinyeri - Jehovah
Nembe - Jihova
Petats - Jihouva
Polish - Jehowa
Portuguese - Jeová
Romanian - Iehova
Samoan - Ieova
Sotho - Jehova
Spanish - Jehová
Swahili - Yehova
Swedish - Jehova
Tahitian - Iehova
Tagalog - Jehova
Tongan - Jihova
Venda - Yehova
Xhosa - uYehova
Yoruba - Jehofah
Zulu - uJehova

Answer 5

YHWH is Hebrew, Jehovah is the recognised English equivalent. I doubt any english words would appear in the earliest available texts.

If you apply this to Jehovah, then the same goes for Noah, Moses, Abraham, etc. but do scholars dispute those pronunciations?

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Also, where are you getting your Watchtower Bible and Tract Society quotes from? Page 7 & 8? Of what?

Answer 6

The word Jehovah has been created by adding the vowel signs for Adonai to YHWH. The first time the Tetragrammaton appeared in an English Bible was on the title page of William Tyndale's Bible translation of 1525, where it was written as Iehouah. This was an interlace of YHVH and Adonai. The King James Version also originally used Iehouah, influenced by the Ben Chayim codex. The King James Bible changed the spelling to Jehovah for the 1762-1769 edition.

Revised Standard Version pp.6-7 "The form Jehovah is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. The sound of Y is represented by J and the sound of W by V, as in Latin. The word "Jehovah" does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew."

It is unfortunate, that the name was transliterated into German and ultimately into English as Jehovah, for this conflate form represents the vowels of Adonai superimposed on the consonants of Yahweh, and it was never intended by the Jews to be read as Yehowah (or Jehovah). The Jewish Encyclopaedia explains;

"A mispronunciation (introduced by Christian theologians, but almost entirely disregarded by the Jews) of the Hebrew "Yhwh," the (ineffable) name of God (the Tetragrammaton or "Shem ha-Meforash"). This pronunciation is grammatically impossible; it arose through pronouncing the vowels of the "?ere" (marginal reading of the Masorites: "Adonay") with the consonants of the "ketib" (text-reading: "Yhwh")" http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=206&letter=J (25/9/2005)

Combining YHWH with Adonai is referred to as interlacing, fusing or superimposing. It could hardly be considered accurate or respectful. The illogical fusion of the sacred Name with the vowel points of another name is shown in the preface to The J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible:

"To give the name JHVH the vowels of the word for Lord [Heb. Adonai], is about as hybrid a combination as it would be to spell the name Germany with the vowels in the name Portugal - viz., Gormuna. The monstrous combination Jehovah is not older than about 1520 A.D."

Answer 7

In Biblical times names HAD MEANING. Therefore, they were routinely TRANSLATED (both in scripture and in secular culture) rather than TRANSLITERATED - the latter being semi-represented by "Jehovah" as a rendering of the TETRAGRAMMATON.

See for instance, Kephas is an Aramaic TRANSLATION of the Greek name, Peter. Were we to actually TRANSLATE the name into English, the closest equivalent would be "Rocky." (Actually, such a rendering might give us a better indication of what Jesus saw in him that led to his renaming Simon as "Rocky" ... or Peter if you prefer.)

The name was used IN TRANSLATION some 28 times in the fourth Gospel. In each of these cases it is with reference to Jesus APPLYING THE NAME TO HIMSELF. However, there is no indication of the New Testament writers ever attempting to transliterate the name. In light of this, there is also no reason any modern Christian should attempt to use a MEANINGLESS TRANSLITERATION of the name.

Answer 8

I have heard the name Jehovah is God's name translated in another language.

Answer 9

Yes and in some villages in Ethiopia the people had great difficulty pronouncing my name. So they took to calling me "Anbessa LIb" (which they told me is "Lion's Heart and has great meaning here...." Some how I always suspected it really meant "Look at fatso!" but I digress......). So even though they didn't pronounce my name just right, both they and I knew who they meant. I suppose God is at least as intelligent as me and the Ethiopian tribesmen.

Answer 10

Jehovah is how Christian,s hold to be God,s name,it is
described in the Holy Bible as Jehovah God,so I will stay with that one.