Is Jehovah Really God's Name in English?

Question

.

Before you read this quote from the pamplet consider, what is the intent of the writer(s), is it to show that the english word 'Jehovah' comes from a mistake, or to approve the use of Jehovah as God's name.




QUOTE: How Is God's Name Pronounced? "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 'Adho·nai'. From this came the spelling Iehouah, and, eventually, Jehovah became the accepted pronunciation of the divine name in English. This retains the essential elements of God's name from the Hebrew original."

http://www.watchtower.org/e/na/index.htm




Simply put, the writer(s) are saying, '....that it does not matter how you pronounce the name..." any combination of vowels added to the 4 consonates letter which abbreviate God's name in Hebrew is acceptable, just as any combination of vowels added to the consonates letters of your personnel name would be acceptable. The problem with adding the wrong vowels to the 4 consonant letters of God's name becomes not just a different form of the name but a different name or word altogether, if it could be considered a word or name.*

.


* See 5th Paragraph at: http://nontaxdeductable.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-jehovah-really-gods-name-in-english.html

.

.
The reason for the spacing between the paragraphs may be not to strike with such a large crowd of words but, to break them down in to smaller units just as the 4 letters which abbreviate God's personnel name have been into their consonantal sounds: Yud, Hay, Vav, and Hay. In Hebrew this is what the 4 letters sound like together without vowels, "Yahweh" in modern spelling.

In language, vowels are usually necessary to make the consonants sound thus, without the vowels "Yahweh" is simply the combined sounds of the 4 letters which abbreviate God's name.

Scholars are fairly certain that 'yah' is accurate yet, none with hard earned reputations will put their name to it as the truth. The reason may be that it is a stand alone name.

Finally, it is commonly known that the 4 letters cannot be pronounced accurately in Hebrew because of the absence of the right vowels thus, it would follow that any translation or transliteration of the 4 letters into another language would meet.....

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 approximate the original Hebrew, but into the English tongue.

In modern times, 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 different character with the same sound in another language's character set).

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

Forms of the divine name in different languages, indicating international acceptance of the form Jehovah 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 3

NO, is NOT, even the Watchtower Society in it's New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures says it, in the introduction, and in the Appendix.

The only name for God that truly appears in the Old Testament is "YHWH". This combination of letters is called the "Tetragramaton". The name Jehovah was coined by the Masoretic Monks of the 6th and 7th centuries. Due to the fact that the old Hebrew language didn't have vowels, and that the Hebrews considered the name of God so sacred that they did not pronounce it, the actual pronunciation was lost. The Masoretic Monks inserted the vowels from the word "Adonai", that was the word the Hebrews used to address God. From this combination, came out the name "Y-a-H-o-W-a-H", that has evolved to Jehovah. Today most scholars agree that the best possible pronunciation should be "Yhaweh", but no one knows for sure.

The Watchtower Society ACCEPTS that the name of God is NOT Jehovah but they preach it is, SO, they preach they have the truth but they preach lies.

Answer 4

Well actually the tetragrammaton was originally YHVH and was later deciphered by Hebrew scholars as YHWH Yahweh. Personally even though the Hebraic language had no 'J' , the 4 symbols represent the 4 elements

Yod = fire
He = water
Vau= air
He' = earth

This onomatopoeia would sound like Jehovah

Answer 5

Your Bible uses that name and you don't even know it. Where do you think these Hebrew names came from?

JEHOahaz (2 Kings 10:35) mans "Jehovah Has Taken Hold"
JEHOsheba (2 Kings 11:2) mans "Jehovah is Plenty"
JEHOiachim (2 Kings 24:6) "Jehovah Has Firmly Established
JEHOiada (2 Samuel 23:8) means "May Jehovah Know"
JEHOnadab (2 Samuel 13:5) means "Jehovah is Generous"
JEHOram (2 Kings 8:16) means "Jehovah is Exalted"
JEHOshaphat (1 Kings 22:42) means "Jehovah is Judge"

And those are just a few of the several Hebrew names containing the name of God.

Every language has their own pronounciation of names. Jesus name in the spanish language is prounounced (hey-suus). Does that mean they are wrong? The name "Jehovah" is the most common name for God in the english langauge. And, as the names that I provided above show, is the most cosistent with the Bible. We don't speak Hebrew. We speak english. And no other name is more commonly used for God in the english langauge than "Jehovah". Rather than replacing the name of God with "Lord", those who truly know and love him freely use his name "Jehovah", which originally appereared in the Bible nearly 7,000 times.

Jehovah is Jesus' Father. It was Jehovah who sent Jesus, just as John 3:16 says that He gave his son. Furthermore, at Jesus' baptism, it was Jehovah who spoke from heaven saying "This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved". (Matthew 3:17) Jesus referred to Jehovah as 'my Father' and 'my God" (John 20:17).

FURTHERMORE, the name "Jesus" was prounounced "Jesus" by neither by the Hebrews nor by the Greeks. Yet, it is commonly used by all enlish speaking persons as the Son of God. Therefore, your reasons for not using the name "Jehovah" are inconsistent and may reveal hidden motives as for not using God's name.

Answer 6

I don't think your information is correct. Jeshvah is simply the transliteration of the hebrew YHWH with the vowels from Adonai (Lord) inserted.

Answer 7

I have always been taught that Jehovah is the name of Jesus Christ, and that God's name is Elohim.

My Bible Dictionary has this to say about Jehovah:

The covenant or proper name of the God of Israel. It denotes the “Unchangeable One,” “the eternal I AM” (Ex. 6: 3; Ps. 83: 18; Isa. 12: 2; Isa. 26: 4). The original pronunciation of this name has possibly been lost, as the Jews, in reading, never mentioned it, but substituted one of the other names of God, usually Adonai. Probably it was pronounced Jahveh, or Yahveh. In the KJV, the Jewish custom has been followed, and the name is generally denoted by LORD or GOD, printed in small capitals.
Jehovah is the premortal Jesus Christ and came to earth being born of Mary. Although Ex. 6: 3 states that the God of Israel was not known by the name Jehovah before Moses’ time, latter-day revelation tells us otherwise (see also Gen. 22: 14).

And it says this about Elohim:

God the Father: It is generally the Father, or Elohim, who is referred to by the title God. He is called the Father because he is the father of our spirits (Mal. 2: 10; Num. 16: 22; 27: 16; Matt. 6: 9; Eph. 4: 6; Heb. 12: 9). God the Father is the supreme ruler of the universe. He is all powerful (Gen. 18: 14), all knowing (Matt. 6: 8;), and everywhere present through his Spirit (Ps. 139: 7-12). Mankind has a special relationship to God that sets man apart from all other created things: men and women are God’s spirit children (Ps. 82: 6; 1 Jn. 3: 1-3).
God the Son: The God known as Jehovah is the Son, Jesus Christ (Isa. 12: 2; 43: 11; 49: 26; 1 Cor. 10: 1-4; 1 Tim. 1: 1; Rev. 1: 8). Jesus works under the direction of the Father and is in complete harmony with him. All mankind are his brothers and sisters, for he is the eldest of the spirit children of Elohim. Some scripture references refer to him by the word God. For example, the scripture says that “God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1: 1), but it was actually Jesus who was the Creator under the direction of God the Father (John 1: 1-3, 10, 14; Heb. 1: 1-2).

BD God
When one speaks of God, it is generally the Father who is referred to; that is, Elohim. All mankind are his children. The personage known as Jehovah in Old Testament times, and who is usually identified in the Old Testament as LORD (in capital letters), is the Son, known as Jesus Christ, and who is also a God. Jesus works under the direction of the Father and is in complete harmony with him. All mankind are his brethren and sisters, he being the eldest of the spirit children of Elohim. Many of the things that the scripture says were done were actually done by the LORD (Jesus). Thus the scripture says that “God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1: 1), but we know that it was actually the LORD (Jesus) who was the creator (John 1: 3, 10), or as Paul said, God created all things by Christ Jesus (Eph. 3: 9). The Holy Ghost is also a God and is variously called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit of God, etc.

BD El
In Hebrew and related languages it designates “the divine being.” Many biblical names employ El with other words, such as Bethel (“the house of God”), Eleazar (“God has helped”), Michael (“who is like God”), Daniel (“a judge is God”), Ezekiel (“God will strengthen”), and Israel (“to prevail with God” or perhaps “let God prevail”). Possibly the best known use of El is in Elohim, plural form signifying the “almighty” or “omnipotent,” a name applied to the Father.

Answer 8

If you believe in one God then in English it must be God. Jehovah is probably Greek or Aramaic, but is a name describing one all-powerful God and creator just as Alla is.

If you think there are Gods, then there are many names like Zeus, Hermes, Baal and endless seemingly, list of deities follows.

Answer 9

While there is some debate as to how YHWH should be pronounced, academics agree that "Jehovah" is incorrect. The common pronounciation today is Yehweh.

Answer 10

Yes, but why do you have so much space in between your details, you know?