Jehovah's Witnesses: Jehovah isn't really God's name is it?

Question

what does yhwh sound like? doesn't sound like Gee-Ho-va to me.

even yah-way is the wrong pronunciation for this. didn't the israellites or some other group wouldn't pronounce the name because of fear?

Answer 1

When the Israelites were "Israelites", they used God's name all the time. But after the dispersion of the Jews into other nations, they stopped pronouncing it, so the vowels were lost; thus the pronounciation was lost. Since the first Christians were Jews, the earliest Christians appear also not to have used the name with much frequency, although it seems reasonable that they still knew it and may have used it with discretion.

I find it curious that anyone can say "we know the name, we just don't know the vowels or the pronounciation". Huh??? If you see the consonants BTH, do you know if the word is "both" or "bath"? Let's face it - you don't know the word if you don't know the vowels.

And Jehovah is not actually the English translaltion of YHWH because YHWH is already the English translation of the Tetragrammaton. Jehovah is an ACCEPTED translation of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton. It's more popular than Yahweh, another accepted English translation of the Tetragrammaton, but it's certainly not "better".

And just to be accurate, LORD in all capital letters indicates usually that YHWH appeared in the original language, but there are exceptions. One is at Acts 2:34 where YHWH doesn't appear, but LORD appears in all capitals simply to distinguish between the two lords mentioned in the verse.

Abijah

Agreed YHWH is the transliteration.

But Acts 2:34 should say Lord because that is the word Luke used when he wrote the book of Acts. David may have used the word Jehovah, but he didn't write the book of Acts.

See Romans 10:16 where Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1. Paul doesn't quote it exactly as Isaiah wrote it. And many other quotations aren't quoted exactly, either.

Answer 2

The name "Jehovah" is the english translation of the letter YHWH. The fact of the matter is, we do not know the exact pronounciation of God's name.

If we stopped using the word "building", and in a 100 years or whatever, someone saw the letters "bldg", would they know how to correctly pronounce the word building? No they would not...the same is true with God's name.

Most people do not know this, but the name Jehovah was not invented or concocted by JW"s anyway. It's been in use for hundreds of years. Research it yourself and you'll see. Like I said, it is the accepted translation in english. Yahwey is believed to be the Hebrew translation of the letter YHWH.

It wasn't until after the death of the apostles that the name of God stopped being used because of some thinking it was too sacred to pronounce. This was a false teaching because Jesus even prayed to have his Father's name sanctified.

Answer 3

Yes and no. It is not the way it was first pronounced probably, but after centuries of people trying to hide the divine name and the many languages it has been translated into, Jehovah is the most popular. The 4 letters in Hebrew called the Tetragramaton is the divine name.

Interestingly, it has appeared on dozens of ancient coins throughout history. Also in Russian classical music. Whenever one translates something into a different language, the sound of the name changes. For instance Michael. In French: Michel; in Russian: Michail. Each sounds different but mean the same.

What is more important than pronunciation is using the divine name. Even when you meet someone who totally messes up your name, it is still better than, "Hey You!"

If someone claims to worship the Living God, one must use His personal name.

Answer 4

Thank you for your question.

You are correct. Yahweh is the wrong pronunciation. Jehovah is the wrong pronunciation as well. In truth, nobody alive knows the correct pronunciation. It is quite lost due to a superstition that developed concerning the use of God's name. The letters are YHWH – Yod He Waw He. Ancient Hebrew in its written form was consonantal – the reader supplied the vowels as he read. This would prove no problem since they knew how to supply vowels to their own language. But when the superstition arose, things changed and subsequently, the proper vowels were replaced with vowels that go to the title Lord or Adonai.

No, the Israelites did not refuse to pronounce God's name. It was constantly used in worship and in everyday language. People greeted each other using the name: "Good day to you. May Yahweh be with you." "May Yahweh be with you as well." The name of Moses' mother – Yochebed (Jochebed in English) probably means Yahweh is glory (Jehovah is glory). We have Latinized all Bible names. We do not call Joshua Yehoshuah, do we? Neither do we call Jeremiah Yeremiah. Even Jesus' name in first century Greek is Iesous. We know precisely how to pronounce these names in Hebrew but nobody does. Why? Because we simply pronounce it in our own language – in this case, English. It doesn't seem to disturb anyone. Do you think people would be disturbed if we removed the name of Jesus from the scriptures? I think so. And well they should. Just like people should be disturbed by the removal of God's name from his own Book.

So we know God's name, we simply do not know the proper vowels that go with it. The fact that God's name appeared in the Hebrew scriptures close to 7,000 times attests to its importance. Here is an interesting note: God did not preserve the proper pronunciation of his name. Nor did he preserve the vowels that go with it. But he did preserve the name itself: The Tetragrammaton. YHWH. I find that quite telling.

So let's put this particular canard to rest, shall we? God's name was used and pronounced all the time by his own people. Even God's enemies pronounced His name.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 5

REPLY to NYMORMON:

You say Jehovah is not God's Name. Please, look inthe older King James Bible at Exodus 6:3, where you will see this:

"nd 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."

Other translations may have LORD (all caps), but any time you see that, know that the translators have replaced God's Name with that title.

ADDED for Browneye...

YHWH is NOT the translation of God's Name; it is the TRANSLITERATION.

Yahweh, Yehowah, and Jehovah are various English translations.

As to Acts 2:34, where it says LORD it should be Jehovah because it is a direct quote from Psalm 110:1 where the Hebrew used the Tetragrammaton.

Answer 6

Actually only the high priest, who held the ark of the covenant, was ever allowed to pronounce the name of YHVH. Any attempt to pronounce God's name with the human voice was considered a corruption. Y could sound like J, or a Y. H could be he, or ha, or ho or hoo. V could be V or W. and the final H has the same problems as the first. So, any ponunciation using those possibilities is possible. But, a good "bible loving" Jew or Christian wouldn't even try in respect for what YHVH said... My favorite YHVH pronunciation, which is entirely accurate, is .....

Yoohooowaahoo.
(called out, like if you're riding a ride at Kennywood Park)

Answer 7

We do not know the correct pronunciation because no one alive today speaks ancient Hebrew and Greek. We do not know now.

Answer 8

Martin S
Y is translated to J in English.


The Father does have a name, and its YHWH. YHWH translated into English is Jehovah. If it the name was useless, then I wouldn't be in the bible over 6000 times.

The Bible tells us to make his name known, yet not many do.

Answer 9

read ps 83 verse 18. Jesus in his model prayer said hollow be thy name. what is God's name? it is Jehovah. even Pharaoh knew God's name. God is a title, like prince or king. it is not another name for Jesus Christ who is the son

Answer 10

My understanding, and what I've always been taught, Jehovah is Jesus' name, not God's. I have always been taught, and understood from independent reading that Yahweh is translated as Jehovah, and is the name of Jesus. So, it's not God's name.