What is God's proper name?

Question

Is it Yahweh or Jehovah or something else? Do you think he would prefer Yahweh or Jehovah? Or would he prefer to be called something else? Or does he not care one bit?

Answer 1

Jehovah refers to the covenant God of Israel.
Yahweh is the same thing except that according to Jewish custom, because of reverence the divine name was not spoken, so the words for Lord and God were substituted. This leads me to the conclusion that Yahweh is the most honorific devine true proper name of God.

Answer 2

He gave himself a Hebrew name, but we only know the consonants - equivalent to YHWH in English. We don't know the vowels or the pronounciation.

I think he would probably be preferred to be called by that name he gave himself - the only name that he was known by - until it went into disuse. But since he saw fit to let the name become unknown, it seems that it isn't a matter of real importance to him at this particular time in history to be called by any personal name.

In the New Testament, "Father" seems to be the preferred method of address that Jesus used. So although I view ANY name associated with God with respect, I don't believe that saying a name over and over is really what is meant by hallowing his name.

Answer 3

God gave himself a name that is full of meaning. His name, Jehovah, means that God can fulfill any promise he makes and can carry out any purpose he has in mind. God’s name is unique, one of a kind. It belongs only to him. In a number of ways, Jehovah is unique. How is that so?

Psalm 83:18 said of Jehovah: “You alone are the Most High.” Similarly, Jehovah alone is referred to as “the Almighty.” Revelation 15:3 says: “Great and wonderful are your works, Jehovah God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of eternity.” The title “the Almighty” teaches us that Jehovah is the most powerful being there is. His power is unmatched; it is supreme. And the title “King of eternity” reminds us that Jehovah is unique in another sense. He alone has always existed. Psalm 90:2 says: “Even from time indefinite to time indefinite [or, forever] you are God.”

Answer 4

Yahweh ,God. Allah and their only names because that is why God is called God because he is beyond any name. You see in ancient times if you knew the god's name the god was at your disposable . But the God of Abraham , Isaac, and Jacob would be only known as I AM WHO AM. He is beyond our disposable , no Santa Claus but God of our salvation.

Answer 5

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.


From my lessons 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.

Is it 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 1700 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 is is stated correctly when it 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.

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 6

I have read Jehovah, Yahweh, and Allah. I call Him "Father"

Answer 7

If you have any relationship with Him at all, you know that He doesn't really care what you call Him. Like any good parent, He just wants to hear from you on a regular basis and be respected. He wants you to be grateful and He wants you to listen.

Answer 8

The Creator ( as I call it) does not care what name you use to connect with it as long as it helps you to feel closer to it then any name will do since after all the Creator is everywhere and in everything.

Answer 9

Almighty Father..

Answer 10

read ps 83 verse 18 in the king james bible. it is Jehovah (YHWH) God is a title, like prince or king.