Could you please explain how using a false and erroneous name for God would be glorifying to Him?

Question

Jehovah's Witnesses insist that we need to call our God Jehovah. Majority of dictionaries and encyclobedia that you look at under the heading of "Jehovah", it says Jehovah is a false and erroneus pronunciation for the name of God of the Bible.

And do not say that Jehovah is the English pronunciation of the Hebrew word 'Yahweh' because that is not true. If you insist, show me something by a scholar that confirms that statement.

Answer 1

It's what's in your heart and mind is what really matters. All other corrections will be made at a later date. With so much bibical and historical distortations throughout the ages, it's almost impossible to tell.

Answer 2

All we say is use the name that is recognized in your language as the name of God.

Where I live, it is not Jehovah. It is Iyegova. When you say that, everyone knows whom you are referring to.

It is hypocritical to say that since Jehovah is not the way it was pronounced we should ot say it at all, when we say "Jesus" all the time, but that is NOT how it was pronounced.

Many people have a problem, not with the fact that Jehovah is the accepted pronunciation in English, but with the fact that the name is now so associated with Jehovah's Witnesses and that would be admitting that they have been right all along.

And I guess you can't have that, now can you?

Answer 3

In all love,

There are very select few that know "the" name of God as revealed to Abraham.

The spelling and enunciation of even the names of the prophets are not widely known now as they were in the time of either of the prophets.

Some who assumes that they have it "right" and that others do not, may only be eating the fruit of the tree.

Just look at how the name Jesus is spelled and pronounced throughout the world. None of the popular spellings in different languages or pronunciations are faithful to how it was during his lifetime. According to most scholars, it was spelled in an ancient form of Aramaic not used today. And the best they can tell his name was pronounced Yeshua.

For an interesting read on the subject of the “real” name of Jesus go to this web site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshua_%28name%29

If you think, glory, worship and salvation is found in correctly pronouncing a word, perhaps further prayer and study is in order.

But of course, perhaps not, as you may be the one who knows. If so, lead us!

Seriously!

Otherwise be still and listen to the inner light of divine love. For my dear, love is the answer.

Blessings and peace to all,
All in all,
B

Answer 4

In English it used to be common practice to substitute in "J" for the "Y" sound in non-latin alphabets.
Thus Iesus became Jesus.
Yehudah became Judah.
As recently as thirty years ago they would have transliterated the Russian name Yaroslav as Jaroslav...
This is exactly what happened with Jehovah - it is the anglicised spelling of the Hebrew word with the letters Yud-He-Vav-He which is most commonly transliterated as Yehovah or Yahweh if you wish.
You are right that this is the wrong pronounciation because no one knows how to pronounce this word except for the most learned Jewish "mystics". Historicaly, this word was never pronounced except by the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem in the innermost sanctum on particular days of the year.

Answer 5

No human today can be certain how it was originally pronounced in Hebrew. Why not? Biblical Hebrew was originally written with only consonants, no vowels. When the language was in everyday use, readers easily provided the proper vowels. In time, however, the Jews came to have the superstitious idea that it was wrong to say God’s personal name out loud, so they used substitute expressions. Centuries later, Jewish scholars developed a system of points by which to indicate which vowels to use when reading ancient Hebrew, but they put the vowels for the substitute expressions around the four consonants representing the divine name. Thus the original pronunciation of the divine name was lost.

Many scholars favor the spelling “Yahweh,” but it is uncertain and there is not agreement among them. On the other hand, “Jehovah” is the form of the name that is most readily recognized, because it has been used in English for centuries and preserves, equally with other forms, the four consonants of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton.

J. B. Rotherham, in The Emphasised Bible, used the form Yahweh throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. However, later in his Studies in the Psalms he used the form “Jehovah.” He explained: “JEHOVAH—The employment of this English form of the Memorial name . . . in the present version of the Psalter does not arise from any misgiving as to the more correct pronunciation, as being Yahwéh; but solely from practical evidence personally selected of the desirability of keeping in touch with the public ear and eye in a matter of this kind, in which the principal thing is the easy recognition of the Divine name intended.”—(London, 1911), p. 29.

After discussing various pronunciations, German professor Gustav Friedrich Oehler 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, second edition (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 143.

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.”—Grammaire de l’hébreu biblique (Rome, 1923), footnote on p. 49.

Most names change to some extent when transferred from one language to another. Jesus was born a Jew, and his name in Hebrew was perhaps pronounced Ye·shu′a‛, but the inspired writers of the Christian Scriptures did not hesitate to use the Greek form of the name, I·e·sous′. In most other languages the pronunciation is slightly different, but we freely use the form that is common in our tongue. The same is true of other Bible names. How, then, can we show proper respect for the One to whom the most important name of all belongs? Would it be by never speaking or writing his name because we do not know exactly how it was originally pronounced? Or, rather, would it be by using the pronunciation and spelling that are common in our language, while speaking well of its Owner and conducting ourselves as his worshipers in a manner that honors him?

Answer 6

" By combining the vowel signs of 'Adho.nay and 'Elo.him' with the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton the pronunciations Yeho.wah' and Yehowih' were formed. The first of these provided the basis for the Latinized form "Jehova(h)." The first recorded use of this form dates from the thirteenth century C.E. Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican Order, used it in his book Pugeo Fidei of the year 1270. Hebrew scholars generally favor "Yahweh" as the most likely pronunciation.(6)"

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 7

According to www.m-w.com

Main Entry: Je•ho•vah
Pronunciation: \ji-ˈhō-və\
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, reading (as Yĕhōwāh) of Hebrew yhwh Yahweh with the vowel points of 'adhōnāy my lord
Date: 1530



In its section under the Greek word Ky´ri•os (“Lord”), Robinson’s A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament (printed in 1859) says that it means “God as the Supreme Lord and sovereign of the universe, usually in Sept[uagint] for Heb[rew] יהוה Jehovah.” Hence, in places where the Christian Greek Scripture writers quote the earlier Hebrew Scriptures, the translator has the right to render the word Ky´ri•os as “Jehovah” wherever the divine name appeared in the Hebrew original.

Strong’s Hebrew dictionary

yeh-ho-vaw'
From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah, the Lord. Compare H3050, H3069.



Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament Scriptures agrees saying:
"Those who consider that YHWH [Yehowah] was the actual pronunciation
are not altogether without ground on which to defend their opinion.
In this way can the abbreviated syllables YHW [Yeho] and YH [Yo],
with which many proper names begin, be more satisfactorily explained

The following text is found in the first sentence of the article:JEHOVAH in William Smith's 1863 "A Dictionary of the Bible":
"JEHOVAH ( יְהֹוָה, usually with the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי ; but when the two occur together, the former is pointed יֱהֹוִה, that is with the vowels of אֱלֹהִים, as in Obad. i. 1, Hab. iii. 19:"
The two vocalizations of the Tetragrammaton shown in bold type above, were both critiqued by John Drusius in 1604 A.D., however as noted below, Davidson defends the vowel points of יְהֹוָה. [See also sub section 3.1 above.]
In Scott Jones Article:Jehovah under the heading "Davidson on the Tetragrammaton", Davidson explains why he believes that the fact that the Masoretes did not point יְהֹוָה with the precise same vowel points as are found in Adonay indicated that the vowel points of יְהֹוָה are the actual vowel points of God's name.
• The vocalized Hebrew spelling "Yahweh" is found in no extant Hebrew text.
• The central "ou" or "o" in some Greek transcriptions point to a pronunciation with a "u" or "o" vowel in the middle, i.e. "Yehowa".
However Greek, since it stopped using the digamma, when transcribing foreign words and names has had to write the "w" consonant sound as a vowel "u" or similar (or in later times as β, after the Greek pronunciation of β changed from "b" to "v").

Answer 8

The word Yahweh, or YHWH in Hebrew can be transliterated either YHWH, YHVH, JHWH or JHVH in English (since y and j have made interchangable in English translations of Hebrew words, although J is more accurate, and since w and v are effectively the same letter, a la German and Latin). So, any of those are valid (with Jehovah coming from JHVH)

Answer 9

God is the correct name for God because it is "DOG" spelled backwards. That's because a dogs' unconditional love for us is Gods' gift of a real life example of his love for us and it is the only animal god actually named himself, being a mirror of his own name to remind us.

This mostly forgotten fact is also proof that God speaks English, since this doesn't work in other languages. So only prayers in English are heard.

Answer 10

What difference, really, whether you call "Him" Jehovah, G-D, Yahweh, Allah or Zeuss?

If glorifying "Him" is what you believe in, then wouldn't that be accomplished by what is in your heart and by how you act?

Why do people get so hung up on this stupid, petty stuff that they overlook what's really important?