Yahweh, a question for Jw's?

Question

Why do you use the name Jehovah? God never revealed himself as Jehovah, He reveals himself as Yahweh. Yahweh is translated in most bibles as LORD all caps and is used 6828 times in the OT. I understand that in the original Hebrew in its ancient form they didnt have vowels and so in was translated YHWH. Like my name is Daniel it would have been translated DNL. . So words were being pronouced wrong and along come the Masoretes who began adding vowel points at the bottom underneath the constanants so people would know how to pronouce the words. Well they were so hung up about saying Gods name that they put the vowel points for the word Adonai translated "Lord" under Yahweh. So when they translated the OT of the KJV they made up a word. Jehovah. It comes from the hybrid of the constanants for Yahweh with the vowels from Adonai. I guess with all that being said, why do you edit your NWT bibles with a made up word. And why is it wrong for you to use the name God choose to reveal to us?

Answer 1

Love this question..You worded it nicely too..But, no matter how much you show them their error they will not see it..They also, have added the name Jehovah over 200 times in the NT where it shouldn't be.

Answer 2

J e h o v a h
Y a h - w e h

The Y and J are interchangable in Hebrew, as are the V and W. Also, while the vowels where never written in Old Hebrew, the E and A are also, somewhat, interchangable. In reality Jehovah is the Anglican form of the Hebrew Yahweh. Another example of this would be Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, or Joshua. Christ is Greek for the Hebrew Mashiach, or Messiah

In fact, Jews, for the most part, don't even call YHWH by that name because, from what I understand, rabbis, years and years ago, decided to keep that name to themselves, because the common Jew was not "holy enough" to use it; it was a power struggle. And so instead of THE NAME being soiled by the use of a commoner, Adonai was used in place of YHWH. Because of this, the original pronunciation was lost, so even today, the spelling, Yahweh, is only our best guess as to how the name is written.

Answer 3

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 4

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 5

God never revealed himself as Yahweh either. Earliest Hebrew had no vowels....therefore ANY are merely the works of man and made up if you want to go that way.

However, Yahweh is the closest known to Hebrew and Jehovah the closest to English as is Yeshua for Jesus to Hebrew and Jesus to English....same for ALL other NAMES AND WORDS. NONE represent the earliest Hebrew...it does not exist any longer.

So there is no valid point in criticizing the use of our own modern languages (in any Bible or religion). It is mere vanity and stupidity and probably prejudice and hatred toward others as well.

Debbie

Answer 6

Jehovah is a translation of the name of God (Tetragrammaton). JWs also accept Yahweh.

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

The point is, YHWH, JHVH are found in the Bible, eventhough the exact pronunciation cannot be determined at this time.


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 7

Millions of people use the original version of the King James Bible. It uses the name of the one true God Jehovah . Please read Psalm 83:18 to find it. We used that version years before we had the New World Translation. We use the name most commonly known in our modern language. Jesus is actually Yeshua, but how many call him that? Millions of people call him Jesus because that is the English name for him.
Calling God by the personal name of Jehovah makes us feel closer to him and just as I am sure you like being called by your name, our Creator likes it when we use his too.
LOBT

Answer 8

All of Jehovah's active Witnesses are "preachers". And yes, many of us use the internet.

You pretty much answered your question. Jehovah is just one translation of the name YHWH which has no vowels. By the time our translation of the Bible was written, "Jehovah" was a commonly known and commonly accepted translation of God's name. Just as Jesus' name is also "Yeshua".

Answer 9

Actually Jehovah comes from the German language and not the KJV.

In German the J sounds like the hebrew Y
the German V sounds like the hebrew W.

Thus in German Jehovah sounds just like the Hebrew Yahweh.

It is similar to spelling 'fish' or 'phish'

.

Answer 10

Good luck getting any real answers on this one...especially one of their preachers...they don't believe in using the internet...