God's Actual Name

[jgh7]

I've seen God called by different names. As much as I know, the consonants for his name are given in the OT, but the vowels are missing.

Does anyone here claim to know what the vowels are and thus the proper pronunciation of God's name. Or is it a mystery that will remain unknown?

[Elijah John]

I've seen God called by different names. As much as I know, the consonants for his name are given in the OT, but the vowels are missing.

Does anyone here claim to know what the vowels are and thus the proper pronunciation of God's name. Or is it a mystery that will remain unknown?

The Tetragrammaton is based on YHVH, there is no "J" in Hebrew, nor is there a "W".

So that excludes "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" as likely, literal pronuciations.

The Kariate Jews do not recognize the Rabbinic prohibition against pronouncing the Divine name, and suggest it is pronounced "Yehovah".

Two books make a great case that support this rendering,

"His Hallowed Name Revealed Again" by Keith E Johnson, and
"Proclaim His Holy Name" by Peter and Linda Miller-Russo.

But many who recognize the importance of the Divine name do not believe exact pronunciation is required, only a good-faith intention to honor God's personal name.

An analog to this would be the pronuciation of Jesus name. His name was not Jesus, but more likely "Yahshua", "Yeshua", or "Yehoshua".

Still the name "Jesus" is held in high regard, and is considered very acceptable by most, and perhaps even by God himself.

[JLB32168]

It seems to me that God’s “name� is somewhat of a human construct. Names come from our parents. God had no parents. He always existed before we did. Why would He need a name? He was all there was. I think the only reason we have a name is because we had to call him by something so as to differentiate between Him and everything else or supposed deities. Indeed the Septuagint version of God’s revelation to Moses would say in English “I am [He] who is� (cf. “I am that I am�) as opposed to false deities or created things who cannot exist in and of themselves.

[bjs]

[Replying to jgh7]

We cannot be certain. The correct ancient pronunciation does not affect our understanding of the meaning of the word. However, our knowledge of how words were pronounced just 300 or 400 years ago involves a lot uncertainty. Study the language of the Canterbury Tales for an illustration of this. The farther back in time we go that more difficult certainty becomes.

The most likely pronunciation was Yahveh, or possibly as EJ points out Yehovah.

[2timothy316]

[Replying to Elijah John]

I concur with this assessment. Names change from one language to another. Yet The Almighty doesn't seem to mind that this happens. After all He was the one that created language in the first place. If we were to go back in time and shout the name Jesus in English, anyone speaking Greek, Aramaic or Hebrew would not know who we were calling to.

We have parts of the Divine name in other names like Jehoshaphat - meaning 'God is Judge' or Jehovah is Judge. Jehoiakim - meaning 'God Raises Up'. We have Isaiah - meaning 'Salvation of God'.

[Elijah John]

[Replying to Elijah John]

I concur with this assessment. Names change from one language to another. Yet The Almighty doesn't seem to mind that this happens. After all He was the one that created language in the first place. If we were to go back in time and shout the name Jesus in English, anyone speaking Greek, Aramaic or Hebrew would not know who we were calling to.

We have parts of the Divine name in other names like Jehoshaphat - meaning 'God is Judge' or Jehovah is Judge. Jehoiakim - meaning 'God Raises Up'. We have Isaiah - meaning 'Salvation of God'.

And "Elijah, meaning "My God is YHVH", Joel, "YHVH is God", and perhaps most importantly "Yahshua" (Joshua, Yeshua) meaning "YHVH is salvation"

[tigger2]

Exact pronunciation of the only personal name of God is certainly not essential as the various pronunciations of the only personal name of Christ shows (Yeshua, Yehoshua, Yay.soos [Greek pronunciation in NT], Jesus, etc.). So, to follow English tradition since the time the KJV translation rendered God's "only name" in Ps. 83:18, we may use "Jehovah."

However there is one thing that is often overlooked. God's name is written with the Hebrew consonants of YHWH. The use of the waw (in modern Greek vav) was pronounced as 'w' is in modern English.
http://examiningthetrinity.blogspot.co ... name.html

and
　
http://hebrewgrammar.sbts.edu/page2/page2.html
'
Therefore, 'Yehowah' is probably more accurate than Yehovah', but any transliterated form of YHWH that is commonly used in your language should certainly be acceptable. This would include 'Jehovah,' 'Yahweh,' and even 'Yehovah,' 'Yahveh' and 'Yehowah.'

What is not acceptable is the completely dishonest translation favored in most modern English Bibles - 'LORD.'

[bjs]

What is not acceptable is the completely dishonest translation favored in most modern English Bibles - 'LORD.'

“Lord� is not a translation of the Tetragrammaton.

It is a way of honoring an ancient Jewish tradition of not saying the name of God out loud. The name of God was considered too holy to be spoken lightly. When someone was reading from the Hebrew scriptures and came across YHVH they would say the word adonai, which is Hebrew for Lord. Some copies of the Hebrew Bible placed the vowels for adonai around the consonants for YHVH as a reminder not to say YHVH out loud.

By the way, this is where the English name Jehovah came from. It mixes the consonants YHVH with the vowels for adonai, and transliterates that into Jehovah. The Hebrew “a� changes to an “e� when it is not at the beginning of the word, and the strong “I� sound at the end of adonai is changed to softer “a� sound when the “h� is placed behind it. And of course the "y" of Hebrew changes to a "j" in English.

[tigger2]

[Replying to post 8 by bjs]

Lord� is not a translation of the Tetragrammaton.

It is a way of honoring an ancient Jewish tradition of not saying the name of God out loud.

Why should Christian Bibles honor 'an ancient Jewish tradition of not saying the name of God out loud.'? The ancient Hebrew scriptures used the name thousands of times and do not forbid anyone from saying (and writing) it in an honorable way. Israelites greeted each other using the name; they called it out in praise and in prayer. It is incredible that anyone who actually read the Hebrew scriptures would come to the conclusion that we must not use it!

1 Sam. 20:12 - "And Jonathan said unto David, Jehovah, the God of Israel, be witness: when I have sounded my father about this time to-morrow...." - ASV.

“5. ‘Jehovah’ - The name most distinctive of God as the God of Israel is Jehovah .... The meaning may with some confidence be inferred ... to be that of the simple future, yahweh, ‘he will be.’ It does not express causation, nor existence in a metaphysical sense, but the covenant promise of the Divine presence, both at the immediate time and in the Messianic age of the future.... It is the personal name of God.... Characteristic of the OT is its insistence on the possible knowledge of God as a person; and Jehovah is His name as a person. It is illogical, certainly, that the later Hebrews should have shrunk from its pronunciation, in view of the appropriateness of the name and of the OT insistence on the personality of God, who as a person has this name. [The ASV] quite correctly adopts the transliteration ‘Jehovah’ to emphasize its significance and purpose as a personal name of God revealed.� - The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 1266, Vol. 2, Eerdmans, 1984.

“The name of God is described as his ‘holy name’ more than all other adjectival qualifications taken together. It was this sense of the sacredness of the name that finally led to the obtuse [stupid] refusal to use ‘Yahweh’ [‘Jehovah’], leading as it has done to a deep loss of the sense of the divine name in [English Bibles] (with the notable exception of JB).� - p. 813, New Bible Dictionary, Tyndale House Publishers, 1984.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 1 by jgh7]

I've seen God called by different names. As much as I know, the consonants for his name are given in the OT, but the vowels are missing.

Does anyone here claim to know what the vowels are and thus the proper pronunciation of God's name. Or is it a mystery that will remain unknown?

As an atheist.. I have to say that this kind of discussion is a good reason for not being a theist. To me, the very idea of the topic is mind numbingly trivial.

No wonder we atheists don't get hard debates in here... theists want to discuss the possibility of vowels, instead. But we are waiting.