DO WE SAY JEHOVAH OR YAHWEH?

Many are familiar with the name Jehovah as it relates to God; however, you may not be familiar with the name Yahweh. The first time we see this name is in Exodus 3:15, and if you pick up your Bible and look it up, you will not see the name Yahweh (except for the LSB & NLT); instead, you will notice the name Lord. However, this is not entirely accurate, and before you think that the Bible isn’t valid or that the Bible has been corrupted, let me correct you and inform you that it is not; however, it is crucial to understand what is going on in the modern translation process, and also why Lord is used here and not Yahweh, and why the name Yahweh should be used here.

         There is a term you need to be familiar with to understand this that may be unfamiliar to some, Tetragrammaton which is the name Yahweh, transliterated in for Hebrew letters, YHWH or in Hebrew (י‎ Yod, ה‎ He,  ו‎ Waw andה ‎ He) pronounced yodh, hay, vav, hay. This name is introduced to us in Exodus 3:14-15 as God appears to Moses and says in verse 14, “I am who I am,” or it can also be translated as “I will be whoever I will be.” Then, in verse 15, God gives Moses the name that He is to use Yahweh. Now, the name in verse 15 is directly connected to the verb “He is” or “He will be,” which that verb is pronounced “hayah.” when you look at the verb and the name Yahweh, it is the same root verb, which helps us understand why we pronounce and use the name given here from the Hebrew as Yahweh.

         When you look at the Hebrew letters Yod, He, Waw, and He in English, we translate them as YHWH. We read the name in Exodus 3:15. The first letter of the word in Hebrew is the letter “Y,” which is in the third person, indicating to us, the readers, that we begin the pronunciation with “Y.” Yahweh ends with an “H” which in Hebrew (ה‎ He) giving us a typical ending for distinct verbs giving a “eh” sound. Therefore, Yahweh is the most accurate way to read this word from Hebrew to English.

         Well, how and when did the rendering of Yahweh change to Jehovah? The pronunciation “Jehovah” was not used until 1520. This name came into being due to the incorporation of vowels into the name Yahweh that did not belong there. These vowels added underneath the Hebrew letters indicate to the reader the correct way of pronouncing the name. However, what transpired was that early scribes, out of fear and reverence for the name Yahweh, added vowels to the name Yahweh to prevent the reader from saying the name out loud. So, when these vowels are added to the name Yahweh, it indicates to the reader to use or say the word Adonai, which means Lord, and the other Elohim, which means God.

         However, when translators worked from the Hebrew, they would get to the name Yahweh and with the additional vowels connected to that word, they failed to identify that these vowels did not belong to the case of this set of vowels, and this is how they came up with rendering and creating the word Jehovah. The vowels that create the name Jehovah do not belong to the name Yahweh; Jehovah is an incorrect pronunciation of the name that God uses when He reveals Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:15.

What’s the big deal? The name Yahweh that is given to Moses by God identifies a personal God and is used to differentiate Himself from all of the pagan “gods” that many were falsely worshipping at that time. Yahweh tells Moses, this is my name and then proceeds to give Moses the name by which we can distinguish Him from others. When the word “Lord” is used in place of Yahweh, we are swapping a title for a name. Lord is a title, and Yahweh is His name. If we use the word Lord, and not Yahweh, we are not using the actual name that God spoke and revealed Himself to Moses and the people of Israel.

The word Yahweh appears over 6,800 times in the Old Testament and is given to us to identify the personal nature of God and the covenant God made with His people. Whenever the name Yahweh is seen, it is a reminder of the Covenant God made with His people and is a reminder of God’s personal character and nature in how He has revealed Himself to us. Finally, in Zechariah 13:9, we are provided a prescription to call Him Yahweh as it reads in the Legacy Standard Bible,

…”will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”- Zech. 13:9b

Finally, when we use and see the name Yahweh in several different Old Testament texts, they begin to make more sense. For example:

Psalm 110:1 (LSB)

Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”

Psalm 110:1 (ESV)

A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.

Psalm 110:1 (KJV)

A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

When Yahweh is in its respective place, this Psalm becomes evident in the interaction at the beginning on who is speaking to whom and for what reason. Yahweh is speaking to the future Davidic King, the Messiah Jesus Christ, who will come and fulfill the covenant Yahweh made with His people for salvation.