Hebrew is read from right to left, the opposite of English; hence YHWH
The name of God in English is usually represented by four letters: YHWH (or occasionally YHVH). In the original language it’s composed of four Hebrew letters: “יהוה”.
- The Hebrew letter “י”, (Yud).
- The Hebrew letter “ה”, (“Hei” or “hey”)
- The Hebrew letter “ו” (“Waw“, in modern Hebrew, the name of this letter is “Vav” and the modern pronunciation produces a “v” sound instead of the “w” sound that it produced when the Old Testament was written. That’s why you’ll sometimes see it written YHVH)
- The Hebrew letter “ה”, (hei/hey) again.
Hence, if you said the letters of God’s name in Hebrew, it would be “Yud-hey-Waw-hey” (or “Yud-hey-Vav-hey” if you are using the modern pronunciation).
However, the original pronunciation of YHWH has been lost
Why?
The four consonants YHWH… …are preserved from Paleo-Hebrew where the written text only had consonants, and the reader supplied the vowels during reading; as we today would read “blvd.” as “boulevard.” How the reader should pronounce the words was delivered from generation to generation by word of mouth.
…
During the period between 500 and 1000 CE the vowel points were invented. These markings were added to the consonants with the idea of helping the reader to pronounce the words correctly.
But before these vowel points were invented, there developed a superstition against using the Divine Name. Easton’s Bible Dictionary says that the Jews stopped using the Name because of a misinterpretation of Leviticus 24:16, “anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death.”
Source (emphasis original)
With that in mind, let’s see what Jeff Brenner of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center has to say.
(His ending statement about unity is explained in the YouTube description, which I’ve copy/pasted below the video.)
I’ve copy/pasted his rational for God’s essence being unity below.
Addendum #2: DasWORTanDICH called me on my claim that the character of YHWH can be summed up with the word “unity” (Good job DasWORTanDICH) In Zech 14:9, the end of the verse literally reads “and his name/character is one.” The Hebrew for “one” more literally means “unit” or “unity.” Throughout the Bible we see God working in unity with himself, even when his actions are in opposition to each other. For instance, in Genesis 1 we see God “creating,” but in Genesis 6 we see God “destroying.” Two opposites, but working together in unity to bring about order. In the desert God is seen as a cloud by day (bringing coolness and shade), but at night a cloud by fire (bringing heat and light). These two manifestations are in opposition to each other, but work together to protect the people.
There seems to be a consensus among scholars that “Yahweh” is likely the correct pronunciation. Yet we don’t know that for sure.
Evidence for Pronunciations other than Yahweh
I’ve heard at least one alternative pronunciation that makes just as much sense, possibly more.
Buchanan also points out that “the name ‘Yahweh’ does not even sound Semitic,” and he produces examples from Exodus 15 with “Yahweh” and “Yahowah” in the same sentences. Those with “Yahowah” sound “smooth and poetic,” while those with “Yahweh” “sound rough and unrythmical.” Buchanan concludes: “The accumulated data points heavily in the direction of a three syllable word, whose middle syllable was hô or hû. The first two syllables were Yahû or Yahô that were sometimes abbreviated to Yô. For poetry, liturgy, and some other reasons, the name Yâh was also used. Only from Theodoret’s Greek spelling of the Samaritan use of the term is there any basis for the pronunciation ‘Yahweh’ or ‘Jahveh.’ This is hardly enough to overpower all of the other exhibits” (Ibid., 419).
So the three-syllable pronunciation “Ye-Ho-WaH” has some support from at least one verse which uses a rhyme scheme. In that verse, two syllables – as in Yahweh – isn’t enough for make the rhythm fit; three are required.
It’s important to note that the first syllable in “Ye-Ho-WaH” is not pronounced with a hard “e”, as in “hear ye”. It’s pronounced more softly like in “yes”, only without the “s” sound.
YHWH = Yehowah?
One excellent argument for the pronunciation “Ye-Ho-WaH” are the places where God’s name is used as part of other Biblical names. I have a great quote that explain it clearly, but two bits of trivia are required for context first.
First, our English letter “J” isn’t new, but it’s pronunciation is quite new. Until recently, our “J” was pronounced exactly like our “Y”. Hence the spelling of all the names in the quote below will sound much more familiar if you replace the “Y” sound with a “J” sound. (Even though the “Y” opening is more correct.)
Second, a “theophoric name” embeds all or part of a god’s name into another name. This is typically done to honor the god or invoke its protection. For example, the name “Christopher” means “Christ-bearer” and is intended to honor Christ in the naming of the child.
Hebrew also had theophoric names:
Here are some examples of theophoric names that begin with the first three consonants of the Tetragrammaton: Yehoiakim, Yehonathan, Yehoshaphat, Yehoash, Yehoram, Yehoiada, Yehoiarib, Yehoaddah, Yehoaddan, Yehoahaz, Yehohanan, Yehoiarib, Yehonadab, Yehoshabeath, Yehosheba among others. These names were sometimes shortened to create new names, and this resulted in Yoiakim, Yonathan, etc.
When we compare the names that begin with the three first consonants of the Tetragrammaton (YHW), we see that all the names are vocalized YeHo-.
(Source)
Again, this is more evidence for the pronunciation “Yehowah”.
What about “Jehovah”?
Again, our letter “J” used to be pronounced like our letter “Y”. Therefore “Jehovah” would’ve originally been pronounced “Yehovah”. If you use the modern pronunciation for the Hebrew letter “ו” (Waw), it sounds like our “v” instead of our “w”. Thus Yehowah becomes Jehovah.
Interestingly, this might even be construed as more evidence for Yehowah being the correct pronunciation (though admittedly very weak evidence).
Conclusion
No one is sure how YHWH is properly pronounced. However despite the scholarly consensus on “Yahweh”, I think “Yehowah” (Ye-Ho-Wah) fits the evidence best… but again no one knows for sure. Further, I’m not a Hebrew scholar. (I know far more Greek than Hebrew, and I wouldn’t even call myself a Greek scholar.)
I don’t intend to get dogmatic about the pronunciation. Whether it’s Yahweh, Yehowah, or something else we all know who we mean. It’s more important to honor Him and His character than make sure we pronounce his name perfectly. After all, if the pronunciation was that important you’d think He would’ve made sure it survived. However, His character is clearly written all over the Bible.
(Also, I really like the song Yahweh, especially the version by Kari Jobe. Interesting to note, they make it three syllables – “Ya-Ha-Weh” – to make it fit there too…)
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That was a lot of fun!
It doesn’t surprise me that people are confused about the origins of Yahweh. He is of Arabic origin, coming from the Arabian Peninsular or if you like, Saudi Arabia – Saudis were installed by the British by the way – into Jordan – the name was Seir in those days, by nomadic tribes like the Canaanites and the Midianites – Jethro was the Father in law of Moses and the Priest of the god Yah. Finally into Negev desert and started copper smelting. Yahweh became the god of copper smelting by fire from the rocks. He is described as breathing out fire from his nostrils, adopted by the Jews later on as their exclusive God as reported in the latest archeological findings the Jewish Newspaper – The Haaretz. The Arabic Ya is the Hebrew Yodh as in Yodh He Ve Heh or in Arabic Yawah – Yahowah – Yahuwah – Yahu – Ya Howah – part of every day Arabic speech “Oh! He is!”
both going back to proto- Canaanite Yad, the tenth letter of the Semitic Alphabet from the syriac Alafabayit – Alefbet in Hebrew – Allahbet – Alif – the House of One or Unity – Tawid in Arabic. Ya or Yodh stands for the Hand.
Why is it that you omit the most important theophoric name Yehoshuwa? Which is the true name of the Messiah not Iesous (Jesus)
Mostly because going into Yeshua vs Yehoshua vs Jesus could be an article in and of itself. It would’ve doubled the length of the article (at least) and the extra discussion would’ve served to dilute the main topic.
I don’t know. Yehoshua is Jesus’ name in Hebrew and Yeshua is Jesus’ name in Aramaic (with a Galilean accent).
Why don’t you just learn Hebrew and then you would know what their name is.
If you had read the article, you’d know that no one is sure because the original pronunciation has been lost.
This is misleading. God’s name has been handed down once every seven years. It was never lost and it isn’t a secret. It’s just guarded by those who don’t want it profaned.
I learned that Jehovah/Yehovah is a combination of Adonai and YHWH (where the vowel sounds of the former were incorporated into the tetragrammaton). The J sound actually was a work/product of a time when scholars were (mistakenly) converting the yod into the J sound. So the name Yehovah/Jehovah may seems to be due to scribes transposing vowel pointers from Adonai into YHWH.
I enjoyed this article. I have been studying off and on the Paleo Hebrew. To me it seems if the Father’s was not as important to now, why then was it removed 6,823 times? I agree his character is very important, but evidently so is his set apart name!
Yes! Totally agree!
Perhaps it’s a tactic of His arch-enemy to obliterate the knowledge if His name from people’s consciousness…His name should be known, honoured and distinguished, it should not have been replaced in the Bible with general titles like God or Lord…for goodness sake, even the false gods of ancient times had personal names! How, can we “sanctify God’s name”, as Jesus encouraged us to do in the Lord’s prayer, if we don’t know it??
(YHWH) YaHaWah true name of Elohim
IN PALEO HEBREW they pronounce A sounds that’s why when you read (YHWH) YAHAWAH
YAHAWAH is the hidden name of our true MOST HIGH.
SHALAWAM
Shalawam. YHWH is with you. That is the name of Elohim. And YHWShI is His only begotten Son
Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Joh 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Calling God by his proper name does matter.
YHWH has a meaning, and if you can’t pronounce
it right, then you’re destroying the meaning.
If you’re not sure, (which no one is) then it’s best
to not say it.
Humans are always trying to figure out Gods
secrets, but can’t get the basics down.
If God wanted YHWH figured out, then He
would have made it plain.
blaspheme the name of God is not saying the pronunciation incorrect is to talk wrong against him, angry with him about something.
Jeremiah 16:21 “So I will make them know, At this time I will make them know my power and my might, And they will have to know that my name is Jehovah.” John 17:25 Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you, but I know you, and these have come to know that you sent me. 26 I HAVE MADE YOUR NAME KNOWN to them and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.
Another great article! You present some good evidence for “Yehowah”. I have often wondered why Bible translators have let the silly Jewish tradition continue on for so long. That’s why I’m excited for the Legacy Standard Bible. It’s about time someone translates God’s personal name correctly, be it Yahweh or Yehowah.
Even the word “Hallelujah” has so much more meaning when you realize what God’s personal name is! This word is a combination of 2 Hebrew words, the first being the verb “hillel” which means to praise. But praise what? The second word is “jah” which is a shorted form of YHWH. So quite literally, hallelujah means to PRAISE YAHWEH/YEHOWAH. I love that so much! Anyways, thanks again for the article. Have a great evening.
A good simple article. You could have stayed away from the messiah issue and still brought up that from the full name YHWH comes two abbreviated forms “YaHooW” as seen and heard at the end Many Hebrew names. Also the poetic abbreviated form of YHWH as “YaH” (non-cap letters to express the general rule vowel sounds that go with the consonants in ancient Hebrew)
I and others have speculated that this was likely done to stop the Babylonians (gentiles) from misusing the YaHuWaH’s name in vain and from making the Yahudi take wrongful vows in YHWH’s name.
My two cents.
more through than I can explain here.
https://doubleportioninheritance888.blogspot.com/2013/10/
Can you imagine YHWH in Genesis chapter three trying to explain to Moses a progressive revelation of His name. Moses tell the children of Israel to figure out what my name is; oh that’s right, they didn’t have a bible yet! No He said, “Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: ‘YHWH God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.” The beautiful thing about pronouncing the sound of each letter in the Tetragrammaton is the revelation of the heart of YHWH in the story of redemption. Yod – hand, He – behold, Waw – nail, He – behold, “Behold the hand, Behold the nail.” Redemption was in the heart of YHWH before the foundations of the earth and when Jesus walked into the room of weeping disciples he comforted them with these words, “Behold the hand, behold the nail.” That is how they knew He was God!
The name is Jehoah. No V in it.
You should have been able to see this yourself due to the excellent points you made in saying:
“first three consonants of the Tetragrammaton: Yehoiakim, Yehonathan, Yehoshaphat, Yehoash, Yehoram, Yehoiada, Yehoiarib, Yehoaddah, Yehoaddan, Yehoahaz, Yehohanan, Yehoiarib, Yehonadab, Yehoshabeath, Yehosheba”
And:
“When we compare the names that begin with the three first consonants of the Tetragrammaton (YHW), we see that all the names are vocalized YeHo-.”
יהוה
Y י
H ה
V ו (Holding marker for O or U)
H ה
As you can see with the list of names there is no V in them even though the 3rd consonant is W/V. That’s because O replaces the V it is not added in addiction to, as a example: YehoViakim, YehoVnathan, YehoVshaphat, YehoVash, YehoVram, YehoViada, YehoViarib, YehoVaddah, YehoVaddan, YehoVahaz, YehoVhanan, YehoViarib, YehoVnadab, YehoVshabeath, YehoVsheba”
What about Ya’oh?
According to the prophet Isaiah, nobody will know how to pronounce HaShems’ name until “that day” – the day He “returns to Tzion.” (Isa 52:6-8)
Yahu and is another possibility if vav is being used as a ‘u’ vowel. Many Yahwehfied names ( totally made that word up 🙂 ) tag the end of names with yahu. Isaiah= yeshayahu, Jeremiah=Yirmeyahu. Every name ending in iah in english is yahu in hebrew. Though most of the time a Yahwehfied name gets the yahu ending sometimes names get it at the front as Yehoah, thus treating vav as an ‘o’ vowel. Names like Jehoahaz=Yehoahaz, or names like Jehoiakim=Yehoyakeem. Never is vav treated as a consonant in a Yahwehfied name, hence Yaveh, Yehovah etc are all baseless. Interestingly, an 8th century b.c., Moabite tablet pronounces Yhvh as Yahu, thus indeed treating vav as a vowel but rendering the final h silent. The difference in yahu ending names and yahoah beginning names is simply grammatical. When Pharaoh made Eliakim the king of Judah, he changed his name to Jehoiakim, 2nd Kings 23:34, as a gesture that this is Yahweh’s appointed king. A page later Pharaoh made Eliakim’s brother king and changed his name to Zedekiah. Though grammar dictates the Yahoah beginning or Yahu ending (Yahoahzedek makes no sense, Zedekyahu does. Kimyahu makes no sense, Yehoyakim does. ) the Moabite tablet shows that Yahu, not Yehoah, was the actual pronunciation. At the risk of being tedious since vav was obviously used as a vowel in Yhvh and not as a consonant, the consensus of Christian scholars is that vav was pronounced waw by the Israelites since the same letter is pronounced as waw in Egyptian and various Canaanite languages. The old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew looks like chicken scratch. An ugly, thin lettered script similar to Egyptian and various Canaanite alphabets. Jewish tradition says Hebrew was corrupted into the Paleo-Hebrew script ( sometime after David’s death) and Ezra restored the ugly Hebrew script back to the royal script ( called royal script because every letter gets a crown/s denoting the majesty of their King) in the 5th century b.c., however most scholars believe Jewish scribes were influenced by the wedge shaped Persian script and changed the Hebrew script into the pretty script we’re familiar with today. They’re believed to have changed alphabets around the 3rd century b.c. However, this change seems to have been controversial since Jewish coins made during the Zealot revolt in 66-70 a.d., reverted back to the old Hebrew script. Since the spirit of the revolt was about physical and spiritual restoration, the script change is curious indeed. Anyway, I studied Hebrew and Judaism for about 10 years and this was a little bit of what I learned back then. Shalom 🙂
That is absolutely fascinating! Thank you so much for leaving that comment. Hmm, still doesn’t make sense with the three syllable rhyme scheme idea, but it certainly fits as well as Yahweh. Interesting; most interesting.
Oops, made a typo right off the bat. ” Yahu and”, disregard and. I actually typed this on my Ps4 lol and its 2:35 am zzzzzzzzzzzz
I enjoyed reading your article, and am bookmarking it.
There is now adequate evidence and manuscripts which show Yah’s personal name is Jehovah. Please look up Nehemiah Gordon, a well recognized scholar who loves Jehovah and is a Karaite Jew, having left his family line of Pharisees! Nehemiah has a YT channel and also a website, NehemiahsWall.com.
Nehemiah learned both Hebrew and English at the same time, in kindergarten. He presents not only the amazing history and culture of the Jews, but plainly explains his extensive research of manuscripts available only to scholars. He honors Yehovah and directs people to the Scriptures. What I and my husband observed while watching one of the interviews is how Nehemiah is joyful, and he gets very excited sharing what he has learned through many years. I also appreciated he doesn’t condemn people, but rather he reminds us of Jehovah’s mercy and love!
Please, please watch or read Mr Gordon’s work, pray for discernment while considering the information he presents. After searching for five years from multiple sources, I have joy & peace in knowing my Creator’s personal name. We *are* supposed to know His name, to worship, honor, and adore Him.
In the love of Yehoshua (Yeshua), our Savior and Redeemer,
C. Stoll
To eliminate all confusion, we may simply call him by the two first letters, namely Yod and Heh, as instructed by psalm 68 and verse 4.
His name is Yod Heh, in this instruction.
Hence Yah.
Thank you for writing this. My one question about the pronunciation has more to do with the first vowel pronunciation. Most people will point out that the Name doesn’t appear in the New Testament. However, it does (kind of).
The Apostle John (the “beloved”) was banished to the Isle of Patmos where he had his “revelation.” John, who would have spoken Hebrew and Greek, wrote (several times) in chapter 19 the word “Hallelujah” (or “Allelujah” in some translations). This “ἁλληλουϊά” (i.e., “hallēlouia”) — literally translated imperatively “you (plural) praise Yah” — was a Greek iteration of the Hebrew term “hallĕlūyāh.”
As was typically the case, this was most likely a contemporary phonetic rendering of a Hebrew term. The Greek rules for pronunciation are clear when it comes to the pronunciation of this word in Greek — and the “Yah” in “Hallelujah” is pronounced as we hear it today. This pronunciation is largely kept intact as it translated from Greek into Latin and other languages.
This rendering gives me a strong feeling for how the first vowel in the Name would be pronounced. So, I’m under the impression that the Name (at least the shortened form “YH”) would have been phonetically pronounced by John at the end of the first century as “Yah.”
That is an incredibly brilliant point. Wow, yeah that makes a lot of sense. I need to think on that for a bit, but I might edit the article to include your comment, or at least the contents of your comment.
My favorite end times prophecy is the restoration of a pure language. Brilliant stuff, author and several commenters. I studied modern Hebrew for one year, but recently have gotten interested in paleo Hebrew, and yes, it’s because of the Name. I’m pretty sure it has to be YaHuWaH. J and V are definitely out, and Yahu is pretty certain from all of the names.
Now the name of Messiah I’m not so sure on. It’s Yod He Vav Shin Ayin, right? Would that be Yahusha? I don’t see any indication of a u sound after the shin….
I appreciate you writing this article. I find it interesting that the Bible has been translated into various languages. What is the most commonly used name for God in English Bibles. It is Jehovah. How many names in English Bibles begin with the letter J. And yes Jesus knew God’s name. That’s why he prayed to let your name be sanctified.Matthew 6:9 and read John chapter 17. Even in the book of revelation the expression hallelujah, can properly be translated in English to me praise Jah! So I believe that the important thing is that we know and understand God’s name in our language and what it means to us.
An interesting note about the use of Ye-ho-vah or. Ye-ho-wah for pronouncing יהוה is that the sound of the first syllable ‘Ye’ follows the general rule for the prefix making a verb Future Tense; the second ‘ho’ for forming the Present, and the suffix ‘waw’ or ‘van’ for making the Past Tense —- which together might suggest one aspect of the Name is that it signifies the One Who is to come, Who is, and Who was—the One Who’s Presence transcends Time— The I AM…
If you think you have the real pronounciation of YHWH, write it in a piece of paper, breathe the paper with the pronounciation of It then fire it up, if its not even burning even a little, keep it. But if it is burning, what pronounciation you have is wrong….
The Almighty said his name would be a memorial to all generation,so it could not have being lost,Clement of Alexandria spelt God’s name IAOUE,pity he did not know that IAOUE is the vowels(AEIOU) unscrambled,the creator in his infinite wisdom,made the vowels to preserve his name pronunciation,so we are without excuse,his name was never lost.HalleluYAHWEH
Osdnwid.
Plz help us,do you have any idea of that pronunciation? And how did you get the test u mentioned?? You may contact me on that this email.Thanks
gkachepatsonga@yahoo.com
yud hei waw hei – wouldn’t that be pronounced Ya – hu – ah? Yud hei waw shin ayin would be: Ya – hu – sha?
All translations of all Jesus’s names lead to hail Zeus, serpent, baal and lucifer. Even hallelujah is helel in Latin and means praise ye Bright Mourning star lucifer ✡️ all stars are fallen angels, his number is 6ptx6&6 point star fallen from heaven. Christ means marked, cross means cursed, lord is baal in the bi bell bibaal.
Re legion New Test is added books to sealed scriptures.
It’s not true that nobody knows the name and how it’s spelled or pronounced. This is what followers think. Faith is to follow blindly and a sin, rooted is to rot and death also a sin. Belief is to doubt and Disrespectful to the Most High, blessed can also mean cursed. You really have to seek truth for yourself instead of following.
“I AM” is assigned to the name Metatron. All translations of his name lead to the True Most High 2nd Enoch 20:3 1st Enoch 71:14 names Enoch our True Messiah. “The Chosen One” “Son of Man” “Forsaken he is Not” “Never suffered death”. Righteous Judge on Judgement Day. Taken for later return in the End Times.
Head of All Angels at the Right Hand of The Most High. Exodus 23:21 tells you to listen to Him, “for My Name is in Him”.
Salvation is yours alone on judgment day and Enoch will be the righteous judge. “No man shall die for another man’s wages”
Re legion New Test is added books to sealed scriptures this is a fact. No Books were to be added or Removed. The Book of Enoch explains everything about this and the Endtimes, his book was removed from us, taken out and hidden.
Greetings.
I’ve recently discovered that the four letters of the Tetragrammaton are examples of the “matres lectionis”, Hebrew consonants that can also be read as vowels. I had also discovered some reference, though I seem to have misplaced it, to an early Christian writer who claimed to have heard it and had transcribed it to Greek as “Ειουε”(Latin Eioue), leading me to propose an pronunciation somewhat closer to “Eyehouweh”, which when articulated sounds very similar to “Yahweh”.
I hope this is of some interest to you or to your readers.
YHVH pronounced by Jesus Abba and his disciples with the Holy Spirit in the verses in Matt.8:15 and Gal.4:6