Sacred Name

The proponents of this name believe the key to the proper pronunciation of YHWH can be found in the name Judah i.e. Yehudah YHWDH. Since His people are called by His name (2 Chronicles 7:14), then it must be hidden in the name Judah right? Not so fast... Numbers 6:27 says: "So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them." Lets analyze this verse in the Masoretic text. In Hebrew it says: "בְּנֵ֣י bene יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל Yisrael" This means the "sons of Israel." The sons of Israel encompass all the children of Jacob (tribes of Israel) not just Judah. This isn't some special directive and secret code explaining the name Judah's vowels hold the key to the true pronunciation.

But for arguments sake let's remove the dalet from Yehudah יְהוּדָה and see what happens. If you know Hebrew Grammar you will instantly notice a problem here: יְהוָּה The vowel shureq is now coupled with a qamets, this is a violation. A Hebrew consonant always has to have a vowel with it, not two vowels in a row. Lets say you decided to put the qamets vowel under the final heh, now you just changed the pronunciation to Yehuha because at the ending of a Hebrew word, the consonant is always read before the vowel.

If the problematic Hebrew grammar wasn't enough, we also see another glaring issue. There is a shewa under the yod which gives the Yeh sound, not the "Yah" sound. So not only must we remove the dalet, we then need to interject a different vowel in the first syllable that doesn't exist? There is no indication at all in the Hebrew word origin that there is a contraction of the tetragrammaton like we see in the name Joshua for instance. Yehudah simply means "praised." For those who have a basic understanding of Hebrew it is evident that the hoops we need to jump through to fabricate this name makes it nonsensical.

We asked Stephen Fassberg PhD of the Hebrew University and one of the world's leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholars what the "waw" sounded like anciently, he responded: "There is no doubt whatsoever that vav was pronounced "w" in the Hebrew of the First Temple period and in Semitic languages."

With all this criteria examined there is only one name that has been preserved in history with manuscript documentation from various sources, that meets the rules of Hebrew Grammar and also the vowel deduction of Kativ Kere and that name is Yahweh.

We hear it often: "the full vowels for the creator's name have now been found." Sadly, many people have been sold a bill of goods based on a false premise. And that false premise is perpetuated from a lack of understanding of Ketiv/ Qere in Hebrew. Ketiv and Qere are orthographic devices that were used by the Masoretes (Jewish scribes) in the 6th to the 10th centuries. Ketiv means, "what is written." Qere means, "what is read." In other words, the sacred Name was written one way, but it was to be read another way.

Basically, the scribes would insert the vowels from two other words - "Adonai and Elohim" - into the Tetragrammaton, hwhy, so when the reader saw these vowels he would read the title Adonai or Elohim, completely avoiding the sacred Name, which Judaism believes is too holy to pronounce.

Some who promote Yehovah over Yahweh point to a Karaite Jew's claim that he discovered the "full" vowels in the Tetragrammaton from a medieval manuscript, indicating the name Yehovah.

The Masoretes used an orthographic device known as Kativ Kere in the text to hide the true vowels of the name Yahweh. Ketiv means read and Kere means written. They inserted the vowels for Adonai, Elohim and variants in the Tetragrammaton so every time they would see those associative vowels they would either read Elohim or Adonai.

With all this criteria examined there is only one name that has been preserved in history with manuscript documentation from various sources, that meets the rules of Hebrew Grammar and also the vowel deduction of Kativ Kere and that name is Yahweh.

We often spell out "God" and "Lord" to show a distinction between the common and proper titles / names for Yahweh. In the case of God, according to some sources, including the Britannia, God may refer to a molten image. Also, according to some scholars, the proper name of the supreme deity of the ancient Teutonic people was "God."

We further explain in the Restoration Study Bible, "...Today, Elohim has been falsely replaced with the generic title 'God,' which is neither correct, based on the Hebrew, nor honoring to Yahweh, based on its etymological roots. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'It has been also suggested that the word might mean a "molten image" from the sense of to "pour"' (Vol. 12, 1911). See [Oxford English Dictionary]. Additionally, according to others, the term 'God' was the proper name for the Teutonic Supreme Being. 'In all Teutonic tongues the Supreme Being has always with one consent been called by the general name God.' (Teutonic Mythology, Vol. 1, Jacob Grimm, p. 13, 1882)." note on Genesis 1:1.

Regarding Lord, this comes from the Old English hlāford and refers to a bread-keeper. Also, many biblical sources state the Baal means "Lord." While the Old English etymology certainly is demeaning, the latter, i.e., meaning of Baal, is of more concern.

• "Baal means lord, in the sense of owner, possessor..." (Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Baal).

It is conceivable that some have repented of the works of the flesh. Yet they still may be ignorant of the only Name that offers salvation. Scripture says we must seek truth and then walk in all the light we are given, 1John 1:7.

Your question touches on a type of John's baptism, the baptism unto simple repentance. In Acts 18 is a man named Apollos, an eloquent man "mighty in the Scriptures." Yet he had still more to learn. Verse 25 says, "This man was instructed in the way of Yahweh; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of Yahweh, knowing only the baptism of John."

Notice how Aquila and Priscilla furthered his education: "And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of Yahweh more perfectly." (Acts 18:26)

The passage indicates that their instruction included the necessity now to be immersed into Yahshua's Name.

Then in the next chapter, 19, Paul encounters more disciples who had not heard of baptism into Yahshua's Name, which is baptism for salvation as well as repentance.

"He said unto them, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit. And he said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Messiah Yahshua. When they heard this, they were baptized in the Name of the Master Yahshua." No questioning, no arguing, just compliance.

When we repent and are baptized into the salvation that comes only in Yahshua's Name, we are endowed with Yahweh's Holy Spirit and begin to grow spiritually.

The common titles or names do not provide His salvation.