Yahweh or Jehovah?
What is the correct Name for the One we worship, Yahweh or Jehovah? According to Insight on the Scriptures, a Jehovah’s Witnesses publication, the name “ ‘Jehovah’ ” is the best-known English pronunciation of the divine name” (vol. 2, p. 5). However, this same source also states, “ ‘Yahweh’ is favored by most Hebrew scholars” (ibid). The fact that names are not translated but transliterated, therefore the statement, “ ‘Jehovah’ is the best-known English pronunciation,” is factually and grammatically incorrect. The words “translation” and “transliteration” are often confused. Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary defines translate as, “to change from one language into another,” 1967, p. 1939. This same reference states this in reference to transliterate: “To write or spell (words, etc.) in the alphabetical characters of another language that represent the same sound or sounds.” An example of a translation is when Jerome translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Latin. An example of transliteration is the name “Benjamin Netanyahu,” the Prime Minister of Israel. No matter where Benjamin Netanyahu travels his name is always “Benjamin Netanyahu.” Names are not changed or translated but transliterated. This same concept applies to the Name of our Creator. His Name was never pronounced “Jehovah.” Our Heavenly Father’s Name derives from the Hebrew letters yod-hey- waw-hey. These four letters are known as the Tetragrammaton (Greek “four letters”) and correspond to the English YHWH. Based on Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, the most accurate transliteration of YHWH is “Yahweh.”
Scholarship, regardless of language, overwhelmingly supports this name. Consider the following references:
- “The Lord. The Hebrew for his name is Yahweh (often incorrectly spelled ‘Jehovah’)” (NIV Study Bible, note at Exodus 3:15, 1998).
- “The prophets commonly used Yahweh for God, English sometimes as Lord, sometimes as Jehovah, the latter being a hybrid form which should be written Yahweh (YHWH)” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1973).
- “Properly, the name should be pronounced; ‘Yahweh’ as it is spelled in many modern versions. In this paraphrase ‘Yahweh’ is translated either ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Lord’ ; (The Living Bible, note at Exodus 3:15, 1971).
- “Jehovah, n. 1530 Iehoua, borrowing of the New Latin, an erroneous transliteration of the Hebrew name YHWH, often represented as Yahweh” (The Barnhart ConciseDictionary of Etymology, 1995).
These are only a few references confirming Yahweh’s Name. There are countless others that provide the same information. Knowing this, why would anyone choose to use the name “Jehovah”? This hybrid name arose from combining the vowel points of Adonai with the Tetragrammaton. Additionally, Since the Hebrew and Greek languages are without a “J” sound, the name “Jehovah” is an impossibility in these ancient languages. Interestingly, the letter “J” was also the last letter to be added to the English alphabet. The original 1611 KJV did not contain the letter J. Instead, it used the letter I. For example, the name of the Messiah was spelled “Iesus.” While this too is not right, it illustrates the missing “J” from the original KJV. Does it matter that Jehovah is a hybrid of the Hebrew YHWH? Yahweh’s Name appears nearly 7,000 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. In Exodus 20:7, we are told not to take His Name in vain. The word “vain” comes from the Hebrew shaw, meaning “worthlessness.” When we ignore His Name we are breaking this commandment. Also, according to the Old and New testaments, those who call upon Yahweh’s Name will be saved, Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21. Beyond the scriptural significance, people prefer being called by their personal names and not by a replacement someone may randomly choose. Our Creator is no different. He too desires to be called by His personal revealed Name, Yahweh. If you are not already doing so, we encourage you to begin honoring your Heavenly Father by calling on His revealed personal Name Yahweh and not settle for substitute names or titles.
Learn more about Yahweh Name through our booklet, including why it matters whether we use Yahweh or Jehovah, Your Father’s Name.
For more info on the origins of Jehovah please check out our article: The Yehovah Deception.
Watch: “The Yehovah or Yahweh Question” below.
this article makes sense to to me ,the word jehova mean distroyer..yahweh and yahshua are not one and the same nor are they part of a trinty,am i correct?
Shalom Leon! Please check out our booklet on our beliefs on the trinity! https://yrm.org/identifying-father-son-holy-spirit-identifying-father-son-holy-spirit/
Correct, Yahweh and Yahshua are separate beings, making the Trinity false. Matter of fact, the Trinity was not fully adopted by the church until 381 CE.
so does john 10:30 not exist
It does. And we believe it. But we do not believe Yahshua says He and the Father are LITERALLY one aka, the same being. The fact Messiah mentioned himself and then the Father implies that they are not the same exact being. He is the physical representation of the Father. However, Yahweh cannot dwell among the sin of this world, so if Yahweh and Yahshua are one being, then Yahweh is, in fact, dwelling among the sin. One of the very last things that happens in Revelation is Yahweh physically coming to earth to dwell with His people in His Kingdom.… Read more »
hovah means destoyer not jehovah/yehovah
How do you say Jerusalem without the j?
In Hebrew the “J” would be pronounced as a “Y.” This is why “Jehovah” and “Yehovah” are equivalent.
Cannot be. There is no equivalent to the letter J in Hebrew.
in hebrew its pronounced (yeh- roosh- ah – lie – yim)
The original name is, Yerushalayim. Egypt original name is Mitsrayim.
Yerushalayim
Thank you for the clarification in regards to His name. I have two questions:
1. why weren’t the rest of the Hebrew names which began with “J” changed to “Y” in your restoration bible?
2. what is the status of all believers who have died not knowing our Father and Savior’s proper name? Are they not saved? Since the proper name was “lost” or purposely hidden by the Jews so no one would take the Name in vain?
Perhaps these questions have been posted before, but I cannot find them. Thank you. Celina
Thank you for your questions. We didn’t change the names of the other names because we do not hold those names as holy, Also, we have the Hebrew name of the authors in the beginning of the OT books for those that are interested. We wanted to maintain as much of the KJV as we could. We were simply avoiding confusion for someone who is new to study and may not know the Bible very well. Concerning the people who did not know the name before dying. Those people will have the opportunity to accept or reject Yahweh and Yahshua… Read more »
Hi, it would simplify your effort if you took note in the dictionary that Jehovah is not an English word, but an English representation. Representation of what you might ask. It is a representation of a mispronunciation of the Latin word coined to hold the original sounds know For the letters in Hebrew of YHWH. This mispronunciation first happen in the Catholic church of Germany. Hebrew: YHWH, Yahweh,
Greek, YHWH, Yahweh, Latin, YHWH, Yahweh, English, YHWH, Yahweh. All pronounced the same way. Jehovah was never even a word only a set sounds to represent a mistake.
The commandment is to “not CARRY the Lord’s Name in vain”. Yahweh will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and compassion on whom “He will have compassion. It is not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but of Yahweh who shows mercy”. Selah
The Name Yehovah as found in Hebrew names But the most numerous hints found in the Scripture are in the Hebrew names that contain the three letters of the Creator’s name Yehovah: יהו. The Hebrew grammar and phonetic rules dictate that when a name begins with these three letters they are pronounced yeho-, however, when they are at the end of the name, they are pronounced -yahu. Such names are: Yeho-shua, that is Joshua, Yehonathan, Yehoyada, Yehoshaphat, Yehoram, Yehonadav, Yeho’achaz, Yeho’ash, Yehozavad, Yehoyakim, Yehoyachin, Yehotsadak, Yehoyada, Yehoyariv, Yehochanan; Yesha-yahu, that is Isaiah, Yirme-yahu, that is Jeremiah, Eliyahu, that is Elijah,… Read more »
Listening to Yehovah pushers say things like “However, to ignore such a long list of Hebrew names in which the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton has been preserved for us and to seek foreign and even impossible “names” and to present them as academic findings is a matter of ignorance.” is laughable. Yehovah was disproven as a nonsensical name decades ago. This is nothing more than a dog returning to it’s vomit. You realize the biggest pusher of Yehovah, Nehemia Gordon doesn’t even use YHVH when dealing with ACTUAL scholars? In his own PhD paper he uses YHWH. Why oh why… Read more »
FREEMASONRY is the enemy we seek. It was Moloch worshiping Pharisees of Judah who fled to Babylon at the fall of Jerusalem 70 ad, and established the satanic Babylonian Talmud as scripture. Freemasonry is the great whore of Babylon spoken of John the Revelator. Beware.
Keith, I am amused by your insight. I’ve been starting to see the connection with freemasonry and the creation of Christian sects to JWs to Mormons etc. Could you share your insights with your spiritual brothers & sisters? I’d like to network with you if you’re legit. Too many friends on blogs and forums like to leave antidotal comments without following through, I hope you aren’t one of them.
Sorry Justin, using a reply to you because I couldn’t find where I might just make a new one of my own. I take it Keith is the guy here. The topic of Yahweh or Jehovah could be settled much easier if you note that Jehovah is called a “representation” not an English word in the more authoritative dictionaries. The reason for this is Jehovah is not a word but a mispronunciation used in “church Latin” by the Roman Catholic church. The church in Germany with its beginning English population just misunderstood the letter that looks like the English J… Read more »
I disagree with your argument because you say there is no J in Hebrew and therefore that the sound didnt exist. Think about that claim.
Jacob, Jerusalem, Jericho and on and on. If Jehovah is the best way to write the name of god, so you an English speaker, can pronounce it, how would you write that in Hebrew? Because, to me it seems obvious that ancient Hebrews use J sounding words as they spoke,and to suggest that they had no J soumding words seems very wrong to me.
There is no letter in the Hebrew alphabet that lends itself to the J sound. All the words you mentioned would be pronounced with a Y sound in Hebrew. Yerusalem Yacob Yericho. And concerning Jehovah, that would be Rendered Yehovah but as we state in several videos and articles that word doesn’t make any sense in Hebrew grammar. There isn’t a V sound in ancient biblical Hebrew either.
https://yrm.org/yehovah-deception-booklet/
YHVH+the vowels: sh-va, kholam and kamats in their place spells the Name of GOD which is: YEHOVAH (YE-HO-VAH) Exodus 3:13-15 Moshe said to God, “Look, when I appear before the people of Isra’el and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God said to Moshe, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” (“I am/will be what I am/will be”), and added, “Here is what to say to the people of Isra’el: ‘Ehyeh (I Am or I Will Be) has sent me to you.’” God… Read more »
Nehemia Gordon is a false teacher. He is willingly misrepresenting quotes of dead Rabbi’s to prove his point. Rabbi’s that actually spoke AGAINST the sh-va, kholam and kamats being the vowels for the name. I will link video evidence of him taking a quote completely out of context to prove his insane point. He do not take him as a legitimate scholar as he has been caught manipulating and straight up falsifying evidence to advance his insane narrative. Here is a very small example of him acting as if these Rabbi’s agree with him while ignoring and leaving out evidence… Read more »
The letter J and the sound is only a few hundred years old. All the prophets included the name for God, which is Yah.
Saying Jehovah would translate to ‘ Lord Yahweh’, a better address for the Father, perhaps keeping the personal name as well as respect for God?
We wouldn’t royalty from another country by their first name.
“Yea, tell her to have her car parked around back….who? That Elizabeth woman from England.”
But the problem is, that isn’t how Hebrew works. Words and names always have meaning in Hebrew. Jehovah doesn’t mean anything in Hebrew. It was literally product of ignorance of the Hebrew language. Nothing more. People have been trying to add meaning to a word that doesn’t exist in the language. This isn’t even a debate anymore. It is documented FACT that Jehovah is a meaningless, nonsensical grammatical impossibility.
What does Yahweh mean in Hebrew??
Well, we know from Latin, that “iove” (pronounced Yahweh) is the ablative form of Jupiter, meaning to/by/of/for/from Jupiter.
That opens up another discussion. Does YRM address that topic?
While we do not have an extensive article on the topic (We should), there is another gentleman who has put hours of research into this very thing.
We recommend checking out his video addressing this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk0Jhrs01Ww&list=PLL4I2Njj12SpcjUfkC6YuLdHXvbBvv71Q&index=3
Jehovah is far more accurate then yahweh…
The vowels placed around YHWH are NOT those of ‘Adonai’…
Look it up…
You act like this is OUR information, we didn’t come up with it. We researched and reached out to Ph.D’s in Hebrew Linguistics (Even he head of the Language department in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem) and they were the ones that told us that that Yehovah is nonsensical, Maybe you can convince them that they are wrong and that you know more about ancient Semitic languages than they do. We will continue to study Biblical Hebrew as we have been and will continue to fight this obvious error. If you would take a accredited Biblical Hebrew class you would… Read more »
http://www.eliyah.com/sn09Chap.pdf and http://truthofyah.net/studies/fathersname.html further explain the gutteral sounds and significance of the Name YHWH being all vowels. Jehovah is a bridge from the Catholic era of ignorance for LORD to the name of the Father. To malign German speakers for saying Jehovah ostracizes adherence to Our God. Rather the premise needs scrutiny in explaining that the German Jehovah substitution for the Hebrew Yahweh featured on this is website attempts an appeal to return to such origins of God’s name and by supporting a rational dialogue.
Has anyone ever considered the letter G, Gimel in Hebrew or the Gamma in Greek?
Think about the English pronunciation of the name ‘Gina’. Easy solution to the question of J. A gutteral or masculine pronunciation of G would be like the English name ‘Gary’.
The letter Y in Hebrew is Yod (yode), and is much like a couple commas on top of each other, but the top one reversed. A simple lack of ink in the handwriting or etching could easily mistake a Latin speller to be the letter J.
So … I, Y or G?
It seems to me that Satan decieves the WHOLE world. Jehovah nor Yahweh seem correct. If there were no vowels used in Paleo Hebrew or Early Aramaic ….why would YHWH be Yahweh?.. especially since the Israelites forgot how to pronounce The Almighty Father’s sacred name centuries before The Christ was born..,had HE erased it from their hearts by then? Because the Babylonian oral law that Jesus spoke against said so? The same that corrupted Moses teachings? Or maybe the Masoretic text by Jews who hadn’t accepted the Messiah and to this day still spouting the same erroneous teachings of the… Read more »
We go into MUCH greater detail in this free booklet: https://yrm.org/yehovah-deception/
Robert i agree YHWH is the original name men are the ones that added the vowels weather Yahweh or Jehovah are there name of choice for God’s name all is mans speculation. So if we stick to some of this ridicules argument english speaking people have had it all wrong for 2, 000 years and are in danger of going to Hell because they use the Name Jesus instead of calling him Yashahua.You talk about creating a ball of confusion for people God is not a God of confusion.
People, you do not go to hell or heaven by a secret name. The Name of The Lord is the action of his Saving Grace found in Jesus/YAHshua/The WORD of GOD. To believe in God’s salvation is to believe in his name. How you pronounce the name has nothing to do with salvation. It’s about your heart. In the meantime we can try to be as accurate as possible.
May YHWH our Elohim (Elah, Eloah, El shaddai) baruķ everybody here and those that don’t know the real name YHWH, in the qodesh name of the bĕn of Adam, the bĕn of YHWH, Yahshua Ha’ Mashiach the beloved yacheed of YHWH. May YHWH shine his light upon ya’ll and give ya’ll his shalom. Baruķ are all the neb(v)i’im, Hanoķ, Noah, Dawid, Yeshayahu, Yirmeyahu etc. Baruķ are Uri’El, Micha’El, Gab(v)ri’El, Rapha’El, Phanu’El, Ragu’El, Chamu’El, Saraqqa’El, Rame’El and all the ten thousand times ten thousand of malachim, cherub(v)im, ophanim and serafim that serve YHWH ELOAH EL SHADDAI in the shamayim.
Ahmein
Your article is 100 percent incorrect. I know Hebrew go to a messanic Jewish church and there is NOT a letter W in the Hebrew alephbet. (alphabet) nor is there a letter J. There is a V vav which someone down the line in English has changed to equated the English letter W. In English the J is close enough to the pronunciation of Yud so that letter is fine. However, there is not a letter W (wav) in Hebrew and the letter used in his name represents a V not a W. That is like taking a letter A… Read more »
You know MODERN Hebrew. Which is the ONLY Semitic language with a V for the 6th letter. If the V were ancient and Hebrew is the oldest language why don’t ANY of the surrounding languages that grew out of Hebrew use a V for the 6th letter? Language doesn’t work retroactively. Nehemiah is YouTube scholar with no formal education in the Hebrew Linguistics. He has a Masters in Biblical Studies and a Bachelors in Archaeology, neither of these things lend weight to his claims about the Hebrew Language. We Reached out to the Hebrew University IN JERUSALEM and the one… Read more »
What the Pharisees saw that Pilate wrote made them want to change
of the Jews היהודים and King ומלך the Nazarene הנצרי Yeshua ישוע
YESHUA HANATSRI V’MELECH HAYEHUDIM
Do we see the hidden message on the cross the Pharisees saw? Yeshua Hanatsri V‘melech Hayehudim, shows that the account is not merely being informative here, but that it reveals an acronym which reads the Set-apart Name of the Creator, YHVH.
This is almost as laughable as Nehemia Gordons 9/11 revelation of the Name.
Jehovah is the name, all that other is what all those lying pagans or satanists spread, or or,rewrtting history insulting or faith n gdo and Hoim too
Jehovah is NOT THE NAME not ONE PROPHET would have used that name because It is NOT AN AFRICAN NAME! Hebrew is an AFRICAN LANGUAGE so the name must reflect the same you racist NAME IMPERIALISTS!
The only people who brought up race is you. Name calling? Really? We actually agree with you that the name could not have been Jehovah/Yehovah.
You came onto OUR page and start raging without even posting a single source for your claims? Nothing? Just a quick jab with an insult? You are not going to convince anyone with that approach.
We advise not getting caught up in vain genealogies as scripture warns (Titus 3:9) as it brings nothing more than division.
so is it correct to say Yahweh Rapha? As I see Jehovah Rapha, Jehova Raah, Nissi Tsidkenu etc. I am most curious
To claim to be of God while doing evil is taking his name in vain
What’s the difference in Yahweh and Yahuah?
https://yrm.org/yahuah-or-yahweh/
Jehovah is actually just the German pronunciation of Yahweh, heavily accentuated. It’s ridiculous how Jehovah’s witnesses push it if they actually knew this historical fact.
Someone needs to show this article to the Jehovah Witnesses. I’m so tired of their indoctrination practices.
A lot of JW know those claims, and they couldn’t care less because a lot of the claims here are not even true. “Yahweh” is just a scholarly guess, Yehovah (Ieahova, Jehovah, Yehowa etc.) is actually proven to be at least a serious possibility of the correct pronunciation. It is used widely in the world, be it on buildings, coins, manuscripts, books, poems etc. I can recommend you to look up Nehemia Gordon’s channel on YouTube, he explains all the science around that name in detail and he reviewed a lot more manuscripts than any other scholar.
Nehemia Gordon is a opportunist and an anti-missionary looking to pawn off books on to people who are ignorant of the Hebrew language. Pure and simple. We have ran circles around his argument and have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Yehovah is nothing more than a dog returning to it’s vomit. Yahweh is NOT a Scholarly guess, it is proven within the Masoretic Text. The only people who think otherwise are those who cannot read Hebrew and do not know how the language works. Nehemia teaches teaching absolute FALSE GARBAGE and people continue to lap it up.… Read more »
יַהְוֶה is pronounced as “Yahweh”. Whereas, the Masoretes combined the vowels of “Adonay” with the name of YHWH to concoct “Yehowah” which became “Jehovah”.
Precisely. Those vowel points have nothing to do with the actual name. They were added later as a device to indicate whether or not the reader should read Adonai or Elohim depending on the context.
I once read, but I have lost the source, that the translation of Yahweh as Jehovah was the result of non-believing Jews who were consulted on the Hebrew translation for the King James Bible and that they purposely suggested the mistranslation in order to profane the King James Bible. I’m curious if anyone on your team has ever heard anything such as this. Its hard to understand how anyone with any understanding of the Hebrew language and the original words and meanings would ever arrive at “Jehovah.”
יְהוָֹהYEHOVAH
Jewish Sages say that the four letters Y-H-V-H, the Tetragrammaton, represent, “Hayah Hoveh Yihyieh – He was, He is, He will be.” Or He who existed, He who exists, and He who will exist, hence the idea that the Creator is the Everlasting One:
Ha-YaH, “He was” הָיָה
Ho-VeH, “He is” הוֶֹה
YiH-YieH, He will be” יהִיהֶ
“Jewish Sages” aka Kabalistic Rabbi’s. At least be honest about who these Rabbi’s are.
If that wasn’t bad enough, This is a blatant misquote from these “Jewish sages”.
Concerning Hayah, Howeh, Yihyeh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK1tY9YdzFs
Concerning the “quotes” from these Rabbi’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn_dIZn5crc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BrBFFP-siQ
Why are you afraid of the truth about the name YeHoVah. Time you study the Hebrew texts of the Apostles writings you would learn Yahweh and Yahshua are not in them. But YeHoVah and Yehoshua are
A bunch of false teaching
We recommend reaching out to the Hebrew University and presenting these Yehovah arguments to them. See what they say.
Are you afraid to have a discussion?
No. There is nothing to discuss. Yehovah is based purely on lies and deception.