WHAT IS GOD'S NAME? YHVH IS NOT JEHOVAH!

#1. HOW GOD’S NAME WAS CHANGED

a. The original Hebrew alphabet consisted of 22 letters, and all of them were consonants. Vowels were not represented in writing except that the major vowel sounds were indicated by the three letters yōd (y), vāv (w), and hē’(h). These were used to represent long vowels as well as normal letters, and are known as Vowel Letters. Even today, the Hebrew Scrolls of Law, which are read in the synagogues, are without any vowel signs as we know them today. The ancient Hebrew text was reverenced and regarded as sacred, so when errors due to copying were found in the text, the scribes would not alter the original consonantal text, even when the error was an obvious one. Instead they would mark the corrupt word (called “Ketib”, meaning, “it is written”) with an asterisk or small circle (RKH p44), which would call the readers attention to a correction [called “Qere”, meaning, “to be read” (JW p22)]. This would be written in a margin or footnote. When the reader then came to the place of correction, he would see the mark, and read the “Qere” (the corrected word) instead of the “Ketib” (the written word).

b. God’s divine name (Hb. hwhy, Eng. YHVH), which is known as the “Tetragrammaton”, meaning “four letters”, was an example of this. However it may have been pronounced, there came a time when readers of the Hebrew scrolls, for some reason, refused to pronounce it. Then the above method began to be used to substitute another word ynFdo)/ (Htr. ’^adōnây, Eng. adonai) which means “my Lord”, for the real name “YHVH”. Thus when the text was read, “YHVH” (the Ketib) would be written, but “adonai” (the Qere) would be read. During the time when the Qumran (Dead sea) scrolls were written, it had become practice to write the “Qere” above the “Ketib” in the text, without reference to footnotes or margins for God’s name. It was called a “Qere Perpetuum” or a “permanent Qere”. In the Qumran Greek documents we find this:
(GV p472) “However, it is worth noting that in Lev 4:17 (...) the Tetragram (the divine name YHVH) is rendered semi-phonetically as Iao, and is not replaced, as was customary later, by the Greek Kurios (Lord).”

c. However, because the Hebrew was only written with consonants, the reader being expected to put the vowel sounds in from memory, Hebrew was very difficult for the unlearned to read. So at some time, around or after the seventh century AD, a group of Hebrew scholars, called the Masorettes, introduced a system of “vowel points” to the Hebrew text. This enabled the text to be read and pronounced from the writing, by people with little knowledge of Hebrew. It then became practice to write the consonants of hwhy (YHVH (or YHWH)) with the vowel points of ynFdo)/ (adonai) together, which some Hebrew grammar books say is an impossible form:
(JW p23)  “The consonants of the (Kethibh) hwhy were given the vowels of the (Qere)  ynFdo)/ nameley   F o : , producing the impossible form  hwFohy: (Y^ehōwâ).”
(RKH p45) “It was regarded as too sacred to pronounce in its original form (which may have sounded something like Yahweh), so another sound was supplied by the word ynFdo)/ ('adhonāy), and the consonants hwhy were given the pointing of ynFdo)/ , making the impossible form   hwFohy: (the hateph under ) becoming a simple sewa under y).”
(TWOT p211) “Next, when medieval Jewish scholars began to insert vowels to accompany the consonantal OT text, they added to YHWH the Masoretic vowel points for 'adōnāy; and the actual writing became an impossible YāHōWāH, the ASV 'Jehovah'.”
The combining of these vowels and consonants was not without problems, because the vowels of “adonai” do not naturally fit the consonants “YHVH (or YHWH)”. The first vowel sound of “adonai” is a “compound sheva” ( J); a slight “a” sound, under the guttural letter aleph ()). It can only appear under the four guttural letters (cxh)), so it cannot be put under Yod (y), which is the first letter of the Tetragrammaton. It was therefore changed to its nearest equivalent, which is a “simple sheva” ( :), but this has a slight “e” sound. (This twisting of the word is where the second letter of the name Jehovah comes from.) The divine name now would still be recognized by the reader, and he would still pronounce “adonai” instead of “YHVH (or YHWH)”. At some later date it was then decided to combine the consonants of “YHVH (or YHWH)” and the vowel points under it to make a new word, which sounded something like “Yehowah”, or “Yehovah”?
[This combining of vowel points and consonants of different words should never have been done, and it was not always done consistently. In about 305 places where we find “adonai” and “YHVH (or YHWH)” occurring together (Jer 4:10; 7:20; Eze 2:4; 3:11 etc.), the Tetragrammaton takes the vowel points of “Elohim” instead of “adonai”, and it is pronounced as “elohim”. A transliteration of it sounds like “Y^ehôwīh” or “Y^ehôvîh” and it is almost invariably translated as “GOD” in most English bibles, but it doesn’t make God’s name “Y^ehôvîh”, does it?]
By then changing the Y to a J through a variation in the German alphabet (JPG pxii; PHK p32) [some also say the Latin (WBTS p885)], we end up with a word that sounds like “Jehovah”. Before the system of vowel points came in around or after the seventh century AD (JW. p6, footnote c; RKH p21) the word Jehovah could not have been used for God. In the scriptures, “YHVH (or YHWH)” would be written, and “adonai” would be read, so the name Jehovah would never have been used.
According to Jehovah’s Witness’s own literature:
(WBTS p884-885) “The first recorded use of this form dates from the thirteenth century C.E. Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican Order, used it in his book Pugeo Fidei of the year 1270 A.D.”
The Jehovah's witnesses even go so far as to admit that his name cannot be known with certainty:
(WBTS p885) “Since certainty of pronunciation is not now attainable, there seems to be no reason for abandoning in English the well-known form “Jehovah” in favour of some other suggested pronunciation.”
One good reason to abandon it is that Jehovah is not God’s name, and to make up a name for God, which is what has been done, is an insult. It must surely be a breach of the third commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain:” (Exo 20:7). Besides this, the New Testament teaching is to pray to the Father (Mat 6:9; Luke 11:1-2; John 16:23-27; Col 1:3), and to worship him (John 4:23). The only way that anyone can think God’s name is Jehovah, is if you accept that this twisting of scripture, by placing vowel points of one word under another in order to make a new word, is correct. Otherwise you must reject it completely.

d. There are other ways in which we can show that the real name of God is not Jehovah. The first is that it has a shortened form h@yF, “YH” (Exo 15:2; Psa 118:14; Isa 12:2) which has a long “a” sound under the Yod (y). It is pronounced as “Yah”. This is one reason why Hebrew scholars favour the pronunciation of “Yahweh”.
The second reason is that this shortened form appears in many names where it is pronounced “Yah”. Sometimes this shortened version includes the third letter of the tetragrammaton (Hb. w%hyF Htr.Yāhū), where the vāv (w) of the Tetragrammaton now takes a “u” sound rather than an “o” sound as in “Jehovah”. Look at some examples:

A third reason is that the word “Hal^elû yāh ”, which means “praise you Yah”, appears in the Hebrew scriptures (Psa 104:35; 105:45; 135:3 etc.). This again shows that the first vowel sound of God’s name is “ā” rather than “e”.
A fourth reason is, that the same thing occurs in the the New Testament, where the Greek equivalent, “Hallēluia”, appears four times (Rev 19:1-6). The last two letters, “yōta” (i) and “alpha” (a), are equivalent to the sound “Yā”. The “h” sound is missing because it cannot appear anywhere except at the beginning of a word in Greek. This again shows that the first vowel sound of God’s name is “ā” rather than “e”.
A fifth reason is that in the Qumran Greek scrolls, in Leviticus 4:17, the divine name is written as Iao (GV p472), which was probably the Greek Iaw (Gtr. Yāō or Yao). This is confirmed by other scholars:
(TWOT p211) “The pronunciation yāh” would be favored by the later Greek form iaō found in Qumran Greek fragments (2d or 1st centuries B.C.) and in Gnostic materials of the first Christian centuries.”
Again, when we understand that the “h” sound cannot appear anywhere in Greek, except at the beginning of a word, it seems that the original Hebrew may have been hwOhyF (Htr. Yāhôh or Yāhô or Yaho). This again shows that the first vowel sound of God’s name is “ā” rather than “e”.
A sixth reason is that some early scholars agreed to it:
(TWOT p211) “Theodoret in the fourth century A.D states that Samaritans pronounced it iabe. clement of alexandria (early 3d century A.D.) vocalized it as iaoue.”
There is no letter “w” in New testament Greek, but the “ou” in this last case sounds something like it, so the English equivalent may have been “Yawe”. Greek having no way to put an “h” at the end of a word, this favours the name “Yahweh”, and so both of these early scholars agree that God's name begins with what is equivalent to Ya in English.

e. There is an exception to all of this, which we need to look at. There are some Hebrew names which have the first three letters of the Tetragrammaton (why) at the beginning of the name. Look at some examples:

Do these names prove the possibility of the first three letters of the tetragrammaton being pronounced as “Y^ehô? The answer is no for this reason. In every one of these cases, the third letter “vāv” (w) is followed by one or more complete syllables, which are necessary to complete the word. In the case of YHVH, the third letter “vāv.”(w) is only followed by one single letter “hē.”(h). As a syllable in Hebrew must start with a consonant, and cannot begin with a vowel (JW p5), those who want the name to pronounce as Jehovah must force “vāv” to act like a “v”, and this is not done in any of the above examples; the letter “vāv” is used simply as a vowel. Therefore, these examples are certainly not proof that Jehovah is the correct pronunciation of God’s divine name YHVH (or YHWH).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this study has not proved what the correct pronunciation of Gods Old Testament name should be. LORD was a substitute, Jehovah is definitely wrong, and the alternatives left are Yahveh, Yāhūh, Yāhôh, or perhaps even something else. As we cannot prove any of these with any certainty, it is safe simply leave God’s name as the tetragammaton YHVH (or YHWH). Christians should have no problems with this, because in the New Testament we are not told to use God's Old Testament covenant name when we pray or worship. Jesus told us to pray to “the Father” (Mat 6:9; Luke 11:2; John 16:23), and worship “the Father” (John 4:23). Jesus always called God his Father, and with his spirit in every born again Christian, we ought to do the same (Gal 4:6).

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This is the end of this Bible Study about God's divine name not being Jehovah