We are briefly examining each of the names used in reference to the Creator throughout the Bible. It seems logic to consider them in the order of their occurrence. Our next designation for the Deity is LORD. The English versions capitalize each letter of the name L-O-R-D, but the name translated “LORD” in our English Bibles is very different in the Hebrew language as was penned by Moses, whom God inspired to give us the first five books of the Bible. Moses wrote “Y-H-V-H”. What is that? That’s the “tetragrammaton”, “tetra” meaning “four” and “grammaton” meaning “letters”, or the designation for the Deity that Moses wrote was “Y-H-V-H”. How would you pronounce that? The problem is there are no vowels in the Hebrew language, only consonants, so when you translate Hebrew words that have no vowels into English that depends on the generous use of vowels immediate difficulties with pronunciation arise. To be able to pronounce it, English grammarians took the liberty of inserting vowels between the consonants, putting an “a” or an “e” between “y and h” and “h and v” and “v and h”, and they arrived at “Yahveh”, or another variation of “Yehovah”. The “Y” is used because, in Hebrew, there is no letter “J”. So, the English translates the “Y” into “J” and arrives at “Jehovah”.
The same is done with other Hebrew names such as “Yeshua”, with a “Y”. We English translate the “Y” with a “J”, and it becomes “Jeshua”. “J”… “Jeshua” or “Joshua”. “Joshua” and “Jesus” are the same in Hebrew.
This particular designation “Y-H-V-H” rendered LORD in the English is the most frequently used name for the Deity in all of the Bible. And, it is found 6,823 times. We variously render the “Y-H-V-H” as “Jehovah” or, using the “Y” instead of “J”, it becomes “Yaveh” after inserting English vowels “a” and “e”, “Yaveh” or “Jehovah”, but how, exactly, is that pronounced? We don’t know, and we don’t know for a very intriguing reason. That being that the Jews don’t know how to pronounce it. Do I mean to say that the Jews don’t know how to pronounce the name of their Deity? That’s right. How can that be?
Centuries ago, the Jewish people imposed upon themselves a prohibition against speaking aloud the name of their Deity. They believed that in never uttering that name, they would safeguard themselves from ever using the name in vain, which they were strictly warned against. So, if you never utter the name, you can’t possibly use it in vain and you would, thus, avoid the danger of doing so along with its punishment.
So, what does the name “Yaveh” or “LORD” or “Jehovah” actually mean? Please join us in the upcoming sessions of Christianity Clarified.
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