See also: Tetragrammaton, Yahweh, and God in Abrahamic religions

"Jehovah" at Exodus 6:3
(1671, King James Version)

Jehovah, also Yehowah, is an English reading of יְהֹוָה, the most frequent form of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, the principal and personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).

It is a direct phonetic transliteration based on the Hebrew Bible text with vowel points handed down by the Masoretes. By long tradition, in modern Jewish culture the Tetragrammaton is not pronounced. Instead the above vocalization indicates to the reverent Jewish reader that the term Adonai is to be used. In places where the preceding or following word already is Adonai, the reading Elohim is used instead, indicated by a different vocalization of the Tetragrammaton.^[1] It is generally refered, in line with the Jewish tradition, that יְהֹוָה (Jehovah) is a "hybrid form",^[2] created when the Masoretes added the vowel pointing of Adonai to the consonants of YHWH. Early English translators, thought to have been unacquainted with Jewish tradition, read this word as they would any other word, and transcribed it (in very few places, namely those where the Name itself was referred to) as Jehovah.

The form thus achieved wide currency in the translations of the Protestant Reformation,^[3], though it was already in use by Roman Catholic authors. As an Adonist Hebraist, John Drusius critiqued this form of God's name in 1604 A.D.,^[4] and later regarded by both Jews and some Christians as a mispronunciation,^[5] it has nevertheless found a place in Christian liturgical and theological usage. It is the regular English rendition of יהוה in the American Standard Version,^[6] and occurs seven times in the King James Version. ^[7] It is also used in Christian hymns such as "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah".^[8]

The name Jehovah is used by Jehovah's Witnesses as the personal name of God. They give the following position:

The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. Nevertheless, many prefer the pronunciation Jehovah. Why? Because it has a currency and familiarity that Yahweh does not have. Would it not, though, be better to use the form that might be closer to the original pronunciation? Not really, for that is not the custom with Bible names. To take the most prominent example,consider the name of Jesus. Do you know how Jesus' family and friends addressed him in day-to-day conversation while he was growing up in Nazareth? The truth is, no human knows for certain, although it may have been something like Yeshua (or perhaps Yehoshua). It certainly was not Jesus.[5])

Some however question the received view that the vowels of Jehovah originate with the word Adonai rather than an ancient pronunciation of YHWH. They note that details of vocalization differ between the various early extant manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, and note that the vowel points of Jehovah and Adonai are not precisely the same, and that scholars are not in total agreement as to why this should be.

The pronunciation Jehovah

The name Iehova at a Norwegian church.^[9]

This pronunciation "Jehovah" is considered grammatically impossible by some; it arose through pronouncing the vowels of the "kere" (marginal reading of the Masorites: אֲדֹנָי = "Adonay") with the consonants of the "ketib" (text-reading: יהוה = "Yhwh")—"Adonai" (the Lord) being substituted with one exception wherever Yhwh occurs in the Biblical and liturgical books.^[5]

"Adonai" presents the vowels "shewa" the composite ( ֲ ) under the guttural א becomes simple ( ְ ) under the ( י ), "holem," and "kamez," and these give the reading ( יְהֹוָה ) (= "Jehovah").

When the two names ( יהוה ) and ( אדני ) occur together, the former is pointed with "hatef segol" ( ֱ ) under the ( י )— thus, יֱהֹוִה (="Jehovah")—to indicate that in this combination it is to be pronounced "Elohim" ( אֱלֹהִים ).

These substitutions of "Adonai"and "Elohim" for YHWH were devised to avoid the profanation of the "Ineffable Name" ( hence יהוה is also written ’ה, or even ’ד, and read "ha-Shem" = "the Name ").

The vowel points of Jehovah

The "peculiar, special, honorable and most blessed name of God" Iehoua,
an older English form of Jehovah
(Roger Hutchinson, The image of God, 1550)

Jewish tradition teaches that יְהֹוָה has the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי (Adonai), but the vowel points of these two words are not precisely the same, and scholars are not in total agreement as to why יְהֹוָה does not have the precise same vowel points as Adonai has.

The use of the composite "shewa" "hatef segol" ( ֱ ) in cases where "Elohim" is to be read has led to the opinion that the composite "shewa" "hatef patah" ( ֲ ) ought to have been used to indicate the reading "Adonay."^[5]

It has been argued in reply that the disuse of the "patah" is in keeping with the Babylonian system, in which the composite "shewa" is not usual. But the reason why the "patah" is dropped is the non-guttural character of the "yod"; to indicate the reading "Elohim," however, the "segol" (and "hirek" under the last syllable, i.e., יֱהֹוִה ) had to appear in order that a mistake might not be made and "Adonay" be repeated.^[5]

Early English translators, unacquainted with or in opposition to Jewish tradition, read this word as they would any other word, and transcribed "Iehouah" (1530 A.D.), "Iehovah" (1611 A.D.), or "Jehovah" (1671 A.D.).

In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890 A.D.), James Strong transliterated יְהֹוָה as Y^ehovah.^[10]

See also: Yahweh

Identification with Trinity

Trinitarian Christians, who are often called Orthodox Christians, usually invoke the Nicean creed and the Chalcedonian creed in order to identify Jehovah as essentially the same as the Holy Trinity, a name that belongs to every person of the Trinity. They believe that Elohim and Jehovah are similar names, and that the Abrahamic revelation at the oak of Mamre had a deeply Trinitarian significance.^{[citation needed]}

Modern usage of the rendering Jehovah

The following works, either always or sometimes render the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah:

• William Tyndale, in his 1530 translation of the first five books of the English Bible, at Exodus 6:3 renders the divine name as Iehovah. In his note to this edition he wrote: "Iehovah is God's name...Moreover, as oft as thou seeist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew Iehovah."
• The King James (Authorized) Version, 1611: four times as the personal name of God (in all capital letters): Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 26:4; and three times in place names: Genesis 22:14; Exodus 17:15; and Judges 6:24.
• Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by J.N. Young, 1862, 1898 renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah 6831 times.
• A literal translation of the Old Testament (1890) and the New Testament (1884), by John Nelson Darby, renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah 6810 times in the main text.
• The American Standard Version, 1901 edition, consistently renders the Tetragrammaton as Je-ho’vah in all 6,823 places where it occurs in the Old Testament.
• The Modern Reader's Bible, 1914, by Richard Moulton, uses Jehovah at Ps.83:18; Ex.6:2-9; Ex.22:14; Ps.68:4; Jerm.16:20; Isa.12:2 & Isa. 26:4
• The New English Bible, published by Oxford University Press, 1970, e.g. Gen 22:14; Exodus 3:15,16; 6:3; 17:15; Judges 6:24
• The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible copyright © 1976-2000 by Jay P. Green, Sr., renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah 6,866 times.
• The Living Bible, published by Tyndale House Publishers, Illinois 1971, e.g. Gen 22:14, Exodus 3:15; 4:1-27; 17:15; Lev 19:1-36; Deut 4: 29, 39; 5:5, 6; Judges 6:16, 24; Ps 83:18; 110:1; Isaiah 45:1, 18; Amos 5:8; 6:8; 9:6
• The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., Brooklyn, NY 1961 and last revised in 1984: 'Jehovah' appears in the bible text 7,210 times, i.e. 6,973 in the Hebrew scriptures (OT), 237 times in the Christian Greek scriptures (NT).
• The Bible in Today's English (Good News Bible), published by the American Bible Society, 1976, in its preface states, 'the distinctive Hebrew name for God (usually transliterated Jehovah or Yahweh) is in this translation represented by "The Lord."' In the footnote to Exodus 6:3 they refer to their footnote for Exodus 3:14 which says of the '...name Yahweh, traditionally transliterated as Jehovah."
• In The Emphatic Diaglott, by Benjamin Wilson, the name Jehovah is found at Matthew 21:9 and in 17 other places in this translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (NT).

Following a different development of the Latin letter J, in Italian the divine name is rendered as Jeova, or Geova (soft 'G'). In German, the letter J preserved the soft sound of the Latin I, so the word "Jehova" is read Yehova.

The word Jehovah displayed at the Roman Catholic Church named St. Martinskirche, Olten, Switzerland, 1521.

The centuries following the Middle Ages many Catholic churches all across Europe were decorated with this common form of the name. The same happenened with many public buildings. For example, the Coat of Arms of Plymouth (UK) City Council bears the Latin inscription, "Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova",^[11] being the Latin translation of the first part of the Hebrew bible 'proverb' at Proverbs 18:10.

Although the original pronunciation of יהוה has become lost, for many centuries the popular English word for the personal name of God has been “Jehovah”. This is why some religious groups, notably Jehovah's Witnesses and the King-James-Only Movement, make prominent use, in English speaking countries, of the pronunciation, "Jehovah." Among Jehovah's Witnesses, the name varies according to the common pronunciation in the language spoken, and terms definitively referencing the Hebrew Tetragrammaton, such as Yahweh, are considered equally useful.

Similarly well-established English renderings of Hebrew personal names include Joshua, Isaiah, Jesus, and others, the original pronunciations for many of which have also been lost.

History

Under the heading "יהוה c. 6823", the editors of the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon write that יְהֹוָה occurs 6518 times in the Masoretic Text. ^[12]

Early Greek transcriptions of יהוה similar to "Jehovah"

• Ιεωα: (Ieōa, /ˈj:oʊɐ/) in Hellenistic magical texts

Early Latin transcriptions of יְהֹוָה similar to "Jehovah"

Excerpts from Raymond Martin's Pugio Fidei adversus Mauros et Judaeos (1270, p. 559).
(The text in the image reads: "Jehova, or Adonay".)

Geneva Bible, 1560. (Psalm 83:18)

A Latin rendering of the Tetragrammaton has been the form "Jova", sounding very similar to "Jehovah".
(Origenis Hexaplorum, edited by Frederick Field, 1875.)

William Baillie's The First Twelve Psalms in Hebrew (1843, p. 22).
The Latin reading of the Tetragrammaton as Yehovah is seen. Similarly, the transliteration of the Hebrew text gives the vocalization "Yehovah".

Transcriptions of יְהֹוָה similar to
"Jehovah" occurred as early as the
13th century.

• c. 1106: Ieve: Petrus Alphonsi^[13]
• 1278: Yohoua/Jehova^[14]: Raymond Martin (Raymundus Martini)^[15]
• 1303: Yohouah/Jehova: Porchetus de Salvaticis^[16].
• 1428: Iehoua/Ihehoua/Iehova/Ieoa: Nicholas of Cusa
• 1514: Iehova: Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
• 1516: Iehoua: Peter Galatin (Galatinus)^[17]
• 1526: Iehouah: Martin Luther
• 1526: Iehova: Sebastian Münster
• 1530: Iehouah: William Tyndale^[18]
• 1531: Iehouah: Michael Servetus
• 1531: Iehouah: Cardinal Thomas de Vio Cajetanus
• 1543: Iehova: Leo Judae
• 1546: Jehovah: Paulus Fagius
• 1560: Iehouah: Geneva Bible
• 1557: Jehovah: Calvin
• 1557: Iehova: Robert Stephan
• 1575: Jehova: Tremellius
• 1593: Jehova: Marcus Marinus
• 16th cent.: Jova^[19]
• 1611: Iehovah: King James Version
• 1627: Iehovah: Henry Ainsworth
• 1671: Jehovah: 1671 [OT] / 1669 [NT] edition of the King James Bible

The editors of the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon write that the pronunciation "Jehovah" was unknown until 1520 when it was introduced by Galatinus but since then the research has brought new light on the matter showing "that Galatinus did not introduce the pronunciation Jehova, but only defended it against those who pronounced Jova" and that "the pronunciation Jehova was current in [Galatinus'] time."^[20] The form "Jehovah" was contested by Adonist Hebraists like Le Mercier, J. Drusius, and Louis Cappel, as against grammatical and historical propriety. Jehovist Hebraists, like Nicholas Fuller (1612), Thomas Gataker (1645), and John Leusden (1657) —and the following centuries J. D. Michaelis (1792), Rudolph Stier, and Holemann—, defended the pronunciation "Jehovah."

After Tyndales's use, the term "Jehovah" was maintained in all Protestant Englich versions of the Bible except Coverdale's (1535). The English transcription "Jehovah" appears in King James Versions as early as the 1670s and in subsequent versions. The critique of the English transcription Jehovah, as well as the critique of Galatinus's Latin Transcription Iehoua, and the earlier English transcriptions Iehouah and Iehovah, is based on the belief of scholars that the vowel points of יְהֹוָה are not the actual vowel points of God's name.

Thus while most scholarly sources say that scholars are critiquing the name "Jehovah", Galatinus's Latin Transcription Iehoua and the earlier English transcriptions Iehouah [1530 A.D.] and Iehovah [1611 A.D.] were being critiqued before the English transcription "Jehovah" [1671] ever started to appear. From a pronunciation standpoint in English, Iehouah has the same pronunciation and sounds identical to Jehovah.

All three transcriptions have the vowels "e" and "o" and "a", and scholars believe that those vowels are from another word [i.e. Adonay / Adonai], but as noted in the introduction of this article, the vowel points of יְהֹוָה and the vowel points of Adonay / Adonai are not precisely the same.

The use of the name Jehovah in the text of the English Bibles continued by John Rogers' Matthew Bible in 1537, the Great Bible of 1539, the Geneva Bible of 1560, Bishop's Bible of 1568 and the King James Version of 1611. More recently, the Revised Version of 1885, the American Standard Version in 1901, the Revised Standard Version in 1952 and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in 1961 were English Bible translations that use Jehovah in the main text.

Kethib and Qere and Qere perpetuum

A 1552 edition of Sefer Yetzirah, a product of the Jewish mysticism,
using the Latin form Iehouah for the "magnum Nomen tetragrammatum".

The original consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible was provided with vowel marks by the Masoretes to assist reading. In places where the consonants of the text to be read (the Qere) differed from the consonants of the written text (the Kethib), they wrote the Qere in the margin as a note showing what was to be read. In such a case the vowels of the Qere were written on the Kethib. For a few very frequent words the marginal note was omitted: this is called Q're perpetuum.

One of these frequent cases was God's name, that should not be pronounced, but read as adonai ("My Lord [plural of majesty]"), or, if the previous or next word already was adonai, as elohim (God). This combination produces יְהֹוָה and יֱהֹוִה respectively, that would spell "yehovah" and "yehovih" respectively.

It was believed that the first early modern English Bible translators to transcribe God's name into English did not contact Jewish scholars, and did not know of the Q're perpetuum custom, but transcribed "יְהֹוָה" into English as they saw it. But William Tyndale, a native Englishman who accomplished the first translation of the Bible in English, acquainted England with the scholarship on the Hebrew language. In 1524, he left for Germany (where Luther's Bible was printed in 1523) where he became associated with the new learning concerning the Hebrew language by contact with some of the German Reformers. At Wittenberg, Worms and Marburg, where Tyndale may have lived for a time, Hebrew was already being taught at the universities, and he probably had his first contact with Hebrew scholarship there. Tyndale knew Hebrew well enough to use the Hebrew Bible as one of the sources of his translation.^[21] Tyndale's Pentateuch was the first English printed Pentautech.^[22] Instead of Vulgate's "Adonai", Tyndale used the form Iehouah in the Pentateuch (1530) and Iehovah (1611), and Jehovah in editions of the King James Bible dated 1670 or so. He explained: "JEHOVAH, is God's name; neither is any creature so called; and it is as much to say as, One that is of himself, and dependeth of nothing. Moreover, as oft as thou seest LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing), it is in Hebrew Jehovah, Thou that art; or, He that is."^[23]

The spelling gradually settling down as Roman alphabet J and V became distinct letters from I and U. The transcription Iehouah was already used in the 16th century by many authors Roman Catholic and Protestant. It was used by all Protestant Bibles, except Coverdale's translation in 1535.^[24] Roman Catholics continued using the Latin Vulgate as their authorised version, where sustitutes ("Adonai", "Lord") of the Tetragrammaton were inserted.

Examining the vowel points of יְהֹוָה and אֲדֹנָי

The spelling of the Tetragrammaton and connected forms in the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Bible, with vowel points shown in red.

In the table below, Yehovah and Adonay are dissected

Note in the table directly above that the "simple shewa" in Yehovah and the hatef patah in Adonay are not the same points. The same information is displayed in the table above and to the right where "YHWH intended to be pronounced as Adonai" and "Adonai, with its slightly different vowel points" are shown to have different vowel points.

The difference between the vowel points of ’ǎdônây and YHWH is explained by the rules of Hebrew morphology and phonetics. Shva and hataf-patah were allophones of the same phoneme used in different situations: hataf-patah on glottal consonants including aleph (such as the first letter in Adonai), and simple shva on other consonants (such as the 'y' in YHWH).^{[citation needed]}

Evaluations of the form "Jehovah"

The transcription Jehovah [Iehouah] was used in the 16th century by many authors, both Catholic and Protestant. A publication by John Drusius in 1604 was the start of a bitter debate that lasted for a century. Fuller, Thomas Gataker, and Johann Leusden wrote five discourses defending the transcription "Jehovah" [or Iehouah, Iehovah] against the five discourses written by Drusius, Amama, Cappellus, Buxtorf, and Altingius which opposed the transcription Jehovah. Hadrian Reland collected and published these ten discourses in 1707. [6]

Note that while Louis Cappel and John Buxtorf are both listed as authors who opposed the transcription Jehovah, they each were involved in serious controversy with each other concerning the origin of the Hebrew vowel points.

William Smith, in his "A Dictionary of the Bible" (1863) summarizes the results of the these discourses, concludes that "whatever, therefore, be the true pronunciation of the word, there can be little doubt that it is not Jehovah".^[26] This point of view has been repeated since to a great number of reference works.

It is interesting to note, that in spite of Smith's comments, he consistently uses the name Jehovah throughout his dictionary and when translating Hebrew names. Some examples include Isaiah [Jehovah's help or salvation], Jehoshua [Jehovah a helper], Jehu [Jehovah is He]. At the article "Jehovah" William Smith writes: "JEHOVAH ( יְהֹוָה, usually with the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי ; but when the two occur together, the former is pointed יֱהֹוִה, that is with the vowels of אֱלֹהִים, as in Obad. i. 1, Hab. iii. 19:"^[27] This practice is also followed by many modern publications, like the New Compact Bible Dictionary (Special Crusade Edition) of 1967 sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Peloubet's Bible Dictionary of 1947.

The defenders of the transcription Jehovah hold that theophoric names such as Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, etc, indicate that Jehovah was the actual pronunciation of God's name.

William Blake's manuscripts containing the word Jehovah. (1790-1793 & 1822)

The two vocalizations of the Tetragrammaton shown above were both critiqued by John Drusius in 1604 A.D.. However as noted below, Davidson defends the vowel points of יְהֹוָה.

In Scott Jones' article "Jehovah", under the heading "Davidson on the Tetragrammaton", Davidson explains why he believes that the fact that the Masoretes did not point יְהֹוָה with the precise same vowel points as are found in Adonay indicated that the vowel points of יְהֹוָה are the actual vowel points of God's name.

• The vocalized Hebrew spelling "Yahweh" is found in no extant Hebrew text.
• The central "ou" or "o" in some Greek transcriptions point to a pronunciation with a "u" or "o" vowel in the middle, i.e. "Yehowa".

However Greek, since it stopped using the digamma, when transcribing foreign words and names has had to write the "w" consonant sound as a vowel "u" or similar (or in later times as β, after the Greek pronunciation of β changed from "b" to "v").^[28]

George Buchanan argues:

"In the dozens of Biblical names that incorporate the divine name, this middle vowel sound appears in both the original and the shortened forms, such as in Jehonathan and Jonathan. “In no case is the vowel oo or oh omitted. The word was sometimes abbreviated as ‘Ya,’ but never as ‘Ya-weh.’ ... When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one syllable it was ‘Yah’ or ‘Yo.’ When it was pronounced in three syllables it would have been ‘Yahowah’ or ‘Yahoowah.’ If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been ‘Yaho.’”^[29]

The Preface to the 1901 edition of the American Standard Edition of the Revised Version of the Bible states:

The change first proposed in the Appendix - that is which substitutes "Jehovah" for "LORD" and "GOD" (printed in small capitals) - is one which will be unwelcome to many, because of the frequency and familiarity of the terms displaces. But the American Revisers, after a careful consideration, were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament, as it fortunately does not in the numerous versions made by modern missionaries. This Memorial Name, explained in Ex. iii. 14, 15, and emphasized as such over and over in the original text of the Old Testament, designates God as the personal God, as the covenant God, the God of revelation, the Deliverer, the Friend of his people; - not merely the abstractly "Eternal One" of many French translations, but the ever living Helper of those who are in trouble. This personal name, with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim.

See also

• Adon
• Allah
• Ea
• El
• Ellil
• Elohim
• God
• God in the Bahá'í Faith, God in Christianity, God in Islam, God in Judaism
• Gott
• I am that I am
• Jah
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• Names of God
• Names of God in Judaism
• Tetragrammaton (YHWH)
• Theophoric names:

• Jehoshaphat, Jehonadab, Tobijah
• Search: Jeho* ,*iah ,*ijah

• Yahweh
• Yam (Ya'a, Yaw)

• "Tetragrammaton" in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
• "Jehovah_(Yahweh)" in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

References

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Jehovah". Image Credit.

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