YHVH: Difference between revisions

The name YHVH{{Note|Hebrew: יהוה ''yhwh''}} (also rendered as YHWH or JHVH), referred to as the Tetragrammaton (Greek for "[name of] four letters"), is used in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament as the personal name of God. The name is derived from the Hebrew verb meaning "to be,"{{Note|Hebrew: הָיָה ''hāyâ''}}<ref name="lewis">{{Cite Book|book=The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity|page=p. 214|author=Theodore J. Lewis|publisher= ‎Oxford University Press|isbn={{ISBN|978-0190072544}}|quote=Rather, the consensus of scholarship is certainly correct that ''yhwh'' represents a verbal form, with the ''y-'' representing the third masculine singular verbal prefix of the verb ''hyh'' 'to be.'

The foundation for this consensus is the revelation of the divine name in Exodus 3:14, a notoriously difficult passage where God declares 'I am who I am' (''ʾehyeh ʾăšer ʾehyeh'').|publyear=2020}}</ref> which is alluded to in Exodus 3:14 with God telling Moses "I am who I am."{{Note|Hebrew: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎‎ ''ʾehyê ʾăšer ʾehyê''}}<ref name="lewis"/>

Over time, the name YHVH became considered too sacred to say aloud, and so in speaking began to be replaced with ''Adonai'' (the Lord);{{Note|Hebrew: אֲדֹנָי ''ʾăḏōnāy''}} as such, in English versions of the Bible, it is conventionally translated as "the <span style="font-variant:small-caps">Lord</span>," with the small capitals distinguishing uses of YHVH in the original Hebrew from uses of ''Adonai''. Another traditional way of rendering the name YHVH in English is "Jehovah"; this spelling originates from Jewish scribes putting the vowel marks for ''Adonai'' onto the Tetragrammaton in the Masoretic text{{Note|Hebrew: יְהֹוָה‎ *''yŏhōwâ''; actually pronounced ''ʾăḏōnāy''}} in order to indicate that it is pronounced ''Adonai'', after which the Tetragrammaton was transcribed into the Latin alphabet with those vowels.<ref>{{Cite Web|url=[https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3068.htm Strong's Hebrew: 3068. יְהֹוָה (Yhvh) -- the proper name of the God of Israel]|site=Bible Hub|retrieved=December 25, 2023}}</ref> The scholarly consensus for the original pronunciation of the name is "Yahweh."{{Note|Hebrew: *‎יַהְוֶה‎ *''yahwê''}}<ref>{{Cite Book|author=Robert Alter|quote=The strong consensus of biblical scholarship is that the original pronunciation of the name YHWH that God goes on to use in verse 15 was 'Yahweh.'|book=The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary|volume=3|page=p. 240|isbn={{ISBN|978-0393292503}}|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|publyear=2018}}</ref>