Jehovah's Witnesses, why don't you use the real name of God which is Yahweh?

That is a really good question and one I've wondered myself.

Wishing you well.

There are no literal vocalized Hebrew manuscripts in existence today that support the pronunciation of the name "Yahweh", which is based more upon speculation.

To say the name Yehovah is derived from the name Adonai is objectively not correct. The Hebrew vowel points for the pronunciation of the name Adonai are different than the vocalization of Yehovah. Adonai begins with the Hebrew hataf patach and Yehovah begins with the sheva, as the two names are spoken it is very apparent the vowel sounds are very different.

http://www.karaite-korner.org/yhwh_2.pdf

The objective proof for the pronunciation "Yehovah" are found in two of the most respected vocalized Hebrew manuscripts currently in existence, the Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex:

http://www.aleppocodex.org/

http://tanach.us/Tanach.xml#Home

Sorry, I'm not a JW.

Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name. “Jehovah” is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although “Yahweh” is favored by most Hebrew scholars. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts present the name in the form of four consonants, commonly called the Tetragrammaton (from Greek te·tra-, meaning “four,” and gram′ma, “letter”). These four letters (written from right to left) are יהוה and may be transliterated into English as YHWH (or, JHVH).

The Hebrew consonants of the name are therefore known. The question is, Which vowels are to be combined with those consonants? Vowel points did not come into use in Hebrew until the second half of the first millennium C.E. (See HEBREW, II [Hebrew Alphabet and Script].) Furthermore, because of a religious superstition that had begun centuries earlier, the vowel pointing found in Hebrew manuscripts does not provide the key for determining which vowels should appear in the divine name. - Insight on the Scriptures

Why Use God’s Name if Its Pronunciation Is Uncertain?

No one today knows exactly how God’s name was pronounced in ancient Hebrew. Significantly, however, God’s personal name appears in the text of the Bible some 7,000 times. Jesus made God’s name manifest when on earth, and he instructed his disciples to pray for the sanctification of that name. (Matthew 6:9; John 17:6) Thus, one thing is certain—the use of God’s name is of utmost importance to Christian faith. Why, then, is the original pronunciation of that name uncertain today? There are two main reasons.

First, some two thousand years ago, there arose among the Jews a superstitious tradition that it was wrong to pronounce God’s name. When a reader came to the name in Bible text, he would say the word “Lord” as a substitute. In this way, after many centuries of disuse, the pronunciation of God’s name faded from memory.

Second, ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, very similar to abbreviations in English and other languages. When reading the written text, the reader supplied the missing vowel sounds from memory. In time, a system was devised to prevent the pronunciation of Hebrew words from being completely forgotten. Vowel points were added to each word in the Hebrew Bible. For the divine name, however, either the vowel points for “Lord” were added to remind the reader to pronounce the substitute word, or none were added at all.

What survived, then, were the four consonants called the Tetragrammaton, which one dictionary defines as “the four Hebrew letters usu[ally] transliterated YHWH or JHVH that form a biblical proper name of God.” It is easy to see how JHVH, with vowel points and vowel sounds added, becomes “Jehovah,” the form that is most familiar and widely accepted in English.

Some scholars, though, recommend the pronunciation “Yahweh.” Is that closer to the original pronunciation? No one can be certain. Actually, other scholars have cited reasons for not using this pronunciation. Of course, Bible names, when spoken in a modern-day language, probably sound nothing like the original Hebrew, and hardly anyone objects. This is because these names have become part of our language and they are easily recognized. So it is with the name Jehovah.

The first-century Christians were called a people for God’s name. They preached about the name to others and encouraged them to call upon it. (Acts 2:21; 15:14; Romans 10:13-15) Clearly, it is important to God that we use his name in whatever language we speak, appreciate its significance, and live in harmony with what it stands for. - 9/01/2008 Watchtower magazine

Actually, as most translations go, it can be translated both ways. Either one is correct. Jehovah is simply the better known. For instance, the King James Version uses Jehovah instead of Yahweh.

Jace, again you do see there was no "J" in Hebrew or Greek. Yet everyone freely uses "J"esus many times each day. When TRANSLATED (meaning a word or phrase from one language into another) into English, it comes out as Jehovah and Yahweh.

Now if the King James Version translators chose to use Jehovah, then why do you have a problem with it? You must be a hater of the King James Version!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pleasing to you, the Revised King James Version completely eliminates all four references using the proper name of Jehovah and inserting LORD in its place. Now is that not CHANGING the word of God?

Hebrew and Greek manuscripts used the proper name of God some 7,000 times. Over the years men have changed that to substitute titles instead of his proper name he gave to himself. The New World Translation simply puts the divine name translated into English back where it belongs. Just as they have translated every word from Hebrew and Greek into English.

Greetings,

We can properly render the Hebrew "tetragrammaton" YHWH/JHVH as Yehowah, Yahweh or Jehovah which are all real transliterations. The pronunciation "Jehovah" has it's roots in the original Hebrew and can be verified as an accurate rendering for YHWH.

Your view that the form Jehovah came about because of the Masoretes combined the vowels of Adonay and Elohim is a common assertion but it is not supported by sound evidence. On the other hand, modern scholars recognize that the form Jehovah can be verified as an accurate rendering for YHWH by examination of theophoric names (names which contain God's name). Even the most simple of examination of how theophoric name are rendered in modern bibles will confirm that the vowels associated with Jehovah are valid.

For example, the original Hebrew name for God's son is a theophoric written YHWSA meaning "Jehovah is salvation." No one knows exactly how it was pronounced but either Yeshua or Yehoshua are valid. Since Je– or Jeho- is the proper prefix for Christ's name and other names give us the final sound of "ah" we thus have solid evidence for the accuracy of the pronunciation "Jehovah" in English. If you accept "Jesus" as correct, then you have to accept Yeh(o)-/Jeh(o)- as the first part of the Divine Name. Other theophoric names in the Bible also give evidence for The Name having three syllables. (See the works by the above cited scholars.)

So the evidence from Hebrew pronunciation, Greek forms and theophoric names shows that the vowel combinations e-o-a are perfectly acceptable.

The renowned Hebrew scholar Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures states: "Those who consider that Ye-ho-wah was the actual pronunciation are not altogether without ground on which to defend their opinion. In this way can the abbreviated syllables Ye-ho and Yo, with which many proper names begin, be more satisfactorily explained."

In fact, the older Masoretic Text manuscripts tend to support the pronunciation Yehowah (or Yehovah) and not Yahweh.

So the name Jehovah is NOT an "erroneous" or "false" pronunciation. It correctly retains the exact four letters or Tetragrammaton of God's name in Hebrew.

Therefore, we can properly render the Hebrew "tetragrammaton" YHWH/JHVH as Yehowah, Yahweh or Jehovah.

The pronunciation Yahweh is OK since it retains the inspired letters of the Divine Name. However, many scholars now consider the form Yahweh as dubious, and modern scholarship recognizes that the Divine Name was most likely pronounced with three syllables rather than with two. So, Yehowah in Hebrew and Jehovah in English are actually more accurate. Anyone who claims that the English pronunciation "Jehovah" is not correct or is an "artificial" pronunciation are ignoring the facts of modern scholarship.

(See George Wesley Buchanan; "How God's Name Was Pronounced", Biblical Archaeology Review Mar./Apr. 1995 Volume 21 Number 2; page 30. Harris, Archer, Waltke; "Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament" #484. James Trimm; "Nazarenes and the Name of YHWH," and "In Fame Only? A Historical Record of the Divine Name," by Gerard Gertoux)

According to rules of the language, only a certain few combinations can be termed "accurate." If they retain the original consonants, any of these can *correctly* represent the Divine Name in their respective languages. The rendering "Jehovah" falls within this "correct" category.

In light of the evidence, in English Jehovah may be as close to the original pronunciation as one could get in translating any name from Hebrew to English or other languages. When we accept the overwhelming evidence for a tri-syllable pronunciation, the acceptable vocalizations vary relatively little in their pronunciation from the sound of "Jehovah."

Therefore, no one can reasonably claim that Jehovah does not represent that Divine Name.

The specious reasoning used by many that we should not use that Name because we don't know exactly how it was originally pronounced is ridiculous and twisted reasoning. If it were sound reasoning then we also shouldn't use the names Jesus, Joshua, John and etc. Because we also do not use nor know for certain how these names were originally pronounced. Would anyone agree to replace the name Jesus with "Lord"? That would be ludicrous and Satanic, just as removal of the Divine Name is.

Removing that Divine Name by replacing it with a completely different word such as "LORD" would elicit the strongest of condemnation (Rev. 22:18,19). How can someone who is under this curse be trusted to teach the truth about anything?

God made it clear that Jehovah would be his Eternal Name (Ex. 3:15, Mic. 4:5; Jer.23:27). It was manifestly Christ's determination to make Jehovah's name known to Christians (Jn. 17:6, 26 (Cf. Jn. 12:28; 17:4, 26; Rev. 1:5).

Yours,

BAR-ANERGES

The most obvious proof that Jehovah's Witnesses spell YHWH wrong as "Jehovah" is the fact that the letter "J" doesn't even exist in Hebrew, Greek, Latin. Further, the English language did not have a letter "J" before about 1500 AD. For example, the very first edition of the KJV printed in 1611 AD, contained no "J". Not even one! Instead the letter "I" is used for Jew, Jesus, Joshua, Joanna, John AND the person pronoun "I". Instead these words were written in 1611 AD as, Iew, Iesus, Ioshua, Ioanna, Iohn.

What most JW's don't know is that they are the one's who are truly guilty of adding to the word of God because the New World Translation (the JW sectarian paraphrase they call a Bible), actually adds the word "Jehovah" in the New Testament 237 times where it is never found. So the hard cold fact is that the New World Translation adds "Jehovah" into the New Testament 237 times, where there is absolutely no ancient manuscript evidence of any kind to support it.

"Jehovah" is God's name in English. "Yahweh" is one educated *guess* of the original Hebrew form.

JWs use the popular/traditional form of the divine name in whatever language they speak. For example, JWs use "Yahwah" in Arabic (I have an Arabic group in my congregation.)

If you *really* research the divine name, you'll find that superstition hid the divine name, replacing it with "LORD," and the superstition again is what motivates some to use some *pure* Hebrew form like "Yahweh."

The more I research the name the more I realise that Yahweh is just a fabrication.

As this next link will show, there is more evidence to support Jehovah in english or Yehovah in hebrew (pronounced Y-hoVAH), than Yahweh.

http://www.karaite-korner.org/yhwh_2.pdf

http://www.watchtower.org/e/20100701/article_01.ht...

God's name is soo important, YHWH, but in english is pronounced Jehovah. Which means he causes to become. http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/appendix_01.htm

We show respect for Jehovah's great name and listen to his word of truth, we clearly show respect for Jehovah and his name.

Why not contact a local witness for a free study or ask at the local Kingdom hall? Always better talking face-2-face :)

If God's name is so important to them, why does God

place His word ABOVE His name.

Ps 138.2

The JW's must of missed that??