Jehovah, straight from the dictionary: Is it God's name or just another name he has been called?

The act of giving something a "name", defines that thing. Each name for God, (whether in the Bible, or any other scripture), is an attempt by humankind throughout time, to give some sort of definition of God.

The Truth is, there has only ever been one God, of which many names have been ascribed to It throughout history. Each name being an attempt by humans to give a definition to It, so that we may then talk about It.

Peace and Namaste!

Consider a different way to approach what the Bible is trying to teach us regarding His "name".

He is asked for His name to tell the people, but He says that He is not like other gods and does not have a name in that fashion and that instead the people should be told simply that "I AM".

Instead of spending all the intellectual power over this or that name -- consider that He is telling you that He has no "name" -- He simply is. He exists. He is the One. etc etc. So no name can exist that captures this element of His being. So "I AM" is not really a name in the way we think of it -- it is just a statement of existence that lies far beyond any capacity for naming.

So if there is no "proper name" because no such name can exist -- it is completely appropriate that the Jewish people began not to even use "I AM" and instead simply refer to Him as "G-d" or "Father" or "Lord" etc, because those sorts of identifications are not names at all.

Calling Him "I AM" would lead to exactly the problem His answer to the initial question was likely intended to avoid. That is why Christian groups that grapple with and use names like Jehova etc may in fact be missing the point entirely.

it may be a high irony that Jews came to properly not use "I AM" even if they did so for the improper reason that "I AM" was too "sacred" to say, when the real reason it was proper not to use it in repeated fashion is because G-d is teaching us that no such name can encompass Him.

"I AM" (Yawah, Jehova ect) is a NON-name. Not a name, name.

something to consider.

Let us do a breakdown.

"God" is just a title, just like Doctor or Sargent is a title. Many people say that God has many names. However, the Bible says otherwise.

In the KJV of an Old English Bible, at Psalms 83:18, you will read, "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." (There are bibles who have removed God's name in it's entirety from the Bible. They may have replaced it with LORD, GOD, YAH or JAH. Note that when choosing a Bible, it will be more beneficial to you to choose a Translation, over a Version. Versions tend to be changed drastically, while translations are often a direct translation from the original texts. According to many Bible Scholars- The New World Translation is most accurate. The Byington, American Standard Version, or Kingdom Interlinear are also good for comparison when studying/reading the scriptures.) [The KJV contains God's name only 4 times while the NWT contains His name some 7,000 times as found in the original manuscripts]

Notice that the verse in Psalms calls God, Jehovah, saying that is his name alone. Jehovah is the "common English rendering of the Tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters for the personal name of God), which appears over 7,000 times" in the NWT. In English, the letters of the Tetragrammaton are YHWH, for in the Hebrew alphabet there are no vowels; but they appropriately added them as they read aloud or spoke. Over time, they developed a system of pronunciation points for when they were to use vowels when reading... But by that time, the Jew had developed the superstition that it was bad to say God's name. (To connect this fact with the earlier statement regarding the removal of God's name in Newer translations, many use that reason. However, although Jews felt it wrong to verbally say God's name, they never removed it from manuscripts dating even before Christ's presence.)

Now let us reason.

Take a look at 1 Kings 11:33. There it goes to mention other gods. Note that they all have names! So if these idols own names, couldn't we reason that God too has a name?

Take a look at James 4:8. There is says that if we draw close to God, he will draw close to us. Meaning, we can have a friendship with God. Can you have a friendship, a good one, with someone and you not know their name? For example, suppose you are meeting someone for the first time. One of the first things you tell them is your name, and vice versa. As years go by, the person is introducing you to one of their associates but is unable to tell them your name- not because they forgot, but because they never knew it. How would you feel? Could you really call them a friend?

1 Corinthians 8:5, 6 says there are many gods and many lords, but there is only one TRUE God (Jehovah), and one TRUE Lord, Jesus. Knowing that there are many gods, each of them have a name... If you keep saying "god", to which are you referring? For example, say you are walking down the street and someone from behind shouts out to get someone's attention and says, " hey you!" or " Guy!" or "Hey lady!"... Every 'you', 'guy', or 'lady' will turn around... But if he specifically says, "John!'', or ""Hey Lucy!", only John and Lucy merit the greeting and they will turn around.

Finally, Romans 10:13 says, "for "everyone who calls one the name of Jehovah will be saved."" Salvation lies within the knowing of God, and that includes his name.

-Many dispute the pronunciation of God's name. In English it's Jehovah. In Spanish it's Yehovah. In Hebrew it's Yahweh. In Creole it's Jewova etc.. They are all the same, but with a different pronunciation. Just like Juan and John are the same name, but in a different language.

Plain and simple! The letter "J" was not a letter until about 1600. Jehovah is a modern English translation.

1) Yes. "Jehovah" is an error. It's the vowels for Adonai + the Tetragrammaton. Because Jews say 'Adonai' where the Tetragrammaton appears in Torah, versions used for practicing chanting Torah combine the vowel pointing for Adonai with the Tetragrammaton. The result is intentionally unpronounceable so someone who's paying attention to learning the trope doesn't accidentally say the sacred Name.

A Christian who didn't understand this tried to pronounce it anyway.

2) Yahweh is an early 19th century attempted scholarly reconstruction by made Wilhelm Gesenius.

NEITHER OF THESE HAVE EVER BEEN USED BY JEWS.

3) Your article sounds very Christian to me, both in theology, its creative assumptions about Jewish actions and its reference to the Septuagint. It's projecting Christian ideas about universality and prosletysing onto Judaism.

4) Don't get so literal about the word 'name'. Ex 3 is doing far more interesting things than a straightforward name.

5) The authors of the Gospels of John and Matthew weren't Jewish. They get far too many Jewish things far too wrong to have been. There audiences probably weren't either.

With Malachai, again don't be so literal with the word 'name'. It's used as part of a phrase used as a metaphor for the concerns of the rest of the chapter - profane sacrifices. A word like 'godhead' or 'divinity' might be a better translation in English, at least for those who feel compelled to read literally.

6) Judaism does know G-d's 'proper' name. It's YHVH. So what if we don't get hung up on details like speaking it. The ideas it represents are more important.

7) Not sure what you mean. Which names, which they?

Judaism has doesn't limit itself to strictly literal truths like some branches of Christianity do. If you want to understand Jewish texts, you need to accept that and learn to work with it rather than making demands against it.

I read once that the Elohim, according to the Jhwist original creation story, were the 12 creative forces that made the world. This later was removed, although the word "elohim" remains plural.

The number twelve is repeated in many creation accounts: the Chinese 12 world creators called the Tien Hoang, the Hindus with their 12 Adithya, and the 12 Nidanas, or "causes of being."

The Vikings had their 12 Aesirs of Asard and the Greeks their 12 Titans.

It is also said that Jehovah was just one of several popular tribal gods in early days, (perhaps there were still 12) and that references to God being a "jealous god" came about because of rivalry over which god it would be.

So it could be that just referring to the one Lord as "God" is a better thing, and end all the worry over what early man thought His proper name should be.

We don't want to return to the fight over which of the 12 Elohim He was, since "the Lord our God is One."

If your name is "Allen" and I call you "Al," what is the difference? It's still you, right, I am referring to. Even if I started to call you Fred or John or Alister...it wouldn't matter, I would still be referring to you.

Secondly, why should God have just one name?

Third, why is ancient Hebrew the only right word for God? If that is true, then all the Greek, Latin, English, German, French and every other language version of "God" is WRONG.

I hate to say it, but fundamentalists are such narcissists. They are so pre-occupied with "rightness" issues - so blind to everyone else in the world.

I just want to say that God has a million different RIGHT names...the right name that every person in the world uses to refer to God...the one that they think of God as...and God doesn't mind being called something else other than some RIGHT name that fundamentalist Christians give.

This whole thing amounts to nothing but sheer vanity. Why don't you ask God if God only has one right name or if God cares about whether or not its spelled upside down, inside out, right or left or whatever.

In my opinion, God has a lot more important things to do then worry about what some human being calls God.

Early in the second century, after the last of the apostles had died, the falling away from the Christian faith foretold by Jesus and his followers began in earnest. Pagan philosophies and doctrines infiltrated the congregation; sects and divisions arose, and the original purity of faith was corrupted. And God's name ceased to be used.

As this apostate Christianity spread, the need arose to translate the Bible from its original Hebrew and Greek into other languages. How did the translators render God's name in their translations? Usually, they used the equivalent of "Lord." A very influential version of that time was the Latin Vulgate, a translation of the Bible by Jerome into everyday Latin. Jerome rendered the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) by substituting Dominus, "Lord."

Eventually, new languages, such as French, English and Spanish, began to emerge in Europe. However, the Catholic Church discouraged the translating of the Bible into these new languages. Thus, while Jews, using the Bible in the original Hebrew language, refused to pronounce God's name when they saw it, most "Christians" heard the Bible read in Latin translations that did not use the name.

In time, God's name came back into use. In 1278 it appeared in Latin in the work Pugio fidei (Dagger of Faith), by Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk. Raymundus Martini used the spelling Yohoua.* Soon after, in 1303, Porchetus de Salvaticis completed a work entitled Victoria Porcheti adversus impios Hebraeos (Porchetus' Victory Against the Ungodly Hebrews). In this he, too, mentioned God's name, spelling it variously Iohouah, Iohoua and Ihouah. Then, in 1518, Petrus Galatinus published a work entitled De arcanis catholicae veritatis (Concerning Secrets of the Universal Truth) in which he spells God's name Iehoua.

The name first appeared in an English Bible in 1530, when William Tyndale published a translation of the first five books of the Bible. In this he included the name of God, usually spelled Iehouah, in several verses,# and in a note in this edition he wrote: "Iehovah is God's name . . . Moreover as oft as thou seist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew Iehovah." From this the practice arose of using Jehovah's name in just a few verses and writing "LORD" or "GOD" in most other places where the Tetragrammaton occurs in the Hebrew text.

In 1611 what became the most widely used English translation, the Authorized Version, was published. In this, the name appeared four times in the main text. (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4) "Jah," a poetic abbreviation of the name, appeared in Psalm 68:4. And the name appeared in full in place-names such as "Jehovah-jireh." (Genesis 22:14; Exodus 17:15; Judges 6:24) However, following the example of Tyndale, the translators in most instances substituted "LORD" or "GOD" for God's name. But if God's name could appear in four verses, why could it not appear in all the other thousands of verses that contain it in the original Hebrew?

Something similar was happening in the German language. In 1534 Martin Luther published his complete translation of the Bible, which he based on the original languages. For some reason he did not include the name of God but used substitutes, such as HERR ("LORD"). However, he was aware of the divine name, since in a sermon on Jeremiah 23:1-8, which he delivered in 1526, he said: "This name Jehovah, Lord, belongs exclusively to the true God."

In 1543 Luther wrote with characteristic frankness: "That they [the Jews] now allege the name Jehovah to be unpronounceable, they do not know what they are talking about . . . If it can be written with pen and ink, why should it not be spoken, which is much better than being written with pen and ink? Why do they not also call it unwriteable, unreadable or unthinkable? All things considered, there is something foul." Nevertheless, Luther had not rectified matters in his translation of the Bible. In later years, however, other German Bibles did contain the name in the text of Exodus 6:3.

In succeeding centuries, Bible translators went in one of two directions. Some avoided any use of God's name, while others used it extensively in the Hebrew Scriptures, either in the form Jehovah or in the form Yahweh.

All 'gods' are imaginary.

People who believe in them are delusional.

Jehova is just the name the Jews gave their god.