WHAT IS THE NAME OF GOD?
In the Bible, God is called by
several names: ELOHIM (אֱלוֹהִים), that means "God"; ELOAH (אֱלוֹהַּ), that means "God"; EL (אֵל), that means "God"; ELION (עֶלְיוֹן), that means "The Most High"; SHADAY (שַׁדַּי), that means "Almighty"; ADONAY (אֲדוֹנָי), that means "Lord" and YAHVEH (יַהְוֶה), that means "He causes to exist ".
This last name, YAHVEH, is the only name that is really the proper name
of God. The other names are more titles than names properly.
This name is derived from the causative form of the Hebraic verb HAVAH (הוה),
that means "to be", or "to exist".
The name YAHVEH means “He causes to exist”.
The name YAHVEH appears a lot of times in the Tanach
(Old Testament).
This name is considered the most sacred of the names of God.
However, in most of the translations of the Bible, where appears the name YAHVEH,
this name is substituted by the word “Lord” or by the word “God”.
This happens for the following reason:
Starting from the century III B.C., the Jews stopped pronouncing the
sacred name of God, YAHVEH, because they thought it would be a profanation to
pronounce it, and because of this, when they read the Bible, where it was written YAHVEH, they
pronounced ADONAY, that means “Lord”. For this reason, when the Bible was translated to the Greek, where
the sacred name YAHVEH appeared, they placed KYRIOS, that in Greek means
"Lord". Later, when they translated the Bible to Latin, where appeared the
sacred name, they placed "Dominus", that means “Lord”, and then, when
they translated to English, they placed “Lord”.
In some more modern translations, where appears the name YAHVEH, they
placed LORD, with all the letters in the upper case, in order that the reader
know that there the word LORD is substituting the sacred name of God,
YAHVEH. And when in the original text of
the Bible, in Hebrew, appears the
name ADONAY, they place Lord, with only the initial letter in upper case.
The name YAHVEH, when adapted to the English language, is YAHVEH, or
YAHEVEH. This is because, in Hebrew, the
name is pronounced YAHVEH or YAHEVEH, as it is pronounced in faster or slower
way.
Some people pronounce the sacred name of God as YEHOVAH, and they adapt
it to English language as JEHOVAH.
However, the right pronunciation is YAHVEH.
This divergence of pronunciation happened for the following
reasons:
The Tanach (Old Testament) was written in Hebrew.
In the Hebrew alphabet, originally, vowels did not exist, only
consonants existed. It was not necessary to write the vowels, because the
people that know the Hebrew language well, read perfectly the text written only
with consonants, and including the roots of the words, in Hebrew, are only
constituted by consonants, that are vocalized in several ways, to form verbs,
substantives nouns, adjectives, etc.
When the Jews stopped pronouncing the name YAHVEH, this name continued
to be pronounced by the priests, in the Temple, when they blessed the people
with the priestly blessing (Numbers 4:24-26). Therefore, the true pronunciation
of the Sacred Name continued known.
However, in the year 70 after Jesus Christ., the Temple of God was
destroyed by the Romans, and then the Jews completely stopped pronouncing the
Sacred Name of God, and because of this, little by little, the true
pronunciation went falling in the forgetfulness, although the Jewish tradition
says that some rabbis, along the centuries, knew the true pronunciation of the
Sacred Name of God, that is also called Sacred Tetragrammaton, because it is
formed by four consonants: YHVH (יהוה).
In the same occasion in which the Temple of God was destroyed, it was
also destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and the Jews were expelled from their
land, and they were dispersed among the nations.
Therefore, the Jews stopped speaking Hebrew in the day by day, and they
started to use the Hebrew language only to pray and to read the Bible, and to write comments on the Bible.
Due to that, began to appear the risk of nobody more know which is the
correct pronunciation of the text of the Bible.
Then the Jews invented some signs, constituted by points and lines, that
are placed below or above the consonants, that represent the vowels, and they
placed these signs of vowels in the whole text of Tanach (Old Testament).
As where appeared the name YAHVEH they pronounced ADONAY, then they
placed in the consonants of the name YAHVEH the vowels of ADONAY, and this
caused to appear the form YEHOVAH.
However, two old Christian Greek writers, one called Clement of
Alexandria, and other called Theodoret, wrote the sacred name of God in Greek
letters.
Clement of Alexandria wrote IAOUE, (Clement of
The Hebrew letter vav, that corresponds to our v, originally was
pronounced with the sound of u, and because of this in Hebrew the letter vav
sometimes is used to represent the sound of u. Because of this, some
transliterate the letter vav as w, and not as v.
Clement of Alexandria wrote approximately in the year 215 A.D., and
Theodoret wrote approximately in the year 466 A.D.
At the time in which they wrote, the correct pronunciation of the Sacred
Name of God was still known. As they
wrote in Greek letters, and in the Greek alphabet there are vowels, we came to
know that the correct pronunciation of the name of God is YAHVEH (יַהְוֶה).
Including, it is interesting to note that the Jews, that before always
used the word ADONAI to substitute the name YAHVEH in the reading of the Bible and in the prayers, from a certain
time to now started to use, for this finality, the word HASHEM, that means
"The Name".
It is possible that the rabbis that still knew the true pronunciation of
the name of God, have stimulated the Jews to use the word HASHEM, in order that
so they conserve the memory of the true vowels of the Sacred Name of God,
because the vowels of HASHEM are the same vowels of YAHVEH.
It is possible that they have made this, because they know that it is
necessary to preserve the true pronunciation of the name of God, because the
Temple of God, in Jerusalem, will be reconstructed soon, and then the priests
will have to use the Sacred Name of God, YAHVEH, to bless the people with the
priestly blessing (Numbers 6:22-27), because in Numbers 6:27, it is written
that God said: "And they will put My Name upon the children of Israel, and
I will bless them”.
There is also an abbreviated form of the name of God, that is YAH (יָהּ). This name is the same name YAHVEH, but
abbreviated. This name appears mainly in
poetic texts, as, for instance, in the song of Moses (Exodus 15:2), and in the
Psalm 118, verse 5.
This abbreviated form YAH also appears in the expression HALELU YAH,
that is adapted to the English as HALLELUJAH, and that means "PRAISE
YAH".
This name, being adapted to the English language, is YAH.
The fact that the vowel of this abbreviated form of the name of God is A
shows that the first vowel of the name of God is A, what evidences that the
true pronunciation of the name of God is YAHVEH (יַהְוֶה).
There are in the Bible several personal names that are formed with
abbreviated forms of the name of God. Examples: Yesha'yahu (Isaiah), Yirmeyahu
(Jeremiah), Netanyahu (Nethaniah), Yehoshua (Joshua), Yehochanan (Johanan),
Yehoshafat (Josaphat).
In some proper names, the abbreviated form of the name of God appears in
the end of the word, and in others, the abbreviated form of the name of God
appears in the beginning of the word.
The abbreviated form of the name of God that appears in the end of
proper names is “Yahu” (יָהוּ).
The abbreviated form of the name of God that appears in the beginning of
proper names is “Yeho” (יְהווֹ).
In Hebrew, the vowels of the word alter when the word receives a
suffix.
For example: The word " sêfer " (book), when receives the
suffix "im" to make the plural, becomes "sefarím"
(books).
Another example: The word "davar" (word), when receives the suffix
"khem" (suffix of the second person plural pronoun), becomes
"divreikhêm" (your words).
Therefore, to know which were the original vowels of the name of God, we
must base ourselves on the abbreviated form of the name of God that appears in
the end of the proper names, that is "Yahu" (examples: Yesha'yahu,
Yirmeyahu, Netanyahu).
“Yahu" is an abbreviated form of "Yaheveh", as well as
"yehí" is an abbreviated form of "yiheyeh”).
Therefore, the name of God is "Yaheveh", name this that, when
is pronounced quickly, is pronounced "Yahveh".
The abbreviated form “Yeho", that appears in the beginning of
several proper names (as, for instance, Yehoshua, Yehochanan, Yehoshafat), is
the same abbreviated form “Yahu”, that had its vowels altered because was added
to it a suffix, that is the second part of the proper name (in the examples
above, “shua", “chanan" and "shafat”).
When the Jews stopped pronouncing the name of God, in the century III
B.C., they made a great mistake.
They stopped pronouncing the name of God, because they misinterpreted
the commandment of God that is in Exodus 20:7, and they thought that this
commandment means that we must not pronounce the name of God in vain.
However, the true meaning of this commandment is other.
The correct translation of Exodus 20:7, is the following: “THOU SHALT
NOT RAISE THE NAME OF YAHVEH THY GOD FOR FALSEHOOD".
This means that we must not use the name of God to deceive our neighbor,
swearing by the name of God and unfulfilling the oath.
It means that when we swear by the name of God, we must fulfill the
oath.
God commanded that we swear by His name, as it is written in Deuteronomy
6:13: "THOU
SHALT FEAR YAHVEH THY GOD; AND HIM SHALT THOU SERVE, AND BY HIS NAME THY SHALT
SWEAR."
And in the Psalms 105, verse 1, it is written: "GIVE THANKS TO
YAHVEH, CALL UPON HIS NAME".
Therefore, we see that God wants that we pronounce his name.
In Exodus 23:13, it is written: "AND IN ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE SAID
TO YOU TAKE YE HEED: AND MAKE NO MENTION OF THE NAME OF OTHER GODS, NEITHER LET
IT BE HEARD OUT OF THY MOUTH.".
Therefore, we see that God doesn't want that we pronounce the names of
the other gods, the false gods, that are demons (Deuteronomy 32:17), and we
also see that God said that not to pronounce the name of somebody is a
demonstration of execration, and not of respect.
Wherefore, it is verified that God wants us to pronounce His name, and
that we swear by his name, and that we fulfill the oaths.
When Jesus Christ (Yeshua haMashiach) began to preach and to teach, he
could not restore the practice of pronouncing the name of God, because in that
time the religious leaders of Israel punished with death the people that pronounced
the name of God, except the priests, in the Temple, when they blessed the
people.
Therefore, if Jesus Christ pronounced the name of God, in his
preachings, he would have been killed soon in the beginning, and there would
not be time for him to pass to us the teachings that are written in the
authentic text of the Gospel according to Matthew.
But, as nowadays the religious leaders no more condemn to death the
people that violate the rules established by them, we already can turn to pronounce
the name of God, as did Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and all the
prophets.
It is written in Zachariah 3:5 (in some Bibles it is 2:32): “And it will
happen that all that invoke the name of Yahveh shall be saved”.
So, we need to pronounce
and to call the name of Yahveh to be saved.
Yahveh bless you.
João Paulo Fernandes Pontes.
IN ENGLISH EM PORTUGUÊS בעיברית