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Jehovah
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Jehovah, also Yehovah, is an English reading of , the most frequent form of the Tetragrammaton , 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.
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Encyclopedia
Jehovah, also Yehovah, is an English reading of , the most frequent form of the Tetragrammaton , 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. It is generally referred, in line with the Jewish tradition, that (Jehovah) is a "hybrid form", 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,, 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., and later regarded by both Jews and some Christians as a mispronunciation, it has nevertheless found a place in Christian liturgical and theological usage. It is the regular English rendition of in the American Standard Version, and occurs seven times in the King James Version. It is also used in Christian hymns such as "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah".
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, 1910 edition, page 329, states: “Jehovah, the proper name of God in the Old Testament."
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.)
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
This pronunciation "Jehovah" is considered grammatically impossible by some; it arose through pronouncing the vowels of the "kere" (marginal reading of the Masorites: = "Adonay") with the consonants of the "ketib" (text-reading: = "Yhwh")—"Adonai" (the Lord) being substituted with one exception wherever Yhwh occurs in the Biblical and liturgical books.
"Adonai" presents the vowels "shewa" the composite ( ) under the guttural becomes simple ( ) under the ( ), "holem," and "kamez," and these give the reading ( ) (= "Jehovah").
When the two names ( ) and ( ) occur together, the former is pointed with "hatef segol" ( ) under the ( )— thus, (="Jehovah")—to indicate that in this combination it is to be pronounced "Elohim" ( ).
These substitutions of "Adonai"and "Elohim" for YHWH were devised to avoid the profanation of the "Ineffable Name" ( hence is also written ’, or even ’, and read "ha-Shem" = "the Name ").
The vowel points of Jehovah
Jewish tradition teaches that has the vowel points of (Adonai), but the vowel points of these two words are not precisely the same, and scholars are not in total agreement as to why 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."
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., ) had to appear in order that a mistake might not be made and "Adonay" be repeated.
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 as Yehovah.
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.
Modern scholar 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, a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures made by Benjamin Wilson, the name Jehovah appears 18 times.
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 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", being the Latin translation of the first part of the Hebrew bible 'proverb' at Proverbs 18:10.
Although the original pronunciation of 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 " c. 6823", the editors of the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon write that occurs 6518 times in the Masoretic Text.
Early Greek transcriptions of similar to "Jehovah"
- ?e?a: (Ieoa, ) in Hellenistic magical texts
Early Latin transcriptions of similar to "Jehovah"
Transcriptions of similar to
"Jehovah" occurred as early as the
13th century.
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." 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 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 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
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