''Jehovah'' () is an anglicized representation of Hebrew , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible.

appears 6,518 times in the traditional Masoretic Text, in addition to 305 instances of (''Jehovih''). The earliest available Latin text to use a vocalization similar to ''Jehovah'' dates from the 13th century.

Most scholars believe "Jehovah" to be a late (ca. 1100 CE) hybrid form derived by combining the Latin letters ''JHVH'' with the vowels of ''Adonai'', but there is some evidence that it may already have been in use in Late Antiquity (5th century). It was not the historical vocalization of the Tetragrammaton at the time of the redaction of the Pentateuch (6th century BCE), at which time the most likely vocalization was Yahweh. The historical vocalization was lost because in Second Temple Judaism, during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton came to be avoided, being substituted with Adonai "my Lords".

Pronunciation

Most scholars believe "Jehovah" to be a late (ca. 1100 CE) hybrid form derived by combining the Latin letters ''JHVH'' with the vowels of ''Adonai'', but there appears to be evidence that ''Jehovah'' form of the Tetragrammaton may have been in use in Semitic and Greek phonetic texts and artifacts from Late Antiquity. Others say that it is the pronunciation ''Yahweh'' that is testified in both Christian and pagan texts of the early Christian era.

Karaite Jews, as proponents of the rendering ''Jehovah'', state that although the original pronunciation of has been obscured by disuse of the spoken name according to oral Rabbinic law, well-established English transliterations of other Hebrew personal names are accepted in normal usage, such as Joshua, Isaiah or Jesus, for which the original pronunciations may be unknown. They also point out that "the English form ''Jehovah'' is quite simply an Anglicized form of Y^ehovah," and preserves the four Hebrew consonants "YHVH" (with the introduction of the "J" sound in English). Some argue that ''Jehovah'' is preferable to ''Yahweh'', based on their conclusion that the Tetragrammaton was likely tri-syllabic originally, and that modern forms should therefore also have three syllables.

According to a Jewish tradition developed during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, the Tetragrammaton is written but not pronounced. When read, substitute terms replace the divine name where appears in the text. It is widely assumed, as proposed by the 19th-century Hebrew scholar Gesenius, that the vowels of the substitutes of the name—''Adonai'' (Lord) and ''Elohim'' (God)—were inserted by the Masoretes to indicate that these substitutes were to be used. When precedes or follows ''Adonai'', the Masoretes placed the vowel points of ''Elohim'' into the Tetragrammaton, producing a different vocalization of the Tetragrammaton , which was read as ''Elohim''. Based on this reasoning, the form (''Jehovah'') has been characterized as a "hybrid form", and even "a philological impossibility".

Early modern translators disregarded the practice of reading ''Adonai'' (or its equivalents in Greek and Latin, ''Κύριος'' and ''Dominus'') in place of the Tetragrammaton and instead combined the four Hebrew letters of the Tetragrammaton with the vowel points that, except in synagogue scrolls, accompanied them, resulting in the form ''Jehovah''. This form, which first took effect in works dated 1278 and 1303, was adopted in Tyndale's and some other Protestant translations of the Bible. In the 1611 ''King James Version'', ''Jehovah'' occurred seven times. In the 1901 ''American Standard Version'' it became the regular English rendition of , in preference to the previously dominant "the LORD", which is generally used in the King James Version. It is also used in Christian hymns such as the 1771 hymn, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah".

Development

The most widespread theory is that the Hebrew term has the vowel points of (''adonai''). Using the vowels of ''adonai'', the composite ''hataf patah'' under the guttural ''alef'' becomes a ''sheva'' under the ''yod'' , the ''holam'' is placed over the first ''he'' , and the ''qamats'' is placed under the ''vav'' , giving (''Jehovah''). When the two names, and , occur together, the former is pointed with a ''hataf segol'' under the ''yod'' and a ''hiriq'' under the second ''he'' , giving , to indicate that it is to be read as (''elohim'') in order to avoid ''adonai'' being repeated.

The pronunciation ''Jehovah'' is believed to have arisen through the introduction of vowels of the ''qere''—the marginal notation used by the Masoretes. In places where the consonants of the text to be read (the ''qere'') differed from the consonants of the written text (the ''kethib''), they wrote the ''qere'' in the margin to indicate the desired reading. In such cases, the ''kethib'' was read using the vowels of the ''qere''. For a few very frequent words the marginal note was omitted, referred to as ''q're perpetuum''.

Scholars are not in total agreement as to why does not have precisely the same vowel points as ''adonai''. The use of the composite ''hataf segol'' in cases where the name is to be read, "''elohim''", has led to the opinion that the composite ''hataf patah'' ought to have been used to indicate the reading, "''adonai''". It has been argued conversely that the disuse of the ''patah'' is consistent with the Babylonian system, in which the composite is uncommon.

Vowel points of and

The table below shows the vowel points of ''Yehovah'' and ''Adonay'', indicating the simple ''sheva'' in ''Yehovah'' in contrast to the ''hataf patah'' in ''Adonay''. As indicated to the right, the vowel points used when ''YHWH'' is intended to be pronounced as ''Adonai'' are slightly different to those used in ''Adonai'' itself.

Yod Simple sheva He Holam Vav Qamats He

!colspan="3"	Hebrew (Strong's #136)ADONAY
	|	Y		Aleph	glottal stop
	|	E		Hataf patah	A
	|	H		Dalet	D
	|	O		Holam	O
	|	V		Nun	N
	|	A		Qamats	A
	|	H		Yod	Y

The difference between the vowel points of ''’ǎdônây'' and ''YHWH'' is explained by the rules of Hebrew morphology and phonetics. ''Sheva'' and ''hataf-patah'' were allophones of the same phoneme used in different situations: ''hataf-patah'' on glottal consonants including ''aleph'' (such as the first letter in ''Adonai''), and simple ''sheva'' on other consonants (such as the ''Y'' in ''YHWH'').

Introduction into English

The ''Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon'' suggested that the pronunciation ''Jehovah'' was unknown until 1520 when it was introduced by Galatinus, who defended its use. However, it has been found as early as about 1270 in the ''Pugio fidei'' of Raymund Martin.

In English it appeared in William Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch ("The Five Books of Moses"), published in 1530 in Germany, where Tyndale had studied since 1524, possibly in one or more of the universities at Wittenberg, Worms and Marburg, where Hebrew was taught. The spelling used by Tyndale was "Iehouah"; at that time, I was not distinguished from J, and U was not distinguished from V. The original 1611 printing of the Authorized King James Version used "Iehovah". Tyndale wrote about the divine name: "IEHOUAH [Jehovah], is God's name; neither is any creature so called; and it is as much to say as, One that is of himself, and dependeth of nothing. Moreover, as oft as thou seest LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing), it is in Hebrew ''Iehouah'', Thou that art; or, He that is."

The name ''Jehovah'' appeared in all early Protestant Bibles in English, except Coverdale's translation in 1535. The Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible used "the Lord", corresponding to the Latin Vulgate's use of "Dominus" (Latin for "Adonai", "Lord") to represent the Tetragrammaton. The Authorized King James Bible also, which used ''Jehovah'' in a few places, most frequently gave "the LORD" as the equivalent of the Tetragammaton. The name ''Jehovah'' appeared in 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, it has been used in the ''Revised Version'' of 1885, the ''American Standard Version'' in 1901, and the ''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures'' of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1961.

At , where the King James Version has ''Jehovah'', the ''Revised Standard Version'' (1952), the ''New American Standard Bible'' (1971), the ''New International Version'' (1978), the ''New King James Version'' (1982), the ''New Revised Standard Version'' (1989), the ''New Century Version'' (1991), and the ''Contemporary English Version'' (1995) give "LORD" or "Lord" as their rendering of the Tetragrammaton, while the ''New Jerusalem Bible'' (1985), the ''Amplified Bible'' (1987), the ''New Living Translation'' (1996, revised 2007), the ''English Standard Version'' (2001), and the ''Holman Christian Standard Bible'' (2004) use the form ''Yahweh''.

Hebrew vowel points

Modern guides to biblical Hebrew grammar, such as Duane A Garrett's ''A Modern Grammar for Classical Hebrew'' state that the Hebrew vowel points now found in printed Hebrew Bibles were invented in the second half of the first millennium AD, long after the texts were written. This is indicated in the authoritative ''Hebrew Grammar'' of Gesenius, and in encyclopedias such as the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'', the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'', and ''Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia'', and is acknowledged even by those who claim that guides to Hebrew are perpetuating "scholarly myths".

"Jehovist" scholars, who believe to be the original pronunciation of the divine name, argue that the Hebraic vowel-points and accents were known to writers of the scriptures in antiquity and that both Scripture and history argue in favor of their ''ab origine'' status to the Hebrew language. Some members of Karaite Judaism, such as Nehemia Gordon, hold this view. The antiquity of the vowel points and of the rendering ''Jehovah'' was defended by various scholars, including Michaelis, Drach, Stier, William Fulke (1583), Johannes Buxtorf, his son Johannes Buxtorf II, and John Owen (17th century); Peter Whitfield and John Gill (18th century); John Moncrieff (19th century); and more recently by Thomas D. Ross, G. A. Riplinger, John Hinton, and Thomas M. Strouse (21st century).

Jehovist writers such as Nehemia Gordon, who helped translate the "Dead Sea Scrolls", have acknowledged the general agreement among scholars that the original pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was ''Yahweh'', and that the vowel points now attached to the Tetragrammaton were added to indicate that ''Adonai'' was to be read instead, as seen in the alteration of those points after prefixes. He wrote: "There is a virtual scholarly consensus concerning this name" and "this is presented as fact in every introduction to Biblical Hebrew and every scholarly discussion of the name." Gordon, disputing this consensus, wrote, "However, this consensus is not based on decisive proof. We have seen that the scholarly consensus concerning Yahweh is really just a wild guess," and went on to say that the vowel points of ''Adonai'' are not correct. He argued that "the name is really pronounced Ye-ho-vah with the emphasis on 'vah'. Pronouncing the name Yehovah with the emphasis on 'ho' (as in English Jehovah) would quite simply be a mistake."

Proponents of pre-Christian origin

18th-century theologian John Gill puts forward the arguments of 17th-century Johannes Buxtorf II and others in his writing, ''A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowel-Points and Accents''. He argued for an extreme antiquity of their use, rejecting the idea that the vowel points were invented by the Masoretes. Gill presented writings, including passages of scripture, that he interpreted as supportive of his "Jehovist" viewpoint that the Old Testament must have included vowel-points and accents. He claimed that the use of Hebrew vowel points of , and therefore of the name ''Jehovah'' (), is documented from before 200 BCE, and even back to Adam, citing Jewish tradition that Hebrew was the first language. He argued that throughout this history the Masoretes did not invent the vowel points and accents, but that they were delivered to Moses by God at Sinai, citing Karaite authorities Mordechai ben Nisan Kukizov (1699) and his associates, who stated that "all our wise men with one mouth affirm and profess that the whole law was pointed and accented, as it came out of the hands of Moses, the man of God." The argument between Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism on whether it was lawful to pronounce the name represented by the Tetragrammaton is claimed to show that some copies have always been pointed (voweled) and that some copies were not pointed with the vowels because of "oral law", for control of interpretation by some Judeo sects, including non-pointed copies in synagogues. Gill claimed that the pronunciation can be traced back to early historical sources which indicate that vowel points and/or accents were used in their time. Sources Gill claimed supported his view include:

The Book of Cosri and commentator Rabbi Judab Muscatus, which claim that the vowel points were taught to Adam by God. Saadiah Gaon (927 AD) Jerome (380 AD) Origen (250 AD) The Zohar (120 AD) Jesus Christ (31 AD), based on Gill's interpretation of Matthew 5:18 Hillel the Elder and Shammai division (30 BC) Karaites (120 BCE) Demetrius Phalereus, librarian for Ptolemy II Philadelphus king of Egypt (277 BCE)

Gill quoted Elia Levita, who said, "There is no syllable without a point, and there is no word without an accent," as showing that the vowel points and the accents found in printed Hebrew Bibles have a dependence on each other, and so Gill attributed the same antiquity to the accents as to the vowel points. Gill acknowledged that Levita, "first asserted the vowel points were invented by "the men of Tiberias", but made reference to his condition that "if anyone could convince him that his opinion was contrary to the book of Zohar, he should be content to have it rejected." Gill then alludes to the book of Zohar, stating that rabbis declared it older than the Masoretes, and that it attests to the vowel-points and accents.

William Fulke, John Gill, John Owen, and others held that Jesus Christ referred to a Hebrew vowel point or accent at , indicated in the King James Version by the word ''tittle''. Fulke argued that the words of this verse, spoken in Hebrew, but transliterated into Greek in the New testament, are proof that these marks were applied to the Torah at that time. John Lightfoot (1602–1675) claimed the Hebrew vowel points were of the Holy Spirit's invention, not of the Tiberians', characterizing the latter as "lost, blinded, besotted men."

In Peter Whitfield's ''A Dissertation on the Hebrew Vowel-Points'', the author examined the positions of Levita and Capellus, giving many biblical examples to refute their notion of the novelty of vowel points. In his introduction, he claimed that the Roman Catholic Church favored Levita's position because it allowed the priests to have the final say in interpretation. The lack of authoritative vowel points in the Hebrew Old Testament, he said, leaves the meaning of many words to the interpreter. Citing the meaning of the Hebrew word for "Masoretes"—''māsar'', which means "to hand over", "to transmit"—, Whitfield gave 10 reasons for holding that the Hebrew vowel points and accents have to be used for Hebrew to be "clearly understood":

I. ''The necessity of vowel-points in reading the Hebrew language (pp. 6–46)''. Without vowels, he said, simple pronunciations so necessary in learning a language are impossible. He reproved as naiveté Levita's suggestion that the master could teach a child with a thrice-rehearsed effort (pp. 22–23). He gave several biblical examples as proving this necessity.

II. ''The necessity for forming different Hebrew conjugations, moods, tenses, as well as dual and plural endings of nouns (pp. 47–57)''. That both Hebrew verbs, including the seven conjugations, the moods and tenses, and the Hebrew nouns, with singular, dual and plural endings, are based on vowel diagnostic indicators is, he claimed, without controversy. The tremendous complexity of the Hebrew language without vowels argues against any oral tradition preservation inscripturated through the recent invention of vowels. Whitfield argued: "Whoever will consider a great many instances of these differences, as they occur, will own, he must have been a person of very great sagacity, who could ever have observed them without the points" (p. 48).

III. ''The necessity of vowel-points in distinguishing a great number of words with different significations which without vowel-points are the same (58-61)''. Whitfield gave many examples of the same consonants with different points constituting different words. The diacritical mark (dot) above the right tooth or the left tooth of the shin/sin letter makes a great difference in some words. He said that if he gave all the examples, he would need "to transcribe a good part of the Bible or lexicon" (p. 58).

IV. ''The inconsistency of the lateness of vowel-points in light of the Jew's zeal for their language since the Babylonian captivity (62-65)''. The Jews were zealous for their language, Whitfield observed, and they would not have been careless to let the inscripturated vocalization disappear through careless or indifferent oral tradition from the time of the captivity onward. He cited several ancient authorities describing the Jews' fanaticism about protecting the minuteness of their Scripture.

V. ''The various and inconsistent opinions of the advocates for the novelty of vowel-points concerning the authors, time, place, and circumstances of their institution (66-71)''. Whitfield argued that the advocates for the recent vowel system had a wide variety of suggestions. Concerning the authors, some maintained that the inventor[s] were the Tiberian Jews while others suggested that it was Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh (c. AD 230). Some said the points were invented after the Talmud (c. AD 200-500), by the Masoretes (AD 600), or in the 10th or the 11th century. For the place some had posited Tiberias whereas others had suggested the Asia Minor.

VI. ''The total silence of the ancient writers, Jew and Christian, about their recent origin (72-88)''. Whitfield cited both early rabbins and Jerome as neglecting to refer to the late (post-Mosaic) origin of vowel-points.

VII. ''The absolute necessity to ascertain Divine authority of the Scripture of the OT (89-119)''. Whitfield affirmed that Scripture is based on words and words are based on consonants and vowels. If there are no vowels in the Hebrew OT originals, then there is no Divine authority of the Hebrew OT Scriptures, he argued, citing . He then gave a vast listing of passages that change meaning when points are lost, and thereby undermining divine authority.

VIII. ''The many anomalies or irregularities of punctuation in the Hebrew grammar (120-133)''. This objection by Whitfield to the novelty of vowel-points was the many exceptions to vowel-point rules, anomalies and irregularities that demand a codified system for their exceptions to emphasize a particular point of grammar and truth.

IX. ''The importance of the Kethiv readings versus the Keri marginal renderings (134-221)''. The existence of Kethiv (Aramaic for "write") readings in the Hebrew text and Keri (Aramaic for "call") readings in the margin of Hebrew manuscripts showed, he said, that the rabbins were serious about preserving the original words, including the vowel-points, when a questionable word arose in a manuscript. The pre-Christian antiquity of the Keri readings in the margin demanded the pre-Masoretic antiquity of the vowel points.

X. ''The answer to two material questions (222-282)''. Whitfield responded to two of three significant questions in this section: 1) why does the LXX and Jerome's version differ from the Hebrew text in corresponding vowels on proper names? 2) Why the silence of the Jewish writers on the pointing prior to the 6th century of Christianity? and 3) Why were unpointed copies used in the Jewish synagogues? Briefly, he responded to the first questions by stating that the differences in the translations and the Hebrew pointed texts cannot be attributed to the vowels, since he said that the translators obviously did use the pointed copies, and that the Jewish commentators, coeval with the Masoretes, did in fact refer to the points. The third question, answered later in his book, was responded to by saying that there is no historical proof that unpointed copies were used exclusively in the synagogues.

The 1602 Spanish Bible (Reina-Valera/Cipriano de Valera) used the name ''Iehova'' and gave a lengthy defense of the pronunciation ''Jehovah'' in its preface.

In Thomas D. Ross' book, ''The Battle over the Hebrew Vowel Points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England'', he presents the various points of view regarding the Hebrew Vowel-Points down to the 19th century. He states that the overwhelming majority of present-day Hebrew scholarship believes that the vowel points were added by the Masoretes, but notes that some sections of fundamentalism still hold that they were part of the original text.

Proponents of later origin

Despite Jehovist claims that vowel signs are necessary for reading and understanding Hebrew, modern Hebrew is written without vowel points.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1946 and dated from 400 BC to 70 AD, include texts from the Torah or Pentateuch and from other parts of the Hebrew Bible, and have provided documentary evidence that, in spite of claims to the contrary, the original Hebrew texts were in fact written without vowel points. Menahem Mansoor's ''The Dead Sea Scrolls: A College Textbook and a Study Guide'' claims the vowel points found in printed Hebrew Bibles were devised in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Gill's view that the Hebrew vowel points were in use at the time of Ezra or even since the origin of the Hebrew language is stated in an early 19th-century study in opposition to "the opinion of most learned men in modern times", according to whom the vowel points had been "invented since the time of Christ". The study presented the following considerations:

The argument that vowel points are necessary for learning to read Hebrew is refuted by the fact that the Samaritan text of the Bible is read without them and that several other Semitic languages, kindred to Hebrew, are written without any indications of the vowels.

The books used in synagogue worship have always been without vowel points, which, unlike the letters, have thus never been treated as sacred.

The Qere Kethib marginal notes give variant readings only of the letters, never of the points, an indication either that these were added later or that, if they already existed, they were seen as not so important.

The Kabbalists drew their mysteries only from the letters and completely disregarded the points, if there were any.

In several cases, ancient translations from the Hebrew Bible (Septuagint, Targum, Aquila of Sinope, Symmachus, Theodotion, Jerome) read the letters with vowels different from those indicated by the points, an indication that the texts from which they were translating were without points. The same holds for Origen's transliteration of the Hebrew text into Greek letters. Jerome expressly speaks of a word in Habakkuk 3:5, which in the present Masoretic Text has three consonant letters and two vowel points, as being of three letters and no vowel whatever.

Neither the Jerusalem Talmud nor the Babylonian Talmud (in all their recounting of Rabbinical disputes about the meaning of words), nor Philo nor Josephus, nor any Christian writer for several centuries after Christ make any reference to vowel points.

Early modern arguments

In the 16th and 17th centuries, various arguments were presented for and against the transcription of the form ''Jehovah''.

Discourses rejecting ''Jehovah''

{|border=1 cellpadding=5 style="text-align:left; border-collapse: collapse; |- !width=120|Author !width=200|Discourse !Comments |- |valign=top align=left|John Drusius (Johannes Van den Driesche) (1550-1616) |valign=top align=left|''Tetragrammaton, sive de Nomine Die proprio, quod Tetragrammaton vocant'' (1604) |Drusius stated "Galatinus first led us to this mistake ... I know [of] nobody who read [it] thus earlier.."). An editor of Drusius in 1698 knows of an earlier reading in Porchetus de Salvaticis however.John Drusius wrote that neither nor accurately represented God's name. |- |valign=top align=left|Sixtinus Amama (1593–1659) |valign=top align=left|''De nomine tetragrammato'' (1628) |Sixtinus Amama, was a Professor of Hebrew in the University of Franeker. A pupil of Drusius. |- |valign=top align=left|Louis Cappel (1585–1658) |valign=top align=left|''De nomine tetragrammato'' (1624) |Lewis Cappel reached the conclusion that Hebrew vowel points were not part of the original Hebrew language. This view was strongly contested by John Buxtorff the elder and his son. |- |valign=top align=left|James Altingius (1618–1679) |valign=top align=left|''Exercitatio grammatica de punctis ac pronunciatione tetragrammati'' |James Altingius was a learned German divine. | |}

Discourses defending ''Jehovah''

{|border=1 cellpadding=5 style="text-align:left; border-collapse'': collapse; |- !width=120|Author !width=200|Discourse !Comments |- |valign=top align=left|Nicholas Fuller (1557–1626) |valign=top align=left| ''Dissertatio de nomine יהוה'' |valign=top align=left|Nicholas was a Hebraist and a theologian. |- |valign=top align=left|John Buxtorf (1564–1629) |valign=top align=left|''Disserto de nomine JHVH'' (1620); ''Tiberias, sive Commentarius Masoreticus'' (1664) |valign=top align=left|John Buxtorf the elder opposed the views of Elia Levita regarding the late origin (invention by the Masoretes) of the Hebrew vowel points, a subject which gave rise to the controversy between Louis Cappel and his (e.g. John Buxtorf the elder's) son, Johannes Buxtorf II the younger. |- |valign=top align=left|Johannes Buxtorf II (1599–1664) |valign=top align=left|''Tractatus de punctorum origine, antiquitate, et authoritate, oppositus Arcano puntationis revelato Ludovici Cappelli'' (1648) |valign=top align=left| Continued his father's arguments that the pronunciation and therefore the Hebrew vowel points resulting in the name ''Jehovah'' have divine inspiration. |- |valign=top align=left|Thomas Gataker (1574–1654) |valign=top align=left|''De Nomine Tetragrammato Dissertaio'' (1645) |valign=top align=left|See Memoirs of the Puritans Thomas Gataker. |- |valign=top align=left|John Leusden (1624–1699) |valign=top align=left|''Dissertationes tres, de vera lectione nominis Jehova'' |valign=top align=left| John Leusden wrote three discourses in defense of the name Jehovah. |}

Summary of discourses

In ''A Dictionary of the Bible'' (1863), William Robertson Smith summarized these discourses, concluding that "whatever, therefore, be the true pronunciation of the word, there can be little doubt that it is not ''Jehovah''". Despite this, he consistently uses the name ''Jehovah'' throughout his dictionary and when translating Hebrew names. Some examples include ''Isaiah'' [''Jehovah's help or salvation''], ''Jehoshua'' [''Jehovah a helper''], ''Jehu'' [''Jehovah is He'']. In the entry, ''Jehovah'', Smith writes: "JEHOVAH (, usually with the vowel points of ; but when the two occur together, the former is pointed , that is with the vowels of , as in Obad. i. 1, Hab. iii. 19:" This practice is also observed in many modern publications, such as the ''New Compact Bible Dictionary'' (Special Crusade Edition) of 1967 and ''Peloubet's Bible Dictionary'' of 1947.

Usage in English Bible translations

The following versions of the Bible render the Tetragrammaton as ''Jehovah'' either exclusively or in selected verses:

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 foreword 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 Great Bible, 1539, renders "Jehovah" in Psalm 33:12 and Psalm 83:18.

The Geneva Bible, 1560, translates the Tetragrammaton as "JEHOVAH", in all capitals, four times, in Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Jeremiah 16:21; and Jeremiah 32:18.

In the Bishop's Bible, 1568, the word "Jehovah" occurs in Exodus 6:3 and Psalm 83:18.

The Authorized King James Version, 1611, renders "JEHOVAH" four times as the personal name of God (in all capitals): 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 by Robert Young, 1862, 1898 renders the Tetragrammaton as ''Jehovah'' 6,831 times.

In the Emphatic Diaglott, 1864, a translation of the New Testament by Benjamin Wilson, the name "Jehovah" appears 18 times.

The English Revised Version, 1885, renders the Tetragrammaton as "JEHOVAH" (in all capitals) the four times where the King James Version employs it, and another eight times: in Exodus 6:2,6,7,8; Psalm 68:20; Isaiah 49:14; Jeremiah 16:21; Habakkuk 3:19.

The Darby Bible, by John Nelson Darby, 1890, renders the Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" 6,810 times.

The Five Pauline Epistles, A New Translation, by William Gunion Rutherford, 1900, uses the name "Jehovah" six times in the Book of Romans.

The American Standard Version, 1901, renders the Tetragrammaton as "Je-ho’vah" in 6,823 places in the Old Testament.

The Modern Reader's Bible, by Richard Moulton, 1914, uses "Jehovah" in Ps.83:18; Ex.6:2-9; Ex.22:14; Ps.68:4; Jerm.16:20; Isa.12:2 and Isa. 26:4.

The New English Bible, published by Oxford University Press, 1970: "JEHOVAH" in Exodus 3:15 and 6:3 and in four place-names (Genesis 22:14, Exodus 17:15, Judges 6:24, Ezekiel 48:35).

The Living Bible, by Kenneth N. Taylor, published by Tyndale House Publishers, Illinois, 1971, uses "Jehovah" extensively, as in the 1901 American Standard Version, on which it is based.

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1961 and revised 1984: "Jehovah" appears 7,210 times, comprising 6,973 instances in the Old Testament, and 237 times in the New Testament—including 70 of the 78 times where the New Testament quotes an Old Testament passage containing the Tetragrammaton, where the Tetragrammaton does not appear in any extant Greek manuscript.

The Bible in Living English, by Steven T. Byington, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1972, renders the word "Jehovah" throughout the Old Testament over 6,800 times.

Green's Literal Translation (1985) by Jay P. Green, Sr., renders the Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" 6,866 times.

Non-usage in Bible translations

The Douay Version of 1609 renders the phrase in Exodus 6:3 as "and my name Adonai", and in its footnote says: "Adonai is not the name here vttered to Moyses but is redde in place of the vnknowen name". The Challoner revision (1750) uses ''ADONAI'' with a note stating, "some moderns have framed the name Jehovah, unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians."

Most modern translations exclusively use ''Lord'' or '''', generally indicating that the corresponding Hebrew is ''Yahweh'' or ''YHWH'' (not ''JHVH''), and in some cases saying that this name is "traditionally" transliterated as "Jehovah": The Revised Standard Version (1952), an authorized revision of the American Standard Version of 1901, replaced all 6,823 usages of "Jehovah" in the 1901 text with "" or "", depending on whether the Hebrew of the verse in question is read "Adonai" or "Elohim" in Jewish practice. A footnote on Exodus 3:15 says: "The word LORD when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH." The preface declares: "The word 'Jehovah' does not accurately represent any form of the name ever used in Hebrew". The New American Bible (1970, revised 1986, 1991). Its footnote to Genesis 4:25-26 reads: "...men began to call God by his personal name, Yahweh, rendered as "the LORD" in this version of the Bible." The New American Standard Bible (1971, updated 1995), another revision of the 1901 American Standard Version, followed the example of the Revised Standard Version. Its footnotes to and state: "Related to the name of God, YHWH, rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be"; "Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD". In its preface it says: "It is known that for many years YHWH has been transliterated as Yahweh, however no complete certainty attaches to this pronunciation." The Bible in Today's English (Good News Bible), published by the American Bible Society (1976). In its preface it states: "the distinctive Hebrew name for God (usually transliterated Jehovah or Yahweh) is in this translation represented by 'The Lord'." A footnote to states: "I am sounds like the Hebrew name Yahweh traditionally transliterated as Jehovah." The New International Version (1978 revised 2011). Footnote to , "The Hebrew for LORD sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for I AM in verse 14." The New King James Version (1982), though based on the King James Version, replaces "JEHOVAH" in with "LORD", and adds a note: "Hebrew YHWH, traditionally Jehovah".

The God's Word Translation (1985).

The New Century Version (1987, revised 1991).

The New International Reader's Version (1995).

The English Standard Version (2001). Footnote to , "The word LORD, when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, 'to be'."

Some translations use both ''Yahweh'' and ''Lord'': The Amplified Bible (1965, updated 1987) generally uses ''Lord'', but translates as: "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but by My name the Lord [Yahweh—the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles]." The New Living Translation (1996), produced by Tyndale House Publishers as a successor to the Living Bible, generally uses ''Lord'', but uses ''Yahweh'' in and . The Holman Christian Standard Bible (2004, revised 2008) mainly uses ''Lord'', but in its second edition increased the number of times it uses ''Yahweh'' from 78 to 495 (in 451 verses).

Some translate the Tetragrammaton exclusively as ''Yahweh'':

The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

Other usage of "Jehovah"

Following the Middle Ages, some churches and public buildings across Europe, both before and after the Protestant Reformation were decorated with the name, ''Jehovah''. For example, the Coat of Arms of Plymouth (UK) City Council bears the Latin inscription, "Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova", derived from .

''Jehovah'' has been a popular English word for the personal name of God for several centuries. Christian hymns feature the name. Some religious groups, notably Jehovah's Witnesses and the King-James-Only movement, make prominent use of the name.

Greek and Latin sources

Under the heading "יהוה c. 6823", the editors of the ''Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon'' write that occurs 6,518 times in the Masoretic Text and that it is read as "Adonai" or "Elohim".

Greek transcriptions similar to "Jehovah"

''Ιουώ'' (Iouō, ): ''Pistis Sophia'' (2nd century) ''Ιεού'' (Ieou, ): ''Pistis Sophia'' (2nd century) ''Ιεηωουά'' (Ie-ee-ōoua): ''Pistis Sophia'' (2nd century) ''Ιευώ'' (Ievō): Eusebius (c. 315) ''Ιεωά'' (Ieōa): Hellenistic magical texts (2nd-3rd centuries), M. Kyriakakes (2000) ''Ιεχοβά'' (like Jehova[h]): Paolo Medici (1755) ''Ἰεοβά'' (like Je[h]ova[h]): Greek ''Pentateuch'' (1833), ''Holy Bible'' translated in Katharevousa Greek by Neophytus Vamvas (1850) ''Ιεχωβά'' (like Jehova[h]): Panagiotes Trempelas (1958)

Latin and English transcriptions similar to "Jehovah"

Transcriptions of similar to ''Jehovah'' occurred as early as the 12th century. ''Ieve'': Petrus Alphonsi (c. 1106), Alexander Geddes (1800) ''Jehova'': Raymond Martin (Raymundus Martini) (1278), Porchetus de Salvaticis (1303), Tremellius (1575), Marcus Marinus (1593), Charles IX of Sweden (1606), Rosenmüller (1820), Wilhelm Gesenius (c. 1830) ''Yohoua'': Raymond Martin (1278) ''Yohouah'': Porchetus de Salvaticis (1303)

''Ieoa'': Nicholas of Cusa (1428)

''Iehoua'': Nicholas of Cusa (1428), Peter Galatin (Galatinus) (1516)

''Iehova'': Nicholas of Cusa (1428), Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (1514), Sebastian Münster (1526), Leo Jud (1543), Robert Estienne (1557)

''Ihehoua'': Nicholas of Cusa (1428)

''Jova'': 16th century, Rosenmüller (1820) ''Jehovah'': Paul Fagius (1546), John Calvin (1557), King James Bible (1671 [OT] / 1669 [NT]), Matthew Poole (1676), Benjamin Kennicott (1753), Alexander Geddes (1800)

''Iehouáh'': Geneva Bible (1560)

''Iehovah'': Authorized King James Version (1611), Henry Ainsworth (1627)

''Jovae'': Rosenmüller (1820) ''Yehovah'': William Baillie (1843)

See also

Allah

Ea

El

Enlil

God in Christianity, God in Islam, God in Judaism, God in Mormonism, God in the Bahá'í Faith

God the Father

Gott

I am that I am

Jah

Names of God

Names of God in Judaism

Theophoric names:

:* Jeho*,, :* Jehoshaphat, Jehonadab, Tobijah

Yam (Ya'a, Yaw)

Notes

References

;Attribution

Further reading

Category:Names of God Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible Category:Christianity-related controversies Category:Judeo-Christian topics Category:Yahweh Category:Tetragrammaton

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