WitnessofJah
Member
You have asked many questions, Helpme. I am going to have to break this post up into several smaller posts because the answers are so long.
YHWH is not the only name which has been translated in the Bible. Your analogy of Carlos and Charles is correct, however, when you cross international horizons, a Hebrew name has to be translated slightly so that they can pronounce it. For example, the Apostle John in the Bible is referred to as the apostle Juan in Spain, Jean in France, Johannes in Germany, and most importantly, Yohhanan in Hebrew, its original pronunciation. This shows us that the original Hebrew names change to a degree according to the country that it is in and the name YHWH is no exception. Jehovah is the name in English, however the name Jehovah is not the same in Spain, France, Germany or any other country for that matter. So with that said, let me go into the name Jehovah, which is the English translation of the Holy name.
Jehovah is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name. 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).
Vowel signs in Hebrew copies of the Bible came into use first in the seventh century of our Common Era. These signs indicated which vowel sounds were to be used when reading the all-consonant Hebrew text. By combining those warning vowel signs with the four Hebrew consonants, the pronunciations Yehowih´ and Yehowah´ were formed, from which we derive Jehovah in the English language. It was thus introduced into English translations of the Bible, including the King James Version of about 350 years ago.
Im not sure what you mean. Do you mean that I have not defended Jesus the person, or Jesus the name? If yes, you are referring to Jesus the name, the reason why I have not defended is because nobody has asked me about Jesus name in this thread .?
Strictly speaking, you are correct that Yahweh is the closest interpretation to the original name, so why do we use the name Jehovah? Because the form Jehovah has been familiar to people for many centuries, and that form of The Name, just as faithfully as other forms, preserves the sounds of the four consonants of the tetragrammaton. Furthermore, we do not speak Hebrew today! We speak other languages. When we speak English, for example, then we use the English pronunciation of the Divine Name, which is Jehovah. In other languages the divine name is pronounced differently, although quite similarly most of the time.
Those who reject the English Jehovah and insist on using the Hebrew pronunciation would do well to ask themselves why they say Jesus Christ, when that was not the way his name was pronounced in Hebrew. That is the English way, derived from the Greek language. In Hebrew, Jesus would be closer to Yehóshua and Christ would be Mashíahh. So, as we say Jesus Christ in the English language, we also say Jehovah, both being correct when speaking English.
This again comes down to language. The name Jesus Christ and many other Hebrew names in the Bible neither accurately represent their original names either.
The name Jehovah is not a mistaken name, it is simply the name used in the English language (see my explanation above). And since the Pope lives in Italy, the name Jehovah would not have been used anyway since it is English, however, the Latin/Italian word for it would have been Geova in Italian and something similar in Latin. As far as the name Jehovah or its equivalent been founded 1518, that is very debatable since those names can be founded further back than that date in ancient churches and archaeological stones/tablets.
Helpme said:why do you call [yhwh] jehovah?if you were to come across my friend carlos you would surely never call him charles...
i am presenting you my information on the subject.
Jehovah is composed of the abbreviated forms of the imperfect, the participle, and the perfect of the Hebrew verb "to be" (ye=yehi; ho=howeh; wa=hawah). According to this explanation, the meaning of Jehovah would be "he who will be, is, and has been". But such a word-formation has no analogy in the Hebrew language.
The abbreviated form Jeho supposes the full form Jehovah. But the form Jehovah cannot account for the abbreviations Jahu and Jah, while the abbreviation Jeho may be derived from another word.
The word Jehovah is a mistaken pronunciation of this word. It arose when a Christian scholar, Petrus Galatinus (~1520AD) combined the consonants YHWH with vowels belonging to the word Adonai. (YaHoWaH, it was written as Jahowah because in latin J is pronounced like Y). Jahowah was further anglicized as Jehovah.
Helpme said:According to Harper's Bible Dictionnary, this name is "the result of the translators' ignorance of the Hebrew language and customs" (1985, p1036) The book of World Religions from Ancient History says "The name Jehovah is a medieval misreading and does not occur in the Hebrew Bible" (p.386)
YHWH is not the only name which has been translated in the Bible. Your analogy of Carlos and Charles is correct, however, when you cross international horizons, a Hebrew name has to be translated slightly so that they can pronounce it. For example, the Apostle John in the Bible is referred to as the apostle Juan in Spain, Jean in France, Johannes in Germany, and most importantly, Yohhanan in Hebrew, its original pronunciation. This shows us that the original Hebrew names change to a degree according to the country that it is in and the name YHWH is no exception. Jehovah is the name in English, however the name Jehovah is not the same in Spain, France, Germany or any other country for that matter. So with that said, let me go into the name Jehovah, which is the English translation of the Holy name.
Jehovah is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name. 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).
You may question how JHVH became JEHOVAH and how those particular vowels in that name came to be. The reasoning behind that is that originally, the Hebrew name YHWH had no vowels but only consonants, which created difficulty in translating the name from Hebrew. Also, the correct pronunciation of the name was also generally forgotten and lost over time since they first wrote the pages in the Bible. So what was to be done?
Vowel signs in Hebrew copies of the Bible came into use first in the seventh century of our Common Era. These signs indicated which vowel sounds were to be used when reading the all-consonant Hebrew text. By combining those warning vowel signs with the four Hebrew consonants, the pronunciations Yehowih´ and Yehowah´ were formed, from which we derive Jehovah in the English language. It was thus introduced into English translations of the Bible, including the King James Version of about 350 years ago.
i like how you've taken to forget about defending the name 'jesus'.
Im not sure what you mean. Do you mean that I have not defended Jesus the person, or Jesus the name? If yes, you are referring to Jesus the name, the reason why I have not defended is because nobody has asked me about Jesus name in this thread .?
So what is His name?? "Strictly speaking, Yahweh is the only 'name' of God" (The Divine Name that will Endure Forever, p25). But why do they still use Jehovah?? "Because it has a familiarity that Yahweh does not have." (The Divine Name that will Endure Forever, p9)...But doesn't God tell us not to misuse His name? (Deuronomy 5:11)
Strictly speaking, you are correct that Yahweh is the closest interpretation to the original name, so why do we use the name Jehovah? Because the form Jehovah has been familiar to people for many centuries, and that form of The Name, just as faithfully as other forms, preserves the sounds of the four consonants of the tetragrammaton. Furthermore, we do not speak Hebrew today! We speak other languages. When we speak English, for example, then we use the English pronunciation of the Divine Name, which is Jehovah. In other languages the divine name is pronounced differently, although quite similarly most of the time.
Those who reject the English Jehovah and insist on using the Hebrew pronunciation would do well to ask themselves why they say Jesus Christ, when that was not the way his name was pronounced in Hebrew. That is the English way, derived from the Greek language. In Hebrew, Jesus would be closer to Yehóshua and Christ would be Mashíahh. So, as we say Jesus Christ in the English language, we also say Jehovah, both being correct when speaking English.
go to your local library, see if you can find
this book.
"The word Jehovah does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew" (The Divine Name that will Endure Forever, p20, published by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society)
This again comes down to language. The name Jesus Christ and many other Hebrew names in the Bible neither accurately represent their original names either.
Our purpose is not to follow erroneous traditions of men: "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7)
The mistaken name Jehovah is said to have been given us about 1518 by Peter Gallatin who was confessor to Pope Leo X. The efforts not withstanding Protestant reformers to return to the truth of the Bible, the majority of Protestants still retain the erroneous name Jehovah which was handed to us by the Catholics.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is almost a necessity for gaining a deeper insight into the original languages. Notice in the Hebrew dictionary of Strong's No. 3050, the entry "Yahh," a contraction for 3068 [the Tetragrammaton, the Sacred Name].
The name Jehovah is not a mistaken name, it is simply the name used in the English language (see my explanation above). And since the Pope lives in Italy, the name Jehovah would not have been used anyway since it is English, however, the Latin/Italian word for it would have been Geova in Italian and something similar in Latin. As far as the name Jehovah or its equivalent been founded 1518, that is very debatable since those names can be founded further back than that date in ancient churches and archaeological stones/tablets.