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Yahweh - Meaning, Use and Translation of the Divine Name


The tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH in Roman script) is most likely to have been pronounced 'Yahweh', not 'Jehovah' by the Hebrews.* It's meaning is explained in Exod 3 - it means 'he who is'. It might also mean 'he who causes [things] to be' i.e. the creator. Because of the second commandment the scribes, when reading from Scripture, avoided pronouncing the divine name, and substituted either ha shem 'the name' or adonai 'lord'. In the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, the word used to translate YHWH was kyrios 'lord'. This usage carried on into the New Testament, so when believers said 'Jesus is Lord' they were equating Jesus with the YHWH of the Old Testament, as well as threatening the political status quo where, in the Roman empire, Caesar was given the title 'Lord'.

The usage of YHWH is interesting. In the Old Testament it frequently used with the sense 'God of Israel' i.e. the God the Israelites worshipped, rather than any other god. The most common phrase with this meaning is 'YHWH my/your/our/his God' e.g. 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews... the LORD our God' Exod 3.18. The latter 'YHWH our God' and similar occurs 646 times in the Hebrew Bible! The term elohim 'god(s)' is much more generic, can refer to any god, and can easily be pluralised - in fact in Hebrew it is normally written in the plural form. The singular el 'god' occurs much more rarely, often as part of a longer title such as el elyon 'God most high'. YHWH is always singular.

In most English Bibles YHWH is translated LORD with capitals or small caps throughout the Old Testament.

A note on translation: it's very important to translate the meaning of the Bible as it was at the time when it was revealed. Modern hearers must learn to think themselves into that time period, and apply Scripture to that period before asking how it applies to their lives in the here and now. In some places it is tempting to contextualise the translation. The modern hearers' theology is used to critique the Scriptures and change the sense of them to, for example, a purely monotheistic view of God. The view of God in the Scriptures is more complex than that - he is both the God of the Hebrews (rather than any other ethnic group) and the one true living God (the God of all). These parallel truths both need to be allowed to exist alongside each other. The pluralistic context in which the Scriptures were originally written should not be rationalised out of the translation. Nevertheless, in some contexts it may sound strange to keep repeating 'your God' and 'our God'. So, in those contexts, it may be better to say, 'the LORD, the God you worship/serve' rather than 'the LORD your God'.


* The name Jehovah comes from a misunderstanding. The Masoretes wrote the vowels for adonai under the consonants for YHWH, to remind the scribes to pronounce the word 'adonai' not 'Yahweh'. The combination, if read literally, produced Yehovah. In German the first consonant of the word is a 'J', hence 'Jehovah'.


References where LORD our/his/my/their/your/etc. God occurs:

GEN 27:20; EXO 3:18; 5:3; 6:7; 8:6; 8:22; 8:23; 8:24; 10:7; 10:8; 10:16; 10:17; 10:25; 10:26; 15:26; 16:12; 20:2; 20:5; 20:7; 20:10; 20:12; 23:19; 23:25; 29:46; 29:46; 32:11; 34:24; EXO; 4:26; LEV 4:22; 11:44; 18:2; 18:4; 18:30; 19:2; 19:3; 19:4; 19:10; LEV; 9:25; 19:31; 19:34; 19:36; 20:7; 20:24; 23:22; 23:28; 23:40; 23:43; 24:22; 25:17; 25:38; 25:55; 26:1; 26:13; 26:44; NUM 10:9; 10:10; 15:41; 15:41; 22:18; 23:21; DEU 1:6; 1:10; 1:19; 1:20; 1:21; 1:25; 1:26; 1:30; 1:31; 1:32; 1:41; 2:7; 2:7; 2:29; 2:30; 2:33; 2:36; 2:37; 3:3; 3:18; 3:20; 3:21; 3:22; 4:2; 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:7; 4:10; 4:19; 4:21; 4:23; 4:23; 4:24; 4:25; 4:29; 4:30; 4:31; 4:34; 4:40; 5:2; 5:6; 5:9; 5:11; 5:12; 5:14; 5:15; 5:15; 5:16; 5:16; 5:24; 5:25; DEU; :27; 5:27; 5:32; 5:33; 6:1; 6:2; 6:4; 6:5; 6:10; 6:13; 6:15; 6:15; 6:16; 6:17; 6:20; 6:24; 6:25; 7:1; 7:2; 7:6; DEU; :6; 7:9; 7:12; 7:16; 7:18; 7:19; 7:19; 7:20; 7:21; 7:22; 7:23; 7:25; 8:2; 8:5; 8:6; 8:7; 8:10; 8:11; 8:14; 8:18; 8:19; 8:20; 9:3; 9:4; 9:5; 9:6; 9:7; 9:16; 9:23; 10:9; 10:12; 10:12; 10:12; 10:14; 10:17; 10:20; 10:22; 11:1; 11:2; 11:12; 11:12; 11:13; 11:22; 11:25; 11:27; 11:28; 11:29; DEU; 1:31; 12:4; 12:5; 12:7; 12:7; 12:9; 12:10; 12:11; 12:12; 12:15; 12:18; 12:18; 12:18; 12:20; 12:21; 12:27; 12:27; 12:28; 12:29; 12:31; 13:4; 13:4; 13:5; 13:6; 13:6; 13:11; 13:13; 13:17; 13:19; 13:19; 14:1; 14:2; 14:21; 14:23; 14:23; 14:24; 14:24; 14:25; 14:26; 14:29; 15:4; 15:5; 15:6; 15:7; 15:10; 15:14; 15:15; 15:18; 15:19; 15:20; 15:21; 16:1; 16:1; 16:2; 16:5; 16:6; 16:7; 16:8; 16:10; 16:10; 16:11; 16:11; 16:15; 16:15; 16:16; 16:17; 16:18; 16:20; 16:21; 16:22; 17:1; 17:1; 17:2; 17:2; 17:8; 17:12; 17:14; 17:15; 17:19; 18:5; 18:7; 18:9; 18:12; 18:13; 18:14; 18:15; 18:16; 18:16; 19:1; 19:1; 19:2; 19:3; 19:8; 19:9; 19:10; 19:14; 20:1; 20:4; 20:13; 20:14; 20:16; 20:17; 20:18; 21:1; 21:5; 21:10; 21:23; 22:5; 23:6; 23:6; 23:6; 23:15; 23:19; 23:19; 23:21; 23:22; 23:22; 23:24; 24:4; 24:9; 24:13; 24:18; 24:19; 25:15; 25:16; 25:19; 25:19; 26:1; 26:2; 26:2; 26:3; 26:4; 26:5; 26:10; 26:10; 26:11; 26:13; 26:14; 26:16; 26:19; 27:2; 27:3; 27:5; 27:6; 27:6; 27:7; 27:9; 27:10; 28:1; 28:1; 28:2; 28:8; 28:9; 28:13; 28:15; 28:45; 28:47; 28:52; 28:53; 28:58; 28:62; 29:5; 29:9; 29:11; 29:11; 29:14; 29:17; 29:28; 30:1; 30:2; 30:3; 30:3; 30:4; 30:5; 30:6; 30:6; 30:7; DEU; 0:9; 30:10; 30:10; 30:16; 30:16; 30:20; 31:3; 31:6; 31:11; 31:12; 31:13; 31:26; JOS 1:9; 1:11; 1:13; 1:15; 1:17; 2:11; 3:3; 3:9; 4:5; 4:23; 4:23; 4:24; 8:7; 9:9; 9:24; 10:19; 14:8; 14:9; 18:6; 22:3; 22:4; 22:5; 22:19; 22:29; 23:3; 23:3; 23:5; 23:5; 23:8; 23:10; 23:11; 23:13; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:15; 23:16; 24:17; 24:24; JDG 3:7; 6:10; 6:26; 8:34; 11:24; 1SA 7:8; 12:9; 12:12;; 2:14; 12:19; 13:13; 15:15; 15:21; 15:30; 25:29; 30:6; 2SA 14:11;; 4:17; 18:28; 24:3; 24:23; 24:24; 1:17; 2:3; 3:7; 5:17; 5:18; 5:19; 8:28; 8:57; 8:59; 8:61; 8:65; 9:9; 10:9; 11:4; 13:6; 13:21; 15:3; 15:4; 17:12; 17:20; 17:21; 18:10; 2KI 5:11; 16:2; 17:7; 17:9; 17:14; 17:16; 17:19; 17:39; 18:12; 18:22; 19:4; 19:4; 19:19; 23:21; 1CH 11:2; 13:2; 15:13; 16:14; 21:17; 22:7; 22:11; 22:12; 22:18; 22:19; 28:8; 29:16; 29:20; 2CH 1:1; 2:3; 2:3; 6:19; 9:8; 9:8; 13:10; 13:11; 14:1; 14:6; 14:10; 14:10; 14:10; 15:9; 2CH; 6:7; 19:7; 20:20; 26:16; 27:6; 28:5; 28:10; 29:6; 30:8; 2CH; 0:9; 31:6; 31:20; 32:8; 32:11; 33:12; 33:17; 34:8; 34:33; 35:3; 36:5; 36:12; EZR 7:6; 7:28; 9:5; 9:8; NEH 8:9; 9:3; 9:3; 9:4; 9:5; 10:35; PSA 7:2; 7:4; 13:4; 18:29; 20:8; 30:3; 30:13; 33:12; 35:24; 38:22; 40:6; 76:12; 81:11; 94:23; 99:5; 99:8; 99:9; 99:9; 104:1; 105:7; 106:47; 109:26; 113:5; 122:9; 123:2; 144:15; 146:5; ISA 7:11; 25:1; 26:13; 36:7; 37:4; 37:4; 37:20; ISA 41:13; 43:3; 48:17; 51:15; 55:5; 60:9; JER 2:17; 2:19; 3:13; 3:21; 3:22; 3:23; 3:25; 3:25; 5:19; 5:24; 7:28; 8:14; 13:16; 14:22; 16:10; 22:9; 26:13; 26:16; 30:9; 31:6; 31:18; 37:3; 40:2; 42:2; 42:3; 42:4; 42:5; 42:6; 42:6; 42:13; 42:20; 42:20; 42:20; 42:21; 43:1; 43:1; 43:2; 50:4; 50:28; 51:10; EZK 20:5; 20:7; 20:19; 20:20; 28:26; 34:30; 39:22; 39:28; DAN 9:4; 9:10; 9:13; 9:14; 9:20; HOS 1:7; 3:5; 7:10; 12:10; 13:4; 14:2; JOL 1:14; 2:13; 2:14; 2:23; 2:26; 2:27; 4:17; JON 2:2; 2:7; MIC 4:5; 5:3; 7:10; 7:17; HAB 1:12; ZEP 2:7; 3:17; 1:12; 1:12; ZEC 6:15; 9:16; 10:6; 11:4; 13:9; 14:5.

Key verses:

‘The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.” EXO 3:18

I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. EXO 6:7

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. DEU 6

Blessed is the people of whom this [these blessings] is true;

blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. PSA 144:15

Surely you will summon nations you know not,

and nations you do not know will come running to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

for he has endowed you with splendour.’ ISA 55:5


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