Is Jehovah a Man-Made Name?

The claim is being made that it has been established that the "name Jehovah is not God's name."

Evidently, this is based on the man-made assumption that if it is not pronounced as it was originally pronounced in ancient Hebrew, then it is "not God's name." The scriptures never present such an idea. The idea that the Holy Name must be pronounced and spelled as it was originally is actually man-made. God never presented such an idea. You will not find such a thought ever presented in the Bible. Such a doctrine is itself man-made.

If that idea is true, then every English form of any name from the Bible is a "manmade guess" and is not really the names of the persons involved, including any form of the name of God's son, since no one on earth today knows for a certainty what the original Hebrew sounded like. The sounds often used are themselves based on theory, in effect, assumptions.

In Bible times, names did change in spelling from one language to another as can be seen from Koine Greek of the New Testament, as well as many other writings in various languages from that time.

As for the Holy Name being rendered in English as "Jehovah", this is a direct transliteration from one of the forms found in the Hebrew Masoretic text. We cannot say that this means it was originally pronounced this way; it doesn't really matter. There is no command in the Bible that God's name, or any other name, must be pronounced exactly as it was in ancient Hebrew, or else it is a false name. This idea is invented by man and is actually a false doctrine.

We cannot say for certain, but as best as we can determine, the idea that the Masoretes took vowels from they supplied for the Masoretic forms transliterated as ADONAI and ELOHIM is based on theories presented by Wilhelm Gesenius (1786–1842), the prominent 19th-century German lexicographer, who famously popularized the reconstruction Yahweh for the Holy Name/ He argued against the traditional reading Jehovah, concluding that the vowels in "Jehovah" were artificially constructed by early Christian scholars from the vowels of Adonai, and he believed that historical evidence pointed to a different original pronunciation.

Gesenius proposed that the name YHWH (יהוה) was written in the Hebrew Bible with the consonants of the name itself but with the vowel pointing of Adonai (Lord). He claimed that this was originally done by the Masoretes as a textual reminder for the reader to say "Adonai" aloud instead of speaking the Holy Name. The work of the Masoretes took place in the latter part of the first millennium BC. This was several centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Gesenius maintained that the reading "Jehovah" (often transliterated as Yehovah or Yehowah) was a hybrid word that never actually represented the ancient spoken name of God.

Searching for the original vocalization, Gesenius looked to early historical accounts and the Samaritan tradition. Specifically, he relied on the writings of the 5th-century church father Theodoret of Cyrus, who noted that the Samaritans pronounced the sacred name as Iabe. The pronunciation of the Holy Name as "Iabe" originates from ancient Greek alleged transliterations, specifically from the writings of early Christian and Greco-Roman historians. At that time, however, Hebrew had no written vowels, so no actual character-by-character transliteration could actually be performed. At best, they would have had to take the Hebrew vocalization of the Holy Name and try to apply the phonemes of Greek characters to the Hebrew vocalization. The problem is that there were probably no Greek sounds that matched all the sounds used in the vocalization of the Holy Name, so that its vocalization would be greatly altered in the Greek pronunciation.

Nevertheless, based on his research, Gesenius theorized that the original pronunciation was likely closer to Yahweh (יַהְוֶה), a two-syllable word where the first syllable is stressed. However, it is usually claimed the Genesius' theories are not theories, but simply fact. 

Gesenius’ proposal of Yahweh became the standard for both Christian and Jewish biblical scholars.

At any rate, although as presented it sounds conclusive, all of this is actually theory.  However, it is usually claimed the Genesius' theories are not theories, but actual fact. The reality is that we do not actually know for a certainty that the Masoretes took vowels from other words to remind readers to replace the Holy Name with ADONAI or ELOHIM, etc.

Nevertheless, some have produced a theory, which has often been presented as fact, that the Masoretes took vowels from other words (from their words often transliterated as Adonai and/or Elohim) to form their word that transliterates as Jehovah / Yehowah / Iehouah, etc. Thus they claim that "Jehovah" is a hybrid name. However, there is no actual statement from the Masoretes that they ever did such. The evidence that the Masoretes did such is a thing cannot be found in anything they said; there is no reason to think that the Masoretes did not endeavor to present vowels for the Holy Name as they thought it to have been originally pronounced. No, we do not know that "Jehovah" in English is the exact same way it was pronounced in ancient Hebrew; it is certain that "Jesus" is not the way the name of His son was pronounced in ancient Hebrew. We do not know that Elijah was the way this name was pronounced in ancient Hebrew, nor do we know with certainty how it was originally pronounced. Indeed, in the New Testament, a transliteration of that name is Elias; the New Testament does not present Elias as being a different name, but as the same name, despite the way many today may speak of the two forms as though they are two different names.

The truth is we do not know for a certainty how any of the names in the Bible were originally pronounced. Any claim otherwise is false, since once one examines the basis of such claims, one finds many assumptions being presented, often as though fact.

It is claimed that the literature of the JWs claims that Raymundus Martini coined the form "Jehova", and God's true religion would not need to guess how the name came to be; His true religion would know it from Jesus.

I am not with the JWs, and we make no claims about any "true religion" except that given by Jesus and the apostles. It is simply a fact that Raymundus Martini never presented the Holy Name as "Jehovah". It is simply a fact that "Jehovah" is a direct transliteration from the Masoretic text, which was in existence long before Martini.

Nevertheless, I do not believe that the JW writers claim to be infallible. Regardless, we should not accept what they say as being fact. There are many out there, including many so-called experts, scholars, etc., who present many of their assumptions as being fact, but one should always look for the basis to see if what is being said is indeed fact, or based on some kind of assumption(s). In all claims being made to have found the original pronunciation, despite the claims made, if examined closely, one will see that there are assumptions (usually accepted and presented as being facts) of sounds attributed to ancient Hebrew.

It is claimed that Jesus did not ever rebuke the Jews for not using it or use any translation of YHWH as Almighty God's name, at least not as recorded in the original Greek NT.

We do not have the originals of the New Testament writings, but we can see that the name has been changed in the extant Greek NT manuscripts. It is apparent that someone has changed the Holy Name to forms of the words often transliterated as KURIOS and THEOS, and possibly some other words, such as DUNAMIS. If Jesus declared his coming in the name of KURIOS rather than the name prophesied that he was to come in in Deuteronomy 18:15-19, then, according to that prophecy (Deuteronomy 18:20-22), he was actually a false prophet, speaking in the name of another rather than in the name of Jehovah. -- Deuteronomy 18:20.

Indeed, we do not know for certain why God's Holy Name was changed to other forms in the copies, but there is evidence that suggests that towards the end of the first century and the beginning of the second century, the Jews were confiscating and destroying all Christian writings that contained the Holy Name. Thus, we can see how Christian copyists might have changed the Holy Name to other words to keep the Jews from destroying all copies of what became the NT. Additionally, evidence suggests that they did the same with the LXX.

For related studies, see:
Fake Name?