* Pronunciation of YHWH

One has stated: "I do not call the Father Jehovah because that is a word made up by a Catholic monk in the 1300s.  I call Him Father or YHWH."

Another states: "People often pronounce the four Hebrew letters (YHWH) as 'Yahweh' or 'Jehovah', but the truth is that we don’t really know how to say it. In most Bibles that word is translated as 'the LORD', and similarly when reading it in Hebrew, we always say 'Adonai' instead, which means Lord. We don’t even try to pronounce it."

A regenerated child of God certainly has the right to call his God "Father". The word "Father" is not, however, God's Holy Name, nor does it replace God's Holy Name in the New Testament. Indeed, should we replace God's Holy Name with "Father" in such scriptures as Exodus 6:3; 15:3; Psalm 135:15; Isaiah 42:8; 48:2, etc.?

While we do not at all believe that a Catholic monk "made up" the English form "Jehovah" way back in the 1300s, the English form Jehovah is based on the major form used in the Hebrew Masoretic text. If that form is "made up" by anyone, then so is every other English form of any Biblical name that is given in English, including the English form "Jesus", and even the English forms "YHWH", "JHVH", etc.  How does one even pronounce the English form often given as YHWH?

At this point, we should note that the claim that YHWH is Hebrew is not actually true. YHWH, JHVH, etc., are actually Latinized transliterations of the four Hebrew letters that make up the Holy Name in ancient Hebrew. Transliteration variations exist due to different transliteration methods being used. No transliteration method, however, can be known to be absolutely accurate, since the reality is that every transliteration method invented is subject to error. The English characters YHWH, JHVH, etc., without vowels, form no pronounceable English words, and are thus actually not, in English, names as we usually make use of names on English.

We know that it is often claimed that Jehovah was the invention of a Spanish monk (Raymundus Martini) in 1270; some have even falsely claimed that he did this by inserting the consonants for the words often transliterated as "Elohim" and "Adonai" in between the four Hebrew letters representing the tetragrammaton of God's Holy Name in Hebrew, which he, as it has been asserted, "translated into 'Jehova' or 'Jehovah'". Regardless, such often claim that "Jehovah is a false name" "made up by a Catholic monk", which is simply false.

Similarly, it is often claimed that Jews do not believe in saying the sacred name out loud. Nevertheless, as presented in the quote above, they substitute other words such ADONAI, LORD, GOD, etc. and thus it is claimed that by using these substutes they are not pronouncing the Holy Name. In reality, we do not know of any Jew that does not give some vocalization to the Holy Name, whether it be the English "the Lord", or forms of "Adonai", or, "HaShem", or something else. We do not know of anyone, whether Jew or not, when reading the Bible, totally skips over the instances where the Holy Name appears, without giving some pronunciation to the Holy Name. In Isaiah 42:8, for instance, when reading this verse aloud, if one gives the Holy Name the pronunciation of "the Lord", how can that one claim that he is not giving any pronunciation to the Holy Name? Indeed, the form in the which the Holy Name is most often mispronounced in English is "the Lord", and sometimes as "God". Definitely neither of these pronounciations are the original pronunciation, thus saying these pronunciations instead of an English pronunication of the Holy Name would certainly be mispronouncing the Holy Name.

If the assertion that the "Jehovah" is a "made up" name are valid, then similar would be true also of the English forms "Jesus", "Joshua", and actually every English form presented of any Hebrew name, since no one on earth today knows for certainty how names were originally pronounced in ancient Hebrew. Indeed, such would apply to every form of every Hebrew name that is presented in English. It would also be true of the most popular form of mispronouncing the Holy Name by the English substitue: "the Lord". Those promoting the assertions, however, most often fail to reason about such, and many of them may assert that the Holy Name is ineffable, unpronounceable, although no scripture says such, and yet at the same time give the name somekind of pronunciation, evidently thinking that by mispronouncing the Holy Name by other words, that they are avoiding pronouncing the Holy Name.

Regarding Martini, the reality is that Raymundus Martini presented a Latin form of the Holy Name as "Yohoua". We have not been able to obtain Martini's explanations for using the form "Yohoua", but we have found the following:

Martini wrote his manuscript in 1270; the original manuscript was never published. About 400 years after Martini died, in 1651 Joseph de Voisin edited Martini's work and published  it. It should be obvious that Voisin changed the Holy Name from Martini's form as "Yohoua" to "Jehova", thus making it conform to the vowels of the most common form of the Holy Name as found in the Masoretic text. Martini, himself, rejected the vowel points of the Masoretic text.  Gerard Gertoux, in his book, "The Name of God," page 52, shows that Martini actually used the form "Yohoua." Gertoux states:

Raymond Martini used the spelling Yohoua for God's name in his Pugio Fidei (III:II) It is clear that this scholar knew the Hebrew form... [as transliterated from the Masoretic Text], did not transcribe it Yehouah in Latin as might be expected, but Yohoua. Martini explained at length the reasons for his choice. He quoted the Talmulci references from Rabbi Mosch Ben Maymon in his *Guide of the Perplexed*, especially those of chapters 60-64 of part I, which concern the Name.

The real point is that Martini never used the later English form "Jehovah" at all,

The reality is that the English form "Jehovah" is based on the most common form of the Holy Name as presented in the Masoretic Hebrew text. There is no evidence whatsoever that any Spanish monk made up this form.

Related to this, many often make a similar claim is that the Masoretes themselves made the name up by inserting vowels from Adonai and/or Elohim into the tetragrammaton to form Jehovah (or, Yehowah); this also, however, is an assumption that has been repeated so many times that it has become accepted as fact. Some scholars, however, have shown that this assumption is not true. The truth is that, since no Hebrew word had any written vowels, the Masoretes, in producing their vowels points, in fact, inserted such written vowels into every word in Hebrew, including the word representing God's Holy Name. Nevertheless, many seem to single out the Holy Name as though it was the only word that did not have written vowels. Often these will present the Holy Name in an unpronounceable English transliterated form such as YHWH or JHVH. Some translations have supplied these as English forms of the Holy Name.

Nevertheless, the original Hebrew has no written vowels at all for any name or any word whatsoever. The vowels were spoken, however, although they were not written, thus the words, including God's Holy Name, did have vowels in the original Hebrew. And yet, while YHWH or variations thereof are indeed direct transliterations of the Holy Name as it appeared in ancient Hebrew, if one is consistent in presenting names with such transliterations, one should do the same with every Hebrew name in the Bible, since no name in ancient Hebrew had any written vowels.

Additionally, the English form "Jehovah", and the vowels in that English form, were not originally provided by any Catholic monk; the written vowels in Hebrew were provided by the Masoretes long before any Monk provided a Latin form of the Holy Name from the Masoretic Hebrew text. The Masoretes provided at least two different variations of the Holy Name. This indicates that the Holy Name may not have had just one original pronunciation, but at least two, possibly depending on the sounds in the context.

However, many who claim that one should not pronounce the Holy Name in English because we do not know for a certainty how it was originally pronounced, should realize that, then, to be consistent, we should not pronounce the name of the Messiah, either. As with all Hebrew words, the forms (there are several) as found in the original Hebrew did not have any written vowels; the written vowel points were supplied by the Masoretes. Both "Jesus" and "Joshua", however, being of English spelling and pronunciation, are not the same pronunciation as the original Hebrew, and no one on earth knows for a certainty how the name of the Messiah was originally pronounced in the original Hebrew.

On the other hand, the Jews who claim that pronouncing the Holy Name is not appropriate, do not, in fact, refrain from pronouncing the name, but they often will indeed say the name as being Adonai (Lord), Elohim (God), HaShem (the name), or as something else. If they would not actually say the Holy Name at all, they would have to read Deuteronomy 6:4 as "Hear, Israel: -- is our God; -- is one," which, of course, ends up being nonsense. If a Jew reads aloud Deuteronomy 6:4 from the Jewish Publication Society translation, he will be saying, "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." In effect, he will still be attributing the Holy Name to being "the LORD", and pronouncing, saying, the Holy Name, as being "the LORD". The Hebrew pronunciation of the Holy Name, however, is most definitely NOT "the LORD". Deuteronomy 6:4, in the World English, reads, "Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one." In the American Standard, it reads, "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." Either of these latter two translations are definitely much better than totally changing the Holy Name to "the LORD", which does not mean the same thing.

Indeed, we do not know of any person, when reading the Bible aloud, who does not pronounce the Holy Name with some kind of oral expression. Most English translations present the Holy Name as "the LORD" or "GOD", and thus most English readers, when reading those translations, do pronounce (or, mispronounce) the Holy Name as "the LORD" or as "GOD", despite claims to the contrary. We do not know of anyone who simply skips the Holy Name so as not to pronounce the Holy Name, despite their claims of not pronouncing the Holy Name by pronouncing (mispronouncing) the Holy Name as "the LORD" or "GOD", or whatever else.  If, however, the Holy Name in English form should be presented as "YHWH", how does one pronounce that when reading the Bible?

So, in English, does YHWH actually present an English form of the Holy Name? Although YHWH does represents somebody's transliteration of the four letters of God's Holy Names as found in ancient Hebrew, we do not believe YHWH actually presents an English form of God's Holy Name, since YHWH is not pronounceable in English. As a transliteration of the four letters from ancient Hebrew, it is a valid transliteration of those four letters, but since the four letters are not pronouceable as a name in English, we believe that YHWH falls short of actually being a name in English. Each should come to his/her own conclusion, however. More importantly, YHWH is often used to make it appear that the Holy Name cannot be pronounced, which is false.

Regardless, all the concern about finding some alleged "correct" pronunication of the Holy Name is not scriptural. No scripture says that God's Holy Name or any other Hebrew name has to be pronounced in all languages exactly as it was originally pronounced in ancient Hebrew. It is man who makes such a demand, not God.

Related:

Is God's Holy Name "The Lord"? (Video)