Name Jehovah

by allyouneedislove 14 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • allyouneedislove
    allyouneedislove

    I have a question regarding the name "Jehovah".

    Is Yahweh an english translation of the name? If not, and some say that we don't know exactly how it should be translated, what about the argument the WT makes regarding "we do not know how Jesus' name was originally said either". Other Bible translations translate names like "Jeremiah" from their original language. So, if Yahweh is not a translation to english, why not simply use Jehovah?

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    The first part of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah has an interesting explanation of how the name Jehovah came about.

    There is a controversy over which name is the real one. I say "Yahweh? No way!" (Actually I don't care what people call their deities.)

  • Brother of the Hawk
    Brother of the Hawk

    Read Isaiah 14: 12-14 Satan wants worship and prayers. This he accomplished with the name Jehovah, research shows this is an invented name by a Catholic monk. He also wins in two aspects. Once you find out Jehovan is not Gods name, he gets you to give up on God and his Son. Like most here have already admitted, " thier athethiest now". (NOT ME THOUGH.) Satan wins, both ways. Gets you to prey to a invented God and then gets most to not to believe in God. It's a great deception.

    Affectionately : Brother of the Hawk ( I will surrender my mind no more, forever)

  • allyouneedislove
    allyouneedislove

    I asked a question like this a couple months ago. I am not trying to troll. Its just that it seems that "Jehovah" or something very much like it is the best transliteration of YHWH. No Hebrew names were written with vowels, right? But, most Bible translations transliterate their names into English. By no means am I trying to defend the WT. Its just that through a number of searches online, it seems that using LORD or Yahweh in the old testament is simply not justified. And, neither is adding "Jehovah" to the NT.

  • allyouneedislove
    allyouneedislove

    Is this argument sound?

    *** rs p. 196 par. 3 Jehovah ***

    Most names change to some extent when transferred from one language to another. Jesus was born a Jew, and his name in Hebrew was perhaps pronounced Ye·shu'a?, but the inspired writers of the Christian Scriptures did not hesitate to use the Greek form of the name, I·e·sous'. In most other languages the pronunciation is slightly different, but we freely use the form that is common in our tongue. The same is true of other Bible names. Is the difference between transliterating (Jeremiah in Hebrew) to "Jeremiah" vs. transliterating YHWH to "Jehovah" possibly that, since the Jews did not pronounce the name YHWH for so long. that there is no way to know how it is pronounced? If so, how are we able to know how to pronounce Jeremiah (how do we know what vowels to use)? PLEASE HELP!!!

  • *lost*
    *lost*

    allyouneed

    there has been plenty of discussions and debates on this very subject recently.

    if you use the search button, you will find them all.

  • Lore
    Lore

    God isn't very good at preserving his name, not like one would expect from an omnipotent deity who prides himself so much in his name. So we don't really know how it was originally pronounced in Hebrew.

    Yahweh is the word that most researchers believe to be closest to the original pronounciation. So if you ran into an ancient israelite and you wanted to talk to them about their god, your best bet is to say 'Yahweh'. With a sort of V sound on the W.

    Like a cross between Yahweh and Yakvey. Even the Watchtower admits that it's the most accurate. (Although they try to play it down as much as possible)

    Basically they use Jehovah because and ONLY because it's more familiar to people. Which is a pretty dumb reason to use the wrong name. They're really just afraid that people with think they're pagans if they start using a name nobody is familiar with. Although even that reason, which was lousy to begin with, is pretty weak considering that most people nowadays are familiar with Yahweh perhaps even moreso than Jehovah.

    From the insight book under 'Jehovah':

    What is the proper pronunciation of God’s name?

    In the second half of the first millennium C.E., Jewish scholars introduced a system of points to represent the missing vowels in the consonantal Hebrew text. When it came to God’s name, instead of inserting the proper vowel signs for it, they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say 'Adho·nai′ (meaning “Sovereign Lord”) or 'Elo·him′ (meaning “God”).

    The Codex Leningrad B 19A, of the 11th century C.E., vowel points the Tetragrammaton to read Yehwah′, Yehwih′, and Yeho·wah′. Ginsburg’s edition of the Masoretic text vowel points the divine name to read Yeho·wah′. (Ge 3:14, ftn) Hebrew scholars generally favor “Yahweh” as the most likely pronunciation. They point out that the abbreviated form of the name is Yah (Jah in the Latinized form), as at Psalm 89:8 and in the expression Ha·lelu-Yah′ (meaning “Praise Jah, you people!”). (Ps 104:35; 150:1, 6) Also, the forms Yehoh′, Yoh, Yah, and Ya′hu, found in the Hebrew spelling of the names Jehoshaphat, Joshaphat, Shephatiah, and others, can all be derived from Yahweh. Greek transliterations of the name by early Christian writers point in a somewhat similar direction with spellings such as I·a·be′ and I·a·ou·e′, which, as pronounced in Greek, resemble Yahweh. Still, there is by no means unanimity among scholars on the subject, some favoring yet other pronunciations, such as “Yahuwa,” “Yahuah,” or “Yehuah.”

    Since certainty of pronunciation is not now attainable, there seems to be no reason for abandoning in English the well-known form “Jehovah” in favor of some other suggested pronunciation. If such a change were made, then, to be consistent, changes should be made in the spelling and pronunciation of a host of other names found in the Scriptures: Jeremiah would be changed to Yir·meyah′, Isaiah would become Yesha?·ya′hu, and Jesus would be either Yehoh·shu′a? (as in Hebrew) or I·e·sous′ (as in Greek). The purpose of words is to transmit thoughts; in English the name Jehovah identifies the true God, transmitting this thought more satisfactorily today than any of the suggested substitutes.

    So if we're not ABSOLUTELY certain that your name is pronounced Jason, we may as well just keep calling you Gerald. That's the respectful thing to do right?
  • allyouneedislove
    allyouneedislove

    I appreciate the comments, but I am once again I am not getting a direction answer to my question. Thanks for the effort, though.

  • *lost*
    *lost*

    all you need ... you will need to do a bit of searching, as there is so much information on it.

    jehova means god of deception, wickedness, perversion.

  • Newly Enlightened
    Newly Enlightened

    Even WTBT$ admits it:

    WT 1980 2/1 pg 11-13

    The

    DivineNameinLater

    Times

    THAT the divine name was used in early history is beyond question. But what about later times? Why have certain Bible translations omitted the name? And what is its meaning and significance to us?

    THE

    NAME“JEHOVAH”BECOMESWIDELY

    KNOWN

    Interestingly, Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican order, first rendered the divine name as “Jehova.” This form appeared in his book PugeoFidei, published in 1270 C.E.—over 700 years ago.

    In time, as reform movements developed both inside and outside the Catholic Church, the Bible was made available to the people in general, and the name “Jehovah” became more widely known. In 1611 C.E. the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible was published. It uses the name Jehovah four times. (Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 12:2; 26:4) Since then, the Bible has been translated many, many times. Some translations follow the example of the AuthorizedVersion and include the divine name only a few times.

    In this category is AnAmericanTranslation (by Smith and Goodspeed) with a slight variation of using “Yahweh” instead of “Jehovah.” Yet, one may ask: “Why have the translators done this? If using ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Yahweh’ is wrong, why put it in at all? If right, why not be consistent and use it every time it appears in the Bible text?”

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