The Torah Network

2 yrs

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT telling you what is the ONE and ONLY CORRECT version of the Name. In my own opinion, anyone that claims they have the ONE and ONLY TRUE/CORRECT Name hasn't done enough research. These next few comics are my studies on certain Names and the conclusion I came to with them. If you use one of these Names and don't agree with my conclusion, that is totally fine. I know many people that use each of these Names and we get along just fine. This disclaimer will be at the top of all the commentaries for the different Names.

The last majorly accepted pronunciation of the Name is Yahweh. This one I had heard even before I looked into what the Name could be. Sure, I had heard Jehovah before, but I never associated that with Yehovah until I understood that English translators changed the "Y" sound in Hebrew to a "J" sound over the years.

I have heard from several sources an anecdotal "proof" that this is the correct pronunciation, because it is the sound of you taking a breath. So, every time you take a breath you are saying God's Name. This correlates to in Scripture where it talks of God putting His breath in humans to give life. However, I do not subscribe to this thought. First, we all breathe through our noses and not our mouths as usually demonstrated by those purporting this thought. Second, when someone does breath through their mouth, especially emphatically, it usually is a "HUUHHH" "FWHOOO" type sound, not "YAH" "WEH".

When we look at the Hebrew through Scripture, we do see that God has a short Name: Yah (יה). We even hear this is the word HalleluYAH (meaning Praise Yah). That tells me that there is some truth to YAH being the first sound. We also have several people in Scripture that have YAH as part of their names. Elijah (EliYAH), Nehemiah (NekhemYAH), and Zephaniah (TsefanYAH) for examples. There are other names though that Strong's and other concordances list as having a "U" sound after the YAH, such as Isaiah (YeshaYAHU).

Yahuah had this part of the Name pronounced the same as well. The last part is where things differ. As mentioned before, Yahweh was one that I had heard before I started looking into the Name. I found it in a secular book that was telling a fictional Creation Story as representing God. I had a friend that visited Israel and the Wailing Wall during Yom Kippur and claimed they heard it in the prayers there. (There is a tradition that this is the only day that the Name could be spoken on). I had heard it in other various Christian formats as well, such as music and sermons.

These weren't enough for me though, so I dug more. What was one of the determining factors for me was Josephus. In Book 5 of the War of the Jews, chapter 5, section 7, Josephus records about the High Priests clothes. That on their crown was written God's Name, which consisted of 4 vowels. Exodus 28:36 gives the instructions for this head piece. This got me thinking, how would that sound like? If I was to do English letters to represent YHWH, but with vowels, it would be IAOA. Sounding this out for myself got me to something very similar to Yahweh. Especially when taking into the consideration of YAH being the first sound, then OOAY being the end. If you say it together quickly, as you would a word, that "oo" sound easily turns into a "w" type sound. Not a hard "w" as we do in English, but if you try it, I think you see where I am coming from.

As you can tell from this post, this is my preferred pronunciation. But, as I am pointing out, it isn't without its flaws. Where I am at today, it is the one that makes the most sense.

https://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/578

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