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'''Jehovah''' is a personal name of [[God]] used in the [[King James Version]]. It is an attempt to transliterate the [[tetragrammaton]] used in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. In Hebrew, this word is given as ''Yĕhovah'' or YHWH. Modern scholars have concluded that medieval Jewish scholars intentionally inserted incorrect vowels into an ancient consonant-only text. They did this to prevent God's true name from being pronounced accidentally. The original pronunciation of the tetragrammaton is not known, but "Yahweh" is conventional among modern scholars.
'''Jehovah''' is a personal name of [[God]] used in the [[King James Version]]. It is an attempt to transliterate the [[tetragrammaton]] used in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. In Hebrew, this word is given as ''Yĕhovah'' or YHWH. Modern scholars have concluded that medieval Jewish scholars intentionally inserted incorrect vowels into an ancient consonant-only text. They did this to prevent God's true name from being pronounced accidentally. The original pronunciation of the tetragrammaton is not known, but "Yahweh" is conventional among modern scholars.
==Tetragrammaton==
Until the destruction of the [[Second Temple]], the divine name was pronounced only by the Jewish high priest on Yom Kippur. Later, the rabbis substituted ''adonai'' (sovereign lord) or ''elohim'' (God) to avoid accidentally profaning the name. The pronunciation "Jehovah" comes from inserting the Hebrew vowels of the word ''adonai'' into a Latinized tetragrammaton (JHVH). It bears little resemblance to the divine name as it was originally pronounced.
There are over six thousand examples of the tetragrammaton in scripture. English-language translations, including the King James Version of 1611, use an all-caps "LORD" or "GOD" to indicate where it occurs.
==Early translations==
==Early translations==
The [[Vulgate]], the Latin translation of the Bible used in the West used until the Reformation, gives the tetragrammaton as ''Dominus'' (lord). In [[William Tyndale]]'s 1530 English translation of the Bible, the divine name is given as "Iehovah" in Exodus 6:3. The [[Geneva Bible]] of 1560, used by Shakespeare and the Puritans, uses "JEHOVAH" as the name of God in Exodus 6:3 and Psalms 83:18. It also gives the word as a place name in Genesis 22:14 and Exodus 17:15.
The [[Vulgate]], the Latin translation of the Bible used in the West used until the Reformation, gives the tetragrammaton as ''Dominus'' (lord). In [[William Tyndale]]'s 1530 English translation of the Bible, the divine name is given as "Iehovah" in Exodus 6:3. The [[Geneva Bible]] of 1560, used by Shakespeare and the Puritans, uses "JEHOVAH" as the name of God in Exodus 6:3 and Psalms 83:18. It also gives the word as a place name in Genesis 22:14 and Exodus 17:15.
==King James Version==
==King James Version==
In four cases, the KJV gives the divine name as "JEHOVAH":
*"And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." (Exodus 6:3)
*"And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." (Exodus 6:3)
*"That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." (Psalms 83:18)
*"That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." (Psalms 83:18)
*"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." (Isaiah 12:2)
*"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." (Isaiah 12:2)
*Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." (Isaiah 26:4)
*Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." (Isaiah 26:4)
==Meaning==
==Meaning==
Rooted in the imperfect state of the causative form of the Hebrew verb הוה (''ha•wah'', "to become"), the Divine Name indicates progressive action. This can be seen by the context of Exodus 3:14, 15. Moses inquires who he said say has sent him to the captive Israelites. Where some translations render God's response as, "I am who I am" (King James), other translations show the dynamic nature of the Divine Name by rendering the Hebrew text as "I Will Be What I Will Be" (The Torah) or "I Shall Prove To Be What I Shall Prove To Be" (New World Translation) indicating that rather than a simple statement acknowledging His existence, He indicates that He can do whatever is necessary to accomplish His purposes.
Rooted in the imperfect state of the causative form of the Hebrew verb הוה (''ha•wah'', "to become"), the Divine Name indicates progressive action. This can be seen by the context of Exodus 3:14, 15. Moses inquires who he said say has sent him to the captive Israelites. Where some translations render God's response as, "I am who I am" (King James), other translations show the dynamic nature of the Divine Name by rendering the Hebrew text as "I Will Be What I Will Be" (The Torah) or "I Shall Prove To Be What I Shall Prove To Be" (New World Translation) indicating that rather than a simple statement acknowledging His existence, He indicates that He can do whatever is necessary to accomplish His purposes.
==Origins==
==Origins==
Originally Biblical Hebrew was written without vowels, the reader having been educated to know the appropriate vowels to insert when reading. As the proper pronunciation of Hebrew was being lost through lack of fluency a group of Hebrew copyists, the [[Masoretes]] invented signs to be placed around consonants to indicate accents and proper pronunciation of vowels.
Originally Biblical Hebrew was written without vowels, the reader having been educated to know the appropriate vowels to insert when reading. As the proper pronunciation of Hebrew was being lost through lack of fluency a group of Hebrew copyists, the [[Masoretes]] invented signs to be placed around consonants to indicate accents and proper pronunciation of vowels.