Tetragrammaton
The tetragrammaton is a sequence of four Hebrew letters that represent the personal name of God. In English, it is usually given as YHWH. The Masoretic text, the standard modern Hebrew text of the Old Testament, adds vowels to the consonant-only ancient text. It gives the tetragrammaton as YÄhovah. The King James Version transliterates this word as "Jehovah." The tetragrammaton appears 6,519 times in the Old Testament.
| Tetragrammaton | |
|---|---|
| Hebrew name | |
| Hebrew | ×××× |
| Romanization | YHVH |
| Strong number | H3068 (YÄhovah) |
The Masoretic text was vowelized in the Middle Ages. Giving the original pronunciation was considered sacrilegious, so the YÄhovah spelling intentionally misrepresents pronunciation. Jews believe that the Lord's true name is unspeakable until the arrival of the messiah and the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. Modern scholars have reconstructed the original pronunciation as "Yahweh."
The word "tetragrammaton" is from a Greek word meaning "consisting of four letters."
In Hebrew, the four letters are yod (×), he (×), vav (×), and he (×). They are read from right to left: ××××.
External link
Hebrew Alphabet (Just the letters), from Judaism 101 http://www.jewfaq.org (youtube.com) â audio instruction.