{"id":7602,"date":"2024-06-09T16:42:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T22:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=7602"},"modified":"2024-06-09T16:42:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T22:42:19","slug":"the-embarrassingly-true-story-of-the-names-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2024\/06\/the-embarrassingly-true-story-of-the-names-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"The Embarrassingly True Story of the Names of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using the name Jehovah<\/b>, you\u2019re doing it wrong. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

One of the most famous texts in the Bible comes from Deuteronomy 6:4. In transliterated Hebrew the first phrase reads: \u201c<\/strong>Sh\u2019ma, Yisra\u2019el! Adonai Eloheinu,\u00a0 Adonai echad<\/i><\/b>.\u201d<\/strong> You should try saying it out loud. It might be the most enjoyable thing I\u2019ve ever learned to say in Hebrew. In English, it says something like: \u201cHear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone [or, is one].\u201d This text is from the Shema<\/strong><\/em>, part of the daily Jewish prayers, and is a great pathway into what I like to call: the terribly confusing, embarrassingly true story of the names of God<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The word Eloheinu<\/i><\/b> comes from the Hebrew word Elohim<\/i><\/b>, which is just a generic name for God or gods in the Hebrew Bible. There are many Elohim\u2019s<\/i><\/b> in the Old Testament, and the name isn\u2019t exclusively used for Israel\u2019s God, although Israel\u2019s God was definitely referred to as an Elohim<\/i><\/b>. Eloheinu<\/i><\/b> is possessive, so it means: \u201cour God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word it\u2019s paired with is Adonai<\/i><\/b>, and together they mean \u201cthe LORD our God.\u201d Adonai<\/i><\/b> means Lord, but strangely, it\u2019s not actually the word which originally held that place in the text. Originally that word was (transliterated into English), YHWH<\/i><\/b>. It\u2019s a word which comes to us from the book of Exodus, the scene at the burning bush where Moses asked, \u201cWho should I even say has sent me?\u201d This is where we get the famous, \u201cI Am, that I Am,\u201d passage. Transliterated into English that word is: Ehyeh<\/i><\/b>, and it actually means, \u201cI will be.\u201d But if we go with the traditional \u201cI am\u201d reading, you can almost imagine Moses answering inquiries, \u201cWho sent me? I\u2019ll tell you who sent me: I am sent me!\u201d It\u2019s a total who\u2019s on first<\/i> routine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So in the next passage, God says, \u201cJust tell them YHWH<\/i><\/b> sent me.\u201d And from that moment on, YHWH<\/strong><\/em> was considered to be the personal name of Israel\u2019s God. YHWH<\/i><\/b> is the ancient form of the verb, \u201cHe will be,\u201d and it appears more than 6,000 times in the Bible.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the tradition grew among the Hebrew people that part of observing the command against taking the Lord\u2019s name in vain meant they should refrain from speaking or even writing God\u2019s proper name. So, anytime YHWH<\/i><\/b> appeared in the text, they\u2019d say Adonai<\/i><\/b> (the LORD), or Hashem<\/i><\/b> (the name) as a circumlocution (a great word in its own right). Jewish readers knew anytime they came to the word YHWH<\/i><\/b>, they shouldn\u2019t speak the name out loud. Instead, they should say \u201cthe LORD,\u201d and thus avoid violating the command.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the way: in many English Bibles the word YHWH<\/i><\/b> doesn\u2019t appear either. However, if translators spell the word LORD in all caps, this means in the original Hebrew the word was actually YHWH<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

At some point, ancient Jewish scribes became concerned that people reading the text aloud could accidentally say the name YHWH<\/i><\/b>. So, they came up with an interesting solution. They took the four consonants from the word YHWH<\/i><\/b>, and the three vowels from the word Adonai<\/i><\/b>, and sort of zippered them together to form the hybrid word: YAHOWAH<\/i><\/b> \u2014 which wasn\u2019t a real word at all. It\u2019s just a mashup of YHWH<\/i><\/b> and Adonai<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea was if someone got to reading the text to quickly and came upon the word YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b>, they wouldn\u2019t accidentally say the name of God and violate the command. They\u2019d either remember to substitute Adonai<\/i><\/b>, or, if they forgot, they\u2019d say this made-up hybrid word YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b>. No harm, no foul. The only purpose this made-up word had was as a placeholder, reminding the reader that the original word in that text was YHWH<\/strong><\/em>. But, out of reverence for God, we don\u2019t say YHWH<\/strong><\/em>, we say Adonai<\/i><\/b> instead. However, if you forget? No problem. You\u2019ll just be saying this nonsense word \u2014 YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b> \u2014 and will be in no danger of violating the commandment. Jewish readers were not confused by this made-up word. And nobody ever actually said YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b> on purpose. It wasn\u2019t a real word.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where it gets funny (or embarrassing), depending on how you see it. Later on, Christian readers, commentators, and translators encountered this word YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b> in the text, but they had a huge problem: they didn\u2019t know its history. They didn\u2019t know the story behind this made up word and how it was supposed to function. They thought YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b> was actually one of the names for Israel\u2019s God. So, like a child mispronouncing mazagine<\/i> or pasgetti<\/i>, they began to say YOHOWAH<\/i><\/b> aloud, and write it as if it were one of God\u2019s names. Eventually, this word morphed into a word you probably recognize: Jehovah<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Gulp. It pays to know your history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, next time you hear a fundamentalist preacher talking about wrath of \u201cJehovah Gawd,\u201d you can chuckle to yourself, because you know they have no idea what they\u2019re saying, or y\u2019know \u2026 not saying. Or you can pull a Ron Swanson and flatly state: \u201cI know more than you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Either way, if you\u2019re still using the name Jehovah<\/strong>, you\u2019re doing it wrong.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow Tim on (what used to be) Twitter: @Tim_Suttle<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 If you\u2019re using the name Jehovah, you\u2019re doing it wrong. Here\u2019s why. One of the most famous texts in the Bible comes from Deuteronomy 6:4. In transliterated Hebrew the first phrase reads: \u201cSh\u2019ma, Yisra\u2019el! Adonai Eloheinu,\u00a0 Adonai echad.\u201d You should try saying it out loud. It might be the most enjoyable thing I\u2019ve ever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":7605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2154,2148,2157,2151],"class_list":["post-7602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-biblical-history","tag-jehovah","tag-names-of-god","tag-yahweh"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Embarrassingly True Story of the Names of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  If you\u2019re using the name Jehovah, you\u2019re doing it wrong. 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