THE FATHER'S NAME

The name of our heavenly father was confirmed to Moses in Exodus 3:15. Moses recorded it in Hebrew and it has been kept for centuries by the scribes in the numerous scrolls that they made. Most English Bibles have replaced that name with "the LORD" (all upper case), which is not a name, but a title.  This results in the true name being removed from the scriptures in almost 7000 places.

The Hebrew appearance of the name is this: Yahweh

The most accepted pronunciation is Yahweh; click on the name to hear the pronunciation.

The NIV Study Bible, 1985, in its concordance page 87 states in a footnote to the entry "LORD" the following:  "This entry represents the translation of the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh, always indicated in the NIV by LORD."
[It represents the translation, but is not an actual translation, since "Yahweh" does not mean lord or master.]

Footnoted for Exodus 3:15 is this statement: "The LORD. The Hebrew for this name is Yahweh (often incorrectly spelled "Jehovah").

Another footnote, for Deuteronomy 28:58 states: "Jehovah" is a spelling that developed from combining the consonants of the name with the vowels of a word for "Lord" (Adonai)."
[Scribes put the vowel points for "Adonai" (Master) over the letters for "Yahweh" to remind the reader to say "Adonai" instead of "Yahweh."  This tradition not to say the name of Yahweh out loud began at the time of the Babylonian exile; however, Scripture says to use his name and never forget it- see Psalms 68:4 (KJ) and Exodus 3:15 (NIV) [remember "the LORD" is a replacement of "Yahweh" in these Bibles.]


V or W?
Some pronounce this name with a "v" sound for the third letter from the right, the "vav." (refer to this page's background graphic in Hebrew)
It is true, in today's Hebrew, that the letter "vav" is given a "v" sound.

The "Vav," today pronounced with a "v" sound, was originally pronounced as a "w" (the letter name is often written as "waw"). Biblical Hebrew: A Text and Workbook, by Kittel, Hoffer, and Wright; Yale University Press 1989, page 1.

Other texts have described this change to the "v" sound as coming from the European influence, mainly Germanic, which language had no "w", sound so the "v" was substituted.  Hebrew really did not need this letter to be a "v" sound, since it already had a "v" sound in its second letter, Bet, when the dot (the dagesh) in the center of the letter is absent.

More significant than how the name is exactly pronounced is that many people are  attempting to pronounce it out of respect to Yahweh, rather than using the replacement terms "God" or "the LORD."

See also: Bibles that use Yahweh

Yahweh is the name. Bible / MoseshomeYahweh is the name. Bible / Moses