Jehovah

Jehovah (/dʒɨˈhoʊvə/ jə-HOH-və) is a Latinization of the Hebrew יְהֹוָה, one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible.

The consensus among scholars is that the historical vocalization of the Tetragrammaton at the time of the redaction of the Torah (6th century BCE) is most likely Yahweh. The historical vocalization was lost because in Second Temple Judaism, during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton came to be avoided, being substituted with Adonai ("my Lord"). The Hebrew vowel points of Adonai were added to the Tetragrammaton by the Masoretes, and the resulting form was transliterated around the 12th century as Yehowah.^[1] The derived forms Iehouah and Jehovah first appeared in the 16th century.

"Jehovah" was popularized in the English-speaking world by William Tyndale and other pioneer English Protestant translations such as the Geneva Bible and the King James Version.^[2] It is still used in some translations, such as the New World Translation and Young's Literal Translation, but it is does not appear in most mainstream English translations, as the terms "Lord" or "LORD": used instead, generally indicating that the corresponding Hebrew is Yahweh or YHWH.^[3][4]:5

Pronunciation

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.^[19]

Vowel points of יְהֹוָה and אֲדֹנָי

The table below shows the vowel points of Yehovah and Adonay, indicating the simple sheva in Yehovah in contrast to the hataf patah in Adonay. As indicated to the right, the vowel points used when YHWH is intended to be pronounced as Adonai are slightly different to those used in Adonai itself.

Hebrew (Strong's #3068) YEHOVAH יְהֹוָה			Hebrew (Strong's #136) ADONAY אֲדֹנָי
י	Yod	Y	א	Aleph	glottal stop
ְ	Simple sheva	E	ֲ	Hataf patah	A
ה	He	H	ד	Dalet	D
ֹ	Holam	O	ֹ	Holam	O
ו	Vav	V	נ	Nun	N
ָ	Qamats	A	ָ	Qamats	A
ה	He	H	י	Yod	Y

Early modern arguments

In the 16th and 17th centuries, various arguments were presented for and against the transcription of the form Jehovah.

Discourses rejecting Jehovah

Author	Discourse	Comments
John Drusius (Johannes Van den Driesche) (1550-1616)	Tetragrammaton, sive de Nomine Die proprio, quod Tetragrammaton vocant (1604)	Drusius stated "Galatinus first led us to this mistake ... I know [of] nobody who read [it] thus earlier..").[4] An editor of Drusius in 1698 knows of an earlier reading in Porchetus de Salvaticis however.[clarification needed][5] John Drusius wrote that neither יְהֹוָה nor יֱהֹוִה accurately represented God's name.[86]
Sixtinus Amama (1593–1659)[87]	De nomine tetragrammato (1628) [6]	Sixtinus Amama, was a Professor of Hebrew in the University of Franeker. A pupil of Drusius. [7]
Louis Cappel (1585–1658)	De nomine tetragrammato (1624)	Lewis Cappel reached the conclusion that Hebrew vowel points were not part of the original Hebrew language. This view was strongly contested by John Buxtorff the elder and his son.
James Altingius (1618–1679)	Exercitatio grammatica de punctis ac pronunciatione tetragrammati	James Altingius was a learned German divine[clarification needed]. [8]|

Discourses defending Jehovah

Author	Discourse	Comments
Nicholas Fuller (1557–1626)	Dissertatio de nomine יהוה	Nicholas was a Hebraist and a theologian. [9]
John Buxtorf (1564–1629)	Disserto de nomine JHVH (1620); Tiberias, sive Commentarius Masoreticus (1664)	John Buxtorf the elder [10] opposed the views of Elia Levita regarding the late origin (invention by the Masoretes) of the Hebrew vowel points, a subject which gave rise to the controversy between Louis Cappel and his (e.g. John Buxtorf the elder's) son, Johannes Buxtorf II the younger.
Johannes Buxtorf II (1599–1664)	Tractatus de punctorum origine, antiquitate, et authoritate, oppositus Arcano puntationis revelato Ludovici Cappelli (1648)	Continued his father's arguments that the pronunciation and therefore the Hebrew vowel points resulting in the name Jehovah have divine inspiration.
Thomas Gataker (1574–1654)[11]	De Nomine Tetragrammato Dissertaio (1645) [12]	See Memoirs of the Puritans Thomas Gataker.
John Leusden (1624–1699)	Dissertationes tres, de vera lectione nominis Jehova	John Leusden wrote three discourses in defense of the name Jehovah. [13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah