If the Hebrew cannot be properly deciphered because of lack of vowels, then our entire Old Testament translation – originally written in a Hebrew script without vowels – is unreliable!

Remarkably, of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Yahweh preserved His Name with three of the four letters that in the Hebrew ARE used as vowels as well as consonants: yothe (y), hay (h), and waw (w). (The aleph, a, is also used as a vowel.) 

This fact can be verified in nearly any Hebrew grammar, including: A Beginner’s Handbook to Biblical Hebrew(Horowitz), p. 7 under “Vowel Letters”; The Berlitz Self-Teacher, p. 73 under “The Vanishing Dots”; Hebrew Primer and Grammar (Fagnani and Davidson) p. 10 under “The Quiescents and Mappiq,” and How the Hebrew Language Grew(Horowitz), p. 28. 

In addition, about the seventh century, Jewish scribes known as Masoretes preserved the pronunciation of the Hebrew with diacritical marks or vowel points added to Hebrew words (Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary, p. 699).

Three of these vowel-letters form the Tetragrammaton or Yahweh’s Name, why (the hay is repeated). But we need not rely solely on modern scholarship for this information. We can take the word of an eyewitness! 

The first century Jewish general, priest, and historian Flavius Josephus (37-100?) writes about the sacred Name engraved on the headpiece of the high priest: “A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue riband, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraven the sacred name [of Yahweh:] it consists of FOUR VOWELS” (Wars of the Jews, Book 5, chapter 5, p. 556).

It is not unusual for some who reject the Name Yahweh to argue that because of the aversion of the Jews to using the Name or even to uttering it, that the correct pronunciation became lost. This is the same ineffectual argument put forth by those who reject the Sabbath, saying that the Sabbath has been lost so no one knows which day it is.

Would Yahweh command that all men call on His revealed, personal Name – an eternal Name that is His very memorial to all generations (Ex. 3:15), a name that is the only Name giving salvation – and then allow it to vanish in the midst of time?

Just as the Jews were given the sacred trust of preserving Yahweh’s Word and statues (Rom. 3:1-2), keeping and sustaining the Sabbath in its proper weekly sequence down through history, they also have preserved the proper pronunciation of the Name through the Hebrew language. Jewish history says that the priest spoke the sacred Name 10 times annually on the Day of Atonement down through the centuries. A Name so revered would never be lost on the priesthood. Ask most any Jew in Israel today whether “Yahweh” is the true pronunciation and he or she will acknowledge that it is. Scholarship also reveals the proper pronunciation. One does not even need to go beyond a standard encyclopedia for the facts.

The Encyclopedia Biblica tells us, “The controversy as to the correct pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, whether asYahwe, or Yahawe, Yahwa, or Yahawa…has been gradually brought to an end by the general adoption of the view, first propounded by Ewald, that the true form is Yahwe” (Divine Names, p. 3311).

The eminent Encyclopaedia Judaica confirms this, “The true pronunciation of the name YHWH [Yahweh] was never lost. Several early Greek writers of the Christian Church testify that the name was pronounced ‘Yahweh,’” Vol. 7, p.680.

This is validated in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th Edition: “Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century, had used the form Yahweh, thus this pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was never really lost. Greek transcriptions also indicated that YHWH should be pronounced Yahweh.” Vol. X, p. 786.

Other references substantiate proper pronunciation as “Yahweh.” The 15th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 12, p. 995, makes the following comment under the heading “Jehovah”:

“The pronunciation ‘Jehovah’ is an error resulting among Christians from combining the consonants Yhwh (Jhvh) with the vowels of ‘adhonay, ‘Lord,’ which the Jews in reading the Scriptures substituted for the sacred name, commonly called thetetragrammaton as containing four consonants…The Rabbinic tradition that after the death of Simeon the Just (fl.290 B.C.) It was no longer pronounced even on these occasions, is contradicted by the well-attested statement that in the last generation before the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) it was uttered so low that the sounds were lost in the chant of the priest. After that event the liturgical use of the name ceased, but the tradition was perpetuated in the Rabbinic schools; it continued also to be employed by healers, exorcists and magicians, and is found on many magical papyri. It is asserted by Philo that only priests might pronounce it and by Josephus that those who knew it were forbidden to divulge it. Finally the Samaritans shared the scruples of the Jews, except that they used it in judicial oaths….The early Christian scholars therefore easily learnt the true pronunciation.”

Another reference tells us, “The early Christian scholars therefore easily learnt the true pronunciation. Clement of Alexandria (d. 212) gives Iaove or Iaovai (or in one manuscript Iaov), Origen (d. 253-54) ‘Ian, and Epiphanius (d. 404) IaBe (or Iave in one manuscript); Theodoret (d. 457) says that the Samaritans pronounced it IaBe…” (Vol. 12). Samaritan poetry employs theTetragrammaton and then rhymes it with words having the same sound as Yah-oo-ay (Journal of Biblical Literature, 25, p.50 and Jewish Encyclopedia, vol.9, p.161).

The following authorities also leave no doubt as to the proper and correct pronunciation of Yahweh’s Name:

→ “The pronunciation Yahweh is indicated by transliteration of the name into Greek in early Christian literature, in the formiaoue (Clement of Alexandria) or iabe (Theodoret; by this time Gk. b had the pronunciation of v)…Strictly speaking, Yahweh is the only ‘name’ of God. In Genesis wherever the word sem (‘name’) is associated with the divine being that name is Yahweh,” Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary, 1979 page 478.

The Latin v spoken of here had the same sound as the English w, sharing a close affinity with the u (Harper’s Latin Dictionary). That is why the w (“double u”) is made up of two v’s. The v was used as a vowel, only later becoming a consonant. It came from the u, which it follows in the alphabet.

→ “It is now held that the original name was IaHUe(H), i.e. Jahve(h, or with the English values of the letters, Yahweh(h, and one or other of these forms is now generally used by writers upon the religion of the Hebrews” (Oxford English Dictionary under “Jehovah”).

→ “The saying of God, ‘I am who I am,’ is surely connected with His name that is written in the Hebrew consonantal text as Yhwh, the original pronunciation of which is well attested as Yahweh” (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 5, page 743).

→“Such a conclusion, giving ‘Yahweh’ as the pronunciation of the name, is confirmed by the testimony of the Fathers and gentile writers, where the forms IAO, Yaho, Yaou, Yahouai, and Yahoue appear. Especially important is the statement ofTheodoret in relation to Ex. lvi., when he says: ‘the Samaritans call it [the tetragrammaton] ‘Yabe,’ the Jews call it ‘Aia’…”The New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia, “Yahweh,” page 471.

→ Writings in Biblical Archaeology Review, Professor Anson F. Rainey, professor of Semitic Linguistics at Tel Aviv University, confirms that “Yahweh” is the correct pronunciation: “I mentioned the evidence from Greek papyri found in Egypt. The best of these is Iaouee (London Papyri, xlvi, 446-483). Clement of Alexandria said, “The mystic name which is called thetetragrammaton…is pronounced Iaoue, which means, “Who is, and who shall be.”’

“The internal evidence from the Hebrew language is equally strong and confirms the accuracy of the Greek transcriptions.Yahweh is from a verbal root developed from the third person pronoun, *huwal *hiya. In Jewish tradition, it is forbidden to pronounce the Sacred Name and its true pronunciation is supposed to remain secret. The fact is that Jewish tridents (who put the vowel points in the Hebrew text) borrowed the vowels from another word, either adonai ‘my lord(s),’ or elohim ‘God.’ They avoided the very short a vowel in this borrowing because it might have led the synagogue reader to make a mistake and pronounce the correct first syllable of the Sacred Name, namely –ya. The vocalized form one finds in the Hebrew Bible is usually Yehowah, from which we get in English the form Jehovah. Yehowa/Jehovah is nothing but an artificial ghost word; it was never used in antiquity. The synagogue reader saw Yehowah in his text and read it adonai” (BAR, Sept.-Oct. 1994).

→ Seventh-day Adventist and Hebrew scholar. Raymond F. Cottrell, writes, “The English spelling of Yahweh is now almost universally believed to reflect accurately the ancient, original pronunciation of YHWH. In keeping with the common practice today of pronouncing proper names translated from a foreign language with as nearly the original vocalization as possible, it would be altogether correct and proper for us to use the name Yahweh wherever the word YHWH (“Lord”) occurs in the Old Testament, and also whenever we are speaking of the true God in Old Testament times. This practice is becoming more and more common among Bible scholars and informed Christians,” Review and Herald, Feb. 9, 1967.

To this we ask, IS “God” English? Hardly. “God” traces back to the Dutch god, to the Germanic gott and back to the Teutonic guth. Names are transliterated, which means the sounds are carried across unchanged into another language. They are not translated into other languages. “But what about similar forms like John, Juan, and Johann? Or Peter and Pedro?” Some may ask. True, different languages have analogous version of certain names, but that does not change the fact that your given name remains the same no matter which country you travel to. (Notice, too, how closely these name versions RESEMBLE reach other, unlike “Yahweh” and the completely dissonant and unrelated “God.”)

Names simply don’t change from language to language. If a foreign head of state visits America, we don’t attempt to come up with an English version or translation for his or her name. For example, in English news reports Boris Yeltsin is still called “Boris Yeltsin.” Hosni Mubarak remains “Hosni Mubarak.” Trying to come up with an English equivalent of names would be an exercise in futility, because there would be none. 

Furthermore, doing so would change the person’s name and render the new name useless as a means of identification. The same is true of Yahweh’s Name – only one Name, Yahweh, expresses Him and defines who He is. Yahweh and ONLY Yahweh Himself can change His Name, if He so desires. Yet throughout Scripture we find that “Yahweh” is what He Himself demands to be called. “This is my Name forever,” He told Moses in explaining who He was, “and this is my memorial to all generations,” Exodus 3:15.

Israel also thought that any name commonly used in worship was suitable in the worship of Yahweh. What a grievous error! Because “Baal” was so popular with their pagan neighbors, they began to use it in calling on Yahweh. So Yahweh said in His wrath against Israel, “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts…And I will visit her upon her days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, says Yahweh…And it shall be that day, says Yahweh, that you shall call me Ishi; and shall call me no more Baali. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name” (Hos. 2:11, 13, 16-17).

This is the same logic the pagans used, which went something like this: “He is Bel-Merodach in Babylon, Baalzebub in Philistia, Zeus in Greece, and we Romans will just call Him Jupiter.” Never mind that each name meant a different way of worship. The prophet Micah brings this out in 4:5, revealing the false “walk” expressed by each different name.

“For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of Yahweh our Elohim for ever and ever.” His name is more than a label. It connotes a well-defined, specifically commanded way of worship that belongs only to Him who bears the Name Yahweh.

Saying Yahweh has many names is a misconception stemming from the practice of classifying Yahweh’s personal, revealed Name with generic titles, as if there were no difference. This false belief that He has “many names” traces to the Jews of the Middle Ages. In attempting to conceal the sacred Name, these Jews elevated generic terms and titles to the rank of His personal Name, then used them as substitutes for the Name.

His titles include: El, Eloah (singular, meaning mighty one) and Elohim (plural); These titles are sometimes combined with the other descriptive words: El Elyon (the most high Mighty One); El Shaddai (the all-powerful Mighty One); El Olam (“Mighty One of eternity”); El Dauth (“Mighty One of knowledge”); El Roi (“Mighty One of seeing”).

The New Bible Dictionary maintains, “Strictly speaking, Yahweh is the only ‘name’ of God. In Genesis wherever the word sem (‘name’) is associated with the divine being that name is Yahweh…Yahweh, therefore, in contrast with Elohim, is a proper noun, the name of a Person, though that Person is divine,” p. 478. Another reference says of “Yahweh,”: “This is a personal proper name par excellence of Israel’s God…” and “It is the personal name of God, as distinguished from such generic or essential names as ‘El, ‘Elohim, Shadday, etc.” (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, pp. 1254, 1266).

Certain attributes are at times connected with His Name: Yahweh-Yireh (“Yahweh provides”); Yahweh-Nissi (“Yahweh is my banner”); Yahweh-Shalom (“Yahweh Send Peace”); Yahweh-Zidkenu (“Yahweh our Righteousness” – the name by which Yahshua shall be known, Jer. 23:6); Yahweh-Shammah (“Yahweh Is There”); Yahweh-Rapha (“Yahweh Our Healer”); Yahweh-Mekaddishkem (“Yahweh-Elyon (“Yahweh Most High”); Yahweh-Roi (“Yahweh my Shepherd”); Yahweh-Shua(“Yahweh is salvation”).

These adjuncts used with the sacred Name are descriptive designates and must not be confused with His personal Name. Even less, the title “god” cannot possibly contain the meaning that these special titles connote, let alone be used as a personal name for the Majesty of the heavens. “Mr.” is a title, not a name, as is “Sir,” “Dr.”, and “President.” 

Each defines a person’s standing, position or rank, but does not identify him or her apart from any others within the same title. “There are gods many and lords many,” Paul writes in 1Corinthians 8:5. So which “deity” do we mean when we use “God” and “Lord”? Capitalizing them does not make names of these common terms.

Yahweh inspired the prophet to write, “I am Yahweh: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isa. 42:8). Yahweh names Himself. This is what He expects to be called. In Exodus 23:13 He warns: “And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.”

Psalm 83:18 tells us He has only one Name: “That men may know that you, whose name ALONE is Yahweh, are the most high over all the earth.”

In the New Testament, Acts 4:12 reads, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is NONE OTHER NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Suppose your name were Michael. Would you know I meant you if I called out, “Hey, Sam”? Habitually calling you by another name would deeply offend you and cause you to wonder why I stubbornly refused to use your name. Besides, the name Sam signifies someone else entirely. Yahweh also is offended when we refuse to get serious about His Name. He warns in Malachi 2:2, “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, says Yahweh of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.”

John 4:24 tells us, “Yahweh is Spirit: and they that worship Him MUST worship Him in spirit and in truth.” His Name is part of that necessary truth.

It’s clear and simple. Yahweh tells us what His Name is. He commands us to call Him by that Name. We don’t have the option of calling the Mighty One of the entire universe whatever we wish.

We cannot rename Yahweh. Nowhere in the Bible is man given the authority to change His Creator’s Name. Never does the worshiper tell the one he worships how He will be worshiped! Yahweh tells us…we don’t tell Him. To bestow a name is the prerogative of a superior, as when Adam exercised his dominion over the animals by giving them names, or as when a parent names his or her children. It is always the prerogative of the superior to name the inferior, never vice versa.

Mankind was given dominion or stewardship over the earth (Gen. 1:28), and to show his responsibilities, Adam was allowed by Yahweh to name all the creatures (Gen. 2:19-20). Yahweh has control of the earth, heaven and the seas, and man has stewardship only over the creation on earth. We have no authority in heavenly things, such as calling our Creator what we wish.

Yahweh says I am “jealous for my holy Name,” Ezekiel 39:25. We must take those words to heart. If we do, He promises, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Yahweh has said, and in the remnant whom the Yahweh shall call” (Joel 2:32; see Rom. 10:13).

Knowing “who you mean” makes no difference to Him if you refuse to give him the honor and glory He demands. Even IF He knew who you meant, the point is, He COMMANDS His people to call on His revealed, personal, Covenant Name (Ex. 23:13). His Name represents Him and His truths. No other name, title or designation does that. No other title or substitute name reveals Him as the One who will be whatever His people want or need Him to be. That is the essence and meaning of the Name “Yahweh.”

We cannot say we know who He is and claim to worship Him according to that knowledge if we are using titles that miss the mark completely when it comes to identifying, describing, and defining the One we honor. Through the prophet Isaiah He said, “Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold it is I” (Isaiah 52:6).

Writing in a Seventh-day Adventist publication, Associate Editor Don F. Neufeld provides this insight: “’Yahweh’ is the name that identifies the God of the Hebrews. Where the Philistines worshiped Dagon, the Egyptians, Amon and the Ammonites, Milcom, the Hebrews worshiped Yahweh…When the voice said, ‘I am Yahweh,’ there was no doubt in any listener’s mind as to the identity of the speaker. He was the god of the Hebrews. So far as it is known, no other peoples called their god by this name” (The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 1971).

If you would honor another human being’s wishes by using his or her personal name, how much more should you revere your Creator’s request by calling on Him by His Name? He’s the only One who can give salvation!

Consider: If names don’t really matter, does it matter to you whether Yahweh has YOURS right when it comes to His Book of Life? Consider what Yahshua says: “He that overcomes, the same shall be clothes in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels…And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 3:5, 20:15).

This argument stems from a serious misunderstanding of Exodus 6:3: “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh was I not known to them.” As the Companion Bible explains, the word “known” means perceived and understood. “The name [Yahweh] was known as the covenant name; but was not known so as to be understood.” 

In other words, the patriarchs had not seen a dimension of Yahweh that Moses and those after him would see –they would soon understand fully what His Name meant by the acts of deliverance, sustenance, and love for His people that He was about to perform (Ex. 9:16; Ezek. 20:5, Amos 3:2). He would become whatever His people needed of Him, which is the intrinsic meaning of the Name Yahweh.

The following verses reveal the error of this argument and show that Yahweh’s Name was indeed known by the patriarchs and used before Moses:

►Eve called on His Name – Genesis 4:1

► Abraham called on the Name Yahweh – Genesis 12:8; 14:22; 15:2,

7; 21:33; 24:3;

► Abimelech used Yahweh’s Name – Genesis 20:4

► Isaac called upon Yahweh’s Name – Genesis 26:25

► Yahweh revealed His Name to Jacob – Genesis 28:13

► Anciently men “began to call on the Name Yahweh” – Genesis 4:26

By quoting Psalm 22:1 here, Yahshua was fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:22, showing that He was the promised Messiah. It also demonstrates that our Savior spoke Hebrew, or the Aramaic dialect of Hebrew. The Savior was NOT calling His Father “My God” – an appellation from a completely different language – but “My El,” which in Hebrew means “Mighty One” or “Powerful One” (the yod or “i” on the end of El means “my”). It is one of the titles referring to Yahweh, but is not a substitute name. Yahshua also once in prayer called Him by the Hebrew abba, meaning father, Mark 14:36. But neither isabba a name.

Any time a title becomes so dominant that it is used as a replacement for the sacred Name, that designation expunges the only Name whereby we are saved, regardless as to whether that title has had a previously acceptable association with Him.

Churchianity uses the titles “God” and “Lord” in the same way Israel used “Baal” (see Jer. 23:26-27, where Yahweh says, “their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal”). These titles have become total, exclusive substitutes that are historically associated with pagan images (review the subheading, “Ancient Roots of ‘God’ and ‘Lord,’ p. 27).

In His prayer to Yahweh, Yahshua in John 17:26 specifically said that He had “declared unto them [the world] your name, and will declare it.” If He declared it then He spoke it.

Even though it may be somewhat hidden in our English text, we find ample examples where Yahshua called on His Father’s Name Yahweh and taught it as well. In Matthew 6:9, Yahshua opened His Model Prayer with the affirmation of the holiness of Yahweh’s Name: “Hallowed be Thy Name.” Yahweh’s Name is the only Name that is called holy in Scripture. Man’s names are not. (Thus, it is unnecessary to change other Biblical names to their Hebrew originals.)

Yahshua recognized Yahweh’s Name as sanctified, and even said He would proclaim it: “I will declare Your Name unto my brethren, in the midst of the Assembly will I sing praises unto you,” Hebrew 2:12.

In the many passages where our Savior quoted the Old Testament, He of necessity would use Yahweh’s Name. For instance, Luke 4:4, where He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3: “And Yahshua answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Yahweh.”

Many other examples could be shown where Yahweh’s Name appears in the Old Testament text and where Yahshuaquotes these same passages word for word. A few of these include: Matthew 4:10 (from Deut. 6:13); Matthew 21:42 (from Psalm 118:23); Mark 7:6 (from Isa. 29:13); Luke 20:37 (from Ex. 3:4-6) and John 6:45 (from Isa. 54:13). (For much more on this subject, request our ministudy, Our Savior Spoke the Sacred Name.)

In the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, professor George Howard details the Hebrew text of the 14th century Jew, Sem-Tob ben-Isaac ben-Shaprut. Howard describes how the sacred Name occurs 19 times in the work, mostly where Kurios andTheos appear in the Greek, but in three places where no correspondent Greek word appears. Howard observes that the Shem-Tob Matthew cannot be a translation of a Greek text, as “no pious Jew of the Middle Ages would have dignified a Christian text by inserting the Divine Name.”

Howard adds, “The conclusion that seems inescapable is that Shem-Tob found the Divine Name already in his [Hebrew] gospel text, having received it from an earlier generation of Jewish tradents. He permitted the Divine Name to remain in the text perhaps because he was unsure himself about what to do with it,” pp. 230-231.

Yahweh gave His Name to the Hebrew peoples because they were His chosen. Those who would take hold of the promises given first to Abraham are grafted in to the trunk of Israel, as Romans 9 and 11 explain. Naturally we would find His Name most prominent among the Israelites and their Scriptures and records. But there indeed are other places where the Name Yahweh has been found.

As we have shown, the Tetragrammaton was discovered on the Moabite stone in 1868, erected by Moabite King Mesha in 900 B.C.E. (p. 25).

Also found in the 1930’s were a number of pottery fragments on which were written personal letters at the time of the Babylonian conquest of Judah (597-587 B.C.E.). Known as the Lachish Letters, one letter is to the commander of a garrison at Lachish, where the writer sends a greeting in “the name of Yahweh.” The fragments also contain about 20 proper names, most compounded with the name of Yahweh (The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, p. 594).

Surprisingly, extra-Biblical evidence for the Name is mounting even on this continent. Indications are that a connection existed between Native Americans and the Semitic peoples of the Middle East.

In Adair’s History of the American Indians, Frenchman James Adair in 1775 detailed many similarities in language, organization, and custom that the Indians of the southeast U.S. share with ancient Israelites. Having spent time among them, he noted that the Indians “frequently sing Hallelu-Yah Yo He Wah,” p. 32. He wrote on page 37, “The American Indians are so far from being Atheists, as some godless Europeans have flattered themselves, to excuse their own infidelity, that they have the great sacred name of God, that describes his divine essence, and by which he manifested himself to Moses…” On page 48 Adair continued, “They have another appellative, which with them is the mysterious, essential name of God – theTetragrammaton, or great four-lettered name – which they never mention in common speech…” He also noted, “…the American Indians…say YAH at the beginning of their religious dances…” p. 50.

Writing in The Ancient American (March-April 1994), David Allen Deal discusses artifacts discovered between 1874 and 1920 in the state of Michigan. The artifacts bear Egyptians motifs and hieroglyphics, Deal observes. Mostly religious in nature, they contain drawings of the Genesis Creation, Garden of Eden, Noah’s flood and New Testament themes. He notes that three letters in a previously unknown cuneiform style are found on nearly every piece. He writes, “I felt the letters had to stand for the name YHW,” which he notes represents the sacred Name Yahweh. In his book, Discovery of Ancient America, Deal also writes about paleo-Hebrew Tetragrammaton discovered in New Mexico and Tennessee.

Both Shem and Noah spoke the language of Adam and Eve. We have no evidence that this language was anything other than Hebrew, the language of the oldest Biblical manuscripts. (Shem was the great-grandfather of Eber, from whom we get the name “Hebrew.” He naturally would speak the same language as his great-grandson. Eber was the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Abraham.) 

Certainly neither of these righteous men had anything to do with building a pagan Tower of Babel. Not having been there and involved in this rebellion, their Hebrew language would not have been affected by the confounding of languages at Babel. We can trace the lineage of the patriarchs and see how their Hebrew language continued from the beginning.

Abraham lived to see his grandchild Jacob (Israel). Abraham was alive in the days of Shem, who was born before the flood. Obviously Abraham would have spoken the same language that his family line used before and after the flood: pure Hebrew.

In the King James this passage reads, “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”

Other versions render this verse differently: “I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy Word” – Revised Standard Version.

”I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your Name and your Word” – The New International Bible.

“I prostrate myself toward thy holy temple; and give thanks to thy name for thy kindness and thy faithfulness; for thou hast magnified thy name over all” –Smith and Goodspeed.

“I will bow down toward thy holy temple, and give thanks to Thy name for Thy loving kindness and Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name” – New American Standard.

None of these translations tells us that His Word is to be exalted over His Name. His Name gives weight to His Word and cannot be separated from it.

Had the translators added the right punctuation, because the Hebrew has none, the verse could just as easily have been rendered: “For You have magnified Your word, above all, Your Name.” This would give the passage the same meaning as is found in the New American Standard and Smith and Goodspeed versions, where His Name is the foundation for all other truth.

The Cairo Geneze, by Paul Kahle, published in London says, “Not before 1100 was an o added to the word hwhyand this seems to indicate the pronunciation [Adonay]” (The Translations of the Bible, chapter 3, pp. 172-173, footnote 4).

It was a vowel sign for the letter o that was put in the middle of the Tetragrammaton. This led to the erroneous “Jehovah.” The Lexicon for the Books of the Old Testament says: “The wrong spelling Jehovah occurs since about 1100.” It then offers arguments in favor of Yahweh as “the correct and original pronunciation” (Koehler and Baumgartner, 1951 ed., vol. 1, p. 369, col. 1).

Because early Christians were not Hebrew scholars, they did not understand that the Tetragrammaton was pointed with the vowels for AdOnAY. Scholars maintain that the letter o or u is a vestige of this Rabbinical practice.

This technique was popular where the name why formed the beginning of a personal name, for example ucwhy (Yahshua), which was altered to Yehoshua by vowel pointing through the diacritical marks above and below the Hebrew letters (see subheading “How Did ‘Yahshua’ Become ‘Jesus?’” and request the ministudy, Spelling the Sacred Name: V or W?)

Attempting to sever Yahweh from His very being, nature, personality, and essence through calling on another name is nothing more than a feeble attempt to quiet one’s conscience about the importance of His revealed, personal Name. It is true to do something “in a name” can mean by the authority of that individual. But in the Bible it means so very much more.

What such reasoning cannot get around is the fact that Yahweh’s Name is definitive – it expresses the character and very personality of the Creator and Sustainer who bears it. His Name is nothing less than an extension of His being. It expresses His quintessence. Yahweh’s Name is composed of the very verb of existence – haYa. His Name is alive and active. It means He will be whatever His people need of Him. To call on a dead, generic term expecting the same results as calling on His dynamic Name is an insult, once we know that He has a personal, vigorous, life-giving, healing, and Covenant Name that embodies salvation itself to those who call on Him.

‘My People Shall Know My Name’

 No other Name can reveal the true Heavenly Father, and the truth of who He is, as His personal Name Yahweh does. This singular truth alone renders all arguments for using substitutes null and void.

Consider these passages that testify to the necessity of the sacred Name:

Salvation is strictly in Yahweh’s Name and in His Name alone.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts. 4:12). “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered…” (Joel 2:32) “The name of Yahweh is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe” (Prov. 18:10)

We are commanded to call on Him in His Name when we pray or praise Him:

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same Yahweh’s Name is to be praised” (Ps. 113:3).

Those who revere and call on His Name are special to Yahweh:

“Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name” (Ps. 91:14). “Then they that feared Yahweh spoken often one to another: and Yahweh hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Yahweh, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, says Yahweh of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him” (Mal. 3:16-17).

The saints will gather in His Name:

“And I will strengthen them in Yahweh: and they shall walk up and down in his name, says Yahweh” (Zech. 10:12). “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, Yahweh is my Elohim” (Zech. 13:9).

His people have not denied His Name:

“I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name” (Rev. 3:8). “I know your works, and where you dwell, even where Satan’s seat is: and you hold fast my name, and have not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwells” (Rev. 2:13).

His people and His future city shall know and be called by His personal, revealed Name Yahweh:

“Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I” (Isa. 52:6). “O Yahweh, hear; O Yahweh, forgive, O Yahweh, hearken and do; defer not, for your own sake, O myElohim: for your city and your people are called by your name” (Dan. 9:19). “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2Chron. 7:14). “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, says Yahweh that does this” (Amos 9:12). 

“Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him” (Isa. 43:7). “Why should you be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet you, O YAHWEH in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; leave us not” (Jer. 14:9). “Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by your name, O YAHWEH Elohim of hosts” (Jer. 15:16).

The very Elect will be sealed in His Name:

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Rev. 22:4).

His Name will be a test of our obedience:

“Pour out your fury upon the heathen that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name…” (Jer. 10:25; Rev. 13:17 with 14:1).

His Name is the focus of those who rebel against Yahweh:

“A son honours his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? And I be a master, where is my fear? Says Yahweh of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name?” (Malachi 1:6) “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against Yahweh, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” (Rev. 13:6). “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of Yahweh, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory” (Rev. 16:9).

Punishment awaits those who refuse and shun His Name and His worship:

“But cursed be the deceiver, which has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices unto Yahweh a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, says Yahweh of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen” (Mal. 1:14). “Pour out your wrath upon the heathen that have not known you, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name” (Ps. 79:6). “Pour out your fury upon that heathen that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name…” (Jer. 10:25). “He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of Yahweh” (John 3:18). “And the nations were angry, and your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should give reward unto your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear your name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:18).

His Name Offers Protection, Salvation

 The saving nature of Yahweh’s Name will be dramatically demonstrated when the age-ending plagues are unleashed on this world. Just as the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth are about to release their devastation, John in Revelation 7 notices another angel intervening. That angel issues a specific command to the four others: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our Elohim in their foreheads” (verse 3).

Just how are Yahweh’s servants “sealed”? We find that answer in Revelation 14:1: “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s NAME written in their foreheads.”

His Name is an identifying mark and offers protection against the impending calamity from a wrathful Yahweh that will devastate this earth. How can He punish those who have His Name in their minds and hearts? In the ninth chapter we witness what happens to those without the protection of His Name: “And it was commanded them [locusts] that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of Elohim in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (Rev. 9:4-6).

Again, notice what exactly it is that Yahweh’s people, then saved and living in the Kingdom at New Jerusalem, have sealed in their foreheads: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of Elohim and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his Name shall be in their foreheads” (Rev. 22:3-4).

Imagine the shame of rebelling against His Name today, only to have it in one’s forehead in the Kingdom! This gives us serious doubts as to whether someone who deliberately rejects His Name will even BE in the Kingdom.

The prophet Ezekiel foretold what Yahweh would do in the Kingdom.

“So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel” (39:7).

Join those who call upon Yahweh’s Name. The Book of Acts may yet have the final chapter, 29, written some day, and we hope you will join us in prayer that our names will be in