Jehovah

Latinate transliteration of יהוה (YHWH) with the vowel points of Adonai

Jehovah is the conversion of the Hebrew יְהֹוָה (YHWH) to Latin. YHWH is the personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament to Christians.[2][3][4]

"Jehovah" at Exodus 6:3[1] (King James Version)
Ιεωα in the column 15, line 10 of the manuscript PGM VII 531

The majority of scholars agree that the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton is possibly—but most likely—Yahweh. The pronunciation of this name was simply lost because in Second Temple Judaism during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, saying this name began to be discouraged because it was "too holy". So instead of saying YHWH, Jews used other ways to refer to their God, like Adonai.

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References

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  1. Exodus 6:3
  2. Stahl, Michael J. (2021). "The "God of Israel" and the Politics of Divinity in Ancient Israel". The "God of Israel" in History and Tradition. Vetus Testamentum: Supplements. Vol. 187. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 52–144. doi:10.1163/9789004447721_003. ISBN 978-90-04-44772-1. S2CID 236752143.
  3. Stahl, Michael J. (2021). "The "God of Israel" and the Politics of Divinity in Ancient Israel". The "God of Israel" in History and Tradition. Vetus Testamentum: Supplements. Vol. 187. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 52–144. doi:10.1163/9789004447721_003. ISBN 978-90-04-44772-1. S2CID 236752143.
  4. Geoffrey William Bromiley; Erwin Fahlbusch; Jan Milic Lochman; John Mbiti; Jaroslav Pelikan; Lukas Vischer, eds. (2008-02-15). "Yahweh". The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Vol. 5. Translated by Geoffrey William Bromiley. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing / Brill. pp. 823–824. ISBN 978-90-04-14596-2.