‘YHWH (Jehovah/Yahweh; Hebrew: יהוה) – that has been My Name through the ages, and it’s how I shall be remembered from generation to generation.’ –Exodus 3:15

Our Bible uses the Divine Name Jehovah/Yahweh over 5,500 times. The page explains why.

In our source texts for the books of the Jewish Era (the Old Testament), the name is indicated at least 5,360 times. These source texts are the Greek Septuagint (for many reasons), which is a Greek translation of the Jewish Era books that was made several centuries before Jesus. Most copies don’t contain the Divine Name; instead, they say Lord. However, there is a little more to this than it may first appear.

Firstly, all Septuagint copies of Jewish origin include the Name in Hebrew letters (יהוה) within otherwise Greek text. At least one copy transliterates the Name into the Greek letters ΙΑΩ. However, even the mere mention of Lord holds some secrets. You see, in the Septuagint, Lord is often written “incorrectly” without “the” as a deliberate ploy to indicate where the original Hebrew manuscripts said יהוה. Lord without “the” beforehand is a simple euphemism.

In other words, it’s a euphemism when Lord is used as if it’s someone’s name instead of a title.

Scribes possibly did this to avoid breaking local laws and customs surrounding the name. Some evidence suggests that writing the Name could only be done by specially qualified people; additionally, there were strict laws around discarding parchment with the Name written on it. This all complicated the copyist’s job. Since ordinary people were forbidden from speaking the name aloud anyway, it was practical to replace it with a well-known euphemism.

What about the Name in the New Testament? It’s a similar story there. The Divine Name appears in euphemism form about 150 times in our Greek and Aramaic source texts. In Greek, it’s the same euphemism used in the Septuagint. In Aramaic, it’s represented by the longest spelling of Lord, maryah, possibly being the most respectful way to say it, or perhaps meaning ‘highest Lord.’

So, the Divine Name is literally present thousands of times in Hebrew and dozens more times in Greek and Aramaic as euphemisms.

• See also: The History of the Divine Name.

Why use the Divine Name in our translation at all?

Traditionally, English Bibles replace the Name with Lord (or lord in small caps) throughout, except where it would cause problems in the text where they are compelled to insert it anyway (usually in Exodus 6:3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2 and Isaiah 26:4). This tradition wasn’t necessarily done out of some malice or desire to censor the Name. As we mentioned, replacing the Name with the euphemism Lord was the established custom in the Greek Septuagint. Later translators merely continued the same custom.

Most Early Christians were familiar with the Greek Septuagint’s use of the Lord euphemism. Then, directed by the Vatican, Jerome created his Latin Vulgate translation and continued the same custom. Finally, when translators produced the first Bibles in English, they did the same.

So should we continue the same tradition today with our translation?

Well, our translation charter states:

• Our Bible will aim to restore the original Bible text.
• Our Bible will not censor, change, or remove any authentic word, sentence, verse, chapter, or passage because of some custom or tradition.
• Our Bible will aim to identify all euphemisms and translate them in order to be clearly understood by modern readers.

Imagine if our charter did not say the above. Imagine if our charter said this:

• Our Bible will not try to restore the original Bible text.
• Our Bible will happily censor, change, or remove any authentic word, sentence, verse, chapter, or passage because of some custom or tradition.
• Our Bible will not identify all euphemisms and translate them in order to obscure the meaning for modern readers.

Would that be acceptable? I think not.

So, yes, we must use the Divine Name because that’s either what the original writings used in Hebrew or what the Greek and Aramaic writings want readers to understand.

In ancient times, the euphemisms for the Divine Name didn’t matter so much because people were familiar with the custom and knew what was really being said. However, by the early Medieval period, it was forgotten; Christians were unfamiliar with the Jewish reverential avoidance of pronouncing the Name.

The euphemism has, therefore, ceased being a euphemism and has become a mere mistranslation. Most modern readers have no idea when Lord means the Name. Therefore, in accordance with our charter, we will try to restore the text. If a reader dislikes our use of the Name, well, there are over 450 other English translations available, and most of them completely fail to restore the original meaning in the text.

Why use the Divine Name in the books of the Christian Era?

Please see our page on the Divine Name in the New Testament.

Why use Jehovah instead of Yahweh?

We chose Jehovah as our default version because it is familiar to hundreds of millions of English readers from the King James Version (and other popular translations) at Exodus 6:3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, and Isaiah 26:4. It’s also well-known from the popular hymn, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.

To date, there is no mainstream or widely-used English translation or hymn that uses Yahweh. Indeed, for better or worse, Jehovah has always been known as the Personal Name of God in modern English.

While it’s nothing like the original pronunciation, neither is Jesus or Jerusalem. If we changed it to Yahweh, then people will naturally ask: why not update every Bible name? Even the names of the Bible books are inaccurate. Jesus was possibly like Yeshua in Hebrew or Ishoa in Aramaic. Further, Jerusalem should be something like Yerushalayim, and Isaiah probably sounded like Yeshayahu.

Some Bibles, called Sacred Name Bibles, actually do that, and some people enjoy such Bibles. They feel that using the more accurate names brings them closer to the real events – which their readers really appreciate. So should our translation do the same? Well, we haven’t done so because changing the familiar names of every single person, place, and book in the entire Bible would likely discourage some readers. Some people would find it more difficult to read the Bible, and that’s not what we want.

However, the use of Yahweh has increased in recent years. You’re now much more likely to see it in both scholarly works and those for the general public. If this trend continues, Yahweh may eventually become better known than Jehovah. If that happens, then we will consider switching to Yahweh as our default pronunciation.

Interestingly, some feel that we should use a different pronunciation because of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Former members frequently report that seeing the pronunciation Jehovah causes them severe emotional upset. It is very sad that something as holy as the Name of God should become so besmirched.

After considering all of these arguments, our editor has decided that we will continue to use the traditional name Jehovah for the time being but may switch in the future.

Option for Yahweh

As a compromise, if you scroll to the bottom of any Bible book on our website, you’ll see a ‘preferences’ section. There you can choose between the pronunciations ‘Jehovah’ and ‘Yahweh.’ You can also choose also between ‘Jesus,’ ‘Yeshua,’ and ‘Ishoa.’