Jehovah

Jehovah () is an anglicized respresentation of "the proper name of God".Preface to the New American Standard Bible It is a transliteration of Hebrew ‎, a vocalization of the sacred Tetragrammaton , the name that, according to the Bible, God revealed to his people. appears 6,518 times in the traditional Masoretic Text, in addition to 305 instances of (Jehovih).Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon The earliest available Latin text to use a vocalization similar to Jehovah dates from the 13th century.Pugio fidei by Raymund Martin, written in about 1270
==Pronunciation==
The Jehovah form of the Tetragrammaton is said to be testified by Semitic and Greek phonetic texts and artifacts of the early Christian era."Although most scholars believe "Jehovah" to be a late (ca. 1100 CE) hybrid form derived by combining the Latin letters JHVH with the vowels of Adonai (the traditionally pronounced version of ), many magical texts in Semitic and Greek establish an early pronunciation of the divine name as both Yehovah and Yahweh" (Roy Kotansky, Jeffrey Spier, "The 'Horned Hunter' on a Lost Gnostic Gem", The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 88, No. 3 (Jul., 1995), p. 318.)"This [Yehowah] is the correct pronunciation of the tetragramaton, as is clear from the pronunciation of proper names in the First Testament (FT), poetry, fifth-century Aramaic documents, Greek translations of the name in the Dead Sea Scrolls and church fathers." (George Wesley Buchanan, "The Tower of Siloam", The Expository Times 2003; 115: 37; pp. 40, 41) Others say that it is the pronunciation Yahweh that is testified in both Christian and pagan texts of the early Christian era.Jarl Fossum and Brian Glazer in their article Seth in the Magical Texts (in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphie 100 (1994), p. 86-92, reproduced here, give the name "Yahweh" as the source of a number of names found in pagan magical texts: Ἰάβας (p. 88), Iaō (described as "a Greek form of the name of the Biblical God, Yahweh", on p. 89), Iaba, Iaē, Iaēo, Iaō, Iaēō (p. 89). On page 92, they call "Iaō" "the divine name".Greek Magical Papyri Texts, Marvin W. Meyer, The "Mithras" Liturgy. In the Introduction he says that the magical formula "IAO" seems derived from or imitative of the Semitic word "Yahweh". The same explanation of the word "Iao" in pagan magical texts is given by Franz Cumont (quoted in David Livingstone, The Hidden History of Western Civilization, p. 178. And Kristin De Troyer, in The Names of God, Their Pronunciation and Their Translation states that "IAO can be seen as a transliteration of YAHU, the three-letter form of the Name of God" (p. 6).Stephen Flowers Hermetic Magic: The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris (1995), p. 95Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible (2000), p. 1402
Some proponents of the rendering Jehovah, including Karaite Jewshttp://karaite-korner.org/yhwh_2.pdf, state that although the original pronunciation of יהוה has been lost, well-established English renderings of other Hebrew personal names are accepted in normal usage, such as Joshua, Isaiah or Jesus, for which the original pronunciations may be unknown.Nehemia Gordon, The Pronunciation of the Name Some argue that "Jehovah" is preferable to "Yahweh", based on their conclusion that the Tetragrammaton was likely tri-syllabic originally, and that modern forms should therefore also have three syllables.George Wesley Buchanan, "How God's Name Was Pronounced," BAR 21.2 (March -April 1995), 31-32
According to a Jewish tradition developed during the third to second centuries BC, the Tetragrammaton is written but not pronounced. When read, substitute terms replace the divine name where יְהֹוָה appears in the text. It is widely assumed, as proposed by the 19th-century Hebrew scholar Gesenius, that the vowels of the substitutes of the name—"Adonai" (Lord) and "Elohim" (God)—were inserted by the Masoretes to indicate that these substitutes were to be used."יְהֹוָה Jehovah, pr[oper] name of the supreme God amongst the Hebrews. The later Hebrews, for some centuries before the time of Christ, either misled by a false interpretation of certain laws (Ex. 20:7; Lev. 24:11), or else following some old superstition, regarded this name as so very holy, that it might not even be pronounced (see Philo, Vit. Mosis t.iii. p.519, 529). Whenever, therefore, this nomen tetragrammaton occurred in the sacred text, they were accustomed to substitute for it אֲדֹנָי, and thus the vowels of the noun אֲדֹנָי are in the Masoretic text placed under the four letters יהוה, but with this difference, that the initial Yod receives a simple and not a compound Sh’va (יְהֹוָה [Yehovah], not (יֲהֹוָה [Yahovah]); prefixes, however, receive the same points as if they were followed by אֲדֹנָי [...] This custom was already in vogue in the days of the LXX. translators; and thus it is that they every where translated יְהֹוָה by ὁ Κύριος (אֲדֹנָי)." (H. W. F. Gesenius, Gesenius's Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979[1847]), p. 337) When יהוה precedes or follows Adonai, the Masoretes placed the vowel points of Elohim into the Tetragrammaton, producing a different vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יֱהֹוִה, which was read as Elohim.For example, , (second instance), (second instance), In accordance with this reasoning, the form יְהֹוָה (Jehovah) has been characterized as a "hybrid form",R. Laird Harris, "The Pronunciation of the Tetragram," in John H. Skilton (ed.), The Law and the Prophets: Old Testament Studies Prepared in Honor of Oswald Thompson Allis (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1974), 224. and even "a philological impossibility".Jewish Encyclopedia: article YHWH
Early modern translators disregarded the practice of reading Adonai (or its equivalents in Greek and Latin) in place of the Tetragrammaton and instead combined the four Hebrew letters of the text with the vowel points that, except in synagogue scrolls, accompanied them, resulting in the form Jehovah.1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica: article Jehovah (Yahweh) This form, already in use by Roman Catholic authors such as Ramón Martí, achieved wide use in the translations of the Protestant Reformation.In the 7th paragraph of "Introduction to the Old Testament of the New English Bible", Sir Godfrey Driver wrote, "The Reformers preferred Jehovah, which first appeared as Iehouah in 1530 A.D., in Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch (Exodus 6.3), from which it passed into other Protestant Bibles." By comparison, the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome renders the name as Adonai at In the 1611 King James Version, Jehovah occurred seven times.At Gen.22:14; Ex.6:3; 17:15; Jg.6:24; Ps.83:18, Is.12:2; 26:4. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Iowa Falls: Word, 1994), 722. In the 1901 American Standard Version, it was still the regular English rendition of יהוה, in preference to "the LORD".According to the preface, this was because the translators felt that the "Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament". It is also used in Christian hymns such as the 1771 hymn, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah".The original hymn, without "Jehovah", was composed in Welsh in 1745; the English translation, with "Jehovah", was composed in 1771 (Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah).
===Development===
The most widespread theory is that the Hebrew term יְהֹוָה has the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי (adonai). Using the vowels of adonai, the composite hataf patah ֲ under the guttural alef א becomes a sheva ְ under the yod י, the holam ֹ is placed over the first he ה, and the qamats ָ is placed under the vav ו, giving יְהֹוָה (Jehovah). When the two names, יהוה and אדני, occur together, the former is pointed with a hataf segol ֱ under the yod י and a hiriq ִ under the second he ה, giving יֱהֹוִה, to indicate that it is to be read as (elohim) in order to avoid adonai being repeated.
thumb|370px|A 1552 Latin translation of the Sefer Yetzirah, using the form Iehouah for the "magnum Nomen tetragrammatum".
The pronunciation Jehovah is believed to have arisen through the introduction of vowels of the qere—the marginal notation used by the Masoretes. In places where the consonants of the text to be read (the qere) differed from the consonants of the written text (the kethib), they wrote the qere in the margin to indicate the desired reading. In such cases, the kethib was read using the vowels of the qere. For a few very frequent words the marginal note was omitted, referred to as q're perpetuum. One of these frequent cases was God's name, which was not to be pronounced in fear of profaning the "ineffable name". Instead, wherever יהוה (YHWH) appears in the kethib of the biblical and liturgical books, it was to be read as אֲדֹנָי (adonai, "My Lord [plural of majesty]"), or as אֱלֹהִים (elohim, "God") if adonai appears next to it. This combination produces יְהֹוָה (yehovah) and יֱהֹוִה (yehovih) respectively. יהוה is also written ’ה, or even ’ד, and read ha-Shem ("the name").Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906 
Scholars are not in total agreement as to why יְהֹוָה does not have precisely the same vowel points as adonai. The use of the composite hataf segol ֱ in cases where the name is to be read, "elohim", has led to the opinion that the composite hataf patah ֲ ought to have been used to indicate the reading, "adonai". It has been argued conversely that the disuse of the patah is consistent with the Babylonian system, in which the composite is uncommon.
====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)YEHOVAHיְהֹוָה	Hebrew (Strong's #3068)YEHOVAHיְהֹוָה	Hebrew (Strong's #3068)YEHOVAHיְהֹוָה	Hebrew (Strong's #136)ADONAYאֲדֹנָי	Hebrew (Strong's #136)ADONAYאֲדֹנָי	Hebrew (Strong's #136)ADONAYאֲדֹנָי
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
The difference between the vowel points of ’ǎdônây and YHWH is explained by the rules of Hebrew morphology and phonetics. Sheva and hataf-patah were allophones of the same phoneme used in different situations: hataf-patah on glottal consonants including aleph (such as the first letter in Adonai), and simple sheva on other consonants (such as the 'y' in YHWH).Jewish Encyclopedia: article Jehovah
===Introduction into English===
According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon, the pronunciation Jehovah was unknown until 1520 when it was introduced by Galatinus, who defended its use. However, this deduction has been revised, as the term Jehovah can be traced back at least to the Pugio fidei of Raymund Martin, written in about 1270.
In English it appeared in William Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch ("The Five Books of Moses"),Only three copies of his Five Books of Moses survive, and the best copy is kept at the British Museum. published in 1530 in Germany, where Tyndale had studied since 1524, possibly in one or more of the universities at Wittenberg, Worms and Marburg, where Hebrew was taught.Westcott, in his survey of the English Bible, wrote that Tyndale "felt by a happy instinct the potential affinity between Hebrew and English idioms, and enriched our language and thought for ever with the characteristics of the Semitic mind." See Dahlia M. Karpman's, "Tyndale's Response to the Hebraic Tradition" (Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 14 (1967)), pp. 113, 118, 119. The spelling used by Tyndale was "Iehouah"; at that time, I was not distinguished from J, and U was not distinguished from V.The first English-language book to make a clear distinction between I and J was published in 1634. (Richard M. Hogg, The Cambridge History of the English Language (Cambridge University Press 1992 ISBN=0521264766, p. 39). It was also only by the mid-1500s that V was used to represent the consonant and U the vowel sound, while capital U was not accepted as a distinct letter until many years later (Laurent Pflughaupt, Letter by Letter: An Alphabetical Miscellany (Princeton Architectural Press ISBN 9781568987378) pp. 123–124). The original 1611 printing of the Authorized King James Version used "Iehovah". Tyndale wrote about the divine name: "IEHOUAH [Jehovah], is God's name; neither is any creature so called; and it is as much to say as, One that is of himself, and dependeth of nothing. Moreover, as oft as thou seest LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing), it is in Hebrew Iehouah, Thou that art; or, He that is."William Tyndale, Doctrinal Treatises, ed. Rev. Henry Walter (Cambridge, 1848), p. 408. 
The name Jehovah appeared in all early Protestant Bibles in English, except Coverdale's translation in 1535.In the 7th paragraph of Introduction to the Old Testament of the New English Bible, Sir Godfry Driver wrote, "The early translators generally substituted 'Lord' for [YHWH]. [...] The Reformers preferred Jehovah, which first appeared as Iehouah in 1530 A.D., in Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch (Exodus 6.3), from which it passed into other Protestant Bibles." The Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible used "the Lord", corresponding to the Latin Vulgate's use of "Dominus" (Latin for "Adonai", "Lord") to represent the Tetragrammaton. The Authorized King James Bible also, which used Jehovah in a few places, most frequently gave "the LORD" as the equivalent of the Tetragammaton. The name Jehovah appeared in John Rogers' Matthew Bible in 1537, the Great Bible of 1539, the Geneva Bible of 1560, Bishop's Bible of 1568 and the King James Version of 1611. More recently, it has been used in the Revised Version of 1885, the American Standard Version in 1901, and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1961.
At , where the King James Version has Jehovah, the Revised Standard Version (1952),Exodus 6:3-5 RSV the New American Standard Bible (1971), the New International Version (1978), the New King James Version (1982), the New Revised Standard Version (1989), the New Century Version (1991), and the Contemporary English Version (1995) give "LORD" or "Lord" as their rendering of the Tetragrammaton, while the New Jerusalem Bible (1985), the Amplified Bible (1987), the New Living Translation (1996, revised 2007), the English Standard Version (2001), and the Holman Christian Standard Bible (2004) use the form Yahweh.
==Hebrew vowel points==
Modern grammars of biblical Hebrew, such as Duane A Garrett's A Modern Grammar for Classical HebrewDuane A. Garrett, A Modern Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Broadman & Holman 2002 ISBN 0-8054-2159-9), p. 13 agree that the Hebrew vowel points now found in printed Hebrew Bibles were invented in the second half of the first millennium AD, long after the texts were written. This is indicated in the authoritative Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius,Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition), p. 38 and in encyclopedias such as the Jewish Encyclopedia,Jewish Encyclopedia, article Punctuation the Encyclopaedia Britannica,Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, article Hebrew and Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia,Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia, Third Edition (Llewellyn 1994), p. xviii and is acknowledged even by those who claim that the grammars are perpetuating "scholarly myths".Thomas M. Strouse, Scholarly Myths Perpetuated on Rejecting the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament. The writer mentions in particular Christo H. J. Van der Merwe, Jackie A. Naude and Jan H. Kroeze, A Biblical Reference Grammar (Sheffield, England:Sheffield Academic Press, 2002), and Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publ. House, 2001) 
Jehovist scholars, who believe to be the original pronunciation of the divine name, argue that the Hebraic vowel-points and accents were known to writers of the scriptures in antiquity and that both Scripture and history argue in favor of their ab originehttp://www.sacklunch.net/Latin/A/aborigine.html status to the Hebrew language. Some members of Karaite Judaism, such as Nehemia Gordon, hold this view.Nehemia Gordon, The Pronunciation of the Name The antiquity of the vowel points and of the rendering Jehovah was defended by various scholars, including Michaelis,(In Awe of Thy Word, G.A. Riplinger-Chapter 11, page 416)Online Drach, Stier, William Fulke (1583), Johannes Buxtorf,Tiberias, sive Commentarius Masoreticus (1620; quarto edition, improved and enlarged by J. Buxtorf the younger, 1665) his son Johannes Buxtorf II,Tractatus de punctorum origine, antiquitate, et authoritate, oppositus Arcano puntationis revelato Ludovici Cappelli (1648) and John Owen Biblical Theology (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1996 reprint of the 1661 edition), pp. 495-533 (17th century); Peter WhitfieldA Dissertation on the Hebrew Vowel-Points. Shewing that they are an Original and Essential Part of the Language, (Liverpoole: Peter Whitfield, 1748)http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:iPaM7xkY6W4J:www.emmanuel-newington.org/seminary/resources/Whitfield.pdf+Peter+Whitfield,+1748&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AFQjCNHvvPvD5AlbbkqQ4zRqjlgic-Q-4g and John GillA Dissertation concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, LETTERS, VOWEL POINTS, and ACCENTS (London: n. p., 1767) (18th century); John Moncrieff An Essay on the Antiquity and Utility of the Hebrew Vowel-Points (Glasgow: John Reid & Co., 1833) (19th century); and more recently by Thomas D. Ross,The Battle Over The Hebrew Vowel Points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England, by Thomas D. Ross Online G. A. Riplinger,(In Awe of Thy Word, G.A. Riplinger-Chapter 11, page 413-435)Online John Hinton,http://av1611.com/kjbp/ridiculous-kjv-bible-corrections/Yahweh-Jehova-YHVH.html and Thomas M. Strouse (21st century).
Jehovist writers such as Nehemia Gordon (1972-) have acknowledged that there is general agreement among scholars that the original pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was Yahweh, and that the vowel points now attached to the Tetragrammaton were added to indicate that Adonai was to be read instead, as seen in the alteration of those points after prefixes. He wrote: "There is a virtual scholarly consensus concerning this name" and "this is presented as fact in every introduction to Biblical Hebrew and every scholarly discussion of the name".Nehemia Gordon, The Pronunciation of the Name,pp. 1-2 Gordon disputed this consensus and wrote, "We have seen that the scholarly consensus concerning Yahweh is really just a wild guess", and went on to say that the vowel points of Adonai are not correct.Nehemia Gordon, The Pronunciation of the Name,p. 8 He argued that "the name is really pronounced Yehovah with the emphasis on 'vah'. Pronouncing the name Yehovah with the emphasis on 'ho' (as in English Jehovah) would quite simply be a mistake."Nehemia Gordon, The Pronunciation of the Name,p. 11
===Proponents of pre-Christian origin===
Eighteenth-century theologian John Gill in his writing, A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowel-Points and Accents,John Gill, "A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowel-Points and Accents", Vol. 3, p. 429. argued for an extreme antiquity of their use,A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, pp. 499-560 rejecting the idea that the vowel points were invented by the Masoretes. Gill presented writings, including passages of Scripture, that he interpreted as supportive of his Jehovist viewpoint that the Hebrew Scriptures must have included vowel-points and accents.John Gill, "A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowel-Points and Accents", Vol. 3, pp. 549-560. He claimed that the use of Hebrew vowel points, and therefore of the name Jehovah (), is documented from before 200 BC, and even back to Adam by citing Jewish tradition that Hebrew was the first language. He argued that throughout this history the Masoretes did not invent the vowel points and accents, but that they were delivered to Moses by God at Sinai, citingA Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 538-542 Karaite authorities(In Awe of Thy Word, G.A. Riplinger-Chapter 11, page 422-435)Online,A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowel-Points, and Accents, by John Gill, p. 540 Online Mordechai ben Nisan Kukizov (1699) and his associates, who stated that "all our wise men with one mouth affirm and profess that the whole law was pointed and accented, as it came out of the hands of Moses, the man of God," The argument between Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism on whether it was lawful to pronounce the name represented by the Tetragrammaton is claimed to show that some copies have always been pointed (voweled) and that some copies were not pointed with the vowels because of "oral law", for control of interpretation by some Judeo sects, including non-pointed copies in Synagogues.A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, pp. 548-560 Gill claimed that the pronunciation can be traced back to early historical sources which indicate that vowel points and/or accents were used in their time.A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill Sources Gill claimed supported his view include:
*The Book of Cosri and commentator Rabbi Judab Muscatus, which claim that the vowel points were taught to Adam by God.A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 461-462 
*Saadiah Gaon (927 AD)A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 501 
*Jerome (380 AD)A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, pp. 512-516 
*Origen (250 AD)A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 522 
*The Zohar (120 AD)A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 531 
*Jesus Christ (31 AD), based on Gill's interpretation of Matthew 5:18A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 535-536 
*Hillel the Elder and Shammai division (30 BC)A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 536-537 
*Karaites(120 BC)
* Demetrius Phalereus, librarian for Ptolemy II Philadelphus king of Egypt (277 BC)A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, p. 544 
Gill quoted Elia Levita, who said, "There is no syllable without a point, and there is no word without an accent", as showing that the vowel points and the accents found in printed Hebrew Bibles have a dependence on each other, and so Gill attributed the same antiquity to the accents as to the vowel points.A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, Volume 3, p. 499 Gill acknowledged that Elia Levita, "first asserted the vowel points were invented by "the men of Tiberias", but made reference to Levita's condition that "if anyone could convince him that his opinion was contrary to the book of Zohar, he should be content to have it rejected." Gill then alludes to the book of Zohar, stating that rabbis declared it older than the Masoretes, and that it attests to the vowel-points and accents.A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, Volume 3, p. 531
William Fulke, John Gill, John Owen, and others held that Jesus Christ referred to a Hebrew vowel point or accent at , indicated in the King James Version by the word tittle.The Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives one wide-ranging definition of "tittle" as "a point or small sign used as a diacritical mark in writing or printing". pg. 110, Of the Integrity and Purity of the Hebrew and Greek Text of the Scripture; with Considerations on the Prolegomena and Appendix to the Late “Biblia Polyglotta,” in vol. IX, The Works of John Owen, ed. Gould, William H, & Quick, Charles W., Philadelphia, PA: Leighton Publications, 1865)Fulke argued that the words of this verse, spoken in Hebrew, but then transliterated into Greek of the New testament, are proof that these marks were applied to the Torah at that time.The Battle Over The Hebrew Vowel Points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England, by Thomas D. Ross, pp. 13-14 Online
A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, John Gill, Volume 3, p. 435 John Lightfoot (1602-1675) claimed the Hebrew vowel points were of the Holy Spirit's invention, not of the Tiberians', characterizing the latter as "lost, blinded, besotted men".The Battle Over The Hebrew Vowel Points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England, by Thomas D. Ross, pp. 16-17 
In Peter Whitfield's 1847 A Dissertation on the Hebrew Vowel-Points. Shewing that they are an Original and Essential Part of the Language, he examined the positions of Levita and Capellus, giving many biblical examples to refute their notion of the novelty of vowel points. In his introduction, he claimed that the Roman Catholic Church favored Levita's position because it allowed the priests to have the final say in interpretation. The lack of authoritative vowel points in the Hebrew Old Testament, he said, leaves the meaning of many words to the interpreter. The word "Masoretes" comes from Hebrew māsar, which means "to hand over", "to transmit".American Heritage Dictionary of the English Languages Recalling this, Whitfield then gave 10 reasons for holding that the Hebrew vowel points and accents have to be used for Hebrew to be "clearly understood":
*I. The necessity of vowel-points in reading the Hebrew language (pp. 6-46). Without vowels, he said, simple pronunciations so necessary in learning a language are impossible. He reproved as naiveté Levita's suggestion that the master could teach a child with a thrice-rehearsed effort (pp. 22-23). He gave several biblical examples as proving this necessity.
*II. The necessity for forming different Hebrew conjugations, moods, tenses, as well as dual and plural endings of nouns (pp. 47-57). That both Hebrew verbs, including the seven conjugations, the moods and tenses, and the Hebrew nouns, with singular, dual and plural endings, are based on vowel diagnostic indicators is, he claimed, without controversy. The tremendous complexity of the Hebrew language without vowels argues against any oral tradition preservation inscripturated through the recent invention of vowels. Whitfield argued: "Whoever will consider a great many instances of these differences, as they occur, will own, he must have been a person of very great sagacity, who could ever have observed them without the points" (p. 48).
*III. The necessity of vowel-points in distinguishing a great number of words with different significations which without vowel-points are the same (58-61). Whitfield gave many examples of the same consonants with different points constituting different words. The diacritical mark (dot) above the right tooth or the left tooth of the shin/sin letter makes a great difference in some words. He said that if he gave all the examples, he would need "to transcribe a good part of the Bible or lexicon" (p. 58).
*IV. The inconsistency of the lateness of vowel-points in light of the Jew's zeal for their language since the Babylonian captivity (62-65). The Jews were zealous for their language, Whitfield observed, and they would not have been careless to let the inscripturated vocalization disappear through careless or indifferent oral tradition from the time of the captivity onward. He cited several ancient authorities describing the Jews' fanaticism about protecting the minuteness of their Scripture.
*V. The various and inconsistent opinions of the advocates for the novelty of vowel-points concerning the authors, time, place, and circumstances of their institution (66-71). Whitfield argued that the advocates for the recent vowel system had a wide variety of suggestions. Concerning the authors, some maintained that the inventor[s] were the Tiberian Jews while others suggested that it was Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh (c. AD 230). Some said the points were invented after the Talmud (c. AD 200-500), by the Masoretes (AD 600), or in the 10th century or the 11th century. For the place some had posited Tiberias whereas others had suggested the Asia Minor.
*VI. The total silence of the ancient writers, Jew and Christian, about their recent origin (72-88). Whitfield cited both early rabbins and Jerome as neglecting to refer to the late (post-Mosaic) origin of vowel-points.
*VII. The absolute necessity to ascertain Divine authority of the Scripture of the OT (89-119). Whitfield affirmed that Scripture is based on words and words are based on consonants and vowels. If there are no vowels in the Hebrew OT originals, then there is no Divine authority of the Hebrew OT Scriptures, he argued, citing . He then gave a vast listing of passages that change meaning when points are lost, and thereby undermining divine authority.
*VIII. The many anomalies or irregularities of punctuation in the Hebrew grammar (120-133). This objection by Whitfield to the novelty of vowel-points was the many exceptions to vowel-point rules, anomalies and irregularities that demand a codified system for their exceptions to emphasize a particular point of grammar and truth.
*IX. The importance of the Kethiv readings versus the Keri marginal renderings (134-221). The existence of Kethiv (Aramaic for "write") readings in the Hebrew text and Keri (Aramaic for "call") readings in the margin of Hebrew manuscripts showed, he said, that the rabbins were serious about preserving the original words, including the vowel-points, when a questionable word arose in a manuscript. The pre-Christian antiquity of the Keri readings in the margin demanded the pre-Masoretic antiquity of the vowel points.
*X. The answer to two material questions (222-282). Whitfield responded to two of three significant questions in this section: 1) why does the LXX and Jerome's version differ from the Hebrew text in corresponding vowels on proper names? 2) Why the silence of the Jewish writers on the pointing prior to the 6th century of Christianity? and 3) Why were unpointed copies used in the Jewish synagogues? Briefly, he responded to the first questions by stating that the differences in the translations and the Hebrew pointed texts cannot be attributed to the vowels, since he said that the translators obviously did use the pointed copies, and that the Jewish commentators, coeval with the Masoretes, did in fact refer to the points. The third question, answered later in his book, was responded to by saying that there is no historical proof that unpointed copies were used exclusively in the synagogues.Liverpoole: Peter Whitfield, 1748), 288 pp., Whitfield's critical texts
The 1602 Spanish Bible (Reina-Valera/Cipriano de Valera) used the name Iehova and gave a lengthy defense of the pronunciation Jehovah in its preface.
===Proponents of later origin===
Despite Jehovist claims that vowel signs are necessary for reading and understanding Hebrew, modern Hebrew is written without vowel points.Jewish Virtual Library: Vowels and Points The Torah scrolls do not include vowel points, and ancient Hebrew was written without vowel signs.At Home with HebrewPage H. Kenney, Biblical Hebrew: an introductory grammar 1992
The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1946 and dated from 400 BC to 70 AD,Old Testament Manuscripts include texts from the Torah or Pentateuch and from other parts of the Hebrew BibleJames C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, p. 30The Dead Sea Scrolls Biblical Manuscripts and have provided actual documentary evidence that, in spite of the above claims to the contrary, Hebrew was in fact then written without vowel points.The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Graphological InvestigationWilliam P. Griffin, Killing a Dead Language: A Case against Emphasizing Vowel Pointing when Teaching Biblical Hebrew In fact, according to Menahem Mansoor's The Dead Sea Scrolls: A College Textbook and a Study Guide, the vowel points found in printed Hebrew Bibles were devised in the ninth and tenth centuries AD.The Dead Sea Scrolls: A College Textbook and a Study Guide, pp. 75-76
Gill's view that the Hebrew vowel points were in use at the time of Ezra or even at the origins of the Hebrew language went against the consensus of Gill's own time,Godfrey Higgins, On the Vowel Points of the Hebrew Language, in The Classical Journal for March and June 1826, p. 145 and which presented the following grounds for rejecting his theory:
*The argument that vowel points are necessary for learning to read Hebrew is refuted by the fact that the Samaritan text of the Bible is read without them and that several other Semitic languages, kindred to Hebrew, are written without any indications of the vowels.
* The books used in synagogue worship have always been without vowel points, which, unlike the letters, have thus never been treated as sacred.
* The Qere Kethib marginal notes give variant readings only of the letters, never of the points, an indication either that these were added later or that, if they already existed, they were seen as not so important.
* The Kabbalists drew their mysteries only from the letters and completely disregarded the points, if there were any.
* In several cases, ancient translations from the Hebrew Bible (Septuagint, Targum, Aquila of Sinope, Symmachus, Theodotion, Jerome) read the letters with vowels different from those indicated by the points, an indication that the texts from which they were translating were without points. The same holds for Origen's transliteration of the Hebrew text into Greek letters. Jerome expressly speaks of a word in Habakkuk 3:5, which in the present Masoretic Text has three consonant letters and two vowel points, as being of three letters and no vowel whatever.
*Neither the Jerusalem Talmud nor the Babylonian Talmud (in all their recounting of Rabbinical disputes about the meaning of words), nor Philo nor Josephus, nor any Christian writer for several centuries after Christ make any reference to vowel points.Higgins, pp. 146-149Augustin Calmet, Dictionary of the Bible, pp. 618-619]<ref<[http://www.vancepublications.com/cr/cr6ex.pdf B. Pick, The Vowel-Points Controversy in the XVI. and XVII. Centuries
==Early modern arguments==
In the sixteen and seventeenth 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.."). An editor of Drusius in 1698 knows of an earlier reading in Porchetus de Salvaticis however.John Drusius wrote that neither יְהֹוָה nor יֱהֹוִה accurately represented God's name.See Gérard Gertoux, The name of God Y.EH.OW.AH which is pronounced as it is written I_EH_OU_AH, pp. 209, 210.
Sixtinus Amama (1593-1659)See page 8 	De nomine tetragrammato (1628) 	Sixtinus Amama, was a Professor of Hebrew in the University of Franeker. A pupil of Drusius.
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 	
===Discourses defending Jehovah===
Author 	Discourse 	Comments
Nicholas Fuller (1557-1626) 	? 	Nicholas was a Hebraist and a theologian.
John Buxtorf (1564-1629) 	Disserto de nomine JHVH (1620); Tiberias, sive Commentarius Masoreticus (1664) 	John Buxtorf the elder 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) 	De Nomine Tetragrammato Dissertaio (1645) 	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.
===Summary of discourses===
In A Dictionary of the Bible (1863), William Robertson Smith summarized these discourses, concluding that "whatever, therefore, be the true pronunciation of the word, there can be little doubt that it is not Jehovah".In his work, Smith is commenting on the matter: "In the decade of dissertations collected by Reland, Fuller, Gataker, and Leusden do battle for the pronunciation Jehovah, against such formidable antagonists as Drusius, Amama, Cappellus, Buxtorf, and Altingius, who, it is scarcely necessary to say, fairly beat their opponents out of the field; "the only argument of any weight, which is employed by the advocates of the pronunciation of the word as it is written being that derived from the form in which it appears in proper names, such as Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, &c. [...] Their antagonists make a strong point of the fact that, as has been noticed above, two different sets of vowel points are applied to the same consonants under certain circumstances. To this Leusden, of all the champions on his side, but feebly replies. [...] The same may be said of the argument derived from the fact that the letters מוכלב, when prefixed to יהוה, take, not the vowels which they would regularly receive were the present pronunciation true, but those with which they would be written if אֲדֹנָי, adonai, were the reading; and that the letters ordinarily taking dagesh lene when following יהוה would, according to the rules of the Hebrew points, be written without dagesh, whereas it is uniformly inserted." Despite this, he consistently uses the name Jehovah throughout his dictionary and when translating Hebrew names. Some examples include Isaiah [Jehovah's help or salvation], Jehoshua [Jehovah a helper], Jehu [Jehovah is He]. In the entry, Jehovah, Smith writes: "JEHOVAH ( יְהֹוָה, usually with the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי ; but when the two occur together, the former is pointed יֱהֹוִה, that is with the vowels of אֱלֹהִים, as in Obad. i. 1, Hab. iii. 19:"Image of it. This practice is also followed by many modern publications, such as the New Compact Bible Dictionary (Special Crusade Edition) of 1967 sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Peloubet's Bible Dictionary of 1947.
==Usage in English==
The following works render the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah, either exclusively or occasionally:
* William Tyndale, in his 1530 translation of the first five books of the English Bible, at Exodus 6:3 renders the divine name as "Iehovah". In his note to this edition he wrote: "Iehovah is God's name... Moreover, as oft as thou seeist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew Iehovah."
* The King James (Authorized) Version, 1611: four times as the personal name of God (in all capital letters): Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 26:4; and three times in place names: Genesis 22:14; Exodus 17:15; and Judges 6:24.
* Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by J.N. Young, 1862, 1898 renders the Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" 6,831 times.
* In the Emphatic Diaglott, 1864, a translation of the New Testament by Benjamin Wilson, the name "Jehovah" appears 18 times.
* The English Revised Version, 1885, renders the Tetragrammaton as "JEHOVAH" (in all capital letters) 12 times, as the personal name of God, in all the places that the King James Version renders it, and also in Exodus 6:2,6,7,8; Psalm 68:20; Isaiah 49:14; Jeremiah 16:21; Habakkuk 3:19.
* A literal translation of the Old Testament (1890) and the New Testament (1884), by John Nelson Darby, renders the Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" 6,810 times in the main text.
* The American Standard Version, 1901, renders the Tetragrammaton as "Je-ho’vah" in all 6,823 places where it occurs in the Old Testament.
* The Modern Reader's Bible, 1914, by Richard Moulton, uses "Jehovah" at Ps.83:18; Ex.6:2-9; Ex.22:14; Ps.68:4; Jerm.16:20; Isa.12:2 & Isa. 26:4 
* The New English Bible, published by Oxford University Press, 1970: e.g. Gen 22:14; Exodus 3:15,16; 6:3; 17:15; Judges 6:24
* The Living Bible, published by Tyndale House Publishers, Illinois 1971, used "Jehovah" extensively, as in the 1901 American Standard Version, on which it is based: e.g. Gen 8:21; 22:14, Exodus 3:15; 4:1-27; 17:15; 20:2-12; Lev 19:1-36; Deut 4:29, 39; 5:5-6; Judges 6:16, 24; Ps 83:18; 110:1 135:1-6, 13-14; 19-21; Isaiah 45:1, 18; Amos 5:8; 6:8; 9:6.
* The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1961 and revised 1984: "Jehovah" appears 7,210 times, i.e. 6,973 in the Old Testament and 237 times in the New Testament, where the Tetragrammaton does not appear in the original, which was written in Greek.
* Green's Literal Translation (1985) by Jay P. Green, Sr., renders the Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" all 6,866 times.
The Bible in Today's English (Good News Bible), published by the American Bible Society, 1976, uses "The Lord" in its translation, stating in its preface, "the distinctive Hebrew name for God (usually transliterated Jehovah or Yahweh) is in this translation represented by 'The Lord'." A footnote to Exodus 3:14 states, "Yahweh, traditionally transliterated as Jehovah." Recent translations into English use Yahweh, not Jehovah.The New Jerusalem Bible (1985), the Amplified Bible (1987), the New Living Translation (1996), the English Standard Version (2001), and the Holman Christian Standard Bible (2004).
thumb|200px|right|The word Jehovah displayed at the Roman Catholic Church named St. Martinskirche, Olten, Switzerland, 1521.
Following the Middle Ages, many Catholic churches and public buildings across Europe were decorated with the name, Jehovah. For example, the Coat of Arms of Plymouth (UK) City Council bears the Latin inscription, "Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova",See Plymouth Civic Heraldry and here. Also, Civic Heraldry of the United Kingdom) derived from .
 
Jehovah has been a popular English word for the personal name of God for several centuries. Christian hymnse.g. "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" (1771) feature this name. For this reason, some religious groups, notably Jehovah's WitnessesAwake!, December 2007, p. 20, "How God’s Name Has Been Made Known", "The commonly used form of God’s name in English is Jehovah, translated from the Hebrew [Tetragrammaton], which appears some 7,000 times in the Bible." The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever, p. 7: "Nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. Nevertheless, many prefer the pronunciation Jehovah. Why? Because it has a currency and familiarity that Yahweh does not have." Awake!, January 22, 2004, cover series of articles "Do You Know God by Name?", mostly reproduced here. The Watchtower, September 1, 2008, "Why Use God’s Name if Its Pronunciation Is Uncertain?", p. 31. The Watchtower, July 15, 1964, p. 424, "What Is The Name?": "The vital point is not whether “Yahweh” or some other form of the Divine Name is more correct in Hebrew. The vital point is whether you use the pronunciation common to your language." All of these sources published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. and the King-James-Only movement, make prominent use of the name.
==Greek and Latin sources==
thumb|180px|right|Neophytus Vamvas (1770-1856), translation of the Bible into modern Greek
Under the heading "יהוה c. 6823", the editors of the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon write that יְהֹוָה occurs 6,518 times in the Masoretic Text and that it is read as "Adonai" or "Elohim".
===Greek transcriptions similar to "Jehovah"===
* Ιουώ (Iouō): Pistis SophiaCharles William King, The Gnostics and their remains: Ancient and Mediaeval (1887), p. 285. (2nd cent.)
* Ιεού (Ieou): Pistis Sophia (2nd cent.)
* Ιεηωουά (Ie-ee-ōoua): Pistis Sophia"This [ΙΕΗΩΟΥΑ] is in fact a very correct representation, if we give each vowel its true Greek sound, of the Hebrew pronunciation of the word Jehovah." Charles William King, The Gnostics and their remains: Ancient and Mediaeval (1887), p. 199, 200. (2nd cent.)
* Ιευώ (Ievō): EusebiusPraeparatio evangelica 10.9. (c. 315)
* Ιεωά (Ieōa): Hellenistic magical textsThe Grecised Hebrew text "εληιε Ιεωα ρουβα" means "my God Ieoa is mightier". ("La prononciation 'Jehova' du tétragramme", O.T.S. vol. 5, 1948, pp. 57, 58. [Greek papyrus CXXI 1.528-540 (3d cent.), Library of the British Museum] (2nd-3rd centuries), M. KyriakakesArticle in the Aster magazine (January 2000), the official periodical of the Greek Evangelical Church. (2000)
* Ιεχοβά (like Jehova[h]): Paolo MediciGreek translation by Ioannes Stanos. (1755)
* Ιεοβά (like Je[h]ova[h]): Greek PentateuchPublished by the British and Foreign Bible Society. (1833), Holy Bible translated in modern Greek by Neophytus VamvasExodus 6:3, etc. (1850)
* Ιεχωβά (like Jehova[h]): Panagiotes TrempelasDogmatike tes Orthodoxou Katholikes Ekklesias (Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church), 3d ed., 1997 (c 1958), Vol. 1, p. 229. (1958)
===Latin and English transcriptions similar to "Jehovah"===
thumb|260px|Geneva Bible, 1560. (Psalm 83:18)
thumb|360px|A Latin rendering of the Tetragrammaton has been the form "Jova", sounding very similar to "Jehovah".(Origenis Hexaplorum, edited by Frederick Field, 1875.)</small>
Transcriptions of יְהֹוָה similar to Jehovah occurred as early as the 12th century.
*Ieve: Petrus AlphonsiDahlia M. Karpman, "Tyndale's Response to the Hebraic Tradition" (Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 14 (1967)), p. 121. (c. 1106), Alexander GeddesSee comments at Exodus 6:2, 3 in his Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures (1800). Also, Rev. Richard Barrett's A Synopsis of Criticisms upon Passages of the Old Testament (1847) p. 219. (1800)
*Jehova: Raymond Martin (Raymundus Martini)At his work Pugio Fidei. At page 152 of Gérard Gertoux's book The name of God Y.eH.oW.aH which is pronounced as it is written I_EH_OU_AH is a photo of a bilingual Latin (or Spanish) text and Hebrew text [side by side] written by Raymond Martin in 1278, with in its last sentence "יְהוָֹה" opposite "Yohoua". (1278), Porchetus de SalvaticisAt his book Victory Against the Ungodly Hebrews. Gérard Gertoux, The name of God Y.eH.oW.aH, p. 153. See also ; George Moore, Notes on the Name YHWH (The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Jan., 1908), pp. 34-52. (1303), Tremellius (1575), Marcus Marinus (1593), Charles IX of SwedenCharles IX of Sweden instituted the Royal Order of Jehova in 1606. (1606), Rosenmüller (1820), Wilhelm Gesenius (c. 1830)For example, Gesenius rendered Proverbs 8:22 in Latin as: "Jehova creavit me ab initio creationis". (Samuel Lee, A lexicon, Hebrew, Chaldee, and English (1840) p. 143)
*Yohoua: Raymond Martin (1278)
*Yohouah: Porchetus de Salvaticis (1303)
*Ieoa: Nicholas of Cusa (1428)
*Iehoua: Nicholas of Cusa (1428), Peter Galatin (Galatinus)"Non enim h quatuor liter [yhwh] si, ut punctat sunt, legantur, Ioua reddunt: sed (ut ipse optime nosti) Iehoua efficiunt." (De Arcanis Catholicæ Veritatis (1518), folio xliii. See Oxford English Dictionary Online, 1989/2008, Oxford University Press, "Jehovah"). Peter Galatin was Pope Leo X's confessor. (1516)
*Iehova: Nicholas of Cusa (1428), Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (1514), Sebastian Münster (1526), Leo Judae (1543), Robert Estienne (1557)
*Ihehoua: Nicholas of Cusa (1428)
*Jova: 16th centurySir Godfrey Driver, Introduction to the Old Testament of the New English Bible., RosenmüllerScholia in Vetus Testamentum, vol. 3, part 3, pp. 8, 9, etc. (1820)
*Jehovah: Paulus Fagius (1546), Calvin (1557), King James Bible (1671 [OT] / 1669 [NT]), Matthew PooleSee Poole's comments at Exodus 6:2, 3 in his Synopsis criticorum biblicorum. (1676), Benjamin KennicottThe State of the printed Hebrew Text of the Old Testament considered: A Dissertation in two parts (1753), pp. 158, 159) (1753), Alexander Geddes (1800)
*Iehouáh: Geneva Bible (1560)
*Iehovah: King James Version (1611), Henry Ainsworth (1627)
*Jovae: Rosenmüller (1820)
*Yehovah: William BaillieThe First Twelve Psalms in Hebrew, p. 22. (1843)
==See also==
* Adon
* Allah
* Ea
* El
* Ellil
* Elohim
* God 
* God in the Bahá'í Faith, God in Christianity, God in Islam, God in Judaism 
* Gott
* I am that I am 
* Jah 
* Jehovah's Witnesses 
* Names of God 
* Names of God in Judaism 
* Tetragrammaton (YHWH)
* Theophoric names:
:* Jehoshaphat, Jehonadab, Tobijah 
:* Jeho*,,
* Yahweh
* Yam (Ya'a, Yaw)
*
*
==References==
ast:Xehová
az:Yehova
bs:Jehova
ca:Jehovà
de:Jehovah
el:Τετραγράμματο#Η μορφή Ιεχωβά
eo:Jehovo
fr:Jéhovah
fur:Jeova
ia:Jehovah
kw:Yehovah
la:Iehovah
nl:JHWH
sr:Јехова
sv:Jehova
tl:Jehova
tr:Yehova
zh-yue:耶和華
zh:耶和華
Category:Names of God
Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible
Category:Biblical phrases
Category:Christianity-related controversies
Category:Judeo-Christian topics
Category:Yahweh
Category:Tetragrammaton