Lord God is a Plurality of Persons!

Note: 'Elohim (H430) is the plural form of the Hebrew word 'elowah (H433) with Strong's Concordance numbers supplied for reference. Over 900 times in 839 Old Testament verses 'elohim is coupled as a adjective with the corporate name of God YHWH or the Tetragrammaton. Below is a listing of the verses where YHWH 'elohim exists in the Hebrew.

Genesis: 2:4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22; 3:1, 8, 9, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23; 9:26; 24:3, 7, 12, 27, 42, 48; 27:20; 28:13, 21

Exodus: 3:15, 16, 18; 4:5; 5:1, 3; 6:7; 7:16; 8:10, 26, 27, 28; 9:1, 13, 30; 10:3, 7, 8, 16, 17, 25, 26; 15:26; 16:12; 20:2, 5, 7, 10, 12; 23:19, 25; 29:46; 32:11, 27; 34:23, 24, 26

Leviticus: 4:22; 11:44; 18:2, 4, 30; 19:2, 3, 4, 10, 25, 31, 34, 36; 20:7, 24; 23:22, 28, 40, 43; 24:22; 25:17, 38, 55; 26:1, 13, 44

Deuteronomy: 1:6, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 41; 2:7, 29, 30, 33, 36, 37; 3:3, 18, 20, 21, 22; 4:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 39, 40; 5:2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 24, 25, 27, 32, 33; 6:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 25; 7:1, 2, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25; 8:2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, 20; 9:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 23; 10:9, 12, 14, 17, 20, 22; 11:1, 2, 12, 13, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31; 12:1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 18, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29, 31; 13:3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 16, 18; 14:1, 2, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29; 15:4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21; 16:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22; 17:1, 2, 8, 12, 14, 15, 19; 18:5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; 19:1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 14; 20:1, 4, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18; 21:1, 5, 10, 23; 22:5; 23:5, 14, 18, 20, 21, 23; 24:4, 9, 13, 18, 19; 25:15, 16, 19; 26:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19; 27:2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10; 28:1, 2, 8, 9, 13, 15, 45, 47, 52, 53, 58, 62; 29:6, 10, 12, 15, 18, 25, 29; 30:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 16, 20; 31:3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 26

Joshua: 1:9, 11, 13, 15, 17; 2:11; 3:3, 9; 4:5, 23, 24; 7:13, 19, 20; 8:7, 30; 9:9, 18, 19, 24; 10:19, 40, 42; 13:14, 33; 14:8, 9, 14; 18:3, 6; 22:3, 4, 5, 19, 24, 29, 34; 23:3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16; 24:2, 17, 18, 23, 24

1 Samuel: 2:30; 6:20; 7:8; 10:18; 12:9, 12, 14, 19; 13:13; 14:41; 15:15, 21, 30; 20:12; 23:10, 11; 25:29, 32, 34; 30:6

1 Kings: 1:17, 30, 36, 48; 2:3; 3:7; 5:3, 4, 5; 8:15, 17, 20, 23, 25, 28, 57, 59, 60, 61, 65; 9:9; 10:9; 11:4, 9, 31; 13:6, 21; 14:7, 13; 15:3, 4, 30; 16:13, 26, 33; 17:1, 12, 14, 20, 21; 18:10, 21, 24, 36, 37, 39; 19:10, 14; 20:28; 22:53

2 Kings: 1:6; 2:14; 5:11; 9:6; 10:31; 14:25; 16:2; 17:7, 9, 14, 16, 19, 39; 18:5, 12, 22; 19:4, 15, 19, 20; 20:5; 21:12, 22; 22:15, 18; 23:21

1 Chronicles: 11:2; 13:2; 15:12, 13, 14; 16:4, 14, 36; 17:16,17,26; 21:17; 22:1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 18, 19; 23:25; 24:19; 28:4, 8, 20; 29:1, 10, 16, 18, 20

2 Chronicles: 1:1, 9; 2:4, 12; 6:4, 7, 10, 14, 16, 17, 19, 41, 42; 7:22; 9:8; 11:16; 13:5, 10, 11, 12, 18; 14:2, 4, 7, 11; 15:4, 9, 12, 13; 16:7; 19:4, 7; 20:6, 19, 20; 21:10, 12; 24:18, 24; 26:5, 16, 18; 27:6; 28:5, 6, 9, 10, 25; 29:5, 6, 10; 30:1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 22; 31:6, 20; 32:8, 11, 16, 17; 33:12, 13, 16, 17, 18; 34:8, 23, 26, 33; 35:3; 36:5, 12, 13, 15, 23

Psalms: 7:1,3; 13:3; 18:28; 20:7; 30:2, 12; 35:24; 38:21; 40:5; 41:13; 59:5; 72:18; 76:11; 80:4, 19; 81:10; 84:8,11; 88:1; 89:8; 90:17; 94:23; 99:5, 8, 9; 100:3; 104:1; 106:47, 48; 109:26, 113:5; 122:9; 123:2; 146:5

Isaiah: 7:11; 17:6; 21:17; 24:15; 25:1; 26:13; 30:18; 36:7; 37:4, 20, 21; 38:5; 41:13; 43:3; 48:17; 49:5; 51:15, 22; 55:5; 60:9

Jeremiah: 2:17, 19; 3:13, 21, 22, 23, 25; 5:14, 19, 24; 7:28; 8:14; 11:3; 13:12, 16; 14:22; 15:16; 16:10; 21:4; 22:9; 23:2, 23; 24:5; 25:15; 26:13, 16; 30:2, 9; 31:1, 6, 18; 32:27, 36; 33:4; 34:2, 13; 35:17; 37:3, 7; 38:17; 40:2; 42:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 20, 21; 43:1, 2; 44:7; 45:2; 50:4, 28; 51:10

Note: Jesus never prayed using the corporate name of God since He would have been praying in part to Himself. He always prayed to the "Father."

What Is God’s Name?

Pronouncing the Tetragrammaton

October 16, 2024
Biblical Archeology Review

If you regularly read Bible History Daily posts, Biblical Archaeology Review articles, or are a fan of biblical history in general, you’ve probably come across the name Yahweh once or twice when referring to the God of Israel. Someone new to the world of biblical scholarship, however, might be left a bit confused about the name, since it isn’t found anywhere in the most common Bible translations. Even the most famous translation of the Bible—the King James Version—uses the name Jehovah for the God of Israel in the Old Testament. Many, then, might ask where the name Yahweh originated.

In the original Hebrew, the name of God is given as four letters, YHWH, known as the Tetragrammaton; these letters are the root of both Jehovah and Yahweh. In “Parsing the Divine Name” in the Fall 2024 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, biblical scholar Ronald Hendel explains how scholars and archaeologists came to the conclusion that Yahweh was the most likely pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton. As Hendel argues, “The vocalization of the first syllable is actually preserved, mostly in liturgical expressions and personal names. ‘Halleluyah,’ a frequent refrain in the Psalms, means ‘Praise Yah.’” Likewise, Hendel explains, the names of many individuals in the Hebrew Bible contain the name “Yah,” such as Obadiah, Isaiah, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Nehemiah. Therefore, Hendel concludes, “this is obvious evidence for the ancient pronunciation of the first syllable of the name YHWH as Yah.”

The pronunciation of the second syllable is fairly easy to figure out when comparing the name YHWH to similar Hebrew words with “Yah” as the first element, such as the place-name Yavneh, which derives from the verb yabneh (“he builds”). Hendel writes: “This verb was originally yabniyu in pre-Hebrew dialects and contracted to yabneh (with the final he indicating the e). The history of the divine name probably follows the same pattern, with the pre-Hebrew Yahwiyu contracting to Yahweh.” This pronunciation seems all the more likely considering that some Greek transcriptions of the Hebrew Bible even use Iabe and Iaoue for YHWH.

As Hendel explains, some of the confusion over the correct pronunciation of the divine name resulted from the early Jewish prohibition against speaking the name of God out loud, which stems from Exodus 20:7, “You shall not take the name of YHWH your God in vain.” While this commandment originally referred to cursing God or using his name when taking false oaths, later Second Temple traditions expanded on the commandment to include any utterance of the divine name. When reading from the scriptures, they would speak the name Adonai (“my Lord” in Hebrew) in the place of YHWH. Thus, when the Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible was translated in the early second century BCE, YHWH was replaced with Kurios (“Lord” in Greek). This tradition is even kept alive in the majority of modern English translations of the Bible, with YHWH being replaced with “the LORD” in all capital letters.

When Hebrew vowel points were invented by rabbis in the medieval period, they decided to put the vowels for Adonai under YHWH in order to remind the reader not to speak the divine name out loud. It was these medieval scriptures that would be compiled into the Masoretic Text—the oldest known complete Hebrew Bible. This text is the foundation for most English translations of the Bible, including the King James Version. Many early Protestant reformers read these texts at face value and believed it to be the correct pronunciation of the divine name, resulting in the name Jehovah. Although this reading is incorrect, we cannot fault these early translators for misunderstanding what they saw in the Hebrew text.

Parsing the Divine Name

By Ronald S. Hendel
Biblical Archeology Review
Fall 2024

Articles in BAR often write “Yahweh” as the name of ancient Israel’s God. This concerns some readers, as occasionally expressed in letters to the editor (see Queries & Comments). Here, I explain why many—but not all—biblical scholars and archaeologists use this name. The problem involves two intertwined facts: (1) The letters of the tetragrammaton—YHWH—are not fully vocalized in the Hebrew Bible; and (2) Jewish tradition prohibits the pronunciation of this name. Why, then, do we say Yahweh if this pronunciation is both obscure and heretical? I first address the name’s obscure vocalization, and then the apparent heresy.1

Ancient Hebrew is written consonantally, with some consonants used sometimes to indicate vowels. In the four letters of the tetragrammaton, the first three letters represent consonants, and the last letter (the final he) is a vowel marker. This is so in Iron Age inscriptions—for instance, in the Mesha Stele, the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions, and letters from Arad and Lachish—and in the Hebrew Bible.

In the Bible, the consonantal writing is overlaid with vowel points inserted in medieval times, which preserve old reading traditions. The vowel points usually written under the letters YHWH are the vowels for the Hebrew word Adonai, “my Lord.” They are not the vowels for YHWH. Why is this so? Because the reading tradition preserves the custom that one does not pronounce the name of God, instead substituting the epithet “my Lord.” This customary substitution goes back to at least the third century BCE, when the Old Greek translation of the Pentateuch translated YHWH as “Lord” (kurios, in Greek) or copied the name in Hebrew letters. The point is that the reading tradition doesn’t preserve the original pronunciation of YHWH. So why do we think that Israelites and Jews in earlier periods pronounced it as Yahweh?

The answer is pretty straightforward. The vocalization of the first syllable is actually preserved, mostly in liturgical expressions and personal names. “Halleluyah,” a frequent refrain in the Psalms, means “Praise Yah.” Yah is a short form of God’s name, as it is in Exodus 15:2, “Yah is my strength and my might.” The same short form is found in many personal names, such as Obadiah (“servant of Yah”) and in the names of many well-known biblical figures, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Josiah, Micaiah, Zedekiah, Zechariah, and Nehemiah. This is obvious evidence for the ancient pronunciation of the first syllable of the name of YHWH as Yah.

The pronunciation of the second syllable is relatively easy to sort out. The final he, the vowel marker, can indicate e, ō, or ā. Following the first syllable Yah, the only final vowel that makes linguistic sense is e. This is because a Hebrew word starting with ya- is inevitably a verb, for which a final he always indicates the vowel e. An example is the place-name Yavneh, which derives from the verb yabneh, “he builds.” This verb was originally yabniyu in pre-Hebrew dialects and contracted to yabneh (with final he indicating the e). The history of the divine name Yahweh probably follows the same pattern, with pre-Hebrew Yahwiyu contracting to Yahweh. The evidence of some later Greek transcriptions, Iabe and Iaoue, points to the same outcome.

Yahweh might originally be a dynamic form of the verb “to be,” meaning something like “he moves, blows,” or it could be a causative form, meaning something like “he makes.” But the name’s meaning seems to have been forgotten in classical Hebrew. At Mt. Horeb, when Moses asks God to reveal his name, God says ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh (“I am that I am,” or “I am he who continually exists”), which is a wordplay on the not-yet-revealed name Yahweh. Then God tells Moses that his true name is YHWH (remember, not fully vocalized in the consonantal text), concluding his speech with a touch of poetry: “This is my name forever; this is my designation for all generations” (Exodus 3:14–15). Notice that God’s name is both concealed and revealed in this scene. The name is hinted at with “I am” because ʾehyeh sounds like Yahweh.

The second part of the problem involves the prohibition of pronouncing the name Yahweh. Why was the word “Lord” (or other substitutions) used instead? This has to do with the interpretation of the third commandment, “You shall not take the name of YHWH your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7; cf. Deuteronomy 5:11). This seems to forbid invoking the name of YHWH in false oaths or other illicit speech. Cursing God is prohibited in Exodus 22:28 and is punished by death in Leviticus 24:15–16. Taking a false oath in God’s name is prohibited in Leviticus 19:12. Oaths generally used the phrase “as YHWH lives” (ḥay-yhwh), as when King Saul says, “As YHWH lives, no punishment will come to you for this thing” (1 Samuel 28:10). This is explained as “Saul swore to her by YHWH.” Originally, this commandment prohibited the misuse of God’s name. It had nothing to do with the pronunciation of the name itself.

Later interpretive tradition expanded the scope of this commandment to include any invocation of the name of YHWH. (The earliest evidence is the Old Greek translation of Leviticus 24:16, which gives the death penalty to “whoever names” the name of God, reinterpreting the Hebrew, “whoever curses.”) This follows the common tendency to “build a hedge around the Law.” If one never says the name of YHWH, then one can never take it in vain. This interpretive move means that other terminology must be used when saying God’s name or reading the name YHWH in the Bible. “Lord” or “my Lord” fit the bill nicely. Orthodox Jews often say “the Name” (ha-Shem) for the name of God, which is another way of not saying the name.

Why then do many scholars and archaeologists say Yahweh instead of Adonai (“my Lord”) as indicated in the vowel pointing, or ha-Shem (“the Name”) as do Orthodox Jews? This is because critical scholarship usually prefers language that is historical rather than devotional. It is our own signal that this is academic speech, not speech of the church or synagogue. I should add that some scholars do say Adonai or write YHWH without vowels out of respect for devotional practices, including the traditional Jewish interpretation of the third commandment. This is a matter of personal choice. But my point is, when a scholar writes Yahweh in BAR or elsewhere, this is a historical claim, not a devotional one. It is not meant with any disrespect or hint of heresy. We simply think that this is the name as it was said in ancient Israel, by speakers of classical Hebrew and the writers of the Bible.

Editor’s note: Ronald Hendel serves on BAR’s Editorial Advisory Board.

YAHWEH 'ELOHIM

(LORD God is a Plurality of Persons)