The Tetragrammaton

[winningedge101]

How accurate is the translation of the tetragrammaton into Yahweh? I'm just interested in how sure scholars really are that the translation is accurate.

[iskander]

How accurate is the translation of the tetragrammaton into Yahweh? I'm just interested in how sure scholars really are that the translation is accurate.

It is not a translation.
How would you read aloud the English word YHWH?

[iskander]

To read the English word YHWH it is necessary to supply some vowels.
Which vowels would you choose?


YAHWAH
Jehovah
1611 King James Version (KJV)


Viewing the original 1611 KJV with archaic English spelling.
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Psalms 83:18 Context

16Fill their faces with shame: that they may seeke thy name, O Lord. 17Let them be confounded and troubled for euer: yea let them be put to shame, and perish: 18That men may knowe, that thou, whose name alone is IEHOVAH: art the most High ouer all the earth.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Psalms-83-18/

[iskander]

The tetragra... is silent, it is never pronounced , instead the four letters are read as Adonai or the LORD or HaShem ...
Or as some English speakers do, vowels are added to read Jehovah by agreement

[theterminator]

"The tetragra... is silent, it is never pronounced..."

Which vowels would you choose?


YAHWAH
Jehovah

how many different pronunciations of this word?

[MrMacSon]

how many different pronunciations of this word?

I once saw a description that it was originally a breath in and a breath out - the word for breath was the same as the word for spirit.

[semiopen]

The rabbinic dance is that the high priest used to say the actual name at some point; but now, after the destruction of the second temple, that has been forgotten.

On the other hand, Sabbatai_Zevi would allegedly say it now and then - which means people must have heard it in the mid 17th century but I haven't heard of anyone mentioning in writing how he pronounced it.

My wild guess is that the suggestion in the OP is a pretty good one - maybe there might be an argument between Yahweh and Yahveh.

[semiopen]

I was going to mention this in my post on Exodus 6, but decided it detracted from the main point.

Then He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession."

(Gen 15:7 TNK)

אֲנִ֣י יְהוָ֗ה - I am YHVH

Contradicts Exodus 6.

The next line goes -

And he said, "O Lord GOD, how shall I know that I am to possess it?"

(Gen 15:8 TNK)

Where Lord God is אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהוִ֔ה - Lord YHVH

We see this in Genesis only here and in 15:2

But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what can You give me, seeing that I shall die childless, and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!"

(Gen 15:2 TNK)

Since we pronounce YHVH as adonai, seeing the two words together like that strongly suggests that YHVH was pronounced differently when that construct was used. Today we read this as adonai elohim.

In the Pentateuch, we see that only in Genesis 15 and Deuteronomy 3:24 and 9:26.

We see it a lot in Ezekiel, relatively frequently in Isaiah and some in Jeremiah. The obvious conclusion is that the change was post exilic.

[theterminator]

i have an off topic question

Genesis 46:1-3 (NJB):
1So Israel set out with all his possessions. Arriving at Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2God spoke to Israel in a vision at night, “Jacob, Jacob,” he said. “Here I am,” he replied. 3“I am El, God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.


did the writer of the e source understand EL to be the proper and personal name of God?

[outhouse]

did the writer of the e source understand EL to be the proper and personal name of God?

Yes but only that particular god very early in the Ethnogenesis of Israelite cultures.

Before and even after the Monotheistic redactions of King Josiah 622BC, Yahweh and El were two distinctly different deities.


We some cultures as early as 800BC attributing all Els attributes and giving them to Yahweh including Els wife Asherah.


By our best knowledge the E source was originally a collection of text from communities loyal to EL. " Is ra El "