A close examination of the pronunciation.

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What we all agree on

The Heavenly Father’s name consists of four Hebrew letters, Yod Heh Waw Heh. In Hebrew, the written language reads from right to left, not left to right as English does. Thus, the four letters are יהוה Yod Heh Waw Heh.

Yahweh

This is the pronunciation that I believe is most accurate. It’s also the pronunciation that most scholars believe is the most likely to be accurate, and it’s the pronunciation universally used in their journals.

I understand the reservation with trusting in “scholars” because many of us have have been deceived by religious leaders in the past. But we can’t allow our past experiences to result in bias in one direction or the other whenever we are studying out a topic.

What we should do is investigate the reason why so many people who actually know and understand the language agree that “Yahweh” is the best possible pronunciation.

It turns out that there is a very good reason why they do. It actually carries a meaning in the language.

To discover the name’s meaning and pronunciation, it’s important to understand two basic things about how the language functions.

1. Most Hebrew words trace back to a three letter root. From that three letter root, certain letters and/or sounds are added to the beginning of the word or the end of the word along with changes in vowel sounds. The changes inform you whether the word is 1st, 2nd or 3rd person (me, you, him), whether it is masculine or feminine, perfect (completed action) or imperfect (ongoing or incomplete action), or more complex things such as intensive or causative. 
   
2. Because of this, the grammatical modification of the three letter root word will determine how the word sounds. This is somewhat like English where the verb “Run” changes to “Ran” if past tense is intended, and then “Running” if present tense is intended. We often add an s to a word to make it plural. Just as it will be hard for us to explain why “Ran” becomes “Running” to someone who doesn’t know the language, sometimes it is difficult for English speakers to understand why Hebrew does the things it does. This is part of the reason for the confusion, and why various pronunciations have been proposed, such as “Yahuah” and “Yehowah” that have no real meaning in Hebrew.

Understanding this basic fundamental principle of the Hebrew language will help us to understand the Heavenly Father’s own explanation of His name in Exodus 3:13-15. To me, HE would the best person to consult about the pronunciation of His own name, and He provides that for us in Exodus 3:

In the above verse, Yahweh said to Moshe “I AM THAT I AM” or “Ehyeh asher ehyeh.” Thus, He said to tell them “ehyeh” had sent Moshe to them.

“Ehyeh” traces back to the three letter root verb “Hayah” or “Hawah,” which means “To be.” It may have originally been “ehweh” because the older form of “hayah” is actually “hawah” according to multiple scholarly sources. Either way, both Hayah and Hawah give us the same meaning.

“Ehyeh,” is the way you pronounce the three letter root verb “Hayah” (a verb meaning, “to be”) in the first person imperfect masculine singular form. In light of this, why don’t we call Him “Ehyeh?”

We don’t call Him אהיה “ehyeh” because He said to call Him יהוה (Yod Heh Waw Heh, ‘Yahweh’) in the following verse:

Since the verb form of a Hebrew word tells us the correct pronunciation, to discover the pronunciation of His name יהוה we only need to figure out what the Hebrew word יהוה (Yod Heh Waw Heh) actually means. We can learn what it means by discovering the verb form that is being expressed.

Thankfully, we already know the three letter root word, “hayah” (sometimes hawah) because He already connected His own name to the Hebrew root verb meaning “to be” when He said “ehyeh” (I AM).

Unlike “ehyeh,” the sacred name begins with a Yod (Y sound). It is a consistent feature of biblical Hebrew to put a Yod in the front to mark the word as third-person (“He”) when in the singular imperfect (still existing) tense. So “ehyeh” would be first person (I AM), but the Yod turns it into third person.

For instance, look at these other Lamed Heh verbs, which are verbs that end with the Hebrew letter Heh:

• ראה (ra’ah) – (‘to see’) becomes יִרְאֶה “yirʾeh” “He will see” (Genesis 22:14 “Yahweh-Yireh” Yahweh sees in order to provide)
• בנה (banah) – (to build) becomes יִבְנֶה “yivneh” – “He will build” (1 Kings 11:38 “He will build the temple”)

Notice the יִ Yod in front. When Yahweh says that He was “ehyeh,” He was saying “I AM.” But when He gave us His memorial name in the following verse with the יִ Yod in front, it changes (like the examples above) to “He is.” It makes sense that Yahweh would not want me to declare that “I AM” when I call upon Him because I’m not Him.

Also, the fact that His name contains a ו Waw (W sound) in the middle rather than a Yod (Y sound), it may suggest that His name is derived from the more ancient form of “to be,” Hawah.

So is His name “Yeeweh? There are innumerable witnesses which clearly prove that the Father’s name begins with “Yah,” not “Yee.” The word HalleluYah, the names of men with the Heavenly Father’s name at the end of it (like ObedYah, NehemYah, etc.), and a large number of ancient witnesses in Greek, Latin and other languages that all transliterate the first syllable of the Sacred name as “Yah.”

To obtain the “Yah” sound in the first syllable, the only possible verb form would be the causative verb form known as the “Hiphil.” This results in the name meaning “He causes to be.” Let’s plug those into the above examples:

• ראה (ra’ah) – (‘to see’) becomes יַרְאֵה (yarʾey) – “He will cause to see”
• בנה (banah) – (to build) becomes יַבְנֵה (yavney), “he will cause to build”

Therefore, הוה “Hawah” (Root meaning, “To be”) becomes יַהְוֵה “He will cause to be.”

In light of this, the Hebrew word would be pronounced Yah-wey, and can be written as “Yahweh” since people typically pronounce “Yahweh” as “Yah-wey.”

Is it possible that it was pronounced a little different anciently? We do see evidence of various Hebrew dialects in scripture itself, such as when the Ephraimites didn’t know how to say “Shibboleth” in Judges 12:6. But in Exodus 3, Yahweh is connecting His name to a particular meaning in the Hebrew language. So in whatever dialect that is spoken, the main thing is that it retains its meaning in Hebrew, “He causes to be.”

The central question of all the religions around the world is, “Who is the one that caused all things to be?” When we say “Yahweh” we are calling on the one Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who “caused all things to be.”

In Exodus 3, Yahweh literally said to tell them “He who causes to be,” Mighty One of your fathers, the Mighty One of Abraham, the Mighty One of Isaac, and the Mighty One of Jacob, has sent me to you.” And then He said “This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.”

Now I realize that some may want to say the Masoretes didn’t have the “ancient vowels” and that their Hebrew is different than the Hebrew that was spoken in ancient times.

However, it is the only Hebrew text available that provides us with vowel sounds. Scholars can understand and translate the bible from Hebrew because of it. If someone wants to say the Masoretes were wrong, there really is no way to really prove that they were.

So if someone claims they are, they will have to do so without proof, and they will need to provide an entirely different system of pronunciation, grammar and syntax for the entire Hebrew bible.

I’ve not seen a single person who claims the vowels are all wrong actually do that.

Also, according to Emanuel Tov in his book The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint indicated that the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew that dates to the 3rd century BCE) matches up well with the vowel points provided by the Masoretes whenever it comes to transliterating Hebrew names. This shows a remarkable level of consistency over time. We’ll show you some examples of this later.

Getting back to the concept of Yahweh’s name meaning “He causes to be,” this also supported in places like:

Don’t they already know He is Yahweh? What is He saying here? 

If we understand that יהוה is the 3rd person causative form of the verb “hawah”, the Hebrew reader would understand that once He puts breath in them and they live, they would know that “I am ‘He who causes to be‘.” 

All throughout history the ultimate question of all religions is, “Who is the one who caused all things to be?” When we use the name Yahweh we are calling on the one true Creator who caused all things to exist.

There are 73 scriptures where Yahweh makes this statement that one “shall know that I am Yahweh”. He wants us to have the understanding that HE IS, and HE WILL CAUSE YOU TO KNOW THAT HE IS BY WHAT HE DOES. This is how He introduced Himself to Yisrael, for “He who comes to Elohim must believe that HE IS” (Hebrews 11:6).

We will take a look at two other popular pronunciations, Yahuah/Yahuwah and Yehowah, but we need to know that neither are valid forms of “Hayah” or “Hawah.” For this reason they are actually just Hebrew gibberish no reall meaning in Hebrew. They are just a collection of consonants and vowels that hint at the root word, but don’t give you an actual conjugation of that root word so that you can attach a specific meaning to it.

Look it up yourself. Just a simple Google search will tell you that.

It seems clear to me that when Moshe asked Yahweh what His name was, and He replied with “ehyeh,” He was trying to let us know that His name had a meaning. “Ehyeh” is in the first person and “Yahweh” is in the 3^rd person causative. Yahuwah and Yahowah aren’t anything at all. If Yahweh Himself in Exodus 3:14 was trying to attach a genuine meaning to His name, why would He settle on giving us a name that has no meaning at all?

Some suggest that since there are some other Hebrew names that don’t precisely follow Hebrew verb patterns or rules, Yahweh’s name shouldn’t either. But the fact that “Ehyeh” does follow the correct 1st person grammatical verb pattern, it would logically follow that יהוה would likewise contain a correct grammatical verb pattern. After all, He was using first person form to clarify the etymology of His name. And of all the proposed pronunciations, the only one I have seen that makes any grammatical sense or even carries a meaning at all in the Hebrew is the form “Yahweh.” 

In light of this, I love the fact that one can actually use the scripture where Yahweh gave His name to Moshe in Exodus 3 to discover the pronunciation. There is no better person to consult concerning the pronunciation of the Father’s name than Yahweh Himself. The pronunciation “Yahweh” communicates what Yahweh intended for us to express whenever we call upon Him: “He causes to be.” Yahweh, the true Mighty of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the one who caused all things to be.

Nevertheless, let’s take a look at the reasons why “Yahuah” and “Yehowah” are understood by some to be the correct pronunciation.

Yahuwah/Yahuah

This is one of the more popular pronunciations of late. But if we have all learned one thing in our walk, surely it would be that popularity proves nothing at all. So let’s take a look at what the supporters of this pronunciation are saying in light of the Hebrew scriptures.

Some claim that “Yahuah” was accurate because the “huwah” came from “Eve” which meant to “breathe life.” Their theory was that Yahweh’s name meant “Yah-gives life.”

First of all “Eve” does not begin with an ה “H” sound in Hebrew (see graphic). Notice it starts with a completely different letter, ח “Chet” which looks similar but gives us a guttural sound that we do not have in our language. It sounds more like a K, but air passes through the K sound. It’s often represented as “ch” or “kh” when transliterated.

Also, Yahweh’s name is not in any way etymologically related to the name of Adam’s wife. It’s related to the Hebrew verb “Hayah/Hawah,” which means “to be.” Yahweh Himself gave us that etymology when Moshe asked Him what His name was and He said “I AM THAT I AM” in Exodus 3:14. He said nothing about “Eve” or “breathing life.”

Some claim that the name “Yahuah” is correct because “you unconsciously speak the name Yahuah with every breath you take.” I tried that, but I didn’t hear “Yahuah” at all unless I moved my tongue to give me the “Y” sound, moved my lips to give me to “oo” sound, and then opened my mouth wider to give me the “ah” sound. It’s not the normal sound of human breath at all. I could make the same claim with “Yahweh” as long as you move your lips and tongue to produce those sounds in a whisper.

Others claim that “Yahweh” is indeed the right way to pronounce the Heavenly Father’s name in “Modern Hebrew,” but ancient “Paleo Hebrew” it is “Yahuah.”

The truth is, “Paleo Hebrew” is simply a different way of writing the same Hebrew letters.

See the chart below and notice that the letters in Yahweh’s name are simply written in three different kinds of fonts:

The oldest form is at the bottom, which is the pictograph. The next oldest is the “paleo” Hebrew, then the more modern looking square-ish Hebrew script. They are all simply three different ways of expressing the same letters and the same sounds. There is no difference in the language itself.

For a person to say, “I want to learn Paleo Hebrew,” it’s like Spanish speaking person saying that they want to learn “Times New Roman” English or “Arial” or Verdana” or “Brush Script English.” It’s all the same, it’s just a different way of writing the letters. If there was a difference, who has a tape recording of it?

Now some say the language itself and the way it was spoken was anciently much different than what’s in the Hebrew bible where they claim the Masoretes distorted the language. But whenever there are archaeological discoveries of ancient Hebrew inscriptions, the language itself is the same as what is in the biblical Hebrew that bible translators use today.

The oldest of these is the Kettef hinnom, which contains the oldest bible text ever discovered and it was written with the ancient Paleo Hebrew letters. It dates to 600BCE. Solomon’s temple still stood. Josiah was the King of Judah and Hilkiah had found the book of the law in the temple (2 Chronicles 34). Someone who had access to the original book of the law copied down the priestly blessing.

In spite of 2600 years of time passing by since that day, the Hebrew language in that amulet scroll is identical to the language we have today–letter for letter. Of the text that did survive the passage of time, not even one letter was different.

So some might say the vowels are all messed up because the Masoretes wanted to hide the pronunciation of our Heavenly Father’s name. Yes, the Masoretes had the responsibility of maintaining copies of the Hebrew scriptures. To ensure the Hebrew language was not lost, they wrote down vowel points below and above each letter. And yes, when it came to the Heavenly Father’s name, they didn’t want anyone to pronounce it so they inserted the vowel points for “adonai” or “Elohim” in the Father’s name.

On the final syllable of the Heavenly Father’s name, they placed a vowel point indicating an “ah” sound for final syllable of Adonai. If “ah” really was the final syllable of His name, their efforts to hide the true pronunciation would have failed. The truth is, they knew it did not end in -ah, so they were willing to put a vowel point with an -ah sound at the end. This shows that “ah” is not an accurate final syllable for His name.

Another person promoting the “Yahuwah” pronunciation claimed that since ה “Heh” gives us an “ah” sound in the beginning of His name (Yah), the same “ah” sound must also exist when the “Heh” is at the end of the word.

Maybe some don’t realize that there are a lot of Hebrew words where the final Heh does not give us the “ah” sound, so we cannot assume that it must be true for Yahweh’s name.

Even the word “Moshe” ends with a final “Heh,” yet it ends with -eh rather than -ah sound (see figure below).

Here are some other words and names where the final ה “Heh” gives us an “ey” sound::

• #2996 יַבְנֵה Yabneh (Yab-ney) begins and ends with the same letters as Yahweh’s name, and it ends with an -ey sound.
• #7740 שָׁוֵה Shaweh (Shaw-wey) ends with the same two letters as Yahweh, and it ends with an -ey sound.
• #500 אֶלְעָלֵה Elaleh (El-aw-ley) ends with the same letter as Yahweh’s name, and it ends with an -ey sound.
• #4723 מִקְוֵה Mikveh (Mik-wey) ends with the same two letters as Yahweh, and is translated “pools” in Exodus 7:19 and it ends with the -ey sound.

You might be familiar with Mikvey with because Messianics (erroneously) refer to baptism as a “Mikveh.” The “tsere” vowel point is found in these In each of these instances, giving us the -ey sound with the final ה “heh” functioning as a vowel letter.

Some may say that the Masoretic vowel points reflect a later form of Hebrew and the ancient form of these Hebrew names did not have the “eh” or “ay” sounds. However, the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the ‘Old Testament’ dating to the 3rd century BCE, transliterates the above 3 names with the same sounds as the Masoretic vowel points, showing that one the Hebrew in the Masoretic text is remarkably consistent with how Hebrew was spoken in the 3rd century BCE:

• Yabneh (יַבְנֵה, place name) in 2 Chronicles 26:6 is Ιαβνη (Iabnɛ).
• Shaweh (שָׁוֵה, possibly place name) in Genesis 14:17 is Σαυη (Sauɛ).
• Elaleh (אֶלְעָלֵה, place name) in Numbers 32:37 is Ελεαλη (Elealɛː).

So the 3rd century BCE translators of the Septuagint used a similar ɛ -eh ending as the Masoretic scribe (koine Greek has no letter for -ey), demonstrating that ancient Hebrew did not limit the final ה “Heh” letter to only the -ah sound.

Another argument used by those who favor of the “Yahuah/Yahuwah” pronunciation is the idea that it’s based on Judah’s name. Judah’s name is only one letter different than the Heavenly Father’s name in Hebrew.

“Yahudah/Yehudah” (Judah) יהודה contains the same letters as יהוה with the exception of the ד Daleth (D) being added to it. In other words, Yahweh’s name contains יהוה (Yod Heh Waw Heh) and the name of one of the sons of Israel (Judah) is יהודה (Yod Heh Waw Daleth Heh.)

Thus, they say that the Heavenly Father’s name can be “made simple” if we understand that since Judah is “Yahudah” in Hebrew, the Heavenly Father’s name must then be “Yahuwah.”

However, we cannot determine the pronunciation of one Hebrew word by looking at how another word is pronounced with similar letters. In Hebrew, you can have numerous words where there is a one letter difference and yet they are pronounced completely different. 

Here are a couple of examples in Hebrew where a word is only one letter different than Yahweh’s name, yet the pronunciation is different:

1. The word יֶהֱמֶה (Yod Heh Mem Heh) in Jeremiah 6:23. “Yehemeh” is only one letter different than יהוה (Yod Heh Waw Heh), but the pronunciation is different. 
    
2. The word יֶהְגֶּה (Yod Heh Gimel Heh) “Yehgeh” in Job 27:4. “Yehgeh” is only one letter different than יהוה (Yod Heh Waw Heh), but the pronunciation is different. 

If we removed vowels from two English words that had similar consonants, no one would argue that we can learn the vowels of one word by knowing the vowels of another. For instance “word,” “ward,” “wired,” and “weird’ would all have the same consonants (WRD) but different vowel sounds and different meanings. 

In fact, there are even examples in Hebrew of two words spelled exactly the same, but they are pronounced differently. The word שאול, which is pronounced “Shaul” (King Saul’s name) is spelled exactly the same as the word שאול, pronounced “Sheol.” “Shaul” means “desired” but “Sheol” means “grave.” The vowels and meaning are different, but the word is otherwise spelled the same, minus the vowel points. If שאול (Shaul) is spelled the same as שאול (Sheol), yet has different vowels, why would we believe that יהוה must automatically have the same vowels as יהודה?

Also, if the “Yahu” in “Yahu-dah” means “praise Yah,” this would be a compound word (2 words put together) with the “Yahu-” referring to first part of the sacred name Yahu- and the “-dah” coming from another word altogether, “Yadah.” Thus, we really can’t rely on the “Dah” pronunciation to arrive at the correct pronunciation of the final syllable in יהוה. Yahudah is derived from a different word.

Some say that because Yahudah (Judah) is called by His name, it must have the same sounds as His name. The reason why Yahweh’s name is upon His people is not because “Yahudah” contains part of Yahweh’s name as some claim. All of Israel is called by His name, including those who don’t have “Yah” in their names like Levi, Dan and others. The reason why all of Israel is called by Yahweh’s name is because of the elements seen in the priestly blessing:

So in conclusion, to base the pronunciation of the Heavenly Father’s name on how another name or word is pronounced is not sound reasoning and should be completely disregarded when seeking to understand how יהוה is pronounced.

This point also already challenges the next proposed pronunciation, which ends in -ah.

Yehowah/Yehovah

It’s a surprise to me, but another pronunciation growing in popularity is “Yehowah.” This is actually the Hebraic way of saying “Jehovah.” The term “Jehovah/Yehowah” came about when the Masorite scribes placed the vowels for Adonai in between the letters of Yahweh’s name. This was to show the reader that he was supposed to say “Adonai” instead of uttering the actual pronunciation of His name. 

Those who support the “Yehowah” pronunciation often say that the scribes were not trying to hide the name at all, but were actually correct in their vowel pointing. Their evidence is that the first vowel point in “Yehowah” produces an “Eh” sound and not an “Ah” sound like the first vowel sound in “Ah-donai.” But the Masoretes had to omit or change the first vowel simply because the first vowel sound in Adonai (Ah) matches the first vowel in “Yahweh.” What else were they to do?

Let’s take a look at a really good ancient witness. The Qumran manuscript of the Septuagint (4Q120) transliterates the first part of the sacred name as “Yah” (Yaw) rather than “Yeh,” when translating “commands of יהוה” from Leviticus 4:27 from Hebrew into Greek. This shows that “Yah” is the more ancient pronunciation of the first syllable in our Heavenly Father’s name..

Nevertheless, there is an even better way to be certain that the scribes were actually inserting vowels to cause the reader to say “Adonai” rather than providing us with the actual pronunciation of His name. 

If you have a Strong’s concordance, look up word number 3068 and 3069. They both contain the four letters in Yahweh’s name, but they have different vowel sounds:

Notice that the vowel points underneath the names are different. #3068 has “Yehovah” and #3069 has “Yehovee.” Where did this come from?

In the Masoretic text (Hebrew scriptures) “Yehowih” is found in over 300 instances. In each instance where “Yehowih” is found, the Hebrew word “Adonai” always comes before it. Thus, it says “Adonai Yehowih.” 

Normally the four letters contain the vowels from “Adonai” so that the reader will say “Adonai” instead of the true pronunciation of the Heavenly Father’s Name. But what if the Hebrew word “Adonai” comes before the sacred name?

If the scribes had actually put “Adonai Yehowah” instead of “Adonai Yehowih” the reader would have had to say “Adonai Adonai” whenever they came across this phrase, a rather awkward situation. Therefore, they put the vowel points for #430 “Elohim” (YeHoWiH) in Yahweh’s name whenever “Adonai Yahweh” existed in the text so that the reader would say “Adonai Elohim” rather than “Adonai Adonai.” Look again at “Yehovih” in the above picture of the Strong’s and you’ll see they are telling you this as well.

To me this easily proves that the intent of the vowel points inserted in Yahweh’s name was not to supply a correct pronunciation of our Father’s name, but rather to get the reader to say “Adonai” or “Elohim” instead.

Thus, “Yehowah” (and it’s companion “Yehowih”) are not correct pronunciations of our Father’s name, but are actually hybrids that combine the letters of Yahweh’s name with the vowel sounds of two other words: Adonai and Elohim.

Some suggest that since there are cases where the vowel point for “O” from Adonai is missing from the Name, there was a conspiracy to prevent readers from pronouncing the Name as “Yehowah.” But Exodus 13:9, Jeremiah 36:8, Ezekiel 44:5 and Nahum 1:3 you will find both Yehowah and Yehwah in the same verse.

Also, whenever the vowel points for “Elohim” are used, about 90% of the time they also lack the “O” sound in the middle. It appears that the Masorites were more careless with the placement of these uninspired vowel points due to the fact that most Jews had practiced the substitutions from their youth, and one or two vowel points from either “Adonai” or “Elohim” would have been sufficient reminder.

Contact me if you are interested in a point-by-point rebuttal to an article (which was written by an unbeliever) supporting the “Yehowah” pronunciation.

More evidence for “Yahweh”

One final point

To refresh your memory, the name “Yahweh” is based on the idea that our Heavenly Father’s name has a specific meaning, just as Yahweh Himself indicated it would.

Yahuwah and Yehowah do not have a real meaning in the language because it’s not a valid conjugation of the root verb, Hayah or Hawah…unlike “ehyeh” and “Yahweh.”

Our next evidence will come from an ancient witness by the name of Josephus, a first century Jewish historian and priest. In one of his books, he speaks of the high priest’s garments. In his description of those garments he says:

“A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels.”

Flavius Josephus: The Jewish War 5:5:7 [5:235]

This golden crown is mentioned here:

Notice he said the sacred name consists of “four vowels.” In Hebrew, there are four Hebrew letters that function as vowels: Aleph, Yod, Heh and Waw. Scholars call this the matres lectionis. Notice that the letters in Yahweh’s name are among them. The Yod, Heh and Waw.

That may surprise some of you, but the oo sound in “Halleloo-Yah” uses the Waw to give us the “oo” sound. The “ee” in Eloheem uses the Yod to give us an “ee” sound.

And the “ey” in Nineway (Eng. Nineveh) uses a Heh to give us the “ay” sound. The “ah” in Yahweh uses the “heh” to give us an “ah” sound in Yah, and the final “ey” sound for weh/wey.

So if one were to pronounce the sacred name only using vowels, it could be ee-ah-oo-ey if spoken very slowly and “Yahweh” if spoken quickly.

Since the sacred name contains four vowel letters, no one needs to say the pronunciation was lost due to Hebrew being written as consonants. In the case of Yahweh’s name, it consists of all vowels.

I find it interesting that if you were to arrange the vowels you were taught in grade school, A E I O U into a different order: I A O U E, and pronounce them “ee” for I, “ah” for A, “oh” for O, “oo” for U and “eh” for E, it would sound a lot like Yahweh because slight “oh” sound can be subtly heard when you go from “ah” to “oo.” Thus, “IAOUE” sounds a lot like “Yahweh.”

Interestingly enough, an early Christian by the name of Clement of Alexandria wrote in his work “The Stromata” wrote concerning the sacred name:

“Further, the mystic name of 4 letters which was affixed to those alone to whom the adytum was accessible, is called IAOUE…” The Stromata V;VI:34:5

Furthermore, when studying all the languages around the world, I found that almost 100% of the earth’s population can speak the four vowels in Yahweh’s name.

I should mention one other thing. Some are claiming that the form “Yahweh” is how the idol “Jove” was pronounced in Latin. This is simply not true, ancient Latin pronounced the initial syllable as “YO,” not “YAH.” I asked two experts on ancient Latin to confirm. Israel came out of Egypt and “Yah” is a moon idol in Egypt, but no one argues against using “HalleluYah” because it happens to be a moon idol in Egypt. Languages have many overlapping sounds.

To prove correlation, a person would have to trace one to the other. The only thing “Yahweh” traces to is the ancient Hebrew form of the verb “to be,” and the meaning “He causes to be” not only has a powerful meaning in Hebrew, it is based on Yahweh Himself giving us the etymology of His own name.

Don’t rely on English speakers who don’t know Hebrew to tell you anything about how the Father’s name is pronounced. You wouldn’t rely on Spanish speakers who can’t speak English to tell you what a Hebrew word is. You would either rely on someone who actually knows and speaks the language, or you would need to do a deep study yourself to discover what the word is, what it means, and how it is pronounced.

I’m not claiming to be a Hebrew scholar, but it is clear to me that His name must have a meaning, and the only pronunciation that I’ve ever seen that carries a meaning in the language and is related to the “I AM” root word is “Yahweh.”

Ultimately, I don’t condemn those who use a different pronunciation than I do. We should all just do our very best. But for me the evidence all points to “Yahweh” being the best possible pronunciation, and most Hebrew scholars, who know Hebrew better than most of us, have come to this same conclusion, with the well-respected Encyclopedia Britannica even saying “this pronunciation…was never really lost.“

I wholeheartedly agree.

This is who we call on, the one who caused all things to be. He caused all creation to be. He caused US to be. And when we rebelled against Him, He caused us to be saved when we repented and put faith in His Son Yahushua for the forgiveness of sin. One day we will cease from life on this side of glory, but then He will cause us to be raised up again. Until then, we say:

Knowing that all things are caused by Him, yes in Him I know we can place our trust.” No wonder scripture says:

I wholeheartedly agree.