WE MUST PRONOUNCE THE NAME OF
GOD, YAHVEH
The proper name of God has the
consonants yod, he, vav,
he, and its correct vocalization was registered by two old Christian writers, that
transliterated the Sacred Name to the Greek as “IAOUE” or “IABE”, and in Greek
“OU” has the sound of “U” (the pronunciation is as “OO”) and “B” has the sound
of “V”.
The Hebrew letter “vav” originally had sound
of “w” , but nowadays it is pronounced with the sound
of “v”.
The letter “he” in the end of the word is mute, except when it is marked
with a point (“mapiq”), to indicate that it must be
pronounced.
Therefore, the proper name of God
is written in Hebrew in the following way:
“yod” vocalized with
“patach”, that has sound of “a”;
“he” vocalized with “schwa”, that indicates absence of vowel, but can
also be pronounced with sound of “e”, when it is impossible to pronounce the
consonant without any vowel, or when one is pronouncing in a slower way;
“vav” vocalized with
“segol”, that has sound of “e”;
“he” without vowel and without point (“mappiq”), which is mute.
Therefore, the true pronunciation of the proper name of God is Yahveh, or Yaheveh, and the final H is not
pronounced.
The proper name of God, written in Hebrew letters, is יַהְוֶה .
The name of God must be
pronounced, because in Psalms 105:1 it is written: “PRAISE YAHVEH, CALL HIS
NAME”.
In Exodus 23:13 it is written:
ÊX 23.13 AND IN ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE SAID TO YOU TAKE YE HEED: AND
MAKE NO MENTION OF THE NAME OF OTHER GODS, NEITHER LET IT BE HEARD OUT OF THY
MOUTH.
Therefore, we see that God
commanded that we do not pronounce the names of the other gods,
that are the false gods, the demons.
This shows that God
established that not to pronounce a the name of a god
means that we are rejecting and detesting him.
Therefore, when the Jews had the unhappy idea of ceasing to pronounce
the name of Yahveh, the blessed Creator God, they made a very wrong
thing.
In Jeremiah 23:26-27, it is written:
26 HOW LONG SHALL THIS BE IN THE
HEART OF THE PROPHETS THAT PROPHESY LIES, EVEN THE PROPHETS OF THE DECEIT OF
THEIR OWN HEART?
27 THAT THINK TO CAUSE MY PEOPLE TO
FORGET MY NAME BY THEIR DREAMS WHICH THEY TELL EVERY MAN TO HIS NEIGHBOR, AS
THEIR FATHERS FORGAT MY NAME FOR BAAL.
And in Psalms 44:21-22 (in some Bibles
it is 20-21) it is written:
21 IF WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE NAME OF
OUR GOD, OR SPREAD FORTH OUR HANDS TO A STRANGE GOD;
22 WILL NOT GOD SEARCH THIS OUT? FOR
HE KNOWETH THE SECRETS OF THE HEART.
Therefore, we see that we must not to forget the name of Yahveh.
However, this practice of not to pronounce the name of Yahveh caused that the manner of
vocalizing the Sacred Name of God
almost was forgotten forever, because as in Hebrew only the consonants were
written, and when they placed the vocalic signs in the text of the Tanach they
did not place the correct vowels of the name of God, then the people stayed without
knowing how to pronounce the tetragrammaton, the four
consonants that form the name of God.
If it was not the fact that two old Christian writers, Clement of Alexandria and Theodoret, have registered the name of God in Greek letters, the true
pronunciation of the name of God
would have fallen in the forgetfulness.
Therefore, we must pronounce the name of Yahveh.
In Joel 3:5 (in some Bibles is
Joel 2:32) it is written: “AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT ALL THAT CALL THE
NAME OF YAHVEH SHALL BE SAVED”.
Therefore, it is really very important that we call the name of Yahveh, because we need to call the
name of Yahveh to be saved.
The name of God, when is
pronounced more slowly, is Yaheveh.
It also appears in the Bible
an abbreviated form of the name of God,
that is Yah, that is formed by the
letter “yod” vocalized with qamats
gadol, that has sound of “a”, and by the letter “he”
marked with a point (“mapiq”), that indicates that
the “he” is pronounced.
God wants that everybody
invoke him as God, whenever have some problem.
Many people, when have some problem, cry out:
“Jesus!” or “Our Lady!” But this is wrong, because so they are invoking other
gods, and God said for us not to
invoke other gods (Exodus 23:13).
It is necessary that the people, when they have some problem, cry out: Yahveh!, because so they will
be invoking the true God.
Yahveh bless you.
João Paulo Fernandes Pontes.
Published in May 25, 2008.
Updated in May 25, 2014.
EN
FRANÇAIS EN
ESPAÑOL EM
PORTUGUÊS בעיברית