What is the correct pronunciation of God's name?

What is the correct pronunciation of God's name, "YHWH"?

Genesis 4:1 illustrates Adam and Eve called our Father (God) my His name or His title. "Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man" (Genesis 4:1 (NIV)). Our Father's name or title would have been passed on from generation to generation. The phonics of our Father's name would have most likely been added to the alphabet or phonics of developing languages, unless all or part of His name was considered too sacred to speak.

Genesis 4:1 illustrates the name of our Father should have already been known before the birth of Moses, who lived from approximately 1393-1273 B.C. (plus or minus a hundred years). However, Moses possibly didn't know our Father's original name because "Moses said to God, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? Then what shall I tell them?" (Exodus 3:13 (NIV)). Our Father answered Moses (strictly translated), "and·he-is-saying further Elohim to Moses thus you-shall-say to sons-of Israel (YHWH) Elohim-of fathers-of·you Elohim-of Abraham Elohim-of Isaac and·Elohim-of Jacob he-sent·me to·you this name-of·me for·eon and·this remembrance-of·me for·generation generation" (Exodus 3:15 (Interlinear)).

According to tradition, the Torah (first 5 Chapters of the Old Testament) was dictated to Moses by our Father (Deuteronomy 31:24-26)). Moses would have likely recorded the name of our Father as "3Y3Z" (read right to left), possibly on a clay tablet in the Phoenician alphabet, which after several millennia, was transliterated into the English letters, "YHWH" (read left to right). The ancient Semitic languages, such as Phoenician, were written only with consonants, so the vowels were not written. The Phoenician language did not have a representation for the letter "J". Therefore, "YHWH" (known as the tetragrammaton), is the accurate translation of the consonant phonics of our Father's name (not JHWH, JHVH, or Jehovah). The ancient symbol "Y" (not letter) is transliterated into the English letter "W" or possibly "V", therefore "YHVH" (Yahovah) is also a possible transliteration of our Father's name. The phonics of vowels were added verbally to the consonants when written words were spoken. The ancient Semitic vowels were limited to "a", "i", and "u". Therefore, the tetragrammaton, "YHWH", might not have been pronounced, "YaHWeH" (unless the "e" phonic was a sacred phonic reserved only for pronouncing our Father's full name). Since an "e" vowel probably did not exist, scholars need to do more research to determine how "YHWH" could be pronounced as "YaHWeH".

The written language eventually developed with the addition of vowel points to aid in the pronunciation of words, but the vowel points were left off of "YHWH", so the pronunciation of our Father's full name is currently unverifiable. However, the shortened or informal name of our Father has been deduced by scholars from their research of particular verses in The Holy Bible, such as those in the Psalms.

Psalm 148:1 original wording (Interlinear)

hal·lū·hū, haš·šā·ma·yim; min- (YHWH) ’et- hal·lū yāh hal·lū

praise him the heavens from the LORD - Praise you the LORD Praise you

Notice the wording "hal-lu yah" and recall the word "hallelujah" from our popular religious songs. Hallelujah means "Praise God". The letter "J" was first added to the English language in the 14th century, replacing the letter "Y" with a "J" in hallelujah, and replacing the letter "I" with a "J" in Jesus.

Hallelujah is comprised of two Hebrew words, Hallelu and Jah.

'Hallelu' is a form of the Hebrew word 'Hallal', which means 'praise'. Jah is pronounced Yah. "YaH" is the shortened, informal name of our Father, and YHWH is His formal name. 'Hallelu' is the second person plural imperative form of this word. This means that it is actually a call for other people to praise Yah ( i.e. praise Yah all you people).

"YaH" and "YHWH" are used interchangeably in Psalm 148:1. "YHWH" was recorded 6218 times in The Holy Bible.

The term hallelujah is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (mainly in the book of Psalms, e.g. 111-117, 145-150, where it starts and concludes a number of Psalms) and four times in the Greek transliteration in the Christian Book of Revelation.

According to the Concordance for The Holy Bible, there are 46 occurrences of our Father's name "YaH" (YH) as a divine name by itself (as a noun), and in poetry about 49 times in the Hebrew Bible. For example, "YaH" appears in Exodus 15:2, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 38:11, Psalm 68, 77, 89, 94, 102, 148, 150, etc.

In the original text of the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew letters for Jah (YaH) occur 50 times: 26 times by itself and 24 times as part of a word 'Hallelu'yah' (as a suffix).

Adding the last vowel phonic onto "YaH" to complete the pronunciation of our Father's full name is a point of controversy. Some scholars think the last vowel phonic should be an "a", but many scholars think it should be an "e", which means our Father's full name would likely be pronounced YaHWaH or YaHWeH. In the third century B.C., the Secunda of the Hexapla indicates that it was blasphemy to pronounce the name, 'YaHWeH'.

Fortunately, "YaH" has been verified as our Father's informal name on original scriptures, which were written in Paleo-Hebrew, not English. Using the informal name "YaH" is probably better than the formal name for developing a closer, personal relationship with our Father, but using "Father" is probably best for developing the closest, personal relationship with Him. Therefore, I pray and offer my gratitude to our Father, YaH.

List of the most important questions with answers and information about YaH (God), Yehoshua (Jesus 'The Christ'), The Holy Spirit and The Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible chapter and verse references of the scriptures and gospels are quotes from: derived