The World English Bible (WEB) Part 148

Yahweh

"Yahweh" is G.o.d's proper name. In Hebrew, the four consonants roughly equivalent to YHWH were considered too holy to p.r.o.nounce, so the Hebrew word for "Lord" (Adonai) was subst.i.tuted when reading it aloud. When vowel points were added to the Hebrew Old Testament, the vowel points for "Adonai" were mixed with the consonants for "Yahweh," which if you p.r.o.nounced it literally as written, would be p.r.o.nounced "Yehovah" or "Jehovah." When the Old Testament was translated to Greek, the tradition of subst.i.tuting "Lord" for G.o.d's proper name continued in the translation of G.o.d's name to "Lord" (Kurios). Some English Bibles translate G.o.d's proper name to "LORD" or "G.o.d" (usually with small capital letters), based on that same tradition. This can get really confusing, since two other words ("Adonai" and "Elohim") translate to "Lord" and "G.o.d," and they are sometimes used together. The ASV of 1901 (and some other translations) render YHWH as "Jehovah." The most probable p.r.o.nunciation of G.o.d's proper name is "Yahweh." In Hebrew, the name "Yahweh" is related to the active declaration "I AM." See Exodus 3:13-14. Since Hebrew has no tenses, the declaration "I AM" also implies "I WAS" and "I WILL BE." Compare Revelation 1:8.