The Names – Yahweh & Yeshua

And I saw, and behold! the Ram [with 7-horns],
standing upon Mount Tzion –– and with him, 144,000,
having His name, Yeshúa, and His Father’s Name, Yahwéh,
written upon their foreheads.

REVELATION 14:1

Sacred Use of the Name of –

Updated!

These letters are known as the Tetragrammaton (the 4-lettered Sacred Name).
The source of these letters is Paleo-Hebrew and Aramaic ( ; )
— These are Consonants that are also used as Vowels, as witnessed by the 1st century
Jewish historian, Josephus, and reflected in early Greek Christian Testimony as ΙΑΘΕ, or, ih ah ooh eh.

The verbal root of the name, Yahwéh, is hayah and means, to be / to exist. In Exodus 3:14, the “I Am that I Am” is speaking in the first-person-singular of an absolute state of Being. Reflecting this, the name Yahwéh is the third-person-singular form of “I Am” and translates as, “He is” or “He-who-is” or “The Eternal Being” and implying The Eternal Self-Existent One.

He-Is, is third person-singular of “I-Am” and a translation of the Creators special Hebrew name, יהוה, Yod-Hey-Wau-Hey. In English, these consonants YHWH, are pronounced Yahwéh, in accordance with the Masoretic Hebrew texts and textual Scholars. (The form, Yehovah has demonstrably been proven as erroneous. See here.) Jews do not speak the 4-letter-Name but do pronounce the first two or three letters in words & names that begin or end with Yah/Yahu: HalleluYah, Y^ǝhoshúa or EliYahu—but not the final hey, as in, EliYahu-h. When the name Yahwéh is abbreviated to Yahw, the consonant “w” takes its vowel form of “u” and becomes Yahu, at the end of compound names. Whereas, at the beginning of compound names, it contracts further producing a quick half-vowel called a vocal Sh^ǝwa (Y^ǝho) in compound names. This can be represented either by an ^a or ^e or ‘ or ^ǝ but is usually written in English as an “e” and is a little misleading. In Hebrew, the accent is normally at the end of a word on the last or next to last syllable. In English the accent is normally at the beginning of a word.

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YHWH was translated in ALL-CAPS either as LORD or GOD because Jewish leadership banned the pronunciation of YHWH in the 3^rd Century BC and forbade it to be voiced as it was known and written. In its stead, the substitute names of Adonai and Elohiym were always read and spoken. That tradition passed into translations of the texts made into other languages.

   Later, the Masorete scribes perfected their own vowel pointing system and placed the marks into the text surrounding the Hebrew letters. But around the name, YHWH, in accordance with long held tradition, they placed either the vowels for Adonai or Elohiym to remind them NOT to pronounce the name as it is known and written.

   And later still, in the late middle ages, English translators who were ignorant of this practice, placed the vowel marks for the names Adonai and Elohiym around the name of YHWH and produced the hybrid name of Yehowah/Jehovah. It became a widespread tradition that translators were slow to correct until the late 1900’s. Though Jews do not pronounce the name as written, some Jews have the practice in meditation to breathe in while mentally saying, Yahu, and breathe out, mentally saying, hey. Thus, they desire to fulfill the teaching in Psalm 16:8, “I place Yahwéh before me always”.

   In Prayer & Scripture reading they substitute, Adonai (my Lord Supreme) or Elohiym (God) for the name, Yahwéh, and in common speech, HaShem (= The Name) is used as a substitute.

   He-Is, is third person-singular of the first-person singular, “I-Am”. He-who-is, is a translation of the Creators special Hebrew name, יהוה and ΙΑΘΕ (are Greek vowels, eeY-ah-oo-eh. These 4-Greek vowels were anciently transliterated from יהוה (YHWH) reflecting the vowel form of these Hebrew consonants.

The Creators’ 4-Letter Name, YHWH (Yahwéh) is published and explained in universities and used in dictionaries, in Christian and Jewish publications and is no secret nor was it lost as falsely claimed by some. But, some still cling to the form of Jehovah (and other forms), which was first mistakenly promulgated in the 1300’s to 1500’s by those ignorant of the distinctive Jewish voweling practice in regard to YHWH, which signaled the reader NOT to pronounce YHWH as it is written but to instead read it as either Adonai or Elohiym. The scribes placed the vowel signs of these two names around the consonants of YHWH. This error has been widely corrected by scholars but it recently came back to the fore by a particular individual who misrepresents the grammar of the Hebrew manuscripts. See this detailed and thorough refutation with Hebrew Manuscripts and Hebrew Grammar here.))

Qumranians, Samaritans, and Jews have particular rules about its exclusively sacred use ranging from cautious to an extreme avoidance. We will explicitly explain it here, but do not be irreverent with sacred matters–especially The Name, and do not take His name into vanity or into falsity! There are belligerents and novices today making foolish and ridiculous claims about the Name ranging from ignorant to blasphemous. “Buyer beware!”

Remember, fine Chinaware is brought out and used only on special occasions.

Outsiders took the name into their pantheon of gods attaching vanity and profaneness to it and attempted to use it in their magic. Jews seek to protect the Name and treat it as “fine Chinaware” bringing it out of its special place only on special occasions in special ways! It is written and seen everywhere in their midst!

We will later discuss more about the name Yahwéh; But for now, let us show its connection with Yeshúa of Nazareth, the Messiah.

The Hebrew name ha’Adón Yeshúa ha’Mashíach devolved
into English as  the Lord Jesus the Christ (the Anointed One).

The form Yeshúa (or, Y’shúa) is an abbreviated way to write and pronounce the original name of Y^ǝhoshúa/Yahushúa (Joshua, eventually hybridized through Greek & Latin to Iesous/Jesus).

Many names in Hebrew were formed around the name YHWH (Yahwéh) and its abbreviations YH, YHW, and YW. The name, Isaiah is a Hebrew to Greek to English transliteration of Yeshayahu abbreviated to Yeshayah. The name Joshua is an English transliteration of Y^ǝhoshúa and can be seen in these two words:
Yahwéh-Yeshuát.

“O Yahwéh, I wait for your salvation (Yeshuát)” (Gen. 49:18);

Yahwéh said to Yeshúa: “I will give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation (Yeshuati)
to the end of the earth.” (Is. 49:6); See Strongs, H3444; H3442, salvation).

Y^ǝhoshúa was transliterated to English as Ioshua & Joshua. It is properly annunciated as, Ye-Shu-a, with the accent on shu. By the rules of Hebrew grammar, Yahweh abbreviates at the end of a name to Yahu (the consonant “w” turning into its vowel form of “u“). Yahu placed at the beginning of a name shortens to a half-vowel called a sh^ǝwa and thus shortens it to Y^ǝho . These is evident in the actual Masoretic Hebrew Texts.

Y^ǝhoshúa devolved into the English pronunciation of Jesus. From Y^ǝhoshúa → Yeshúa → Yeshu → Iesous → Jesus. How so? First, Y^ǝho-shú-a , (accent or stress is on shú) was abbreviated to Yeshúa in the post-exilic books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Notice that the same person is called by both forms of this name (Ezra 3:2; Zech 6:11). This abbreviated form was later properly transliterated into Greek as IHSOUS (via limited Greek lettering and grammatical rules and then standardized as such throughout the Greek Septuagint (LXX). Yeshúa was abbreviated into Aramaic as Yeshu. Only stupidity associates IHSOUS with the false god – Zeus!

יַהְוֶה Yahwéh

Hebrew reads from right to left, like so: 4←3←2←1. 
The Creator’s 4-letter-name (known as the Tetragrammaton) in Hebrew is: יהוה. Let us look at the foundation of the name of Yahwéh.

(a) הָוָה   Hâ-Wâh, is an Aramaic root verb used a few times in the Hebrew Bible; meaning: to be, to exist, to become;

(b) הֹוֶה   Ho-Weh, is a Hebrew root verb meaning the same; to be; to exist; only a few times;

(c) הָיָה   Hâ-Yâh, is the actual Hebrew root word of Yahwéh with the same meaning, as in; “And it is”: וְהָיָה (or, “And it shall be”); It is a synonym of (a) Hâ-Wâh and (b) Ho-Weh;

(d) אֶֽהְיֶה  Eh-H^ǝ-Yeh, “I Am” or “I Will Be” (Ex. 3:14)
1st Person Singular; and יִהְיֶה  Yih-Yeh, means: “will be”; 

(e) יַהְוֶה  Yah–Weh, “He-Is” 3rd Person Singular;

Thus one can visibly get the sense of the Name.

Some Notes

The root of (a) Hâ-Wâh, shown in the chart above, has an interesting further root: meaning, to breathe. (H1933 in Strong’s Concordance: הָוָה hawah.)

We find that Yahwéh is abbreviated at the ending of names as Yah and Yahu, as in HaleluYah and EliYahu. But, even this Yah is voweled with the more rounded “ahw”. So, הַלְלוּיָהּ HaleluYâh is pronounced as: HaleluYâh, and with a heavier ‘h’. Note: A pathach symbol ַ  has an “ah” sound as in “father” and a qâmets ָ  has an “ahw” sound as in “law”, which most modern Hebrew speakers do not differentiate pronouncing them the same as “ah” as in father.

Could we say? that Yahwéh is masculine and Yahwáh is feminine. The default pronunciation for nouns in Hebrew is masculine but also can include the feminine. And just as a man says in Hebrew: Modéh Ani (I give thanks), a woman says, Modáh Ani (I give thanks). A male teacher is a Moréh and a female teacher is a Moráh. A man is an Ish and a woman is an Isháh. A male parent is a Horéh and a female parent is a Horáh.

In compound names, there is a shift of emphasis/accent in syllables and, a consonant can change to a vowel. When Yahw ends the compound name, the consonant “waw” becomes a “u” as in Yahu. And the letters of Yahu at the beginning of a name is shortened, so that Yahu is then written like this with the accent on shú: Y’hoshúa or Y^ahoshúa or Y^әhoshúa. When spoken fast as normal Hebrew speakers do, these all sound identical abbreviated as Y’shúa. The correct accent is not on ho, hu, or u, but on shú. This is because the accented syllable in Hebrew is normally at the end of the word unlike English–normally at the beginning of the word.

We also find another abbreviation in compound names, that shortens יהו to יו as in Yoél (Joel) יואל = יהואל Y^ǝhoÉl. And, Yoḥanan (John). יוחנן = יהוחנן = Y^ǝhoḤanán and Yoḥanan.

And Yahushúa dwelt in a city called Natzareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazirite. Matthew 2:23; Judges 13:5
And Kĕpha said… “In the name of Y‘shúa ha’Mashíach ha’Natzareth, rise up and walk!” Acts 3:6
“[Sha’ul/Paul] is a ringleader of the sect of the Netsarim.” Acts 24:5; Isaiah 11:1

As stated, the Hebrew name of “ha’Adón Yahushúa ha’Mashíach” evolved into “the Lord Jesus Christ” in English. And, the form Y’Shúa or Yeshúa was an abbreviated way to write the original name. It was pronounced as, Y^ǝhoshúa, and was anglicized as Joshua. Y^ǝhoshúa has come down to us in the hybrid form of Jesus, via Greek and Latin. The Masoretic Scribes created the vowel & vocalic signs in the early middle ages. They voweled the abbreviation as יֵשׁוּע YeyShúa. At some point, all uses in the Greek LXX were uniformly edited to Ιησους. This passed into Latin & Middle English Iesus, & then Modern English as Jesus. So that it no longer has any resemblance to the original.

Let’s take it further

Take the name, יהוה – Yhwh: remove the final ה-h and get יהו – Yahu at the beginning of a compound name, or Y^ǝho at the beginning. Add שוע – Shua – יהושוע: Y^ǝhoshúa (Numbers 13:16). ישע – Yasha is the root of, הושע – Husha (Joshua’s original name). It contains the 2^nd and 3^rd letters of the name of יהוה in it. Mosheh took the first letter י of יהוה and added it to הושע and got יהושע. He also gave the שע (Sha) the fuller form of שוע-Shua from (שָׁוַע Shawa), to get, יהושוע-Y^ǝhoshúa (See Dt 3:21 & Jos 2:7, these are the same in Masoretic and DSS texts.).

Many words in Hebrew have a full form and a contracted form. יהושוע is the full form, but was usually written in a slightly contracted form as יהושע ; however, it retained its fuller pronunciation. This is obvious from a later abbreviation in Ezra 3:2: ישׁוע . (Compare also, יְשׁוּעָה y^ashuah and y^ashuati in Is 26:2., and Elishua and Elisha, אלישׁוע & אלישׁע, in 2 Sam 5:15 & 1 Kings 19:16). When we add the proper vowels to יהושוע, we arrive at Y^ǝhoshúa (the accented syllable is shú). The name of יהושוע, was also contracted to, ישׁוע – Yeshúa, see both forms, in Ezra 3:2 and Zech 6:11, is used for the same person. Those who were unfamiliar with this read it as: ישׁוע – Y‘Shúa and transliterated it into Greek.

In the manuscripts found in the Qumran caves, we have portions scriptures written in Greek that are dated to the first century B.C. But in 4QLXXLev^b, the 4-letter-name was transliterated from Hebrew with 3 of the 4 letters as: ΙΑΩ—(Ε, the 4^th letter, was left out. The lower-case is ιαω—(ε). Thus, two ways of transliterating יהושוע into Greek is: ιαωσους and ιαυσους. The ιαω and ιαυ form a triphthong (when 3-vowels are pronounced within 1-syllable, like, oil – o ee ul). This produces: IaoShúa or IauShúa, virtually the same. Furthermore, the successional evidence in Greek manuscripts indicates a change from the transliteration of Yahwéh as Iaoe or Iaue, to writing the 4-letter name in Aramaic (יהוה) and Paleo Hebrew scripts, and then to replacing it with alternatives: from ιαωε to ιαω to יהוה and יהוה in Paleo Hebrew, then a switch to using κυριος (Kyrios=Lord)^[1]Howard, George, The Tetragram and the New Testament, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 96, No. 1 (Mar., 1977), pp. 63-83, The Society of Biblical literature and the University of … Continue reading and θεος (Theos=God) avoiding the pronunciation of Yahwéh. In this altering, it is also demonstrated that ιαωσους was abbreviated to, ιησους.

     The Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew books of Moses was done in about 280 BCE. The copies brought down to us (with possible editing), translated both forms of the Hebrew name, יהושוע and ישׁוע, into one form, IHSOUS (ιησους). The Greek vowel letters “IH” (iota and eeta) in IHSOUS (ιησους) were used for the two letters YH but to be understood as the whole sound of the three letters יהו, Y^ǝho of Y^ǝhoShúa as the Israelites spoke it. When a Greek speaker, who had never heard an Israelite pronouncing Y^ǝhoshúa/Y^ahushúa, he would simply read the Greek lettering as, Iesous.

There is no equivalent Greek letter for the Yud י and the Hei ה of Hebrew. One must use the closest sounds available along with other considerations. The eeta Η η (upper and lower case), however, is sometimes carries a breathing sound like the Hei ה in Hebrew. In fact, the capital letter for the eeta η in Greek is Η. Further, in Greek, there is no equivalent “sh” sound for the Hebrew “sh-שׁ”, so the sigma (σ) is used (notice how it was doubled in the word, Meσσiaς– Messiah in John 1:41; 4:25). The ου is a dipthong equivalent to the voweled sound of the waw ו – oo as in loot. And, at the end of Ιησου, a final sigma (ς) was added Ιησους to make it a masculine name in the nominative case. Otherwise, it would have sounded feminine Ιησουa to the Greek ear—compare the names Julia and Julius. So, we have an abbreviated Hebrew name that has been rendered into Greek, then Latin and English. The “I” hardened into a hard “Ja” sound in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, from Iesus to Jesus.

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