I wanted to bring out the information I have aquired since the 1980's in answer to the question posed,'How do we pronounce Yhwh?' I've used the 'preface' to the study, 'What is His Name' as it basically summerizes all the studies I've done on the Name. But it is fairly long, so I hope it will pass as a post. Bill
What is His Name, and what is His Son's Name If you can tell?
Preface
This was the first ‘Study’ that I ever did on the Name of the Almighty. It was basically written for our good & dear friends, Gary and Linda and to all our friends in the X Church that we were attending.
This was the short ‘Preface’ that I wrote to them, at the end of the study:
“Gary and Linda…I don’t claim to have any monopoly on the truth. I feel we should always seek the truth with an open mind, which is hard to do for most people because of traditions of the church, worldly peer pressure and in many cases, out-and-out persecution in one form or another. Many times, it’s family resentment to your change.
In my studies, I have acquired some biblical knowledge, but knowledge is not wisdom. I have always prayed for wisdom to do what is right since I was a boy, but I sure do not claim to be wise. What you do with this truth, once you find truth – whether you follow and do what it says, so as it becomes you or your character and how you can proclaim it to others, that is wisdom.
I have a love for Ellen and the X Church, for it was the Great Controversy that led me to the Sabbath truth and started my search in biblical history. However, I didn’t limit myself to X information. I studied from other Sabbath keeping churches also, like the Y Church, and the W Church , where I learned about G-d’s (Yahweh’s ) Holy (Set Apart) Days, and Annual Sabbaths.
Then you introduced us to Glenda. She had her brother Sonny come up and he gave bible studies on His Holy Name. I’ll always have fond memories of that weekend, the bible studies and of our families, Sonny and Glenda, Kathy and I, the Miller’s…all being immersed in the ice-cold lake in YAHSHUA’S NAME (6/12/83). I’d like to thank you for introducing us to Glenda and ultimately Sonny and ultimately YAHWEH and YAHSHUA, and thank Glenda and Sonny, but most of all YAHWEH for bringing us the truth of HIS NAME.”
This was written probably in 1984. Later, I corresponded with Dr. Koster until he passed away, and from him, I learned that the Tetragrammaton was made up of 4 vowels, not consonants, and that they were best transliterated into English as IAUE. I also corresponded with Bishop Pearce , and Pastor John Green , and they all basically agreed, although Bishop Pearce used an ‘AH’ sound for the last ‘hay’, which is a feminine ending for a name . I felt, as did Dr. Koster, and almost everyone else, that since any time a gender is mentioned with the Almighty, it is always masculine, that His Name most probably had a masculine ending also.
All brought out that Josephus, the Hebrew historian, and Priest that lived just after our Savior died, stated that on the High Priests turban, that the Name of Elohim was written in Hebrew on it, and it consisted of 4 vowels! Almost all Sacred Name organizations agreed with this, and all stated that when it is sounded out it is ‘EE-AHOO’ -EH’ or spelled out ‘Yah-oo’-eh’. However, most of them stated that if you said it fast it became ‘Yah’weh’.
Now the letter ‘W’ can and does function as the vowel sound ’U’ or ‘OO’ and does so in the English words, ewe, new, blew, and can function also as the vowel ‘O’, as in sew. However, in the Name ‘YAHWEH’ the ‘W’’ represents the shortened sound of the consonant ‘W’ which de-emphasizes the original vowel sound of the ‘double U’ or ‘double O’ (or simply the Long ‘u’ sound) of the Hebrew ‘Waw’. This results in the Almighty’s Name to be shortened from a 3 syllable Name with the emphasis placed on the ‘double O’ sound of the second syllable, to a name of 2 syllables with the emphasis placed on the first syllable. Furthermore, you are adding a consonant to the Name that Josephus definitely stated was made up of all vowels.
So, the Heavenly Father’s Name pronounced as YAH-OO’-EH (IA U’ EH) meets all the laws of Hebrew pronunciation as set forth by Young in his concordance, and also the book published by Eks Publishers , and furthermore, it agrees with Josephus and the Greek transliterations by the early Church fathers.
I summarized the reasons why I believed the Name of the Heavenly Father is IAUE (Pronounced as Yah oo’ eh which can be written as Yahueh), in the study I did on the Name . Here is a somewhat shortened version of the summary;
1. Hebrew scholars have proven that even though all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are classified as consonants, the ancient Hebrew alphabet had 5 letters, know as Matres Lectionis, which were used as vowels. Three of these are used in the spelling of HaShem.
2. Josephus’s statement that the Separated Name consisted of 4 vowels, long disputed by scholars, has been proven to be accurate by recent scholarship.
3. When HaShem is used to form other Yahwistic Names, the full form of the Name is never used. One of the two shorter forms of the Name is used in its place. Of the two shorter forms of HaShem, Yah (– IA or YAH ), or YAHU (–IAU or YAHU ), YAHU is the older original Hebrew form of the Name. In the Murashu documents it is used almost exclusively when HaShem is used in the beginning of a name, and over 70% of the time when used in the last part of a name.The modern form IA or YAH, is post exilic, and comes from the Aramaic influence, not from the original Hebrew!
4. Murashu texts from the 5th century B.C.E. reveal Yahwistic names starting with YAHU (IAU ) instead of the Massoretic vowel pointing of JEHO or YEHO which the Massoretes used to begin Yahwistic names.The Massoretic texts are more than 1,200 years older than the Massoretic texts, and are therefore more valid, both historically and linguistically.Since the Murashu texts were written before the Talmud was written, the scribes who wrote them were not under the compulsion to hide or disguise the Heavenly Father's Name like the Massoretes,who were instructed by penality of death to do so by the Talmud!This shows that the Massoretic vowel pointing 'E O A' under Hashem was done for the puropse of disguising The Name and not just for the purpose of substituting the name Adonai.
5. YOD-HEY-WAW () is represented in the Assyrian transcripts sometimes as IAAU, sometimes by IAU, sometimes by IU, which brings out the importance or emphasis that was placed on the Waw or Double 'oo' or Double 'uu' (long 'u') sound.
6. The use of ANI HU (I AM HE) in the book of Isaiah, used as an abbreviation of IAUE, also shows the importance of the double 'oo' or long 'u' sound in His Name.
7. The transliteration of HaShem into Greek by the early Church Fathers as IAOUE, IAOUAI, IABE, and IAUE. All of these different transliterations sounding as IA-OO’-EH or YAH-OO’-EH.
8. The French Encyclopedia, Grande Encyclopedia, under ‘Jehovah’ reads; “YAHVAH …the pronunciation is probably more exactly reproduced by writing YAHOUEH.” (French ‘ou’ pronounced as ‘oo’)
9. THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, UNDER Jehovah reads: “It is now held that the original name was IAHUEH.”
10. The evidence of the ETHIOPIAN APOCRYPHA, as brought by the Frenchman Basset, that the Name was known as YAHOUE.
11. The rules brought out by Young in his Concordance used in Hebrew in seeking to correctly pronounce names, along with the rules put forth by THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, and the book published by Eks Pub. Co., A SIMPLE APPROACH TO OLD TESTAMENT HEBREW, all support keeping the long ‘u’ or double’oo’ sound in the Heavenly Father’s Name with the emphasis on the second syllable (the ‘oo’ sound), not the first syllable.
12. All these different facts all support the fact that the little known shortened form of HaShem, the Trigrammaton (–IAU or YAHU), is the secret, the KEY, 'The Missing Linguistic Link' to the full form of the Name of the Heavenly Father (IAUE or YAHUEH), and the link between the NAME of the Father and His Son, (IAUSHUA or YAHUSHUA).
Taking a statement that John Green made , and correcting it to the ultimate findings that he came up with we have: “BASED ON THE INFORMATION WE NOW HAVE AVAILABLE, THE FORM ‘IAUE’ OR ‘YAHUEH’ IS THE CLOSEST WE CAN PRESENTLY COME TO THE ORIGINAL HEBREW NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY”! –– Unless of course, as he stated, that if and when substantial findings of a scholarly nature, based on scientific–linguistic research, becomes available, providing additional information on the subject, then we would be obligated to move forward in this new knowledge.
That in a nutshell is why I changed from using ‘YAHWEH’ for HaShem to IAUE or YAHUEH, and YAHUSHUA instead of YAHSHUA, and why I went back and redid the study, adding some from the other studies I did later on His Name, and changing to the conclusion that John Green, and us, to the pronunciation we currently utilize in calling upon the Heavenly Father and His Son.
Bill Burton
The above was written in 1984, this is now 2007, and I believe that good scholarly information has now been presented that changes the equation somewhat. I still believe that IAUE or Yahueh is valid, but believe that IAUA or Yahuah, or Yahuwah, or Yahuweh as presented in the below studies, make an excellent case for their pronunciation also. Now looking back at letters I got from Dr. Koster, the one dated 8/14/88, he brings out the following points.
“The name was transliterated (into Greek) as:
1. I a (Alpha – ‘a’ as in pa or ma) ou ě (epsilon –short ě)
2. I a ou n (eta – long ‘ē’) e (epsilon – short ě)
Which both read as 1. Ia oo ě ( ‘e’ as in met)
2.Ia oo ēě (‘ē’ as in they) plus (ě as in met).
So, ‘Yah-way’ is not according to the Greek. If you have a Strong’s Concordance, you can verify this.”
Earlier in his letter he states; “I takes a miracle (the love of Yahushua and the love for Yahushua) to uproot deeply-rooted error! The ending of the Name could still be ‘AH’ instead of ‘EH’. ‘AH’ is not feminine. There are many masculine Hebrew names ending with ‘AH’, eg. Judah, Berachah, Elah, Ishuah, Micah etc. We also find masculine Hebrew names ending with ‘EH’, eg. Mosheh, Manasseh, Jabneh etc.”
“….some other conspicuous errors: Grant the Greek ‘U’ is a vowel that could be used and pronounced as a soft ‘W’ . However, the Greeks in Alexandria transliterated the Name as IAOUE. ‘OU’ is a diphthong. The dictionaries tell us a diphthong consists of 2 vowels which are combined as one and pronounced as one vowel! The Greek OU’ is like ‘through in English. Further: Josephus said the Name consists of 4 vowels (not 4 consonants). He as a Jew (Yehudah) should know. Bro. Donald Mansager, in his 2 articles on the Name in the ‘Master Key’, repeatedly admits that the original pronunciation of the Waw was ‘OO’!” (or a long ū my comment) …
“The Name must have 3 syllables, for the Massoretes put 2 vowel points around the Waw. So it can only be Yahuweh, or alternately Yahoweh, or Yahuwah or Yahowah, or Yehowah if you are willing to accept the Massoretes vowel pointing as correct. I you want to stick to Josephus 4 vowels, then let it be IAUE or IAUA.”
Love in Messiah
Chris.”
I also have many tapes from Dr. Koster, and he stated in one of them where he had someone singing songs about the Name, pronouncing the Name of the Creator as, ‘Ya –Hoo –eh’, stating that he was mispronouncing His Name. He corrected as, Yah-oo’ eh, with no Hoo sound. It makes sense if you consider it consists of 4 vowels, and as 4 vowels is transliterated as I A U E (or I A U A), which if you sound them out they are pronounced as IA (YAH) –OO’ – EH (or AH). The ‘I’ at the beginning of a word is pronounced as ‘ee’ combined as a diphthong with the ‘A’ to make the ‘YAH’ sound. The ‘u’ is pronounced as ‘oo’ or again as simply a long ‘u’ and the last vowel letter is either another ‘A’ or an ‘E’, to be pronounced as ‘eh’ as in met, or ‘ah’ as in Yah. As to which is correct, I do not know anymore after rereading Dr. Koster’s letter. The difference in pronunciation sound is slight, barely distinguishable.
Lew White in his studies on The Name of the Creator of the Universe, and Transliteration Study on the Name of the Messiah, bring out good arguments for the IAUA, or Yahuah for the pronunciation of the Father’s Name.
“The thing is, the Hebrew alef-beth has no letter "W" (double-U) - the letter "W" is less than 400 years old itself. This made me ponder why they would divert the four letters (which Yosephus declares are VOWELS), so as to be impossible to pronounce by inserting a letter that never existed, nor does it exist now, in the Hebrew. There's simply no letter "W".
So, perhaps my theory that the Hebrew letter we call "waw" (uau) is far from being anything like our modern letter "W", and is more like our familiar letter "U". "W" is called "double-U"; So maybe we need to think of the "waw" as a single "U", since it seems to sound like one in so many Hebrew words.
The letter "W" is recent, only coming into existence in the 1300's; so the actual letter in the Hebrew is closer to being what we know as the letter "U". The phrase "HALLELU YAH" uses this same Hebrew letter called "waw" to give the "U" sound. The name of the tribe "YAHUDAH" gives us the same result (yod-hay-uau-dalet-hay) -- and this is the same spelling, and order, for the Creator's personal Name, with the addition of the letter dalet. Perhaps instead of calling it a "waw", we need to call it a "UAU".
When I began researching the tetragrammaton, all the resources pointed to the Jewish Encyclopedia as their credibility.
This also is the source for their comments regarding the statements like "the actual pronunciation has been lost" . . . . and other comments about how it should NEVER be uttered aloud. Then, the Jewish Encyclopedia declares that "YAHWEH" is perhaps the closest rendering that can be made, given what we know now.
But, as I went to the Hebrew alef-beth to learn how to make the letter sounds for different words, I discovered that the letter that is CALLED "waw" by name is really more like our letter "U".
The thing is, the Hebrew alef-beth has no letter "W" (double-U) - the letter "W" is less than 400 years old itself. This made me ponder why they would divert the four letters (which Yosephus declares are VOWELS), so as to be impossible to pronounce by inserting a letter that never existed, nor does it exist now, in the Hebrew. There's simply no letter "W".
So, I asked myself why might this be. AH! They don't want anyone pronouncing the true Name! And, the authors of the articles in the
Jewish Encyclopedias are JEWISH ORTHODOX RABBIS, who revere the TALMUD, which prescribes the death-penalty for uttering the Name aloud.
Then, it was simply a matter of looking at all the situations where the letter we call "waw" is used in other Hebrew words. We see the "waw" in the phrase "hallelu Yah", where the "u" is this letter.
Also, in the spelling of the tribe known as "Yahudah", the same letter is giving us that "u" sound. The letters are symbols for SOUNDS.
The secret is simple: "YAHUDAH" is spelled YOD-HAY-UAU-DALETH-HAY.
Notice the four letters in this five-lettered word. It's as simple as saying "YAHUDAH", without the sound of the letter "D": YAHUAH. “
You might check out the articles at
www.fossilizedcustoms.com/transliteration.html and
www.fossilizedcustoms.com/name.html Now, Dave Ray in his scholarly study about the Name of the Creator & His Son, ‘The False Name and Mystery Babylon Begotten through the Pen of Deceitful ‘Scribes – the True Name is the Key of Knowledge makes the case for Yahuwah, stating that the ‘wah’ ending is feminine. I believe he definitely refutes the study by Gerard Gertoux (a French Hebrew scholar, I believe a Catholic scholar) stating that he name is Y.eH.oW.aH, Which is Pronounced as it is Written, I_Eh_oU_Ah. Dave shows that the ‘Yeho’ beginning of the name as going back to the Masoretes and their vowel use of ‘eoa’ where as the Paleo Hebrew (which was the ‘Biblical Hebrew’ of the Old Testament, at least until the Babylonian captivity, which is about the time that the Talmudism came into being after the carrying away into Babylon.) and the even more Ancient Hebrew used a-u-a for the construct of words, being the proper sequence of vowels in a word. “Therefore four consonantical letters YHWH can not yield a two syllable word properly, but it can and must yield to a three syllable word….”
It is an excellent study, showing all 3 Hebrew Aleph-bet’s , Ancient, Paleo, and modern square or Aramaic Hebrew, and is a thorough study, which can be read on line at loveshalom.com or ordered direct from him. I can Not summarize it in a few sentences.
Last I would like to quote some of the post of Shalom 82 in answering the question ‘How do we Pronounce Yhwh?’ on the Yada Yahweh Forum. I believe he summarizes the Name issue extremely well.
“We know that Yod and Heh make up the sound Yah as in HalleluYAH
We know that Yod, Heh, and Waw form Yahu, from the names in the scriptures and even modern names like Netanyahu There is only one syllable left which is the last heh.
There are only a couple realistic pronunciations that could be viable
Yah-oo-eh
Yah-hoo-eh
Yah-oo-ah
Yah-hoo-ah
We can slim it down from there based on much of the evidence written about the name
Josephus wrote that the name's letter functioned as vowels in this case.
That would sorta do away with the hard h sound in the oo part of the name.
So, is it ah or eh? Many people make the case for the ah ending because of Yahudah.....if you subtract the dalet you get YHWH. So their logical conclusion is that you get Yahuah.
But you have to take into account the fact that the final heh was modified by the dalet. Without that dalet it's a different story.
In conclusion I don't see it really as a big deal. I am not going to hate or argue and yell and scream at a person who pronounces it Yahuah when I pronounce it Yahuweh. What matters is that we are making the effort and basing our effort to call on the name on scripture. The differences in pronunciation are minimal and we can all understand who we are calling on.
The name will be revealed soon enough, so what I suggest now is that we put all the arguing and infighting aside and realize in all that call on the name of YHWH, that we are trying to do his will out of a love for Him and what He has said in His scriptures.
I will fellowship with a person who calls on the name of Yahuah or Yahweh or any other name within reason even though I have come to the conclusion that Yahuweh is the truest pronunciation out there. I would much rather use a SLIGHTLY incorrect form of his true name than a substitution title of that name that he hates.
Baruch Hashem....YAHUWEH!!!....as Moshe Koniuchowsky would say”
I see that the Hebrew charactors did not carry over. the Hebrew font was David Fix. Tried copying the fonts to his post, and it wouldn't paste it.
Edited by user Friday, November 9, 2007 9:10:27 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
