In Hebrew, the name of God is written as YHWH. Since ancient Hebrew didn’t have written vowels, we don’t really know how it was pronounced back then. However, there are some Greek records that do have vowels. These records suggest that the name was probably pronounced as “Yahweh.”
Just before the first century A.D., many Jews started to avoid saying the divine name because they were worried about misusing it and breaking the second commandment, which says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain” (Deut. 5:11). So, whenever they read the Scriptures out loud and came across the divine name, they would use another Hebrew word, “Adonai,” which means “Lord” or “my Lord,” instead.
Eventually, Hebrew started using written vowels, which were small marks known as vowel points that were placed above and below the consonants in a word.
In the sixth or seventh century, some Jews began adding these vowel points for “Adonai” over the consonants of “Yahweh” to remind readers to say “Adonai” whenever they came across “Yahweh.”
Around the 13th century, the name “Jehovah” came about when Christian scholars took the consonants from “Yahweh” and added the vowels from “Adonai.” This created the sound “Yahowah,” which was later spelled as “Jehovah” in Latin. The first time this spelling was recorded was by a Spanish Dominican monk named Raymundus Martini in 1270.
Interestingly, this information is acknowledged in many Jehovah’s Witness publications. For example:
The Watchtower, February 1, 1980
THAT the divine name was used in early history is beyond question. But what about later times? Why have certain Bible translations omitted the name? And what is its meaning and significance to us? Interestingly, Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican order, first rendered the divine name as “Jehova.” This form appeared in his book Pugeo Fidei, published in 1270 C.E.—over 700 years ago.
The Divine Name that Endures Forever
Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk. Raymundus Martini used the spelling Yohoua. Soon after, in 1303, Porchetus de Salvaticis completed a work entitled Victoria Porcheti adversus impios Hebraeos (Porchetus’ Victory Against the Ungodly Hebrews). In this he, too, mentioned God’s name, spelling it variously Iohouah, Iohoua and Ihouah. Then, in 1518, Petrus Galatinus published a work entitled De arcanis catholicae veritatis (Concerning Secrets of the Universal Truth) in which he spells God’s name Iehoua.
The Watchtower, December 1, 1950
Aid to Bible Understanding (p. 885).
It’s interesting to note that the Watchtower has acknowledged in print that Jehovah is not actually God’s name. On page 23 of the foreword to The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, it states:
“While inclining to view the pronunciation “Yah-weh” as the more correct way, we have retained the form “Jehovah” because of people’s familiarity with it since the 14th century. Moreover, it preserves, equally with other forms, the four letters of the Tetragrammaton JHVH.” (New World Bible Translation Committee, February 9, 1950, New York, N.Y., 1969 edition.)
Actually, the Tetragrammaton is YHWH, NOT JHVH. If Yahweh is indeed “the more correct way,” then it implies that Jehovah is not truly God’s name. Notice that the 1985 edition of this book altered the original quote to say:
“While many are inclined to view the pronunciation “Yahweh” as the more correct way, we have retained the form “Jehovah” because of people’s familiarity with it for centuries. Moreover, it preserves, equally with other forms, the four letters of the divine name, YHWH (or, JHVH).”
Notice in the first edition, the Society admitted that they were “inclin[ed] to view the pronunciation “Yah-weh” as the more correct way”, they changed it to seem as if others viewed it as such. Modifying a quote to hide what was originally published by the New World Bible Translation Committee is a form of dishonesty that should shock and anger all truth-seekers!
What’s Ironic is that Jehovah’s Witnesses loathe the Catholic Church and have done everything in their power to strip their church of any trace of Catholicism. Despite this, their group’s very name contains a Catholic “invention,” the name “Jehovah.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses criticize traditional Christianity for “hiding God’s name” by substituting “Jehovah” with “the Lord” whenever “Jehovah” is mentioned in the Bible. They claim this is a Jewish “superstition” that disrespects God (which it really doesn’t). However, their own group has a name that was created from the same mindset that led to the use of “the Lord.”