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The Pronunciation of the

Tetragrammaton

John D. Keyser

Early in the second century A.D., after the last of the apostles had died, the falling away
from the true Christian faith foretold by Jesus and his followers began in earnest. Pagan philoso-
phies and doctrines infiltrated the congregation of believers; sects and divisions arose, and the
original purity of faith corrupted. And God's Name ceased to be used.

In time, however, God's Name came back into use. In 1278 it appeared in Latin in the work
Pugio fidei (Dagger of Faith), by Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk. He used the spelling YO-
HOUA. Soon after, in 1303, Porchetus de Salvaticis completed a work called Victoria Porcheti
adversus impios Hebraeos (Porchutus' 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 Name first appeared in an English Bible in 1530, when William Tyndale published a
translation of the first five books of the Bible. In this he included the Name of God, usually spelled
IEHOUAH, in several verses, and in a note to this edition he wrote: "IEHOVAH is God's
Name...Moreover as oft as thou seeist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the print-
ing) it is in Hebrew IEHOVAH."

In succeeding centuries Bible translators went in one of two directions: Some avoided any
use of God's Name, while others used it extensively in the Hebrew Scriptures, but had a difference
of opinion regarding which form to use -- either YEHOVAH or YAHWEH.

Most Bible Dictionaries, today, say the Sacred Name (or the "Tetragrammaton") should be
pronounced "YAHWEH," with a "W" sound at the end of the name or title. However, the Univer-
sal Jewish Encyclopedia declares unequivocally of this ancient name or title of God

"YAHVEH. 1. The Word. Yahveh is the MOST PROBABLE TRANSLITERATION of
the ANCIENT HEBREW NAME OF GOD. It is frequently, especially among GERMAN
scholars, written Jahweh, Jahveh, Jahve or Yahweh; BUT THESE FORMS CALL EI-
THER FOR THE GERMAN PRONUNCIATION OF J AS Y, OR OF W AS V, OR
BOTH. The oldest traditions as to the pronunciation of the name YAHVEH are found in
the Church fathers. Of these, Clement of Alexandria (about 215 C.E.; Stromata 5, 6:34Z0
writes Iasuai = Iaove [Yahveh], while Theodoret (about 386-457 C.E. . . . ) gives IaBe
[Yahbeh] as the Samaritan pronunciation and 'Ia [Yah] as that of the Jews (cf. also
Epiphanius, Adversus haereticos 40:5, who also has IaBe). The earliest post-Biblical He-
brew reading of the name known to us is YHVH, which is found in an old incantation
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