The four Hebrew letters יהוה (YHWH) that represent the divine name of God in the Old Testament. (Tetragrammaton means “four letters.”)
- The tetragrammaton in scripture:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deut. 6:4-5 ESV).
I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols (Isaiah 42:8 ESV).
- From Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, page 42:
The word Yahweh comes from the tetragrammaton YHWH, which occurs nearly seven thousand times in the Bible and is rendered in most English translations as “LORD” (in small capital letters).*
Although the name Yahweh was not unknown in the days of the patriarchs, we might say the official revelation of the name didn’t take place until the burning bush in Exodus 3:13-15. Moses asks God for his name in verse 13, and God responds in verse 14 by linking “the God of you fathers” with the name I Am Who I Am (ehyeh asher ehyeh). This name, in turn is connected to the covenant name, the LORD (yhwh), given in verse 15. Yahweh comes from the Hebrew verbal root hayah, meaning “to be,” the same word used in the previous verse (ehyeh asher ehyeh). Yahweh is the most important name for God in the Old Testament because it was God’s way of reminding his people, “I am your God. I have been your God. I will be your God. And I am the only God. This is what it means for me to be your God. I am the self-existent, transcendent, independent Great I Am. I am the Lord.”
Learn more:
- Got Questions: What is YHWH?
- Bible Hub: Tetragrammaton
- Bible Study: What Is the Tetragrammaton?
- Ligonier Ministries: Yahweh
- Derek W.H. Thomas: What’s In a Name?
- Bible Research: The Translation of the Tetragrammaton
Related terms:
*Which I don’t know how to do. I tried to figure it out but gave up.
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