RESTORING OF THE NAME

After many decades of the existence of OUOI's temple in Jerusalem it was necessary to repair or restore this temple. The kings who set their hearts upon the wish to repair God's holy temple are lauded in the Bible (2 Chronicles 24:4-14; 2 Kings 12.5-14; 22:3-7). Equally praiseworthy it is to have the wish to restore God's name and to give the rightful place in the Bible back to this name. Especially praiseworthy is the wish to recover the correct pronunciation of that name, too (2 Timothy 3:16).

To reach that goal some Christians studied the Hebrew of the Bible, in particular that Hebrew which is rendered to us by the Massorets and their system of vowel points. Many of these scholars came to the conclusion that the exact pronunciation of the name of God must be "Yahweh". Some pronounce "Yahweh" like "Yakhweh" [jaxwe:](compare Turkish and Arabic: "Ahmet" which is pronounced "Akhmet"[axmet]).

Already since the Reformation a quarrel arouse therefore between those who prefer "Yahweh" and those who stick to "Jehovah". The "Yahweh"-pronunciation is confirmed by old testimonies which write Íabe (13). Scholars say the b (= Beta) was only introduced because there was no U (= Waw)-sound in the Greek Alphabet. But many stuck to "Jehovah" because they felt it to be the better known name. But they, too, didn't care much about the law to sanctify God's name. They showed this lack of respect in a threefold way:

1) In many languages they dropped parts of the Tetragrammaton, the four basic

consonants: German dropped the h at the end: "Jehova". Turkish dropped the h at the 

end, too: "Yehova"

2) They used totally wrong consonants: Italian uses G instead of Y: "Geova"

3) They didn't pronounce the consonants correctly:

Germans pronounce f instead of w: They pronounce "Yehofa" instead of "Yehowah".

English pronounce J (= dsh) instead of Y: They say "Dshehowah" instead of "Yehowah",

French pronounce J (voiced sh) instead of Y: They say "Sheowah"

The sanctification of God's name includes that we never use an article before God's name. To say "the Yahweh" or "the Jehovah" is disrespect. In the Hebrew text of the Bible there is no OUOIO, except in Jeremiah 8:19. But there the German Interlinear Translation of the Hebrew Bible by Steurer only translates for  OUOIO: "Etwa JHWH...?" That is no article! In the German NW some time ago we could read: "dem Jehova" at many places. This was meanwhile corrected in a new edition: "für Jehova".

(13) Theodoret; another form of early Christian writers was "Iaoue", compare: Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 885. Compare also: Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, published by J.S. Ersch and J.G. Gruber, Zweite Sektion H-N, published by A.G. Hoffmann, Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1838, heading: Jehova. Compare also: Smith's Revised Bible Dictionary 1999, heading: JEHO'VAH