Difference between Jehovah and Yahweh
Jehovah and Yahweh are two different names used for God in different versions of Bible. Many people ask why some versions of Bible have referred to God as Jehovah and others have used Yahweh and what is the difference between the two. The reason is that there is a disagreement between religious experts about the right name of God.
Both these words come from the same root. Yodh, Heh, Waw and Heh, the four Canaanite-Hebrew letters, are written as YHWH in Roman letters but are erroneously transliterated as JHVH. The Latin version of the erroneous four letters, JHVH, was rendered as JEHOVAH.
One of the major reasons behind this confusion is a historical fact that Hebrew language initially did not have any vowels. On top of that, there was no indication of vowel sounds. God’s name in the Holy Book was written simply as JHVH or YHVH. Jewish scribes addeded marks to their texts centuries later to indicate the vowel sounds. Then JHVH was rendered as ‘Yehovah’, which was anglicized as ‘Jehovah’.
Some orthodox Christians believe that ‘Yahweh’ has been fabricated by some scholars who relied upon non-biblical sources such as rationalism, philology and history, and they did not give enough importance to Bible. They are of the opinion that God had promised to preserve his words for the humans and there was no need to tinker with his name.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about the name of God. Some orthodox people even try to convince others that they will not be saved until or unless they start pronouncing the correct name of God.
Instructions
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1
Jehovah
Jehovah is considered to be the proper name used for the God of Israel in the Hebrew version of Bible; however, some other names have also been used. Most scholars are of the opinion that Jehovah is the hybrid form derived by combining JHVH, Latin letters, with the vowels of Adonai. However, there is another school of thought, according to which it is possible that it was already being used in Late Antiquity.
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2
Yahweh
In the Hebrew Bible, the name of God is written as YHWH. Many centuries ago, the original pronunciation of the name was lost; but, according to some experts, it was pronounced as ‘Yah-weh’. The meaning of Yahweh is the one who creates or who causes to be.
