Home > The names of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title. It represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relation of God to the Jewish people. The various Jewish names of God represent God as He is known, and represents divine attributes.1 Names of God
1.1 The Tetragrammaton
The most important name of God in Judaism is the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God. This name is first mentioned in the book of Genesis and is usually translated as 'the Lord'. Because Jews for quite a long period of time considered it blasphemy to pronounce, the correct pronunciation of this name was forgotten — the original Hebrew texts only included consonants. Modern scholars conjecture that it was pronounced "Yahweh". The Hebrew letters are named Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, and if your browser supports a Hebrew font it is written thus: יהוה (Note that Hebrew is written from right to left, rather than left to right as in English). In English it is written as YHVH or YHWH depending on transliteration convention. The Tetragrammaton was written in Paleo-Hebrew characters in some of the oldest surviving square Aramaic Hebrew texts, and it is speculated that it was even then read as Adonai 'My Lord' when encountered.
According to Jewish tradition, in appearance, YHVH is the third person singular imperfect of the verb "to be", meaning, therefore, "God is," or "God will be," or, perhaps, "God lives," the root idea of the word being, probably, "to blow," "to breathe," and hence, "to live." With this explanation agrees the meaning of the name given in Exodus 3:14, where God is represented as speaking, and hence as using the first person — "I am". The meaning would, therefore, be "He who is self-existing, self-sufficient," or, more concretely, "He who lives," the abstract conception of pure existence being foreign to Hebrew thought.
The idea of life was traditionally connected with the name YHVH from medieval times. God is presented as a living God, as contrasted with the lifeless gods of the heathen, and God is presented as the source and author of life (comp. 1 Kings 18; Isaiah 41:26–29, 44:6–20; Jeremiah 10:10, 14; Genesis 2:7; etc.)
The name Yahweh is likely to be the origin of the Yao of Gnosticism. A few also think it might be cognate to Yaw of Ugaritic texts. If the Hehs in the Tetragrammaton are seen as sacred augmentation similar to those in Abraham (from Abram) and Sarah (from Sarai), then the association becomes clearer. But though in classical Hebrew Yahweh, the final Heh was not pronounced the medial Heh would have almost certainly been pronounced.
1.2 Adonai
Jews also call God Adonai, Hebrew for "Lord". Formally this is plural (" Lords") but the plural is usually construed as respectful plural, not syntactic plural. Since pronouncing YHVH is considered sinful, Jews would use Adonai instead in prayers. When the Masoretes added vowel pointings to the text of the Tanakh in the first century A.D., they gave the word YHVH the vowels of Adonai, to remind the reader to say Adonai instead. Many Christian bibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) translators misinterpreted this to mean that God's name was Jehovah, which is the result of combining Adonai's vowels with YHVH's consonants, written using Latin orthography in which "J" is pronounced as the English "Y". This name is cognate to the name of the Greek god AdonisFor other uses of the name Adonis, see Adonis (disambiguation). Pompeii A Greek mythological hero, Adonis was one of the most complex figures in classical times. He had multiple roles and there has been much scholarship over the centuries of his meaning a which is a borrowing from Phoenician.
1.2.1 Pronouncing the tetragrammaton
All modern denominations of Judaism teach that the four letter name of God, YHVH, is forbidden to be uttered except by the High Priest, in the Temple. Since the Temple in JerusalemThe Jerusalem Temple ( Hebrew: beit ha-mikdash was the center of Israelite and Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot''. It was located on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. According to the Bible, the First Temple was built is no longer extant, this name is never pronounced in religious rituals by Jews. Orthodox Jews never pronounce it for any reason. Some non-Orthodox Jews are willing to pronounce it, but for educational purposes only, and never in casual conversation or in prayer. Instead of pronouncing YHVH during prayerPrayer is an effort to communicate with a God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express one's thoughts and emotions to the deity. There are a variety approaches to understanding, Jews say "Adonai".
Jewish lawHalakha in Hebrew or Halakhah Halacha Halachah is the collective corpus of Jewish law, custom and tradition regulating all aspects of behavior. The name Halakha derives from the Hebrew halach meaning "going" or the "[correct] way"; thus a literal translat requires that "fences" be built around the basic laws, so that there is no chance that the main law will ever be broken. As such, it is common Jewish practice to restrict the use of the word "Adonai" to prayerPrayer is an effort to communicate with a God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express one's thoughts and emotions to the deity. There are a variety approaches to understanding only. In conversation many Jewish people will call God "HaShem", which is Hebrew for "the Name" (this was first used in Leviticus 24:11). Many Jews also write "G-d" instead of "God". While this later substitution is by no means required by their religion (only the Hebrew name, not the English, is holy), they do it to remind themselves of the holiness attached to God's name.
EnglishThe English language is a West Germanic language, originating from England. It is the third most common "first" language (native speakers), with around 402 million people in 2002. English has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the mil translations of the BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) generally render YHVH as "the LORD" (in small capitals), and Adonai as "Lord" (in normal case). In a few cases where "Lord YHVH" appears the combination is written as "Lord GOD".
