TheTetragrammaton^{[note 1]} is the four-letterHebrewtheonymיהוה‎ (transliterated asYHWH orYHVH), the name ofGod in theHebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), areyodh,he,waw, andhe.^[1] The name may be derived from a verb that means "to be", "to exist", "to cause to become", or "to come to pass".^[2]

While there is no consensus about the structure and etymology of the name, the formYahweh is now accepted almost universally among Biblical and Semitic linguistics scholars,^{[note 2]} though the vocalizationJehovah continues to have wide usage.^[3][4][5]

The books of theTorah and the rest of theHebrew Bible exceptEsther,Ecclesiastes, and (witha possible instance ofיה‎ in verse 8:6) theSong of Songs contain thisHebrew name.^[4] ObservantJews and those who followTalmudic Jewish traditions do not pronounceיהוה‎ nor do they read aloud proposed transcription forms such asYahweh orYehovah; instead they replace it with a different term, whether in addressing or referring to the God of Israel.

Common substitutions in Hebrew areאֲדֹנָי‎ (Adonai,lit. transl. "My Lords",pluralis majestatis taken as singular) orאֱלֹהִים‎ (Elohim, literally "gods" but treated as singular when meaning "God") in prayer, orהַשֵּׁם‎ (HaShem, "The Name") in everyday speech.

The letters, properly written and read from right to left (inBiblical Hebrew), are:

The Hebrew Bible explains it by the formulaאֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎ ('ehye 'ăšer 'ehyepronounced[ʔehˈjeʔaˈʃerʔehˈje]transl. he – transl. I Am that I Am), the name of God revealed to Moses inExodus 3:14.^[6] This would frame Y-H-W-H as a derivation from theHebrew triconsonantal rootהיה‎ (h-y-h), "to be, become, come to pass", with a third person masculineי‎ (y-)prefix, equivalent to English "he",^[7][8] in place of the first personא‎ ('-), thereby affording translations as "he who causes to exist",^[9][10] "he who is",^[8] etc.; although this would elicit the form Y-H-Y-H (יהיה‎),not Y-H-W-H. To rectify this, some scholars propose that the Tetragrammaton derived instead from the triconsonantal rootהוה‎ (h-w-h)^[11]—itself an archaic doublet ofהיה‎—with the final form eliciting similar translations as those derived from the same.

As such, the consensus among modern scholars considers that YHWH represents averbal form. In this, they- prefix represents the third masculine verbal prefix of the verbhyh orhwh, "to be", as indicated in the Hebrew Bible.^[12]

Like all letters in the Hebrew script, the letters in YHWH originally indicated consonants. In unpointed Biblical Hebrew, most vowels are not written, but some are indicated ambiguously, as certain letters came to have a secondary function indicating vowels (similar to theLatin use of I and V to indicate either the consonants /j, w/ or the vowels /i, u/). Hebrew letters used to indicate vowels are known asאִמּוֹת קְרִיאָה‎(imot kri'a) ormatres lectionis ("mothers of reading"). Therefore, it can be difficult to deduce how a word is pronounced from its spelling, and each of the four letters in the Tetragrammaton can individually serve as amater lectionis.

Several centuries later, between the 5th through 10th centuries CE, the originalconsonantal text of the Hebrew Bible was provided with vowel marks by theMasoretes to assist reading. In places where the word to be read (theqere) differed from that indicated by the consonants of the written text (theketiv), they wrote theqere in the margin as a note showing what was to be read. In such a case the vowel marks of theqere were written on theketiv. For a few frequent words, the marginal note was omitted: these are calledqere perpetuum.

One of the frequent cases was the Tetragrammaton, which according to laterRabbinite Jewish practices should not be pronounced but read asאֲדֹנָי‎ (Adonai,lit. transl. My Lords,Pluralis majestatis taken as singular), or, if the previous or next word already wasAdonai, as "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים‎/"God").Writing the vowel diacritics of these two words on the consonants YHVH producesיְהֹוָה‎ andיֱהֹוִה‎ respectively,ghost-words that would spell "Yehovah" and "Yehovih" respectively.^[13][14]

The oldest complete or nearly complete manuscripts of theMasoretic Text withTiberian vocalisation, such as theAleppo Codex and theLeningrad Codex, both of the 10th or 11th century, mostly writeיְהוָה‎ (yəhwā^h), with no pointing on the firsth. It could be because theo diacritic point plays no useful role in distinguishing betweenAdonai andElohim and so is redundant, or it could point to theqere beingשְׁמָא‎ (š^əmâ), which isAramaic for "the Name".

The scholarly consensus is that the original pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton wasYahweh (יַהְוֶה‎).^[15][16]R. R. Reno agrees that, when in the late first millennium Jewish scholars inserted indications of vowels into the Hebrew Bible, theysignalled that what was pronounced was "Adonai" (Lord); non-Jews later combined the vowels of Adonai with the consonants of the Tetragrammaton and invented the name "Jehovah".^[17]Paul Joüon andTakamitsu Muraoka state: "TheQre isיְהֹוָה‎the Lord, whilst theKtiv is probablyיַהְוֶה‎ (according to ancient witnesses)", and they add: "Note 1: In our translations, we have usedYahweh, a form widely accepted by scholars, instead of the traditionalJehovah."^[18] In 1869,Smith's Bible Dictionary, a collaborative work of noted scholars of the time, declared: "Whatever, therefore, be the true pronunciation of the word, there can be little doubt that it is notJehovah."^[19] Mark P. Arnold remarks that certain conclusions drawn from the pronunciation ofיהוה‎ as "Yahweh" would be valid even if the scholarly consensus were not correct.^[20]Thomas Römer holds that "the original pronunciation of Yhwh was 'Yahô' or 'Yahû'".^[21]Max Reisel, inThe Mysterious Name of YHWH, says that the "vocalisation of the Tetragrammaton must originally have been YeHūàH or YaHūàH".^[22]

The elementyahwi- (ia-wi) is found inAmorite personal names (e.g.yahwi-dagan), commonly denoted as the semantic equivalent of theAkkadianibašši-DN. The latter refers to one existing which, in the context of deities, can also refer to one's eternal existence, which aligns with Bible verses such asExodus 3:15 and views thatehye 'ăšer 'ehye can mean "I am the Existing One".^[23] It also explains the ease of Israelites applying the Olam (or 'everlasting') epithet fromEl^[24] to Yahweh.^{[12]: 209–286} But J. Philip Hyatt believes it is more likely thatyahwi- refers to a god creating and sustaining the life of a newborn child rather than the universe. This conception of God was more popular among ancient Near Easterners but eventually, the Israelites removed the association ofyahwi- to any human ancestor and combined it with other elements (e.g.Yahweh ṣəḇāʾōṯ).^[25] Hillel Ben-Sasson states there is insufficient evidence for Amorites usingyahwi- to refer to a god. But he argues that it mirrors other theophoric names and thatyahwi-, or more accuratelyyawi, derives from the roothwy inpa 'al, which means "he will be".^[26]Frank Moore Cross says: "It must be emphasized that the Amorite verbal form is of interest only in attempting to reconstruct the proto-Hebrew or South Canaanite verbal form used in the name Yahweh. We should argue vigorously against attempts to take Amorite yahwi and yahu as divine epithets."^[27]

The adoption at the time of theProtestant Reformation of "Jehovah" in place of the traditional "Lord" in some new translations, vernacular or Latin, of the biblical Tetragrammaton stirred up dispute about its correctness. In 1711,Adriaan Reland published a book containing the text of 17th-century writings, five attacking and five defending it.^[28] As critical of the use of "Jehovah" it incorporated writings byJohannes van den Driesche (1550–1616), known as Drusius;Sixtinus Amama (1593–1629);Louis Cappel (1585–1658);Johannes Buxtorf (1564–1629);Jacob Alting (1618–1679). Defending "Jehovah" were writings byNicholas Fuller (1557–1626) andThomas Gataker (1574–1654) and three essays byJohann Leusden (1624–1699). The opponents of "Jehovah" said that the Tetragrammaton should be pronounced as "Adonai" and in general do not speculate on what may have been the original pronunciation, although mention is made of the fact that some held thatJahve was that pronunciation.^[28]: 392

Almost two centuries after the 17th-century works reprinted by Reland, 19th-centuryWilhelm Gesenius reported in hisThesaurus Philologicus on the main reasoning of those who argued either forיַהְוֹה‎/Yah[w]oh orיַהְוֶה‎/Yahweh as the original pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, as opposed toיְהֹוָה‎/Yehovah. He explicitly cited the 17th-century writers mentioned by Reland as supporters ofיְהֹוָה‎, as well as implicitly citingJohann David Michaelis (1717–1791) andJohann Friedrich von Meyer (1772–1849),^[29] the latter of whom Johann Heinrich Kurtz described as the last of those "who have maintained with great pertinacity thatיְהֹוָה‎ was the correct and original pointing".^[30] Edward Robinson's translation of a work by Gesenius, gives Gesenius' personal view as: "My own view coincides with that of those who regard this name as anciently pronounced [יַהְוֶה‎/Yahweh] like the Samaritans."^[31]

Current overviews begin with theEgyptianepigraphy.^[32] Ahieroglyphic inscription of thePharaohAmenhotep III (1402–1363 BCE) mentions a group ofShasu whom it calls "the Shasu of Yhwꜣ" (read as:ja-h-wi orja-h-wa).James D. G. Dunn andJohn W. Rogerson suggested that the Amenhotep III inscription may indicate that worship of Yahweh originated in an area to the southeast of Israel.^[33] A later inscription from the time ofRamesses II (1279–1213 BCE) inWest Amara associates the Shasu nomads withS-rr, interpreted asMount Seir, spoken of in some texts as where Yahweh comes from.^[34][35] EgyptologistThomas Schneider argued for the existence of a theophoric name in aBook of the Dead papyrus dating to the late 18th or early 19th dynasty which he translated as'adōnī-rō'ē-yāh, meaning "My lord is the shepherd of Yah".^[36]

TheMesha Stele, dated to 840 BCE, mentions the Israelite godYahweh.^[37] Roughly contemporary pottery sherds and plasterinscriptions found atKuntillet Ajrud mention "Yahweh ofSamaria and hisAsherah" and "Yahweh ofTeman and his Asherah".^[38] A tomb inscription atKhirbet el-Qom also mentions Yahweh.^[39][40][41] Dated slightly later (7th century BCE) there are an ostracon from the collections of Shlomo Moussaieff,^{[42][full citation needed]} andtwo tiny silver amulet scrolls found atKetef Hinnom that mention Yahweh.^[43] Also a wall inscription, dated to the late 6th century BCE, with mention of Yahweh had been found in a tomb atKhirbet Beit Lei.^[44]

Yahweh is mentioned also in theLachish letters (587 BCE) and the slightly earlierTel Arad ostraca, and on a stone fromMount Gerizim (3rd or the beginning of the 2nd century BCE).^[45]

Thetheonyms YHW and YHH are found in theElephantine papyri of about 500 BCE.^[46] One ostracon with YH is thought to have lost the final letter of an original YHW.^[47][48] These texts are inAramaic, not the language of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (YHWH) and, unlike the Tetragrammaton, are of three letters, not four. However, because they were written by Jews, they are assumed to refer to the same deity and to be either an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton or the original name from which the name YHWH developed.

Kristin De Troyer says that YHW or YHH, and also YH, are attested in the fifth and fourth-century BCE papyri from Elephantine andWadi Daliyeh: "In both collections one can read the name of God as Yaho (or Yahu) and Ya".^[49] The name YH (Yah/Jah), the first syllable of "Yahweh", appears 50 times in the Old Testament, 26 times alone (Exodus 15:2; 17:16; and 24 times in the Psalms), 24 times in the expression "Hallelujah".^[50]

According to De Troyer, the short names, instead of being ineffable like "Yahweh", seem to have been in spoken use not only as elements of personal names but also in reference to God: "The Samaritans thus seem to have pronounced the Name of God as Jaho or Ja." She citesTheodoret (c. 393 – c. 460) as that the shorter names of God were pronounced by the Samaritans as "Iabe" and by the Jews as "Ia". She adds that the Bible also indicates that the short form "Yah" was spoken, as in the phrase "Halleluyah".^[49]

ThePatrologia Graeca texts of Theodoret differ slightly from what De Troyer says. InQuaestiones in Exodum 15 he says that Samaritans pronounced the name Ἰαβέ and Jews the name Άϊά.^[51] (The Greek term Άϊά is a transcription of the Exodus 3:14 phrase אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh), "I am".)^[52] InHaereticarum Fabularum Compendium 5.3, he uses the spelling Ἰαβαί.^[53]

Among the Jews in theSecond Temple Period magical amulets became very popular. Representations of the Tetragrammaton name or combinations inspired by it in languages such as Greek and Coptic, giving some indication of its pronunciation, occur as names of powerful agents inJewish magical papyri found in Egypt.^[54]IαβεIave andIαβαYaba occurs frequently,^[55] "apparently the Samaritan enunciation of the tetragrammaton YHWH (Yahweh)".^[56]

The most commonly invoked god is Ιαω (Iaō), another vocalization of the tetragrammaton YHWH.^[57] There is a single instance of the heptagramιαωουηε (iaōouēe).^[58]

Yāwē is found in anEthiopian Christian list of magical names of Jesus, purporting to have been taught by him to his disciples.^[55]

Also relevant is the use of the name intheophoric names; there is a common Hebrew prefix form, Yeho or "Y^ehō-", and a common suffix form, "Yahū" or "-Y^ehū". These provide some corroborating evidence of how YHWH was pronounced.^{[59][self-published source?]}

According to theJewish Encyclopedia it occurs 5,410 times in the Hebrew scriptures.^[60] In theHebrew Bible, the Tetragrammaton occurs 6828 times,^[43]: 142 as can be seen inKittel'sBiblia Hebraica and theBiblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In addition, the marginal notes ormasorah^{[note 3]} indicate that in another 134 places, where the received text has the wordAdonai, an earlier text had the Tetragrammaton.^{[61][note 4]} which would add up to 142 additional occurrences. Even in theDead Sea Scrolls practice varied with regard to use of the Tetragrammaton.^[62] According toBrown–Driver–Briggs,יְהֹוָה‎ (qereאֲדֹנָי‎) occurs 6,518 times, andיֱהֹוִה‎ (qereאֱלֹהִים‎) 305 times in the Masoretic Text.

The first appearance of the Tetragrammaton is in theBook of Genesis 2:4.^[63] The only books it does not appear in areEcclesiastes, theBook of Esther, andSong of Songs.^[43][4]

In the Book of Esther the Tetragrammaton does not appear, but it has been distinguishedacrostic-wise in the initial or last letters of four consecutive words,^{[note 5]} as indicated in Est 7:5 by writing the four letters in red in at least three ancient Hebrew manuscripts.^{[64][original research?]}

The short formיָהּ‎/Yah (a digrammaton) "occurs 50 times if the phrasehallellu-Yah is included":^[65][66] 43 times in the Psalms, once in Exodus 15:2; 17:16; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4, and twice in Isaiah 38:11. It also appears in the Greek phraseἉλληλουϊά (Alleluia, Hallelujah) inRevelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6.^[67]

Other short forms are found as a component of theophoric Hebrew names in the Bible: jô- or jehô- (29 names) and -jāhû or -jāh (127 jnames). A form of jāhû/jehô appears in the name Elioenai (Elj(eh)oenai) in 1Ch 3:23–24; 4:36; 7:8; Ezr 22:22, 27; Neh 12:41.

The following graph shows the absolute number of occurrences of the Tetragrammaton (6828 in all) in the books in the Masoretic Text,^[68] without relation to the length of the books.

Six presentations of the Tetragrammaton with some or all of the vowel points ofאֲדֹנָי‎ (Adonai) orאֱלֹהִים‎ (Elohim) are found in theLeningrad Codex of 1008–1010, as shown below. The close transcriptions do not indicate that the Masoretes intended the name to be pronounced in that way (seeqere perpetuum).

ĕ ishatafsegol;ǝ is the pronounced form of plainshva.

In theDead Sea Scrolls and other Hebrew and Aramaic texts the Tetragrammaton and some othernames of God in Judaism (such as El or Elohim) were sometimes written inpaleo-Hebrew script, showing that they were treated specially. Most of God's names were pronounced until about the 2nd century BCE. Then, as a tradition of non-pronunciation of the names developed, alternatives for the Tetragrammaton appeared, such as Adonai, Kurios and Theos.^[49] The4Q120, a Greek fragment of Leviticus (26:2–16) discovered in the Dead Sea scrolls (Qumran) has ιαω ("Iao"), the Greek form of the Hebrew trigrammaton YHW.^[75] The historianJohn the Lydian (6th century) wrote: "The RomanVarro [116–27 BCE] defining him [that is the Jewish God] says that he is called Iao in the Chaldean mysteries" (De Mensibus IV 53). Van Cooten mentions that Iao is one of the "specifically Jewish designations for God" and "the Aramaic papyri from the Jews at Elephantine show that 'Iao' is an original Jewish term".^[76][77]

The preserved manuscripts from Qumran show the inconsistent practice of writing the Tetragrammaton, mainly in biblical quotations: in some manuscripts is written in paleo-Hebrew script, square scripts or replaced with four dots or dashes (tetrapuncta).

The members of the Qumran community were aware of the existence of the Tetragrammaton, but this was not tantamount to granting consent for its existing use and speaking. This is evidenced not only by special treatment of the Tetragrammaton in the text, but by the recommendation recorded in the 'Rule of Association' (VI, 27): "Who will remember the most glorious name, which is above all [...]".^[78]

The table below presents all the manuscripts in which the Tetragrammaton is written in paleo-Hebrew script,^{[note 6]} in square scripts, and all the manuscripts in which the copyists have used tetrapuncta.

Copyists used the 'tetrapuncta' apparently to warn against pronouncing the name of God.^[79]: 206 In the manuscript number 4Q248 is in the form of bars.

Editions of the Septuagint Old Testament are based on the complete or almost complete fourth-century manuscriptsCodex Vaticanus,Codex Sinaiticus andCodex Alexandrinus and consistently use Κ[ύριο]ς, "Lord", where theMasoretic Text has the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew. This corresponds with the Jewish practice of replacing the Tetragrammaton with "Adonai" when reading the Hebrew word.^[81][82]

However, five of the oldest manuscripts now extant (in fragmentary form) render the Tetragrammaton into Greek in a different way.^[83]

Two of these are of the first century BCE:Papyrus Fouad 266 usesיהוה‎ in the normalHebrew alphabet in the midst of its Greek text, and4Q120 uses the Greek transcription of the name, ΙΑΩ. Three later manuscripts use𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄‎, the nameיהוה‎ inPaleo-Hebrew script: theGreek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever,Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3522 andPapyrus Oxyrhynchus 5101.^[84]

Other extant ancient fragments of Septuagint or Old Greek manuscripts provide no evidence on the use of the Tetragrammaton, Κύριος, or ΙΑΩ in correspondence with the Hebrew-text Tetragrammaton. They include the oldest known example,Papyrus Rylands 458.^{[85][79]: 304}

Scholars differ on whether in the original Septuagint translations the Tetragrammaton was represented by Κύριος,^{[86][87]: 411 [88][89]} by ΙΑΩ,^[90] by the Tetragrammaton in either normal or Paleo-Hebrew form, or whether different translators used different forms in different books.^[91]

Frank Shaw argues that the Tetragrammaton continued to be articulated until the second or third century CE and that the use of Ιαω was by no means limited to magical or mystical formulas, but was still normal in more elevated contexts such as that exemplified by Papyrus4Q120. Shaw considers all theories that posit in the Septuagint a single original form of the divine name as merely based ona priori assumptions.^[91] Accordingly, he declares: "The matter of any (especially single) 'original' form of the divine name in the LXX is too complex, the evidence is too scattered and indefinite, and the various approaches offered for the issue are too simplistic" to account for the actual scribal practices (p. 158). He holds that the earliest stages of the LXX's translation were marked by diversity (p. 262), with the choice of certain divine names depending on the context in which they appear (cf. Gen 4:26; Exod 3:15; 8:22; 28:32; 32:5; and 33:19). He treats of the related blank spaces in some Septuagint manuscripts and the setting of spaces around the divine name in 4Q120 andPapyrus Fouad 266b (p. 265), and repeats that "there was no one 'original' form but different translators had different feelings, theological beliefs, motivations, and practices when it came to their handling of the name" (p. 271).^[91] His view has won the support of Anthony R. Meyer,^[91] Bob Becking,^[92] and (commenting on Shaw's 2011 dissertation on the subject) D.T. Runia.^[93]

Mogens Müller says that, while no clearly Jewish manuscript of the Septuagint has been found with Κύριος representing the Tetragrammaton, other Jewish writings of the time show that Jews did use the term Κύριος for God, and it was because Christians found it in the Septuagint that they were able to apply it to Christ.^[94] In fact, thedeuterocanonical books of the Septuagint, written originally in Greek (e.g., Wisdom, 2 and 3 Maccabees), do speak of God as Κύριος and thus show that "the use of κύριος as a representation ofיהוה‎ must be pre-Christian in origin".^[87]

Similarly, while consistent use ofΚύριος to represent the Tetragrammaton has been called "a distinguishing mark for any Christian LXX manuscript",Eugen J. Pentiuc says: "No definitive conclusion has been reached thus far."^[95] And Sean McDonough denounces as implausible the idea that Κύριος did not appear in the Septuagint before the Christian era.^[96]

Speaking of theGreek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever, which is akaige recension of the Septuagint, "a revision of the Old Greek text to bring it closer to the Hebrew text of the Bible as it existed in ca. 2nd–1st century BCE" (and thus not necessarily the original text), Kristin De Troyer remarks: "The problem with a recension is that one does not know what is the original form and what the recension. Hence, is the paleo-Hebrew Tetragrammaton secondary – a part of the recension – or proof of the Old Greek text? This debate has not yet been solved."

While some interpret the presence of the Tetragrammaton inPapyrus Fouad 266, the oldest Septuagint manuscript in which it appears, as an indication of what was in the original text, others see this manuscript as "an archaizing and hebraizing revision of the earlier translation κύριος".^[97] Of this papyrus, De Troyer asks: "Is it a recension or not?" In this regard she says that Emanuel Tov notes that in this manuscript a second scribe inserted the four-letter Tetragrammaton where the first scribe left spaces large enough for the six-letter word Κύριος, and that Pietersma and Hanhart say the papyrus "already contains some pre-hexaplaric corrections towards a Hebrew text (which would have had the Tetragrammaton). She also mentions Septuagint manuscripts that have Θεός and one that has παντοκράτωρ where the Hebrew text has the Tetragrammaton. She concludes: "It suffices to say that in old Hebrew and Greek witnesses, God has many names. Most if not all were pronounced till about the second century BCE. As slowly onwards there developed a tradition of non-pronunciation, alternatives for the Tetragrammaton appeared. The readingAdonai was one of them. Finally, beforeKurios became a standard renderingAdonai, the Name of God was rendered withTheos."^[49] In the Book of Exodus alone, Θεός represents the Tetragrammaton 41 times.^[98]

Robert J. Wilkinson says that theGreek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever is also akaige recension and thus not strictly a Septuagint text.^[99]: 55

Origen (Commentary on Psalms 2.2) said that in the most accurate manuscripts the name was written in an older form of the Hebrew characters, the paleo-Hebrew letters, not the square: "In the more accurate exemplars the (divine) name is written in Hebrew characters; not, however, in the current script, but in the most ancient." While Pietersma interprets this statement as referring to the Septuagint,^[86] Wilkinson says one might assume that Origen refers specifically to the version ofAquila of Sinope, which follows the Hebrew text very closely, but he may perhaps refer to Greek versions in general.^{[99]: 70 [100]}

The great majority of extant manuscripts of the Old Testament in Greek, complete or fragmentary, dated to the ninth century CE or earlier, employ Κύριος to represent the Tetragrammaton of the Hebrew text. The following do not. They include the oldest now extant.

1. Manuscripts of the Septuagint or recensions thereof
   • 1st century BCE
     • 4QpapLXXLev^b – fragments of the Book of Leviticus, chapters 1 to 5. In two verses: 3:12; 4:27 the Tetragrammaton of the Hebrew Bible is represented by Greek ΙΑΩ.
     • Papyrus Fouad 266b (848) – fragments of Deuteronomy, chapters 10 to 33.^[101] The Tetragrammaton appears in square Hebrew/Aramaic script. According to a disputed view, the first copyist left a blank space marked with a dot, and another inscribed the letters.
   • 1st century CE
     • Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3522 – contains parts of two verses of chapter 42 of the Book of Job and has the Tetragrammaton inpaleo-Hebrew letters.
     • Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever – in three fragments whose contents were published separately.
       • Se2grXII (LXX^{IEJ 12}) has the Tetragrammaton in 1 place.
       • 8HevXII a (LXX^{VTS 10a}) in 24 places, in whole or part.
       • 8HevXII b (LXX^{VTS 10b}) in 4 places.
   • 1st to 2nd century
     • Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5101 – contains fragments of the Book of Psalms. It has YHWH in Paleo-Hebrew script.^{[102][79]: 231 [103]}
   • 3rd century CE
     • Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1007 – contains Genesis 2 and 3. The divine name is written with a doubleyodh.
     • Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 656 – fragments of the Book of Genesis, chapters 14 to 27. Has Κύριος where the first copyist left blank spaces
     • Papyrus Berlin 17213 – fragments of the Book of Genesis, chapter 19. One space is left blank. Emanuel Tov thinks it indicated the end of a paragraph.^[79]: 231 It has been dated to 3rd century CE.
2. Manuscripts of Greek translations made bySymmachus andAquila of Sinope (2nd century CE)
   • 3rd century CE
     • Papyrus Vindobonensis Greek 39777. Has the Tetragrammaton in archaic Hebrew script.^{[104][105][106]}
   • 5th century CE
     • AqTaylor, this manuscript of the Aquila version is dated after the middle of the 5th century, but not later than the beginning of the 6th century.
     • AqBurkitt – apalimpsest manuscript of the Aquila version dated late 5th century or early 6th century.
3. Manuscripts with Hexaplaric elements
   • 6th century CE
     • Codex Marchalianus – In addition to the Septuagint text of the prophets (withκς), the manuscript contains marginal notes from a hand "not much later than the original scribe" indicatingHexaplaric variations, each identified as from Aquila, Symmachus or Theodotion. Marginal notes on some of the prophets contain πιπι to indicate thatκς in the text corresponds to the Tetragrammaton. Two marginal notes at Ezekiel 1:2 and 11:1 use the formιαω with reference to the Tetragrammaton.^[107]
   • 7th century CE
     • Taylor-Schechter 12.182 – a Hexapla manuscript with Tetragrammaton in Greek letters ΠΙΠΙ. It has Hebrew text transliterated into Greek, Aquila, Symmachus and the Septuagint.
   • 9th century CE
     • Ambrosiano O 39 sup. – the latest Greek manuscript containing the name of God isOrigen'sHexapla, transmitting among other translations the text of the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, and in three other unidentified Greek translations (Quinta, Sextus and Septima). This codex, copied from a much earlier original, comes from the late 9th century, and is stored in theBiblioteca Ambrosiana.

According to theCatholic Encyclopedia (1910) and B. D. Eerdmans:^[108][109]

• Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) writes^[110]Ἰαῶ (Iao);
• Irenaeus (d. c. 202) reports^[111] that the Gnostics formed a compoundἸαωθ (Iaoth) with the last syllable ofSabaoth. He also reports^[112] that theValentinian heretics useἸαῶ (Iao);
• Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215) reports: "the mystic name of four letters which was affixed to those alone to whom theadytum was accessible, is calledἸαοὺ" (Iaoú); manuscript variants also have the formsἰαοῦε (Iaoúe) andἰὰ οὐὲ.^[113]
• Origen (d. c. 254),Ἰαώ (Iao);^[114]
• Porphyry (d. c. 305) according toEusebius (died 339),^[115]Ἰευώ (Ieuo);
• Epiphanius (died 404), who was born in Palestine and spent a considerable part of his life there, givesἸά (Ia) andἸάβε (pronounced at that time /ja'vε/) and explains Ἰάβε as meaning He who was and is and always exists.^[116]
• Jerome (died 420)^[117] speaks of certain Greek writers who misunderstood the Hebrew lettersיהוה‎ (read right-to-left) as the Greek lettersΠΙΠΙ (read left-to-right), thus changing YHWH topipi.
• Theodoret (d. c. 457) writesἸαώ (Iao);^[118] he also reports^[119] that theSamaritans sayἸαβέ orἸαβαί (both pronounced at that time /ja'vε/), while the Jews sayἈϊά (Aia).^[55] (The latter is probably notיהוה‎ butאהיה‎Ehyeh = "I am " or "I will be",Exod. 3:14 which the Jews counted among the names of God.)^[55]
• (Pseudo-)Jerome (4th/5th or 9th century),:^[120]IAHO. This work was traditionally attributed toJerome and, in spite of the view of one modern writer who in 1936 said it is "now believed to be genuine and to be dated before CE 392"^[121] is still generally attributed to the 9th century^[122] and to be non-authentic.^[123][124]

ThePeshitta (Syriac translation), probably in the second century,^[125] uses the word "Lord" (ܡܳܪܝܳܐ, pronouncedmāryā ormoryo (Western pronunciation) for the Tetragrammaton.^[126]

TheVulgate (Latin translation) made from the Hebrew in the 4th century CE,^[127] uses the wordDominus ("Lord"), a translation of the Hebrew wordAdonai, for the Tetragrammaton.^[126]

The Vulgate translation, though made not from the Septuagint but from the Hebrew text, did not depart from the practice used in the Septuagint. Thus, for most of its history, Christianity's translations of the Scriptures have used equivalents ofAdonai to represent the Tetragrammaton. Only at about the beginning of the 16th century did Christian translations of the Bible appear combining the vowels ofAdonai with the four (consonantal) letters of the Tetragrammaton.^[128][129]

Especially due to the existence of theMesha Stele, theJahwist tradition found inExod. 3:15, and ancient Hebrew and Greek texts, biblical scholars widely hold that the Tetragrammaton and other names of God were spoken by the ancientIsraelites and their neighbours.^{[9][49][130]: 40}

By at least the 3rd century BCE, the name was not pronounced in normal speech,^[131] but only in certain ritual contexts. The Talmud relays this change occurred after the death ofSimeon the Just (eitherSimon I or his great-great-grandsonSimon II).^[132]Philo calls the nameineffable, and says that it is lawful only for those "whose ears and tongues are purified by wisdom to hear and utter it in a holy place", that is, the priests in the Temple. In another passage, commenting onLev. 24:15, Philo writes, "If any one... should even dare to utter his name unseasonably, let him expect the penalty of death."^[55] Some time after the destruction of theSecond Temple, the spoken use of God's name as it was written ceased altogether, though knowledge of the pronunciation was perpetuated in rabbinic schools.^[55]

Rabbinic sources suggest that the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on theDay of Atonement.^[133] Others, includingMaimonides, claim that the name was pronounced daily in theliturgy of theTemple in thepriestly blessing of worshippers, after the daily sacrifice; insynagogues, though, a substitute (probably "Adonai") was used.^[55] According to theTalmud, in the last generations before the fall ofJerusalem, the name was pronounced in a low tone so that the sounds were lost in the chant of the priests.^[55] Since the destruction ofSecond Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Tetragrammaton has no longer been pronounced in the liturgy. However the pronunciation was still known inBabylonia in the latter part of the 4th century.^[55]

The vehemence with which the utterance of the name is denounced in theMishnah suggests that use of the name Yahweh was unacceptable in rabbinical Judaism. "He who pronounces the Name with its own letters has no part in the world to come!"^[55] Such is the prohibition of pronouncing the Name as written that it is sometimes called the "Ineffable", "Unutterable", or "Distinctive Name", or "Explicit Name" ("Shem HaMephorash" in Hebrew).^{[134][87]: 418}

Halakha prescribes that although the Name is writtenיהוה‎ "yodh he waw he", if not preceded by (אֲדֹנָי‎,Adonai) then it is only to be pronounced "Adonai" and if preceded by "Adonai" then it is only to be pronounced as "Our God" (אֱלֹהֵינוּ‎,Eloheinu), or, in rare cases, as a repetition of Adonai, e.g., theThirteen Attributes of Mercy (שְׁלוֹשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵה‎,Shelosh-'Esreh) in Exodus 34:6–7; the latter names too are regarded as holy names, and are only to be pronounced in prayer.^[135][136] Thus when someone wants to refer in third person to either the written or spoken Name, the termHaShem "the Name" is used;^{[137][unreliable source?][138]} and this handle itself can also be used in prayer.^{[note 7]} TheMasoretes added vowel points (niqqud) andcantillation marks to the manuscripts to indicate vowel usage and for use in ritual chanting of readings from theBible inJewish prayer insynagogues. Toיהוה‎ they added the vowels forאֲדֹנָי‎ (Adonai,lit. transl. My Lords,Pluralis majestatis taken as singular), the word to use when the text was read. While "HaShem" is the most common way to reference "the Name", the terms "HaMaqom" (lit. "The Place", i.e. "The Omnipresent") and "Raḥmana" (Aramaic, "Merciful") are used in the mishna andgemara, still used in the phrases "HaMaqom y'naḥem ethḥem" ("may The Omnipresent console you"), the traditional phrase used in sittingShiva and "Raḥmana l'tzlan" ("may the Merciful save us" i.e. "God forbid").

The written Tetragrammaton,^[139] as well as six other names of God, must be treated with special sanctity. They cannot be disposed of regularly, lest they be desecrated, but are usually put inlong-term storage or buried in Jewish cemeteries in order to retire them from use.^[140] Similarly, writing the Tetragrammaton (or these other names) unnecessarily is prohibited, so as to avoid having them treated disrespectfully, an action that is forbidden. To guard the sanctity of the Name, sometimes a letter is substituted by a different letter in writing (e.g.יקוק), or the letters are separated by one or more hyphens, a practice applied also to the English name "God", which some Jews write as "G-d". Most Jewish authorities say that this practice is not obligatory for the English name.^[141]

Kabbalistic tradition holds that the correct pronunciation is known to a select few people in each generation, it is not generally known what this pronunciation is. There are two main schools of Kabbalah arising in 13th century Spain. These are called Theosophic Kabbalah represented by Rabbi Moshe De Leon and the Zohar, and the Kabbalah of Names or Prophetic Kabbalah whose main representative is Rabbi Abraham Abulafia of Saragossa. Rabbi Abulafia wrote many wisdom books and prophetic books where the name is used for meditation purposes from 1271 onwards. Abulafia put a lot of attention on Exodus 15 and the Songs of Moses. In this song it says "Yehovah is a Man of War, Yehovah is his name". For Abulafia the goal of prophecy was for a man to come to the level of prophecy and be called "Yehovah a man of war". Abulafia also used the tetragrammaton in a spiritual war against his spiritual enemies. For example, he prophesied in his book "The Sign", "Therefore, thus said YHWH, the God of Israel: Have no fear of the enemy" (See Hylton, A The Prophetic Jew Abraham Abulafia, 2015).

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto,^[142] says that the tree of the Tetragrammaton "unfolds" in accordance with the intrinsic nature of its letters, "in the same order in which they appear in the Name, in the mystery of ten and the mystery of four." Namely, the upper cusp of theYod isArich Anpin and the main body ofYod is andAbba; the firstHei isImma; theVav isZe`ir Anpin and the secondHei isNukvah. It unfolds in this aforementioned order and "in the mystery of the four expansions" that are constituted by the following various spellings of the letters:

ע"ב/`AV : יו"ד ה"י וי"ו ה"י, so called "`AV" according to itsgematria value ע"ב=70+2=72.

ס"ג/SaG: יו"ד ה"י וא"ו ה"י, gematria 63.

מ"ה/MaH: יו"ד ה"א וא"ו ה"א, gematria 45.

ב"ן/BaN: יו"ד ה"ה ו"ו ה"ה, gematria 52.

Luzzatto summarises, "In sum, all that exists is founded on the mystery of this Name and upon the mystery of these letters of which it consists. This means that all the different orders and laws are all drawn after and come under the order of these four letters. This is not one particular pathway but rather the general path, which includes everything that exists in theSefirot in all their details and which brings everything under its order."^[142]

Another parallel is drawn^{[by whom?]} between the four letters of the Tetragrammaton and theFour Worlds: theי is associated withAtziluth, the firstה withBeri'ah, theו withYetzirah, and finalה withAssiah.

There are some^[who?] who believe that thetetractys and its mysteries influenced the earlykabbalists. A Hebrew tetractys in a similar way has the letters of the Tetragrammaton (the four lettered name of God in Hebrew scripture) inscribed on the ten positions of the tetractys, from right to left. It has been argued that the KabbalisticTree of Life, with its ten spheres of emanation, is in some way connected to the tetractys, but its form is not that of a triangle. The occult writerDion Fortune says:

Thepoint is assigned to Kether;
theline to Chokmah;
the two-dimensionalplane to Binah;
consequently the three-dimensionalsolid naturally falls to Chesed.^[143]

(The first two-dimensional figure is thetriangle.)

(The first three-dimensional solid is thetetrahedron.)

The relationship between geometrical shapes and the first fourSephirot is analogous to the geometrical correlations in tetractys, shown above underPythagorean Symbol, and unveils the relevance of the Tree of Life with the tetractys.

TheSamaritans shared the taboo of the Jews about the utterance of the name, and there is no evidence that its pronunciation was common Samaritan practice.^[55][144] HoweverSanhedrin 10:1 includes the comment ofRabbi Mana II, "for example those Kutim who take an oath" would also have no share in theworld to come, which suggests that Mana thought some Samaritans used the name in making oaths. (Their priests have preserved a liturgical pronunciation "Yahwe" or "Yahwa" to the present day.)^[55] As with Jews,Shema (שמא, "the Name") remains the everyday usage of the name among Samaritans, paralleling the Jewish use ofHaShem (השם, "the Name") in Hebrew.^[137] This reading of the tetragrammaton by Samaritans dates back to at least the 4th century CE, as evidenced in two poems by the Samaritan authorMarqah.^[145]

It is assumed that earlyJewish Christians inherited from Jews the practice of reading "Lord" where the Tetragrammaton appears in the Hebrew text (and where a few Greek manuscripts use it in the midst of their Greek translation). Gentile Christians, primarily non-Hebrew speaking and using Greek Scripture texts, may have read Κύριος ("Lord"), as in the Greek text of theNew Testament and in their copies of theGreek Old Testament. This practice continued into the LatinVulgate whereDominus ("Lord") represented the Tetragrammaton in the Latin text. At the Reformation, theLuther Bible used capitalizedHerr ("Lord") in the German text of the Old Testament to represent the Tetragrammaton.^[146]

In Christianity, when the Tetragrammaton is vocalized, the formsYahweh orJehovah are used.^[5][147]Jah or Yah is an abbreviation of Jahweh/Yahweh, and often sees usage by Christians in the interjection "Hallelujah", meaning "Praise Jah", which is used to give God glory.^[148]

TheSeptuagint (Greek translation), theVulgate (Latin translation), and thePeshitta (Syriac translation)^[126] use the word "Lord" (κύριος,kyrios,dominus, andܡܳܪܝܳܐ,moryo respectively).

Use of the Septuagint by Christians in polemics with Jews led to its abandonment by the latter, making it a specifically Christian text. From it Christians made translations intoCoptic,Arabic,Slavonic and other languages used inOriental Orthodoxy and theEastern Orthodox Church,^[100][149] whose liturgies and doctrinal declarations are largely a cento of texts from the Septuagint, which they consider to be inspired at least as much as the Masoretic Text.^[100][150] Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Greek text remains the norm for texts in all languages, with particular reference to the wording used in prayers.^[151][152]

The Septuagint, with its use of Κύριος to represent the Tetragrammaton, was the basis also for Christian translations associated with the West, in particular theVetus Itala, which survives in some parts of the liturgy of theLatin Church, and theGothic Bible.

Christian translations of the Bible into English commonly use "LORD" in place of the Tetragrammaton in most passages, often insmall capitals (or in all caps), so as to distinguish it from other words translated as "Lord".

TheEastern Orthodox Church considers the Septuagint text, which uses Κύριος (Lord), to be the authoritative text of the Old Testament,^[100] and in its liturgical books and prayers it uses Κύριος in place of the Tetragrammaton in texts derived from the Bible.^{[153][154]: 247–248}

In theCatholic Church, the first edition of the official VaticanNova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, editio typica, published in 1979, used the traditionalDominus when rendering the Tetragrammaton in the overwhelming majority of places where it appears; however, it also used the formIahveh for rendering the Tetragrammaton in three known places:

• Exodus 3:15^[155]
• Exodus 15:3^[156]
• Exodus 17:15^[157]

In the second edition of theNova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, editio typica altera, published in 1986, these few occurrences of the formIahveh were replaced withDominus,^{[158][159][160]} in keeping with the long-standing Catholic tradition of avoiding direct usage of the Ineffable Name.

On 29 June 2008, theHoly See reacted to the then still recent practice of pronouncing, within Catholicliturgy, the name of God represented by the Tetragrammaton. As examples of such vocalisation it mentioned "Yahweh" and "Yehovah". The early Christians, it said, followed the example of the Septuagint in replacing the name of God with "the Lord", a practice with important theological implications for their use of "the Lord" in reference to Jesus, as inPhilippians 2:9–11 and other New Testament texts. It therefore directed that, "in liturgical celebrations, in songs and prayers the name of God in the form of theTetragrammaton YHWH is neither to be used or pronounced"; and that translations of Biblical texts for liturgical use are to follow the practice of the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, replacing the divine name with "the Lord" or, in some contexts, "God".^[161] TheUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed this instruction, adding that it "provides also an opportunity to offer catechesis for the faithful as an encouragement to show reverence for the Name of God in daily life, emphasizing the power of language as an act of devotion and worship".^[162]

In theLutheran andAnglican psalters, the word LORD in "small capital letters [is used] to represent the tetragrammaton YHWH, the personal name of the deity". However, the Psalter of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer used by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America usesYahweh in two places, Psalms 68:4 and Psalms 83:18. Also the Hymnal 1982 as used by the Episcopal Church uses the hymn, "Guide me, O thou greatJehovah", Hymn 690 The Christian Life. Aside from those instances, LORD is typically used in the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church.^[163]

Since 1950, there are a number ofSacred Name Bibles that have been translated with the conviction that Hebraic forms for the Tetragrammaton and other divine names should be preserved in translating both Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. They have done this by transliteration or the use of Hebrew letters in the text. Some even use Paleo-Hebrew letters to write these names, such asThe Besorah.^[164][165]

While theQur'an does not explicitly mention the tetragrammaton, it appears to be well-aware of the name reflecting knowledge of its meaning, paralleling interpretations from early rabbinic traditions.^[166] The absence of the tetragrammaton may point to the Qur'an's oral transmission, especially since it sometimes replaces the tetragrammaton with "Lord" when it re-articulates passages in the Hebrew Bible that contain the tetragrammaton. Thus, the Qur'an appears to also avoid the vocalization of the tetragrammaton no differently than the Jewish communities with whom it was in conversation during Late Antiquity.^[166]

Since the 16th century, artists have been using the tetragrammaton as a symbol for God,^[167] or for divine illumination.^[168] Protestant artists avoided to allegorize God in human form, but rather wrote the Hebrew name of God. This was done in book illustrations since 1530, then on coins and medals as well.^[169] Since the 17th century, both Protestant and Catholic artists have used the tetragrammaton in church decoration, on top of altars, or in center of frescos, often in rays of light or in a triangle.^[170]

• Allah (the commonArabic word forGod)
• I Am that I Am
• Muqattaʿat
• Names of God
• Names and titles of God in the New Testament
• List of Tetragrammatons in art in Austria

•   Media related toTetragrammaton at Wikimedia Commons
•   Quotations related toTetragrammaton at Wikiquote