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The Tetragrammaton (Greek: τετραγράμματον; "word with four letters") is the usual reference to the Hebrew name for God, which is spelt(in the Hebrew alphabet): י (yodh) ה (heh) ו (vav) ה (heh) or יהוה (YHWH). It is the distinctive personal name of the God of Israel.

YHWH
Of all the names of God, the one which occurs most frequently in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton, appearing 6,823 times, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia. The Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia texts of the Hebrew Scriptures each contain the Tetragrammaton 6,828 times.

In Judaism, the Tetragrammaton is the ineffable name of God, and is therefore not to be read aloud. In the reading aloud of the scripture or in prayer, it is replaced with Adonai ("My Lords", commonly rendered as "the Lord"). Other written forms such as י (yod) ו (vav) (YW or Yaw); or י (yod) ה (heh) (YH or Yah) are read in the same way.

Outside of direct prayer, the word "’ǎdônây" (אֲדֹנָי) is not spoken by some Jews since to do so is considered a violation of the commandment not to use the Lord's name in vain (Exodus 20:7). Therefore, the word is often read as HaShêm (הַשֵּׁם) literally, "The Name") or in some cases ’ǎdô-Shêm, a composite of ’ǎdônây and HaShêm. A similar rule applies to the word ’ělôhîym ("God"), which some Jews intentionally mispronounce as ’ělôkîym for the same reason. (In a process analogous to the "euphemism treadmill", a prosaic substitute for the Tetragrammaton during one historical period may acquire sanctity and thus itself be considered too holy for ordinary use in subsequent periods.)

Jehovah
Jehovah is an English transcription of the Biblical Hebrew name יְהוָֹה. The editors of the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon state that יְהוָֹה occurs 6518 times in the Masoretic Text. While יְהוָֹה occurs 6518 times in the Masoretic Text that underlies all editions of the King James Bible, JEHOVAH [in all capitals letters] only occurs 4 times in current editions of the King James Bible: Exodus 6:3 and Psalm 83:18 and Isaiah 12:2 and Isaiah 26:4 (and three more times in place-names). (The King James Bible which is commonly sold in bookstores is an 18th century spelling and punctuation revision of the King James Bible of 1611 A.D.) Instead of YHWH or Jehovah, the expression "the LORD" (with the word "LORD" in all capital letters) has commonly been used in most English-language Bible translations.

Today the English transcription "Jehovah" is used by many English speaking Protestant Christians and also by Jehovah's Witnesses,[1] however, most modern scholars believe that the English transcription "Jehovah" does not accurately represent God's name in the English language.

Some, but not all modern scholars believe that the original pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton may have been lost somewhere in the first millennium, when the Jewish people stopped saying the Name, out of fear of violating the commandment "You shall not take the name of YHWH your God in vain" (Exodus 20:7).

Most modern scholars believe that when the Masoretes added vowel points to the consonantal Hebrew text, they had not placed the correct vowel points of God's name above and below the consonants of YHWH. Instead modern scholars believe that the Masoretes had placed the vowel points of ’ǎdônây above and below the consonants of YHWH so that the reader would read "Adonai" aloud (see Q're Perpetuum).

Gerard Gertoux writes that in the Leningrad Codex of 1008-1010 A.D., the Masoretes used 7 different vowel pointings [i.e. 7 different Q're's] for YHWH.[2]Gerard Geroux believes that the Q're "e,o,a" [3]had become standardized in 1278 A.D. when the Spanish monk Raymundus Martini, in his book Pugeo Fidei, transliterated the Biblical Hebrew name "יְהוָֹה" into Latin as yohoua [with a small 1278 A.D. Latin initial letter "y"][4]

In 1518 Petrus Galatinus was using the Latin transcription "Iehoua" [without a final "h"]. 1

The first English Transcriptions of "יְהוָֹה"
The first English translators to transcribe God's name into English, had no reason to believe that the vowel points of "יְהוָֹה" might be incorrect, so they transcribed "יְהוָֹה" into English just as it was written [i.e. Iehouah [1530 A.D.] and Iehovah [1611 A.D.] and Jehovah [1769 A.D.]

Iehouah [5]is the first English transcription of God's name and is found a small number of times in Tyndale's Pentateuch, which was written in 1530 A.D.

In the year 1530 A.D. the English letter "u", when being used as a consonant,
was pronounced like the English letter "v" is pronounced today.
IEHOVAH[6][in all capital letters] is the 1611 A.D. English transcription of the Biblical Hebrew name יְהוָֹה.

"IEHOVAH" [in all capital letters] is found only four times in the King James Bible of 1611 A.D..

Modern scholars believe that Jehovah is an implausible rendering, based on their scholarly belief that the written form "יְהוָֹה" (read normally, "Yehovah") was only intended to indicate to the reader of the Bible in Hebrew to pronounce it "Adonai" ( אֲדֹנָי )

Note: due to a rule of Hebrew grammar, the beginning E of the first transliteration is analogous to the beginning A of the second, although they are pronounced differently.
In the 19th century many scholars (particularly Christians), who believed that "יְהוָֹה" did not have the actual vowel points of God's name, sought to reconstruct its original pronunciation from early Greek transcriptions.

Meaning
According to one Jewish tradition, the Tetragrammaton is related to the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Hebrew verb הוה (ha·wah, "to be, to become"), meaning "He will cause to become" (usually understood as "He causes to become"). Compare the many Hebrew and Arabic personal names which are 3rd person singular imperfective verb forms starting with "y", e.g. Hebrew Yôsêph = Arabic Yazîd = "He [who] adds"; Hebrew Yiḥyeh = Arabic Yahyâ = "He [who] lives".

Another tradition regards the name as coming from three different verb forms sharing the same root YWH, the words HYH haya היה: "He was"; HWH howê הוה: "He is"; and YHYH yihiyê יהיה: "He will be". This is supposed to show that God is timeless, as some have translated the name as "The Eternal One". Other interpretations include the name as meaning "I am the One Who Is." This can be seen in the traditional Jewish account of the "burning bush" commanding Moses to tell the sons of Israel that "I AM אהיה has sent you." (Exodus 3:13-14) Some suggest: "I AM the One I AM" אהיה אשר אהיה, or "I AM whatever I need to become". This may also fit the interpretation as "He Causes to Become." Many scholars believe that the most proper meaning may be "He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists" or "He who causes to exist".

The name YHWH was not always applied to a monotheistic God: see Asherah and other gods, Elohim (gods) and Yaw (god).

Transcription
Using consonants as semi-vowels
In Biblical Hebrew, most vowels are not written and the rest are written only ambiguously, as the vowel letters double as consonants (similar to the Latin use of V to indicate both U and V). See Matres lectionis for details. For similar reasons, an appearance of the Tetragrammaton in ancient Egyptian records of the 13th century BC sheds no light on the original pronunciation. 2. Therefore it is, in general, difficult to deduce how a word is pronounced from its spelling only, and the Tetragrammaton is a particular example: two of its letters can serve as vowels, and two are vocalic place-holders, which are not pronounced. Not surprisingly then, Josephus in Jewish Wars, chapter V, wrote, "…in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels". In Greek, they are Ιαου, which comes out to Yau, since iota is used to represent semi-vocalic 'y' (and omicron+ypsilon="oo").

Further, Josephus's four vowels are confirmed by theophoric stems in personal names, always: Yaho/Yahu/Y:ho/Y:hu.[1] These yield in English Yau and Yao, which are pronounced the same. Once again, the heh is not pronounced here in Hebrew, but is used instead as a place holder. Moreover, Gnostic texts, such as those Marcion wrote, discuss the Judaic god extensively, and spell the Tetragrammaton in Greek, Ιαω, that is "Yao." Lastly, Levantine texts (including those from ancient Ugarit) render the Tetragrammaton Yaw, pronounced "Yau."[2]

Using the vowels of YHWH
Josephus wrote that the sacred name consisted of four vowels. Many sacred name ministries who believe that YHWH consists of four vowels pronounce these four vowels as "ee-ah-oo-eh" and believe that indicates God's name was either "Yahweh" or "Yahuweh". In what may be a coincidence, the Greek name "ιαουε" would have been pronounced "Yah-oo-eh". (Iota is used as both a vowel and a semi-vowel.)

Of course, early Hebrew had no written "vowels" as such — every letter of the Hebrew alphabet was primarily consonantal in function (see Matres lectionis).

Vowel marks

The spelling of the Tetragrammaton and connected forms in the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Bible, with vowel points shown in red. (Click on image to enlarge.)To make the reading of Hebrew easier, marks or points above and below the letters were added to the text by the Masoretes, to function as vowels. See Niqqud for details. Several manuscripts from the 7th century and on contain vowel marks over the Tetragrammaton. Unfortunately, these do not shed much light on the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton. For example, the Leningrad codex contains six different variations on the vowel marks of the Tetragrammaton.

An added problem is that the diacritical vowel marks on the Tetragrammaton may have served a purpose other than indicating the pronunciation. When the text is read out loud by Jews, the Tetragrammaton is replaced by the word Adonai ("my Lord(s)"), Elohim ("God(s)"), Hashem ("the name"), or Elokim (no meaning), depending on circumstances (see Jewish use of the word below). Since someone reading the text aloud might inadvertently pronounce the name, the diacritical vowels of Adonai or Elohim are normally printed with the consonant letters of the Tetragrammaton, to remind the reader to make the change, so the text contains the letters YHWH interlaced with the vowel marks of Adonai/Elohim (a masoretic device known as Q're perpetuum which was also applied in a number of other cases, such as giving the spelling הוא in the Pentateuch an "i" vowel diacritic to indicate that sometimes it should be pronounced as a feminine pronoun hi, rather than a masculine pronoun hu). This is the case in modern editions of the Hebrew Bible, and also explains a number of medieval codices. In other words, these marks do not and were never intended to explain how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton.

In particular, there is a possible explanation of the vowel marks on the Tetragrammaton in the Ben Chayim codex of 1525 (see its importance below). It is worth noting that the aleph in Adonai has a hataf-patah (pronounced "ah" in Modern Hebrew) under it while the yod in the Tetragrammaton has a sheva (pronounced as a very short "eh" in Modern Hebrew).

Note that in the image above and to the right, "YHWH intended to be pronounced as Adonai" [i.e. "יְהוָֹה"] and "Adonai with its slightly different vowel points" [i.e. "אֲדֹנָי"] do not have the precise same vowel points.
In other words, the Masoretes did not point YHWH with the precise vowel points of Adonai.
This can be explained by rules of Hebrew grammar, which forbid a sheva under an aleph, although this explanation is not entirely satisfactory.

Sir Godfry Driver wrote: "The Reformers preferred Jehovah, which first appeared as Iehouah in A.D. 1530 in Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch (Exodus 6.3), from which it passed into other Protestant Bibles." The English transcription "Iehovah", is found in the 1611 edition of the King James Bible, and during the 1762-1769 edit of the KJV, the spelling "Iehovah" was changed to "Jehovah" (in accordance with the general differentiation of I/J and U/V into separate letters which developed over the course of the 17th century in English). Thus began a period where the word was rendered: "Jehovah". The Jerusalem Bible (1966) uses Yahweh exclusively.

Transcription in other languages
Table of different language transcriptions of the tetragrammaton. (If the native language uses non-European characters or pictographic symbols, the table shows the common English/European transliteration of the target language script, together with the tetragrammaton in the native font if available):

Arabic يهوه Maori Ihowa
Awabakal Yehóa Motu Iehova
Bugotu Jihova Narrinyeri Jehovah
Bulgarian Йехова Nembe Jihova
Croatian Jehova / Jahve Petats Jihouva
Danish Jehova Polish Jehowa / Jahwe
Dutch Jehovah / Jahwe(h) Portuguese Jeová
Efik Jehovah Romanian Iehova
English Jehovah / Yahweh Russian Иегова
Fijian Jiova Samoan Ieova
Finnish Jahve / Jehova Serbian Jehova
French Yahvé / Jéhovah Sotho Jehova
Futuna Ihovah Spanish Yavé Yahveh /Jehová
German Jehova / Jahwe Swahili Yehova
Greek Iehova / Yiahve Ιεχωβά / Γιαχβέ Swedish Jehova / Jahve
Hungarian Jehova Tagalog Jehova/Yahweh
Igbo Jehova Tahitian Jehovah
Indonesian Yehuwa Tongan Jihova
Italian Geova / Jahve Turkish Yehova
Japanese Ehoba エホバ Venda Yehova
Korean Yeohowa 여호와 Xhosa u Yehova
Mandarin in Traditional Chinese Yéhéhuá 耶和華 Yoruba Jehofah
Mandarin in Simplified Chinese Yéhéhuá / Yǎwēi 耶和华/雅威 Zulu u Jehova

Yahweh
19th Century scholars disputed the vowel points of "יְהוָֹה"
Wilhelm Gesenius [1786-1842], who is noted for being one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars, 3 wrote a Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament which was first translated into English in 1824. 4 In the first half of the 19th century, Wilhelm Gesenius, as well as many other scholars, believed that the Medieval vowel points of "יְהֹוָה" were not the actual vowel points of God’s name.

Wilhelm Gesenius Punctuated YHWH as "יַהְוֶה" (i.e. Yahweh)

William Gesenius's Hebrew punctuation (i.e. Yahweh).In Smith's " A Dictionary of the Bible" [published in 1863] William Smith notes 5 that Wilhelm Gesenius punctuated YHWH as "יַהְוֶה" (see image to the right)
This vocalized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton "יַהְוֶה" ( i.e. Yahweh ), is sometimes referred to as a "Scholarly Reconstruction" and is believed to have been based in large part on various Greek transcriptions, such as (ιαουε—iaoue and ιαουαι—iaouai and ιαβε—Iabe) dating from the first centuries AD.

"יַהְוֶה" [i.e. Yahweh] may have represented Epiphanius's "Iαβε"
In Smith's 1863 " A Dictionary of the Bible", William Smith supposes that "יַהְוֶה" was represented by the "Iαβε" of Epiphanius. 8


The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 says: Inserting the vowels of Jabe [e.g. Latin form of Iabe] into the Hebrew consonant text, we obtain the form Jahveh (Yahweh), which has been generally accepted by modern scholars as the true pronunciation of the Divine name;9.

Scholarly sources in which "יַהְוֶה" is found
Smith's 1863 A.D. A Dictionary of the Bible
In Smith's 1863 "A Dictionary of the Bible", William Smith does not consider "יַהְוֶה" to be the best scholarly reconstructed vocalized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton which he is aware of.

However, although "יַהְוֶה" was not the only scholarly reconstructed vocalized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton that appeared in scholarly sources in the 19th century, it gradually became accepted as the best scholarly reconstructed vocalized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton.

The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906 A.D.
The editors of the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906 recognize that "יַהְוֶה" is spelled "Yahweh" in English, but "יַהְוֶה" is only one of two vocalized Hebrew spellings, that they believe might have been the original pronunciation of YHWH. In the Article:Names of God, and under the article sub heading: "YHWH", the editors write:

If the explanation of the form above given be the true one, the original pronunciation must have been Yahweh (יַהְוֶה) or Yahaweh (יַהֲוֶה). From this the contracted form Jah or Yah (יהּ ) is most readily explained, and also the forms Jeho or Yeho ( יַהְוְ = יְהַו = יְהוֹ ), and Jo or Yo ( יוֹ contracted from יְהוֹ ), which the word assumes in combination in the first part of compound proper names, and Yahu or Yah ( יָהוּ = (image) in the second part of such names.
The early 1900's Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon
The editors of the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament write "יַהְוֶה" under the heading "יהוה", and describes "יַהְוֶה" as:

"n.pr.dei Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel."
Criticism of the name "Yahweh"
In Biblical Archaeology Review, reference is made to the fact that a two-syllable pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton as "Yahweh" would not allow for the o vowel sound to exist as part of God’s name. Thus the article stated:

"When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one syllable it was ‘Yah’ or ‘Yo.’ When it was pronounced in three syllables it would have been ‘Yahowah’ or ‘Yahoowah.’ If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been ‘Yaho.’"[7]

See some links below.

Jewish use of the word
In Judaism, pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton is a taboo; it is widely considered forbidden to utter it and the pronunciation of the name is generally avoided. Usually, Adonai is used as a substitute in prayers or readings from the Torah. When used in everyday speaking (or according to many) in learning the Tetragrammaton is replaced by HaShem. The difference is marked by the vowelization in printed Bibles—the Tetragrammaton takes on the vowels of the word whose pronunciation it takes. Torah scrolls have no diacritical vowel marks, and therefore the reader must memorize the correct pronunciation for each instance of the Tetragrammaton (as for every word he reads).

According to rabbinic tradition, the name was pronounced by the high priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement as well as the only day when the Holy of Holies of the Temple would be entered. With the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70, this use also vanished, also explaining the loss of the correct pronunciation. (In one midrashic tradition, only seven Cohanim, or individuals of priestly lineage, know the true name of God, and it is passed down throughout the generations to be ready for invocation during the building of the Third Jewish Temple.)


The letters of the Tetragrammaton in a tetractysThere is a Jewish tradition that the actual name of God, only known to and stated by the high priest, was actually 72 letters long. The name was written out on a long strip of parchment, then folded and slipped inside the fold of the high priest's bejeweled breastplate. When someone would ask the high priest a question of Torah, or Jewish law, the high priest could invoke the Name, wherein the 12 jewels, representing the 12 tribes of the Israelites, would light up in a certain order whose meaning was, too, only known to the high priest. Through the power of the 72-letter name of God, the high priest communed, as it were, with the Almighty.

Why 72 letters? The answer may be found in the medieval rabbinic use of Gematria, that is assigning a number to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, allowing scholars to attribute numeric sums to words, find equivalencies in certain words, even use sums to try to predict a year and date for the coming of the Messiah. Even today, Jews often attribute mystical significance to the number 18, which has a possible Hebrew letter equivalent in the word "Chai", meaning "Life". Using "Gematria", we find that "Chai" equals 18: it's composed of the letter "chet", which equals 8, and the letter "yod", which equals 10, i.e. 8+10=18; consequently 18x4=72, so, in a sense, each letter of the 4-letter form of the Name represents a metaphoric symbol of the living power of God. Also, when the letters of the Tetragrammaton are arranged in a Kabbalistic tetractys formation, the sum of all the letters is 72 by Gematria (as shown in the diagram). Keeping along these lines, the Tetragrammaton, since it's only an abbreviation of the actual name, is not as powerful by nature (or supernature) as the original full name of God, though it's still not something to use in vain.

When most religious Jews refer to the name of God in conversation or in a non-textual context such as in a book, newspaper or letter, they call the name HaShem, which means "the Name." Similarly, the word Elohim is prononuced "Elokim" outside of certain religious contexts when it refers to God, and likewise for a few other names of God. When any such word is used to refer to anything but God (e.g., HaShem), it is pronounced as normal by even the most traditionalist Jews.

A number of modern translations of the Hebrew Bible and of Jewish liturgy render the Tetragrammaton as "the ETERNAL" (emphasized or all caps), because it is gender-neutral (unlike "The Lord"). The Hebrew letters of the Tetragrammaton are the only ones required to write the Hebrew sentence "haya, hove, ve-yiheyeh" (He was, He is, and He shall be), hence "Eternal."

Alternative names
In an analogue to the euphemism HaShem for God, the euphemism HaShem HaMeforash (literally, the explicit name) is sometimes used to refer to the Tetragrammaton.

Another name, four-letter word, has lost its popularity for obvious reasons. Some people refer to the Tetragrammaton as Hebrew word #3068 after the numbering in James Strong's concordance. See also The name of God in Judaism.

Possible origins
A common suggestion, as articulated by biblical scholar Mark S. Smith in The Origins of Biblical Monotheism, is that the Israelite Yahweh was derived from the traditions of the Shasu, linguistically Canaanite nomads from southern transjordan. An Egyptian inscription from the Temple of Amun at Karnak from the time of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BCE) refers to the "Shasu of Yhw," evidence that this god was worshipped among some of the Shasu tribes at this time. Biblical archaeologist Amihai Mazar, in Archaeology of the Land of the Bible Volume I, suggests that the association of Yahweh with the desert may be the product of his origins in the dry lands to the south of Israel. Egyptologist Donald Redford, in Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times, suggests that the Israelites themselves may have been a group of Shasu who moved northward into Canaan in the 13th century BCE, appearing for the first time in the stele of Merenptah, and as Israel Finkelstein has shown in The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts settled the Samarian and Judean hills at this time.

Even earlier there are signs that Yahweh was worshipped as Yah at Ebla (2,350 BCE) and as Yaw at Ugarit (1800-1200 BCE), where he was one of the Elohim (Canaanite 'lhm) - the sons of El.

Likewise, Jean Bottero in Mesopotamia:Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, suggests that Yah was the West Semitic version of the Akkadian God of Wisdom Ea, a name derived from the Sumerian E=house, A=water, a title given to the Sumerian God Enki. Yah and Ea were pronounced alike. Yahweh, like Ea was the creator of humankind, who saved the flood hero (Noah / Utnapishtim) from the flood.

Van der Toorn's article "Yahweh" in the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible notes that, although a wide range of opinions have been presented, no clear etymology for the tetragrammaton presents itself.

Hebraist Joel M. Hoffman, in Chapter 4 of In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language, argues that the Tetragrammaton was purposely composed only and entirely of matres lectiones. (See also Elohim.)

Popular culture
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Crucified Jesus below a radiant Tetragrammaton at the church of St. Marri at Paris, France.Religious Broadcasting
The Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by Pat Robertson, started out as a UHF television station called WYAH-TV (for "Yahweh") in the early 1960s.
Art
A crucified Jesus below a radiant Tetragrammaton is found in the church of St. Marri at Paris, near the Centre Pompidou.
Films
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones must cross a room of lettered tiles. To step on the wrong letter would trigger a deadly trap. An ancient Latin manuscript provides a clue to safe passage: he must walk in a sequence that will spell out "the name of God." He remembers not a moment too soon that "in the Latin alphabet, 'Jehovah' begins with an 'I'".
In Equilibrium, a dystopic view of the future in which the government mandates that all individuals take psychiatric medications to suppress feeling, the agency responsible for policing the state is known as the Tetragrammaton.
In Pi, a group of kabbalistic Jews looking for the true name of God enlist the help of a mathematician to analyze the Torah.
In Monty Python's Life of Brian, a man is persecuted for saying out loud the name of God ("I only said that this bit of halibut was good enough for Jehovah!"). The accuser then accidentally lets this "blasphemy" slip out and is himself stoned.
In Bruce Almighty, Yahweh! is the name given to Bruce's computerized tool for sorting prayers to answer, parodying popular search engine Yahoo!.
In Ghoulies, the phrase "yod hay vav hay" is said to summon up the evil spirits that ultimately become the ghoulies.
Literature
The Tetragrammaton features extensively in Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, and in short stories such as "Death and the Compass" by Jorge Luis Borges.
In Larry Gonick's The Cartoon History of the Universe, the "real" pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton is rendered as "Yahu-Wahu". (The "evidence" for this is that the cartoon character representing the author is struck by lightning while speculating whether the original pronunciation of YHWH is "Yehowah [Jehovah], Yahweh, or even Yahu-Wahu". Later in the book, Israelites are shown attacking a Canaanite city while uttering the war cry "Yahoo! Wahoo!").
In Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos, a sort of alternate history in which magic and religion have objective reality and scientific status, the Tetragrammaton is used as the insignia of United States Army Intelligence units.
In the book All Hallow's Eve by Charles Williams, the dark magician Simon the Clerk uses an ultra-powerful spell of destruction or dissolution called the Anti-Tetragrammaton.
In the work of Nikos Kazantzakis "The Last Temptation of Christ", in the form "Jehovah".
In Philip K. Dick's novel Eye in the Sky, the eponymous Eye belongs to a god referred to as "(Tetragrammaton)".
Music
Yahweh is the closing track on U2's 2004 album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
A Mexican idea of what 'Yahweh' means: "Yo soy quien soy y no me parezco a nadie" = "I am who am I and I do not look like anybody" (from a popular song).
ApologetiX, a Christian parody band, wrote a parody of YMCA entitled YHWH
Games
A popular RPG series in Japan by Atlus called Shin Megami Tensei features a representation of YHVH in its Super Nintendo games Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei II.
In the cult-classic RPG Xenogears the game's main villain, the false god "Deus," is an extremely powerful biological weapon which is the key part to the "Yaweh" planetary invasion system.
The entity Jenova's name in Final Fantasy VII is derived from Jehova. Her name is said to be a blend of Jehova and nova literaly meaning "New God", which is exactly what she and her "son" Sephiroth are trying to become in the game.
See also
Other articles relating to the Tetragrammaton:

Adonai
Ancient of Days
-ihah
Jah
Jehovah
El (god)
Elohim
I am that I am
INRI
Other:

Iaoue — the story of one Greek transliteration of the Tetragrammaton
Names of God in Judaism
Rael - claims to have met Yahweh Elohim during a UFO encounter in 1973.
Yaw
References
^ Research and doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses on the Divine Name
^ refer to the table on page 144 of Gerard Gertoux's book: The Name of God Y.EH.OW.Ah which is pronounced as it is written I_EH_OU_AH.
^ refer to page 152-153 of Gerard Gertoux's book: The Name of God Y.EH.OW.Ah which is pronounced as it is written I_EH_OU_AH.
^ On page 152 of Gerard Gertoux's book: "The name of God Y.EH.OW.AH which is pronounced as it is written I_EH_OU_AH" is a photo of Latin and Hebrew text [side by side] written by Raynond Martini in 1278 A.D. In the last sentence of the Hebrew text, "יְהוָֹה" can be clearly seen. In the last sentence of the Latin Text, Raymond Martini's Latin Transcription "yohoua" [with a small Latin initial letter "y"] can be clearly seen.
^ In the 7th paragraph of "Introduction to the Old Testament of the New English Bible",
Sir Godfry Driver wrote:
"The Reformers preferred Jehovah, which first appeared as Iehouah in 1530 A.D., in Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch (Exodus 6.3), from which it passed into other Protestant Bibles."


^ In a chart labeled "The Bible Compared : Exodus", Exodus 6:3 shows "IEHOVAH" [in all capital letters] in the KJV [1611].
^ BAR 21.2 (March-April 1995),31 George W. Buchanan, "How God’s Name Was Pronounced"
Footnotes
1. Galatin, Peter - De Arcanis Catholicæ Veritatis, 1518, folio xliii
2. See pages 128 and 236 of the book "Who Were the Early Israelites?" by archeologist William G. Dever, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2003.
3.Wilhelm Gesenius is noted for being one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars.
4. Wilhelm Gesenius' Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament was first translated into English in 1824,
5. Smith's "A Dictionary of the Bible"
6. Encyclopedia Britannica of 1910-1911 Page 312
7.Smith's "A Dictionary of the Bible": Clement of Alexandria wrote "Iaou" not "Iaoue" at Stromata Book V.
8. Smith's "A Dictionary of the Bible": Yahweh supposed to have been derived from Samaritan "IaBe"
9. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 under the sub-heading: To take up the ancient writers
10. The online Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906
External links
Arbel, Ilil. "Yahweh." Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004.
"Jehovah." Easton's Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.) 1887.
"Jehovah (Yahweh)." Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8. 1910.
Jewish Encyclopedia count of number of times the Tetragrammation is used
Nazarenes and the Name of YHWH, an article by James Trimm
The Historical Evolution of the Hebrew God
The Rise of God
The Sacred Name Yahweh, a publication by Qadesh La Yahweh Press
Biblaridion magazine: Phanerosis Theology: The Tetragrammaton and God's manifestation.
HaVaYaH the Tetragrammation in the Jewish Knowledge Base on chabad.org
Titles of Deity, a Christadelphian view

Did I know all of this? No.
Did I know Tetragrammaton was supposedly the name of god? Yes.

She obviously knows it's god, because of all the different names for God she has there. She means the total direct english translation, not just simply GOD.

thats too much to read!

Shame ,..its good information for one who is curious enough or serious about the topic at hand.

I believe the meaning of His name is " He that causes to Become"
kinda makes sense of the whole shakespear ," To be or not to be" that is the question.?

HOLY COW Abecrombie.....that took a lot of time Good read!

I did read most of that but I'm not sure if this was in there or not.. The name I think is like a formula too.. like YHVH is Y for fire, H for water, V for air and the other H for earth. Or father mother son daughter etc.. This can be used for anything. And when you place shin into it 'Sh'(which is like heart or spirit)you get either YHShVH(banishing)or YHVShH(Invoking)which is the name of Christ. So I look at YHVH as like a man without heart almost and when you add shin he becomes whole. Kinda. There is a belief I think that YHVH is Yaldaboath who could also be Ariel in that form but I dont really know the gnostic stuff that well.

I've read that to say the name you have to vibrate it a certain way but really in the end I think it would be a personal thing as to how to really do it. But there is a difference to just saying a name and vibrating one. Its a name that is creation and so its spoken with.. umm passion.. I dont know the right word.. but its used in meditation and for things like the Kabbalistic Cross Ritual, and really it doesnt need to be said at all beacuse its kinda breathed in and spoken on the breath. To me anyway.
Also if you place YHVH ontop of each other it makes like a little man which is cool.


Thats kinda why I look at it as like man without shin.



So me personally I look at YHVH from almost a gnostic point of view but I'm not out to stone him.

And I pronounce it something like Yee-ho-vau for YHVH, Yee-ho-va-sh-ah for YHVShH and Yee-he-shu-vah for YHShVH. And with an aussie accent.

thats some great insights you have thanks for sharing but dont mistake the letter"V" for the" W" it could change the whole meaning . The textragrammaton is /are the letters YHWH
and the vowels are not yet placed as of the greek language back into the way of transslating the ol hebrew structure of vowels then becoming Ya'H eW eH, Or something of that nature , one should refer back to the previous technoalicties. in post #1
and the language was read back to front but im not sure how the tetragrammoton fits into all of that as far as the hebrew is concerned. its a topic that is profoundly complicating whaen languages are historicaly not common in today so studying more for accuracy is important, thats why i posted this thread ,i find it to be fascinating as well as informitive and important to me personaly unmunst my studies,. i learn more everyday. always some kind of re occuring theme takes place but i still get confused wich perplexes me to keep studying its been 30 years now since my first in depth bible study and its always telling something to some one everytime like all on different levels of knowledge and indifference. its good for i dont like to tell peiople what i dont understand , ill never really understand what God has completely written cause hes says that there is a mysterry for man not to know certain things, and we will never be able to comprehend he greatness in the natural form inperfect state of sin, whats wrong with that. it seems reasonable to me. i wont argue that fact .lol

Thanks for your input .
Ilike it Abecrombie

I thought it didnt really matter which you used because its all the same meaning isnt it? Like either IHVH or YHVH or YHWH.. its the same formula yeah.. Which is why some type it one way and others type it another. I've always thought anyway. Like I usually type it IHVH because Ive just seen it typed that way so much hey.

In the books ive read I usualy see it YHVH.
Tertragram is just the forces or the realms of the universe. Pentagram is the spirit over those forces. Thats why an upside down pentragram is kinda retarded, if used for magic and stuff.

But the whole pentagram for banishing and invoking is Golden Dawn stuff.
Most kabbalah stuff writen today (in america) is golden dawn kabbalah. The non golden dawn influenced kabbalah ive read usualy just explain the hidden meaning in letters. And usualy short on the pages.

From what ive heard the actual name of god is like 56 or 86 letters. Or some big number like that. And YHVh is one of his many titles or roles. Supposeidly there all god just different expressions of him.

Yeah it is mainly Golden Dawn stuff. I've got a book called Tetragrammaton By Tyson which was an ok read too hey. I actually redesigned the standard Golden Dawn star though to work with the name of IHShVH instead of around it. Like for pentagrammaton its usually like this..
But I dont understand why they made the name IHShVh to go around the outside of the star instead following the creation of the star. There must be some complicated reason which I never understood hey. Anotherwords if you start at Yod you either work up to H or down to H inorder to go around the star and make the name IHShVH in either its banishing or invoking form. But to me it made no sense to go around the name because the name is made as the star is, becasue it is the star imo. So I placed Yod in the hand inorder to keep Shin in the mind which worked out prefectly and its the only combination for it to all work clockwise and anticlockwise.. Like when you place Yod in the hand you can then make the star from the name in order, which fits perfectly and also invokes every element clockwise and banishes every element anticlockwise, which the GD star does not do. Like they have the top line as Air and Water which means to banish water you invoke air etc which invokes air in an anticlockwise manner. Where my star banishes and invokes only the element wanted while moving around the star in the right direction. And thats why I love my star.

Yeah I've read something like that too but I might be getting it mixeed up with the 72 names of God. I'm not sure though or even where I read it. Apparently the name IHVH can also be moved around in.. combo's.. like either IHVH or IHVH etc etc to make the 12 banners of IHVH. Or something.