What do I mean when I say, "What does Jehovah mean?". Names are only names, right? However, the names in the Holy Bible often have meaning. For example, the name "Jesus" means "Jah saves", and Jah is the short form of Jehovah. Does "Jehovah" also have a meaning, or is it just a name?

Jehovah's name comes from the Hebrew root which means the same as "to be" in English, HWH (הוה or he, waw, he). The first letter "J" (י or jod) means the same as "he", the third person singular pronoun. So, the name of the biblical god is יהוה.

Ancient Hebrew writing did not originally include the vowels and readers were expected to insert the correct vowels to give the correct meaning. Later a system was invented to indicate what vowels should be used, but no one used it for Jehovah's name, The vowels of Adonai or Elohim were used instead, and where those vowels were written, it indicated that the reader should say that word instead. In many bibles translated into English the word "Lord" is substituted for God’s name, following the Jewish practice (Adonai means Lord).

Other languages translate the name with a word which means an

immortal person, "the Eternal". Others translate the name with a word which means "Lord". These simply serve to obscure the name and its meaning. They obscure his name because they are titles, they are not names and simply replace and hide his name. He said his name was Jehovah, so we should use it.

Most simply the name translates to "I am what I am", but others believe the name should be translated as "I will become what I will become" or "I will cause to be what I will cause to be". Since the vowels are missing, it is not possible to be sure what is the correct translation, but the last one would be very appropriate for the name of the Creator. The name "Jehovah", then, means "he causes to become", or something similar.

Jehovah himself owns his name and said this about it in Isaiah 42:8, "I am Jehovah. That is my name;" and the importance of using it explained in Romans 10:13, "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved." Would you like to be one of them?

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