In this video published on January 25, 2018, Hebrew scholar, Nehemia Gordon discusses manuscript evidence for the pronunciation of the personal name of YHVH with his team of researchers. Gordon and his team have been searching ancient Hebrew manuscripts of the Tanakh (OT) that go back to the ninth century A.D. After searching through thousands of ancient manuscripts and visually looking for the Hebrew letters Y-H-V-H, they have found 1015 instances where the Jewish sages have filled in the vowel points of these four letters for the name of Elohim so that it reads Yehovah. To date, they have not found a single instance where Y-H-V-H has been written as Yahweh. At 41:40 in the video, Gordon and Keith Johnson discuss this fact. Gordon has put together a data base listing the places in the Bible where the name Yehovah occurs along with the name of the ancient manuscript in which Yehovah is found.
Here is a short version of this info:
In this short video, Nehemia Gordon explains why the six letter in the Hebrew alphabet is pronounced as a v and and not as a w. This information has a profound impact on how to vocalize or pronounce the personal name of YHVH.
This video is an abbreviated version of a much longer teaching Nehemia presented on his website where he gives more examples from ancient Hebrew manuscripts why the vav was correctly pronounced as a v and not as w by most ancient Hebrew speaking Jews, as well as how the w pronunciation came into the Hebrew language much later. He shows actual photos of these manuscripts in the longer version.
Yes Yes Yes Yeshua, Yah Yah Yah Yehovah! HalleluYah!
Shalom Natan
I had come across this too but there is a counter argument that the vowel markings placed on the tetragrammaton are there to indicate to the reader Adonai to be spoken out loud.
I am not a scholar of Hebrew in the slightest and haven’t delved further into this as it seems so divisive. It is interesting that the source, Nehemiah is a very controversial figure within a sect of Judaism as well.
Having both those who think very highly of him to those that denounce his endeavours. He is not a believer in Messiah having already come, which makes me want to be careful too.
Oi Vei.. this is a pretty amazing time with so much to test in love. I don’t want to bag the ” correct pronounciation” of the name to find out I was almost but not quite right & offending those who believe as I do, except for this.
I think I have spoken with you about this before in pronunciation being used by to determine who the enemy was but ultimately they only ended up killing their brothers Israel, because of hardness of heart and not doing what God said to do in the first place.
In this computer page if I write the word pronounciation the way my Australian English spells the word, it is underlined in red as incorrect but on whose say so……that is sort of what I am getting at.
I actually say Yehovah and used to say Yahway.
Take care & thankyou for all the earnest digging and sweating to aid the Kingdom in Coming.
Love in Messiah.
F J
I want to respond to two things you said, which I hear people saying over and over again.
First, that the vowels of Adonai are to be found in Yehovah. Well, that’s not exactly the case. Nehemia Gordon addresses this issue over and over again and shows that its a fallacy in his videos including one of the one’s I have posted here. You can see this for yourself that this isn’t exactly true if you have a Strong’s Concordance: check and compare Strongs Hebrew word number 136 (Adonai) and 3068 YHVH/Yehovah.
Second, so Nehemia Gordon isn’t a believer. So what? Does this change truth? Truth is truth whether it’s coming from the lips of YHVH or from Balaam’s donkey!!!!! If your math teacher says that 2 +2 = 4, are we to disbelieve this because he’s a non-believer? If a weather forecaster says that it’s going to rain tomorrow, are we to disbelieve this because he’s not a believer? If the non-believing rabbinic Jews say that Passover or Pentecost is on a certain day because they have invented a calendar in the 4th century to which many people still adhere including believers in Yeshua, do we accept or reject that calendar based on the Jews’ spiritual orientation toward Yeshua? Or do we look at the evidence for its validity and accept and reject it based on empirical evidence? If the only OT manuscripts we have are those the Yeshua-denying Jews have faithfully copied down through the millennia and have passed on to us, do we reject these manuscripts because the scribes are non-believers? Do we reject what science tells us about chemistry, astronomy, physics, biology, or anything because they’re non-believers? If the mail man brings you mail that you don’t like, do you reject the mail because the mail man isn’t a believer? When you go to the doctor, do you first ask him for his statement of faith before patronizing him or her? Didn’t think so. So why do we put Nehemia Gordon in a special category that we don’t put anyone else? Not picking on anyone here. I’ve heard this false argument from many sources over the years. I’m not defending Gordon for his unbelief. He will have to answer to YHVH for his. (BTW, I watched my wife witness to him about Yeshua over dinner in a restaurant in Tiberious, Israel in the spring of 2008.)
Bottom line: truth stands on its own as truth. If we reject truth, regardless of the messenger bringing us the truth, we will look like fools. I hope I’ve made my point.
Thanks Natan. I am just wary and like you say truth is truth and no, I haven’t watched the video but I know you check the posts too before you put them on. So I wasn’t attempting to undermine you. So sorry if that is the impression. I have done a lot of study but am still maturing and am not there yet, trying to be approved but have not read & do not know everything either so that is why I passed it by you. Sometimes we all get war weary and the rolling up of sleeves is in another hole. Points you have given are taken on board too. Shalom and sorry to be a bother. Be blessed. F J.
No bother whatsoever. And thank you for making yourself vulnerable and for giving me the opportunity to address some current misconceptions that many people have and that I’ve heard for years. This is no reflection on you personally. I merely take these occasions to address larger issues I see going on in our spiritual “movement.”
From where I sit in my little converted chicken coop studio/office/studio/library/prayer room, I feel like I’m at a control center, watchman on the wall type of a place where info is flowing into me from all different sources from all over the world thanks to the internet. I hear and see a lot and endeavor, by YHVH’s grace, to bring the light of Scripture to bear on what I see going on around me. It’s about being salt and light and using the resources YHVH has given us to help expand his kingdom. I’m sort of a spiritual activist for YHVH’s kingdom. That’s all.
Thanks for all of your contributions. They’re appreciated and help to make this blog a success. May YHVH be glorified!
Hi Natan
this comment below is what applies to me & it was underneath one of the vids you linked. I have downloaded the vids and will do a bit of first hand looking with prayer.
Blessings F J
MyChele Marie1 year ago
First of all I would like to say that it seems that our Creator gave us 2 eyes 2 ears and 1 mouth for a very good reason! Talk Less-Observe more+Listen more=Learning More! I am saying this in Love to the ones who are speaking so negatively about what Nehemia is saying. I watched this episode 3 times just to get a fuller understanding of it. I will probably watch it a few more times at a later date just as a refresher. I am really glad this was one of the subjects this evening because I was praying for understanding to this exact question and another question concerning the Creators calendar; Surprisingly, Michael Rood answers that later on in tonights teaching! YHVH is so awesome in leading me to the answers I am seeking!
Thank you Nehemia & Michael for taking the time to go into the deeper things in the scriptures. So much answered and learned when going back & seeing the different translations from the original, how many letters in one language’s alphabet verses another, the difference in word pronunciations, spellings, definitions, & how meanings might varie because of the different languages and the culture or religious practices of that time period. Shalom to all & good night.
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Natan Lawrence , I appreciate your feedback, but scriptures do say that it does matter if “They don’t believe in Messiah ” the “Truth” is anyone that does not believe is the anti-messiah.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to in your response. I’ve never said that it doesn’t matter if a person doesn’t believe in the Messiah. The Scripture is clear that it does matter. It is sin not to believe in him and unbelief will condemn a person to eternal judgment and death in the lake of fire.
As far as what the biblical definition is of Antichrist, I don’t throw the term around haphazardly. John in his first and second epistle clearly defines who fits this designation, and I go off of that.
This argument is valid if these vowel points belong to this word. Remember they were put there by rabbinic Jews that forbade pronouncing the name. Older references give a different pronunciation. See videos below for historical proof of another pronunciation. [video link edited out]
With all due respect, I had to edit out the video links, since this blog has a long-standing policy of not posting video links unless the moderator (that’s me) has had a chance to watch them first. Generally, for me, this is a matter of time. Working a full-time secular job and with other life responsibilities, my time is limited and has to be allocated judiciously.
Suffice it to say, the case for the pronunciation of YHVH as Yahweh, has already been made again and again by many people including scholars and non-scholars. We don’t need to go over this ground again. If someone wants to find this information, just Google it. This blog is disinclined to rehash the same arguments over and over again on an issue.
The purpose for posting the current info on Yehovah being found in so many ancient manuscripts is that this is new information. The case for Yahweh is NOT new information. Aren’t the scholars who advocate the this pronunciation just repeating over and over again what has already been said on this subject? Are they actually presenting new evidence from ancient sources? Didn’t think so. This is something that Gordon is doing, however. He is a linguistic archeologist who is uncovering new evidence that challenges the conventional thinking on this issue.
Look, evidence is evidence. Facts are facts. Truth is truth. We have two choices when confronted with facts: deal with it and grow into that truth, or deny it and stay where we are. It is for the last reason that so many people are stuck back in a tree of knowledge religious systems believing what they’ve wrongly been taught about the apostle Paul and the law, etc., etc. The restoration of truth is going on as Peter predicted in Acts 3:21, “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Some folks will move forward into that light of truth, others will stay where they are. I don’t judge them. That’s for YHVH to do. But when overwhelming evidence is presented on a subject, I have to get off the couch, roll up my sleeves and get to work proving or disproving it. Yeah, that’s hard work, but the rewards are worth it. I’ve learned that ignorance is never bliss. Ignorance is ignorance.
Oh, by the way, were you able to watch the videos by Nehemia Gordon before posting the comment?
I agree…it does not matter the belief of the person to point out the truth. Languages are designed in such a way that they are spoken, read, and written regardless of a person’s religious or faith beliefs, just as is math, science, etc. It does not matter if the person who is reading, writing, or speaking the language believes in Yeshua or not because the setup and facts around the manner that a language is designed are just that…facts. The fact that the person believes or does not believe has no bearing in the way the language is written. The vowel points are written to indicate how to pronounce the words, and as a former believer in the Name of Elohim being Yahweh, I can clearly see that it is not because the vowel points show otherwise. It is the same with learning any other language. I speak and write English, and am learning to speak and write in Spanish and Hebrew. The belief’s of my instructors in these languages don’t mean anything in context of the language the way that it is taught. Languages have rules, no matter who is teaching them, and to insinuate that the language is not being taught correctly because the person teaching it is not a believer in Yeshua is just asinine.The belief in Yeshua for salvation is a whole other ball game, but this is not what we are talking about.
I meant to say that the fact that the person believes or does not believe has no bearing in the way the language is structured.