You might be reading your Bible and come across the word “Lord” (spell just that way, with a capital L). Later, you might see the same word written as “LORD” (in all caps). Perhaps you’ve wondered why the difference? Perhaps also you’ve seen or heard the words “Jehovah” and “Yahweh” in reference to God but weren’t sure of their meaning.

To begin with, in most Bibles the name JEHOVAH appears only a handful of times. Two of the more common appearances across a variety of translations are…

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
(Exodus 6:3)

That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
(Psalm 83:18)

Those two references don’t do the word justice, however, as the word “LORD” (printed in all caps) appears well over six-thousand times in the King James translation and is, in fact, the same word in the original language as Jehovah.

In the Hebrew, the word is יְהֹוָה. The word “Jehovah” is basically an anglicized version of the phonetic pronunciation. As a matter of fact, the most precise translation of the word would not be “Jehovah,” but instead would be “YHWH.”

How do you pronounce that?

If you try, you get something that sounds like “ya-wey” but the point is not to pronounce it. The point is it’s not really a word that’s meant to be bandied about in casual conversion. It shouldn’t be treated as a word, or even as a “name” in the conventional sense. When God tells Moses (Exodus 6:3) that his name “Jehovah” was not known to the patriarchs, what He means is the idea behind YHWH was not fully revealed or made manifest to those ancient people. More telling is what Asaph writes (Psalm 83:18), as he says God’s “name alone is Jehovah.” He is the “only one called Jehovah,” in other words. Why? Why is God alone called “Jehovah?” What does it mean?

When Moses asked God for His name, the Lord told Him “I am that I am” (Exodus 3:14). It’s a curious way to introduce oneself and was spoken specifically by the Lord to convey an idea about Himself: God is the self-existing one. He is the God that just is. Take any other god that is worshipped by men, find their idol statue and ask where it came from: You’ll be told it came from the smith who melted and formed the metal, shaped it into the image, overlaid it in gold, perched it on its pedastal, etc. You can find the whole origin-story of the deity that pagan men worship.

What is God’s origin story? He has none; He just is, He has always been, and He ever shall be…

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,” saith the Lord, “which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
(Revelation 1:8)

That description which Jesus (God) gives of Himself is the idea behind YHWH: It’s a word with no vowels, wholly unique and distinct among all others, which He manifested to the children of Israel when He made Himself their God and themselves His people (Exodus 6:3). It’s the word which He alone owns (Psalm 83:18) because there is no other god like Him (and thus no other god should be placed above Him).

It’s a word that carries with it an intrinsic reverence, just like the Being Himself to whom the name belongs.

~ Matthew