The Name of God
And I thought Yahweh and Jehovah were just different names of God, but I was wrong. 
God does indeed have different names, but the most common one is written down in the Hebrew language as YHWH. The Hebrew language has no vowels, just consonants. YHWH is sometimes also called a Tetragrammaton (meaning: "four-letter word"). In Hebrew, it's mostly written as יהוה.
To the Jews God's name was sacred, and they didn't want to use it "in vain".
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
- Exodus 20:7 (KJV)
So, rather than saying God's name when they read YHWH, they said Adonai instead which means Lord.
You can find this principle in the King James Bible as well, where almost every occurrence (approximately 7000 times), was replaced with LORD (all caps). The all caps were used to distinguish from regular uses of the word Lord.
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
- Deuteronomy 6:5 (KJV)
Jesus actually confirms this practice when He quoted the verse above, and used the Greek word Lord as well, e.g. He didn't change or correct it.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
- Matthew 22:37 (KJV)
As a reminder to say Adonai the vowels of that word were eventually added to YHWH. This change was made by medieval Jewish scribe-scholars (Masoretes). Maybe somewhere in the 6th-10th century AD.
Maybe a bit like this:
| Y | H | W | H | |||
| e | o | a |
Note: The vowels in Adonai are a-o-a, but because of original pronunciation reasons, it's actually more like e-o-a.
So now, every time the word YHWH came up, they would see the vowels (e-o-a), and people would say Adonai automatically.
Eventually though, later scholars thought that that was the actual name of God, and by combining YHWH with the vowels, they came up with YeHoWaH. In English, Y is like J, and W is like V, so this became Jehovah. Note also that in English YHWH is more like JHVH, so it's not that far off.
Jehovah is not necessarily the name of God, because it mixes YHWH with Adonai vowels. The name Jehovah then is not the actual name of God, but it does point to the name of God. It's more of a hybrid, if you will. It was first used, maybe 750 years ago.
Either way, the word Jehovah became very popular and is in fact in the King James Bible seven times.
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
- Psalms 83:18 (KJV)
Note that JEHOVAH is in all caps, just like LORD. Both coming from YHWH.
There are actually very good reasons for not translating YHWH as LORD in the King James Bible. In the example above, you can't really say "whose name alone is LORD", because LORD is a title, and not a name. So, the question then becomes: what to put there instead of LORD for the name? So, the translators in 1611 decided to use JEHOVAH (in all caps) as that was the prevailing understanding at the time.
Maybe they shouldn't have done that, and left it as YHWH/JHVH, but then again, maybe it just doesn't look so good?!
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JHVH, art the most high over all the earth.
- Psalms 83:18
The point is that the word JEHOVAH is in the King James Bible for very specific reasons, e.g. they weren't leftovers or errors.
There are other Bibles that translate YHWH with Jehovah every single time. Some seven thousand times. But here's the thing. Even if that was correct, then we're still back to the issue of using God's name in vain.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
- Exodus 20:7 (KJV)
That's kind of ironic, I think. Maybe when we see the word Jehovah, we should pronounce it as Lord again?
Interestingly, Ellen White uses the word Jehovah a lot in her writings, so maybe that shows God is okay with that translation. On a side note, I have never seen her use the name Yahweh.
I once spoke with a Messianic Jew, and in the conversation he said that he knew how to pronounce YHWH, but that he couldn't tell me (as in: not allowed), but when I guessed twice, he said that Yahweh was "close". But even then, after thousands of years of passing the name from father to son, how accurate is it still? Even the modern-day Hebrew language is nothing like the ancient version anymore anyway.
I don't think anyone (myself included) knows how to pronounce YHWH. Maybe in Hebrew it's more like Yahweh, and maybe in English it's more like Jehovah. No one knows, but personally I'm happy with the translation to Lord. That seems to work well.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- Psalms 23:1 (KJV)
I must say that the name Jehovah has grown on me, and maybe Jehovah is just a nice combination of God's name and title. An honest attempt to get it right?
I still think Yahweh is more correct though.
But then again, maybe the name of God was never meant to be pronounced?
Further Thoughts
While writing this article, a friend pointed out something interesting.
There's two verses in Exodus 3 that discuss the name of God.
In verse 14, God describes Himself as "I AM":
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
- Exodus 3:14 (KJV)
But that's not a name we can use, it's just a definition.
By the way, I think God's name is best described as "I AM THAT I AM", and that "I AM" is just a shortform for that.
God's actual name (that we can use), is then given in verse 15:
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
- Exodus 3:15 (KJV)
The phrase "I AM hath sent me unto you" is given to us as "The LORD hath sent me unto you". (First person versus third person)
| First person | Third person |
| Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you - Verse 14 |
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD .. hath sent me unto you - Verse 15 |
So, YHWH is directly linked to "I AM". 
Both "I AM" and YHWH come from the same Hebrew root hayah, "to be" (verb), which can then be defined as "was, is, and will be".
The Hebrew words for that are hayah ("was", past tense), hoveh ("is", present tense), and yihyeh ("will be", future tense).
We find similar language for that in the New Testament as well.
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
- Revelation 4:8 (KJV)
So yeah, that's another interesting thing about God's name.