Yaweh-mania?

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I was in Mass this morning, and three of the four hymns, plus the responsorial psalm, featured the word “Yahweh” in the stead of “God”.

Now, I recently read that, though Yahweh is a name of God, it was so sacred that the Hebrews never spoke it aloud. So, I am wondering, is this a proper use of the most holy name of God? Should we use Lord in stead? Please respond.
 
Servus Pio XII:
I was in Mass this morning, and three of the four hymns, plus the responsorial psalm, featured the word “Yahweh” in the stead of “God”.

Now, I recently read that, though Yahweh is a name of God, it was so sacred that the Hebrews never spoke it aloud. So, I am wondering, is this a proper use of the most holy name of God? Should we use Lord in stead? Please respond.
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I have never heard of anything like that, and I know that the Psalms did not use Yahweh at all. Probably some rewriting taking place to get closer to the primitive church…

I would be somewhat, no, very uncomfortable referring to God as Yahweh at any time.
 
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palmas85:
I would be somewhat, no, very uncomfortable referring to God as Yahweh at any time.
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I would too (no I’m not following you around palmas!..lol). It would be quite odd for me to refer to him as that.
 
The word Lord is substituted for the name of God, Yahweh. The Jews would not say Yahweh so they ended up using Lord, or Adonai in hebrew as a substitue.

Matt
 
It sounds quite unorthodox, but I personally, although new to that, wouldn’t feel that uncomfortable as I would be.

I myself refer to God as Yahweh sometimes; the meaning is so… ‘transcendent of existence!’ lol. It’s sometimes when people still refer to God as Jehovah (and I mean non-JWs).
 
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palmas85:
Probably some rewriting taking place to get closer to the primitive church…

I would be somewhat, no, very uncomfortable referring to God as Yahweh at any time.
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I love when we must get closer to the “Primitive church”.

How about if people get closer to “Historical Catholic”? We know how THAT would go!
 
Servus Pio XII:
I was in Mass this morning, and three of the four hymns, plus the responsorial psalm, featured the word “Yahweh” in the stead of “God”.

Now, I recently read that, though Yahweh is a name of God, it was so sacred that the Hebrews never spoke it aloud. So, I am wondering, is this a proper use of the most holy name of God? Should we use Lord in stead? Please respond.
Click to expand...
English speaking Jews also don’t write out the word “God” completely. They usually write “G-d”. In some ways, I can see how that is a very beneficial practice.

The Hebrews also never made paintings or sculptures of anything (except when they were busy worshipping idols), yet now, since God has revealed himself to us in the form of a man, we are free to make efforts to even depict him.

As for the usage of “Yahweh”, if it isn’t appropriate to use at Mass, where else would it be appropriate?
 
I think it was back in the 1970’s, with the advent of the New Jerusalem Bible being more used, as well as the St. Louis Jesuits, that the name Yahweh began to be used more, almost to the point of seemingly going out of the way to use it. This didn’t just happen in the Roman Catholic Church, though; it was quite common in the Anglican Communion as well.

Lately, though, I have read an article or two about how Yahweh may actually not be the correct pronounciation of the term that the jewish people have abbreviated in their scripture! Go figure. I think just using “God” is appropriate enough.
 
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AnglicanRite:
I think it was back in the 1970’s, with the advent of the New Jerusalem Bible being more used, as well as the St. Louis Jesuits, that the name Yahweh began to be used more, almost to the point of seemingly going out of the way to use it. This didn’t just happen in the Roman Catholic Church, though; it was quite common in the Anglican Communion as well.

Lately, though, I have read an article or two about how Yahweh may actually not be the correct pronounciation of the term that the jewish people have abbreviated in their scripture! Go figure. I think just using “God” is appropriate enough.
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Since the Jews never pronounce that name out loud and Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, the knowledge of its true pronunciation has been lost. All we have is the consonants: YHWH, which is variously pronounced as Yahweh, Yahowah, Jehovah, etc.

Curiously, if you take the consonants YHWH and add the primary vowels from the word Adonai in between each consonant, you get

Y - H - W - H
  • A - O - A
Yahowah, or as commonly said in English, Jehovah.

Also, the first syllable of YHWH is used in a variety of other words, such as Elijah, Hallelujah (literally, praise jah, that is, God)
 
The use of the word “Yahweh” is just people trying to do things an older, more original, way. It (mildly) irritates me because the expression hasn’t been a part of our culture in centuries, and it seems people who use it are ashamed of most of the history of Christianity. Another example of this attitude are those who speak as if the Church was dead until Vatican II and the Novus Ordo came along to save the Church. They also seem to think that the sooner the culture, liturgy, and spirituality of the Tridentine era are regarded by all as nothing more than relics from a bygone age (the only good things of which belong in museums and concert halls- not in church) the better.
 
Look at the Latin for “Jehovah”.

I-E-H-O-V-A-H

In Latin, v’s are pronounced as w’s, so we have:

I-E-H-O-W-A-H

Look familiar? Good. now put in a Y for the I (no J in Latin!)

Y-E-H-O-W-A-H

“YHWH” has no vowels, so we are free to switch them, as well:

Y-A-H-O-W-E-H

Take out the “O”, and we have:

Y-A-H-W-E-H
The use of the word “Yahweh” is just people trying to do things an older, more original, way. It (mildly) irritates me because the expression hasn’t been a part of our culture in centuries, and it seems people who use it are ashamed of most of the history of Christianity. Another example of this attitude are those who speak as if the Church was dead until Vatican II and the Novus Ordo came along to save the Church. They also seem to think that the sooner the culture, liturgy, and spirituality of the Tridentine era are regarded by all as nothing more than relics from a bygone age (the only good things of which belong in museums and concert halls- not in church) the better.
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I say, jolly good show! Fight the good fight! Preserve our heritage, not just the future!!! 👍
 
Servus Pio XII:
Look at the Latin for “Jehovah”.

I-E-H-O-V-A-H

In Latin, v’s are pronounced as w’s, so we have:

I-E-H-O-W-A-H

Look familiar? Good. now put in a Y for the I (no J in Latin!)

Y-E-H-O-W-A-H

“YHWH” has no vowels, so we are free to switch them, as well:

Y-A-H-O-W-E-H

Take out the “O”, and we have:

Y-A-H-W-E-H

I say, jolly good show! Fight the good fight! Preserve our heritage, not just the future!!! 👍
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I want you on my team for Scrabble!👍
 
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AnglicanRite:
I think it was back in the 1970’s, with the advent of the New Jerusalem Bible being more used, as well as the St. Louis Jesuits, that the name Yahweh began to be used more, almost to the point of seemingly going out of the way to use it. This didn’t just happen in the Roman Catholic Church, though; it was quite common in the Anglican Communion as well.

Lately, though, I have read an article or two about how Yahweh may actually not be the correct pronounciation of the term that the jewish people have abbreviated in their scripture! Go figure. I think just using “God” is appropriate enough.
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"There are gods many and lords many… " - as St. Paul points out.​

This god is different - because He revealed His Name to Moses. That is the main difference between him and Hadad AKA Baal (= Lord).

Calling Him God, does not really allow for the fact that this is a Trinitarian god - and as speech is not visible, the difference between god (as a common noun) and God (as an accurate term for the only god Who really is “the Living God”) can fail to be noticed. As there is no other god but the Blessed Trinity, capitalisation is appropriate. Even though it is not the name revealed to Moses nor the name of the man Who is God.

As He is definitively revealed in the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth, Whose Name we do not hide - why hide the Name revealed to Moses ? ##
 
Servus Pio XII:
Look at the Latin for “Jehovah”.

I-E-H-O-V-A-H

In Latin, v’s are pronounced as w’s, so we have:

I-E-H-O-W-A-H

Look familiar? Good. now put in a Y for the I (no J in Latin!)

Y-E-H-O-W-A-H

“YHWH” has no vowels, so we are free to switch them, as well:

Y-A-H-O-W-E-H

Take out the “O”, and we have:

Y-A-H-W-E-H
Click to expand...
It depends on which latin you use.
With classical latin, you are right, v is pronounced as a w.
But
In ecclesiastical latin, the latin that the dominican monk who came up with jehovah would have used, the v’s is pronounced as v’s.

I think your analogy breaks up there.
unless you can prove me wrong.

ps. please forgive my dodgy spelling and punctuation. I have just come off of the piano, and my fingers are speeding over the keyboard without regards for the letters. Damn keys are too small.
 
One of the reasons I prefer the Jerusalem Bible over other translations is that when the Tetragrammaton is encountered in the original texts it is “translated” as Yahweh rather than “the LORD”.

For example, in Psalm 8, “Yahweh our lord, how majestic is your name throughout the world” makes much more sense than “O LORD, our Lord…”
 
Yahweh is used left and right in Scripture, it’s just “covered” by the term Lord in many places. Yahweh is God’s “real” name, and even Jesus used it to describe Himself, much to the chagrin of the Pharisees in the audience.

Yahweh, or rather YHWH, is a perfectly good word, and the only reason not to use it is either out of respect, or habit of saying Lord. It’s actually not only the name of God, it’s the deepest theological statement about Him: “I am that is”.

God bless!
 
It depends on which latin you use.
With classical latin, you are right, v is pronounced as a w.
But
In ecclesiastical latin, the latin that the dominican monk who came up with jehovah would have used, the v’s is pronounced as v’s.
Click to expand...
I think your analogy breaks up there.
unless you can prove me wrong.
Click to expand...
ps. please forgive my dodgy spelling and punctuation. I have just come off of the piano, and my fingers are speeding over the keyboard without regards for the letters. Damn keys are too small.
Click to expand...
Point taken. I would have, however, assumed that the name developed in the Roman Church over time, and may date back to St. Jerome’s first translation, which would have been in classical Latin. From there it evolved.
 
It’s very common for Jews, particularly the Orthodox, to refer to God as “Hashem” (“The Name”) so as not to profane his name.
 
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