The Eth Cepher continues to be the only collection of sacred scriptures which sets forth the correct transliteration of the sacred name. Below is a verse that resounds within my heart:
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 32:1-6
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3 Because I will publish the name of YAHUAH: ascribe ye greatness unto our ELOHIYM. 4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: an EL of Truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. 5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. 6 Do ye thus requite YAHUAH, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he your Father that has bought you? Has he not made you, and established you?
Let us begin with the Hebrew Tetragrammaton: (יְהֹוָה). There is no doubt in my mind that the correct pronunciation of this word is YAHUAH. When I look at this word in Hebrew (the letters in English being YHVH), I am unable to find any reference to an “L” for the word “Lord”. Nor do I see any “J” in there for Jehovah. There are those who also pronounce the name as Yahweh, yet there is nothing in the Hebrew to justify this. The vav (V) does not translate as “w” at all in the Hebrew (although, arguably, if the vowel sound on the final heh is pronounced with a long “a” as in neighbor and weigh, you may be able to construe a “w” like sound, saying YAHUEH; however, this construct would be completely inconsistent with standard Hebrew pronunciation which applies an “ah” sound to the heh, not an “ay” sound). The name Yehovah is also inconsistent with Hebrew practice, for similar reasons. The “eh” vowel sound is a derivative sound contemporaneous with the speaking practices consistent with the Yerushalmi Talmud. The name YAH appears 45 times in scripture on a standalone basis, yet somehow, when the full Tetragrammaton is given, YAH becomes Yeh. Furthermore, the term “hovah” means mischief.
Hovah הוָֺה (Strong's Hebrew Dictionary 1943) means ruin or mischief. Yehovah would mean the hand of ruin or mischief. Is that believable?
Compare with huah (הָוָה) (Strong’s H1933), which means to breathe; to be (in the sense of existence).
Again, we have to deal with those who believe that the presence of the vav in the middle of the word requires a “v” consonant, which is completely inconsistent with Hebrew practice. In the middle of the word, the vav is pronounced as a vowel, usually the “oo” sound, but often, the long “o” (such as in the word shalom – although there are many places in the world where that word is pronounced shalum). As a consequence, the vav is the vowel for the preceding heh, which renders the sound “hu”. The common practice in the Hebrew is to give the final heh the sound “ah” (not “hah”). As a consequence, the construct is YAHUAH.
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 32:5-6
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. 6 Do ye thus requite YAHUAH, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he your Father that has bought you? Has he not made you, and established you?
This verse, which reads their spot is not the spot of his children, is more easily read as they are not marked (stained) as sons [of YAHUAH]. Why? Because they have corrupted their ways; they are perverse and crooked. Let’s look at those words for just a minute:
The word interpreted as corrupt in the Hebrew is shachath (שׁחת) (Strong’s H7843), which means to decay, that is, (causatively) to ruin (literally or figuratively): - batter, cast off, to corrupt (-er, thing), to destroy (-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, or to utterly waste
The word interpreted as perverse in the Hebrew is iqqesh (עקּשׁ) (Strong’s H6141), which means primarily distorted; hence false, and is often interpreted as crooked, froward, or perverse.
The word interpreted as crooked in the Hebrew is pethaltôl (פּתלתּל) (Strong’s H6618), which means tortuous (that is, crafty), and is often interpreted as crooked.
So, in the first instance, they have corrupted their ways, they have allowed their walk to decay, they have practiced their own ruin and destroyed the ways of YAHUAH in themselves.
In the second instance, they are a distorted, perverse, or false generation. Let’s talk about this distortion a little bit in light of the context of this verse.
Mosheh discusses his doctrine: 2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
What is his doctrine?
I will publish (qara) the name (shem) of YAHUAH:
[I will] ascribe ye greatness (godel) unto our ELOHIYM.
He is the Rock (tsur),
His work (po’al) is perfect (tamiym):
All his ways (derek) are judgment (mishpat):
[He is] an EL of Truth (emunah) and without iniquity (v’ayin evel)
[He is] just (yashar) and right (tsadiq) is he.
To distort and corrupt their ways, first they would distort and corrupt the name of YAHUAH. Isn’t that correct? And they would do so in the publishing of the name. Any publication of the incorrect name including the publishing on video media, audio media or in print is therefore a distortion and a corruption which fulfills this prophecy. Keep this in mind, those of you who continue to use “Lord” as your preference for worship.
In addition, you would distort the greatness of ELOHIYM; you would point to a different Rock (such as Kepha – which does not mean “rock” but which means wine not ready to be served); you would claim that his work is not perfect (such as denouncing the work of the Spirit in your own life); you would distort his ways (claiming that his ways were “nailed to the cross” – and shame on you for even uttering these words); you would distort his words, claiming a doctrine of abrogation (that those words written in the beginning were abrogated by later doctrine); you would claim that MASHIACH was not sinless (denying that it was MASHIACH who said And I have declared unto them your name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Yahuchanon (John) 17:26) in that he offended the ineffable name doctrine. Finally, you would distort this doctrine by claiming that YAHUAH was somehow unjust and unrighteous. Such works would make such a generation perverse and crooked, false and crafty.
You might want to ask yourself if your use of the word Lord in discussing scripture with your congregants is just being crafty.