Jerusalem Bible?

[MoreCoffee]

That is unfortunate. It would be better to just leave it the four letters than to use the name that is in no way confirmed as correct.

Why do you say that?

 

[LoAmmi]

Why do you say that?

Because we don't know the proper vowel markings to go with those letters to form a form. There are a few ways it could be said, none of which we know. Often we put the vowel markings that would go along with "adonai" so that when people are reading they say "adonai" instead of, well, what we don't know how to pronounce.

I know at least one of the mistakes regarding the way to pronounce the name came from someone reading the "adonai" vowel markings with those letters.

In short, the correct way to say it is not known.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Because we don't know the proper vowel markings to go with those letters to form a form. There are a few ways it could be said, none of which we know. Often we put the vowel markings that would go along with "adonai" so that when people are reading they say "adonai" instead of, well, what we don't know how to pronounce.

I know at least one of the mistakes regarding the way to pronounce the name came from someone reading the "adonai" vowel markings with those letters.

In short, the correct way to say it is not known.

But why does the correct pronunciation matter so much in this case when it does not appear to matter very much with other Hebrew names which have exactly the same vowel pointing problems? Besides which, the vowels for Yahweh are fairly well testified to in the many names derived from YHWH - both personal and place names.

I can see that your objection has some validity for Jehovah but for Yahweh it doesn't seem to be very weighty.

 

[LoAmmi]

But why does the correct pronunciation matter so much in this case when it does not appear to matter very much with other Hebrew names which have exactly the same vowel pointing problems? Besides which, the vowels for Yahweh are fairly well testified to in the many names derived from YHWH - both personal and place names.

I can see that your objection has some validity for Jehovah but for Yahweh it doesn't seem to be very weighty.

If I told you my personal name was Steve, would you think I would be happy that because someone is extrapolating that the name written down should be pronounced "Staive" people kept calling me that? I try to be a bit more courteous than that.

We don't know that either of those names are correct. There are some similarities with other names, true, but it is not possible to know if it is correct.

 

[MoreCoffee]

If I told you my personal name was Steve, would you think I would be happy that because someone is extrapolating that the name written down should be pronounced "Staive" people kept calling me that? I try to be a bit more courteous than that.

We don't know that either of those names are correct. There are some similarities with other names, true, but it is not possible to know if it is correct.

Do you think God gets upset at pronunciations?

I have some doubts about God using air passing over vocal chords to make sounds like we do, so this matter of pronunciation is, in my opinion, a very human concern. So even though I can see your concern about your name, if it were Steven, being reconstructed by conjecture, from available evidence, to be pronounced as Stephen, but I hardly think this is a special concern in heaven. Do you?

 

[LoAmmi]

Do you think God gets upset at pronunciations?

I have some doubts about God using air passing over vocal chords to make sounds like we do, so this matter of pronunciation is, in my opinion, a very human concern. So even though I can see your concern about your name, if it were Steven, being reconstructed by conjecture, from available evidence, to be pronounced as Stephen, but I hardly think this is a special concern in heaven. Do you?

One would assume not, but my tradition does not recognize that as any sort of correct nor would we ever use it in anything. We'd view it as rude toward HaShem and would want to take precautions not to be offensive.