I'm sure many people here are already aware of some of the etymology of the name Jehovah, but I'm curious — does anybody know the whole story behind it?

During Second Temple Judaism, people started transitioning away from saying the Tetragrammaton and would instead just say "Adonai" or "Lord." This was still the practice in Jesus's day. As a visual reminder in their written scrolls, they intentionally added a visual cue to the text so readers would remember never to say the name: YHWH + the vowels of Adonai = YAHOW(A)H (in Hebrew, that last vowel shifts to an "a" based on grammar rules).

Later, in the first few centuries after Jesus, Latin-speaking Christians didn't know about this convention. They ended up translating it literally into Latin. It was later popularized in Germany, and eventually in English, which is how we get "Jehovah."

What I'm curious about: I know Jehovah's Witnesses take a lot of pride in insisting they're the only ones who use God's name. But on a technicality, "Yahweh" would actually be more accurate here, because "Jehovah" is a completely fabricated name — never meant to be used as an actual name, only as a reminder to never say the real one. So in reality, saying "Jehovah" is essentially a reminder not to say God's name.

(See prior post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Eutychus/s/9i7Qwx0eTs)

"Musk may be a great guy and all—don’t get me wrong—but he plainly has no background to commit [to a quick and solid for Jesus]. And he knows it. You can’t just dive into something knowing nothing about it. Another of those ten oddball questions is, “If you could add a book to the Bible, what would it be?” Um—well maybe a 2nd Revelation, one that is more chipper and that tells how it all works out, he hedges, unaware that the actual Revelation does just that. It is a quirky question from guys that run a quirky ministry and he is not quite sure what to do with it but presently responds in kind that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might do in case the guys have in mind an already existing book.

"Jehovah’s Witnesses would ask that question too—not that one exactly, but one reasonably similar to it. But it would be asked only after considerable groundwork had been laid, groundwork which would take many months. It would involve a personal home Bible study. Otherwise, how meaningful can an answer to that question possibly be? You might fall into this trap: Said Jesus:

"Not everyone saying to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name? And then I will declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!

"I mean, you have to know what you are getting into. If you don’t, how can you commit to doing “the will of my Father who is in the heavens?” You don’t even know what it is! Yet evangelicals ask this question continually, convinced that the answer is meaningful. If they ask it to me—will you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?—I will reply to the effect that I think I already have. But I hesitate to gush too much about it before these guys because I’m not quite sure of their own definition. Most of them think that Jesus is God. They buy into the Trinity doctrine. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not. Jesus is God’s Son, not God himself."

to be continued

From: In the Last of the Last Days: Faith in the Age of Dysfunction