Yahweh is based on the consonants YHWH, which is one of the names for God used in the Old Testament. In ancient Hebrew, the vowels were not normally written. This would not have been a problem for native speakers and readers. Jehovah is the same name based on the Latin equivalents of the Hebrew letters: JHVH. Jehovah became the English translation of the Latin form of the Hebrew name. For all practical purposes, Jehovah and Yahweh are the simply English and Hebrew pronunciations for God’s name. However, it has become more popular in recent years to use Yahweh instead of Jehovah because it is technically more accurate.
The name Yahweh comes from the Hebrew word for “I am.” When God met Moses at the burning bush and commanded him to go back to Egypt and lead the people out, Moses asked who he should say has sent him. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I am has sent me to you.”’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “The LORD [YHWH], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations’” (Exodus 3:14–15).
Several things must be noted here in order to properly understand the significance of the name Yahweh.
First, the tetragrammaton, which is the technical term for the four letters YHWH, is based on the Hebrew word for “being.” It could be translated “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be” or perhaps even “I am the One who is.” Regardless of the specific translation, the name speaks of the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God. All others are dependent upon Him for life and breath and existence. He is dependent upon no one. It is for this reason that the Jewish leadership in Jesus’ day thought it was scandalous, blasphemous, and worthy of death for Jesus to utter the words “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58–59).
Second, the ancient Hebrew scribes considered God’s name too sacred to write or pronounce. When vowels were later added to the text, the scribes took the vowels from the word adonai, which means “lord” or “master,” and inserted them between the consonants. Instead of pronouncing Yahweh, they simply pronounced the word Adonai. Following this practice, most English versions of the Bible translate YHWH as “LORD” (all capital letters) as seen in Exodus 3:15, above. When the Scripture speaks of the Lord YHWH, then the English versions will have “Lord GOD” with the word God in all capital letters. So, both LORD and GOD in English versions stand for YHWH. The pronunciation yäˌwā is our best estimate of how YHWH would have been pronounced. Since we do not have the original vowels, we cannot know for sure. The significance is in the meaning, not the pronunciation, just as Jehovah is still a sacred name, even if it is not a technically correct spelling.
Yahweh is the covenant name for the God of Israel. In Exodus 3:15, as Yahweh speaks to Moses, He says that He is also the God of the patriarchs. Then He says, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them” (Exodus 6:3). This declaration drives us to further study, because both Noah (in Genesis 9:26) and Abraham (in Genesis 22:14) spoke of Yahweh by that name. Moses himself seems to suggest that the Hebrews were already familiar with the name Yahweh (in Exodus 4:1). How, then, should we understand God’s statement that He did not make Himself known to the patriarchs by the name Yahweh? The answer seems to be that, whereas Noah, Abraham, et al., knew the name Yahweh—and thus knew that God is eternal and faithful—they never experienced the full impact of that name. God had manifested Himself as ”Almighty” but not as “the absolute Being working with unbounded freedom in the performance of His promises“ (Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament). For those before Moses, the fulfillment of God’s promises remained distant, and their view of the character of God was murky. That was about to change with the exodus, as God delivered His people with great miracles and kept His promise to Abraham. Other names for God might be considered descriptive, but Yahweh is personal. It is by this name that He covenants with and leads the nation of Israel.
Yahweh is the name of Israel’s God and the God who came to earth as Jesus Christ, Yahweh in the flesh. Matthew 1:21 says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The name Jesus is from the Latin form of the Greek form of Yeshua, which literally means “Yahweh saves.” So Yahweh will save His people from their sins, and simultaneously Jesus will save His people from their sins. This is just one of many instances where Jesus and Yahweh are equated.