What is the tetragrammaton? What does YHWH mean?

from the old testament

• These days, when a Jewish reader reads his or her Hebrew bible, he or she will not say YHWH but will say whatever word from which the vowel pointings were borrowed. Because that is most commonly adonai, which means “Lord,” most English translations translate YHWH as “LORD” with all capital letters. All capitals are used to distinguish it from when adonai is actually used in Hebrew. For example, Ezekiel 20:44 reads: “And you shall know that I am the LORD (YHWH), when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord (Adonai) GOD.” Notice how this verse distinguishes between “LORD” (YHWH) and “Lord” (Adonai).
• In Ezekiel 20:44, the word GOD is in all capital letters. That is an example where YHWH was given the vowel pointings for Elohim, a word meaning “God,” instead of Adonai. This was done to avoid confusion since the Hebrew reads “Adonai YHWH,” which would have been confusingly rendered, “declares the Lord LORD.” This is why the Hebrew scholars who added the vowel pointings sometimes use the vowel pointings from Elohim instead of Adonai.
• The word “tetragrammaton” is a technical word meaning “four letters.” As noted, YHWH are the four consonants for God’s name. Although four consonants is a very common length for Hebrew words, “tetragrammaton” has come to be associated specifically with YHWH. The reason for this is that, instead of saying YHWH, people sometimes refer to YHWH as “the unpronounceable tetragrammaton.” By being used so often to replace YHWH, “tetragrammaton” has become closely linked to YHWH.
• Should we say YHWH, or was the Jewish tradition right to obscure its pronunciation out of respect? The best answer to this is by looking at Exodus 3:14–15. Moses had asked God what His name was, so he could tell the Israelites who 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.'” Notice that God 1) declared His name to be YHWH, 2) told Moses to tell His name to the Israelites, and 3) that His name was to be remembered by all generations. This means that God never forbade the use of His name, even encouraging its use.
• Unfortunately, out of reverence and even sometimes superstition, Jewish tradition entirely prevented the use of God’s name. The Jewish Mishnah (a book of early Jewish traditions) even states, “He who pronounces the Name with its own letters has no part in the world to come!” However, that restriction and penalty contradict Scripture. It never prohibits us from saying YHWH and does not list saying God’s name as a sin or something that prevents us from entering heaven. We, therefore, would consider this an example of the traditions of men overriding what God said (c.f., Mark 7:8–9).

from the new testament

• When the New Testament authors quoted the Old Testament, they used the Greek word κύριος (kurios) for YHWH. Κurios is a generic term for “Lord,” “master,” and “sir.” For example, Colossians 3:22 reads, “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters (kurios), not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord (kurios).” Both “masters” and “Lord” are kurios. Though we use “Lord” almost exclusively for Jesus, this shows that in biblical terms, “lord” was neither a proper name nor exclusively a reference to Jesus.
• Matthew 3:3 comments on who John the Baptist was, saying, “this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord (kurios); make his paths straight."’” Matthew quotes from Isaiah 40:3, which reads: “A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD (YHWH); make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” Notice that the verse in Matthew uses the generic kurios word; whereas, Isaiah originally said YHWH.
• There are a few reasons why authors did this, which may have included being sensitive to their Jewish audience and quoting from a Greek translation of the Old Testament with which the readers would have been more familiar. However, regardless of why they translated YHWH as kurios, the fact that they translated YHWH using the Greek equivalent of “Lord” shows us that there is nothing wrong with our Bibles saying, “the LORD” instead of “YHWH.”
• What is of importance is that we recognize that Jesus is Lord God. Paul said, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). In this verse, Paul is saying that we must confess that Jesus is YHWH. We know that because a couple verses later in Romans 10:13 he applies Joel 2:32 to Jesus: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (kurios) will be saved.” Joel 2:32, in the original Hebrew, says, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD (YHWH) shall be saved….” So, though the New Testament authors used the generic word for “lord” instead of YHWH’s name, they had a high view of Jesus. When they spoke of Jesus, they were not saying that He was yet another “lord.” Instead, they were saying that Jesus is God.

implications for today

The pronunciation of YHWH is uncertain because of respect that turned into superstition. Rather than seeing YHWH as a relational God, an excess of worry led to forgetting His name entirely.

On the one hand, we want to fight that same impulse in us. Christian religion has long struggled against formalism, which strips believers of joy by prescribing ceremonies and rituals when we approach God. In the Old Testament, some formality was required to keep God holy. However, when Jesus died, the veil was torn (Matthew 27:51), meaning the believer no longer needs rituals to get to Him. Through Jesus, our access is not limited to certain days of the week, purification rituals, or by going through priests. As God’s children (John 1:12), we have direct access to cry out to our Father (Romans 8:15).

On the other hand, we can learn something about the original intention about using care when saying YHWH’s name. God is not like us. As believers, we have a relationship with Jesus, but He is not our buddy. Jesus is YHWH, the King of kings and Lord of lords. As we approach Him and His Father, we would do well to remind ourselves that we are approaching God. He is a merciful, gracious, and compassionate God, but He is still God.

The Bible talks about a reverential fear that should fill us when we go to Him (Hebrews 12:28–29). Early Judaism tried to capture this reverence by being careful with YHWH’s name. While they went beyond what Scripture said, a reminder of that reverence is helpful to keep us from going too far the other direction.

In short: we can freely call out to YHWH (Psalm 119:148), but may we never treat His name flippantly when we do (Exodus 20:7)!