He will not be left guiltless

He will not be left guiltless
We see the second part of the third commandment, the person who takes the LORD’S name in vain will not be left guiltless. We have seen in the previous examples, everyone who has cursed and blasphemed the LORD’S name all have received punishment for their sin. If you are concerned someone’s speech is offensive and may be violating the third commandment, we need to stay calm and allow God to dole out the punishment.

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)

What about the name “I AM”?
When reading through the Gospels, it appears as though Jesus says His name is “I AM”. Is this correct? Does this accord with Scripture? The answer is yes and no.

The LORD’S name has four letters yud-hey-vav-hey. The last three letters combine to form the word “hoveh” which means present tense. The Hebrew language lacks the word “is”. In English we say, He “is” tall. “She “is” pretty. In Hebrew the sentences would read “He tall.” “She pretty.”

Using hey-yud-hey forms the word haya. Haya means past tense. If you add a yud before the verb, it changes it to future tense. Haya becomes yihiye.

The four letters of the LORD’S name is a multilayered understanding. God is the past, present and future. God’s name is the name of existence, or more clearly, God is Existence.

God gives an explanation of His name to Moses in Exodus 3:14:
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

As previously stated, Hebrew does not use is, was, am, were, etc. The Hebrew reads: “Ah-yah asher ah-yah”. This loosely translates as I exist that I exist. The word ah-yah is in the perfect tense meaning the existence is in the past, present and future.

It is very likely Jesus uses this phrase ah-yah when He is speaking to the Jews at the Temple.

 The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not rightly say that You are a Samaritan, and You have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; on the contrary, I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 But I am not seeking My glory; there is One who seeks it, and judges. 51 Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone follows My word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets as well; and yet You say, ‘If anyone follows My word, he will never taste of death.’ 53 You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died, are You? The prophets died too. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; 55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you; but I do know Him, and I follow His word. 56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” 57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple grounds. (John 8:48-59)

Looking at the Greek, a better translation of the text into English would be: Before Abraham came into being, I exist. This directly correlates back to the Hebrew used in Exodus 3.

Since Jesus was not speaking Greek, but Aramaic or Hebrew, the wording probably was the exact phrase used in Exodus 3:14. Furthermore, when anyone quotes a verse from Scripture, it is not just the one verse which was being quoted, it was the text around the verse. In Exodus 3:15, we are given the complete name of God to be used for all generations: “The Lord, 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 this is the name for all generations to use to call upon Me.” Jesus is proclaiming He is the LORD. The Jews thought Jesus was blaspheming God’s name. They picked up stone to throw at Him, the punishment rendered to anyone found blaspheming the LORD’S name.

On the night Jesus is arrested, he is in the garden. Jesus is asked if He is Jesus the Nazarene.

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went away with His disciples across the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden which He entered with His disciples. 2 Now Judas, who was betraying Him, also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples. 3 So Judas, having obtained the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, *came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, came out into the open and *said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He *said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. 6 Now then, when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.  (John 18:1-6)

In the Greek text, Jesus utters the same Greek word “imee” as He said in John 8:58). The text is better translated as “I exist”. Again, Jesus was not speaking Greek. When Jesus uttered the Aramaic or Hebrew, the soldiers fell down. This accords with Scripture.

When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. (Psalm 27:2)


May he also rule from sea to sea,
And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
9
May the nomads of the desert bow before him,
And his enemies lick the dust.
10
May the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts;
May the kings of Sheba and Seba offer tributes.
11
And may all kings bow down before him,
All nations serve him. (Psalm 72:8-11)


“Gather yourselves and come;
Come together, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge,
Who carry around their wooden idol
And pray to a god who cannot save.
21
Declare and present your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this long ago?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
22
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23
I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
24
They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
People will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25
In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified and will boast.” (Isaiah 45:20-25)

Cursing the LORD’S Name

We have previously mentioned Genesis 4:26, when he people began to call negatively on the name of the LORD. The result was the flood. We have a few more examples in the Bible in which people use the LORD’S name inappropriately.

First, let’s go to the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus chapter 24, the Israelites are in the wilderness. They have fled from Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They have received the 10 commandments at Mount Sinai. A dispute arises between two people in the Israelite camp.

Now the son of an Israelite woman—his father was an Egyptian—went out among the sons of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man had a fight within the camp. 11 And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses.

(Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 Then they put him in custody, waiting for Moses to give them a clear decision in accordance with the command of the Lord.

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have all the congregation stone him. 15 You shall also speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear the responsibility for his sin. 16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The stranger as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death. (Leviticus 24:10-16)

We see from this incident, anyone who blasphemes the Name (notice Scripture says the Name and does not use the tetragrammaton in the sentence), he is put to death. A few things to note. He was an Israelite living in the camp and was part of the covenant. Living in the camp meant he knew the rules (the instructions God had given) and knew he had to abide by them. If he wanted to act in his own way, he could have left the camp at any time. Would there have been punishment for this man’s actions if he was not part of the Israelite camp? The answer is probably no. The man is punished when he was brought before Moses. If the man was out in the world, he would not have been under Moses’ jurisdiction. No punishment would probably have been rendered.

We see this in today’s world. If a teenager is living in your home, he has to live by your rules. He may not be allowed to curse or use foul language. Parents can only enforce their rules as long as the child is in the house. As soon as the teenager moves out, the parents’ rules no longer apply to the person while living in his own accommodations. He can curse and do anything he pleases in his own home without receiving punishment from his parents.

New Testament Example:
In the New Testament, Jesus tells Peter He knows Peter will betray Him and tells Peter what will happen to him.

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you men like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail; and you, when you have turned back [to Me], strengthen your brothers.” 33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death!” 34 But He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

As the text continues, Jesus is arrested and taken into custody. Peter follows at a distance. He is able to go into the High Priest’s house to observe the trial.

Now they arrested Him and led Him away, and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. 55 After they kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. 56 And a slave woman, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, and staring at him, said, “This man was with Him as well.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “I do not know Him, woman!” 58 And a little later, another person saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 And after about an hour had passed, some other man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he, too, is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” And immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 And then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)

In verse 60, it states Peter said, “Man, I am not!” In the original language, it states the way Peter responded to the accusations was by uttering a curse. Not only did Peter deny his knowledge of Jesus, but he upheld it by swearing by a curse (which mostly likely included God’s name in it). The penalty for Peter’s behavior was separation from the disciples.

In Mark’s Gospel, we have the story of the women going to the tomb with spices. They see angels and are given the following instructions:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint Him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb for us?” 4 And looking up, they *noticed that the stone had been rolled away; for it was extremely large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 But he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8)

It seems strange; the angels say to tell the disciples and Peter. Perhaps it is looking too far into the text, but one could view the exclusion of Peter from the Disciples as his punishment for denying Jesus. Peter may have been cut off from the disciples as a form of punishment for denying Jesus and taking an oath invoking God’s name.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus talks to Peter privately. He asks him Peter three times if he loves Jesus.

Now when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” 16 He said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was hurt because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.

18 Truly, truly I tell you, when you were younger, you used to put on your belt and walk wherever you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will put your belt on you, and bring you where you do not want to go.” 19 Now He said this, indicating by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had said this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!” (John 21:15-19)
 

Many see this conversation as Jesus restoring Peter back to being a disciple.

Lastly, we have the story of Job. Job has everything taken away form him--his livestock, his children and his health. Job's wife tells Job to curse die. If Job curses God, Job will die. This will free his wife from the marriage and allow her to remarry. As long as Job is alive, his wife cannot abandon Job. She must remained married to Job. 

 Despite Job's wife's advice, Job does not curse God. Instead he remains faithful. Job is blessed for his obedience by receiving double all hiss possessions.

10The LORD also restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased double all that Job had. 11Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a [c]piece of money, and each a ring of gold. 12The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritances among their brothers. 16After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17And Job died, an old man and full of days. (Job 42:10-17)

What does it mean to take the LORD’S name in vain?

When exploring Scripture, there are two places in which the text tells us to not take the LORD’S name in vain.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. (Exodus 20:8)

‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain. (Deuteronomy 5:11)

As seen in a previous study, we explored what the LORD’S name is. But what does the word “vain” mean?

Vain Definintion
In both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, the word translated as vain is the Hebrew word “sav”. Sav is used 53 times in the Old Testament. It means empty, falsehood, lying, worthlessness (of conduct). It is from the root word sho which means devastation, ruin, waste or ravage.

The first time sav is used in the Bible is in Exodus 20:8. When Moses tells a second giving of the ten commandments, he uses the word sav in the following verse:

Neither shall you bear false (sav) witness against your neighbor. (Deuteronomy 5:20)

The words translated as “false” is the Hebrew word sav. We can see from this context, sav means to lie and be deceitful. A persons who is a false witness deceives those around him. The motives of a false witness are to harm the one whom he is testifying against. False witnesses damage the character of the other individual.

If we extend this example to taking the LORD’S name in vain, we can get a better picture of what the meaning of this phrase may be. If we take upon ourselves the name of the LORD, we can make it void (of no value or worthless) if we claim to be one thing but in reality are of another sort. Moreover, we damage God’s character.

For example, if a person claims he gives charity and is a devote man to God, if in reality he steals candy bars from the vending machine at work and only remembers God for the one hour he is at church for weekly service, he is a false witness to God. When the man’s real character is found out, his actions give God a bad name.

Shem
And this leads us to what the word name means. In Hebrew, the word for name is “shem”. Shem means character, reputation, authority, fame, glory, or memorial.

If we think about how we use the word name in our society, someone’s name is his character, reputation or memorial. When a person mentions the name Martin Luther King, Jr., we immediately conjure up a man who gave his life for the civil rights movement. Anyone in his family which bears the King name has bestowed upon him the greatness of MLKJ. If a relative of MLKJ does something which brings shame to the name, it soils the glory and honor bestowed upon it.

This same concept can be extended to God. When we say we follow God, we take upon ourselves His name. If we do something which brings shame to His name, we have made God’s name soiled.

Vain versus blaspheme
When reading Scripture, it can be easy to confuse terms. A person may believe using the LORD’S name in vain and blaspheming God is the same thing. However, it is not. The words vain and blaspheme are very different.

In Hebrew, the word often translated as blaspheme is the word “gawdaf”. Gawdaf means to revile or to reproach. Gawdaf is first used in Numbers 15.

 ‘Also, if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering. 28 And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray by an unintentional sin, making atonement for him so that he may be forgiven. 29 You shall have one law for the native among the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, for one who does anything wrong unintentionally. 30 But the person who does wrong defiantly, whether he is a native or a stranger, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Since he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’” (Numbers 15:27-31)

We see from the text, to blaspheme means to despise the word of the LORD and to break His commandment. This should be a rude awakening for us. The passage states if a person does something wrong defiantly (which is in opposition to the previous text which states a person sins unintentionally), the person will bear his guilt and be cut off from his people. This means if we know something is wrong to do, and we still do it, we will bear the guilt of the sin.

We see this every day. If we intentionally tell a person a lie, the lie is often found out. A friendship may be ruined or trust is broken. The consequences for our intentional sin are often felt for many years and sometimes for many generations. Many times sin cuts us off from our family and friends.

On the contrary, an unintentional sin may never be discovered or if it is brought to light, it may have no consequences. For example, if you are at the grocery store and unintentionally grab seven sweet corn instead of six, when the cashier asks how many ears of corn you have, you reply six. Most likely nothing will ever happen due to this unintentional sin. If the cashier does count them and tells you that there are seven ears, you can apologize for miscounting. You then can ask the cashier to put back one ear of corn as you only wanted six. If the cashier does not count them, you may only discover the extra ear of corn once you get home…or if you do not prepare the food, you may never notice there were seven ears and not six ears.

If we look at the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word gawdaf is translated into the Greek word blasphemeo.

Jesus tells us what will happen to those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit:
“Now I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God; 9 but the one who denies Me before people will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. (Luke 12:8-10)

Jesus tells us the one unpardonable sin is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. This is such a major part of Jesus’ teachings it is also included in Matthew and Mark’s Gospels.

“Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29)

The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:30-32)
Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is such a serious offense, Matthew tells is it shall not be forgiven in this age of the age to come. Again, this points us back to Numbers 15 in which blaspheming is an intentional sin. There is no sacrifice (no atonement) for intentional sin. Jesus is telling us the person who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will have to endure the punishment for his sin.

Paul also tells us the fate of those who blaspheme:
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, 19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. (1 Timothy 1:18-20)

What does it mean to be handed over to Satan? I am not exactly sure, but if we look to the Book of Job, God allowed Satan to take away all of Job’s worldly goods, kill all his children and afflict Job with an awful skin affliction. Job was faithful to God. He had not done anything to merit these awful consequences. I cannot imagine what a person may go through if God was angry with the person for blaspheming.

What is God's Name?

 What is God’s Name?
A question which many people have is what is God’s name? Is there anything in Scripture which states this? The answer is yes. There are two specific places where we are told what is His name.

Moses Meets the LORD in the wilderness
Moses is in the wilderness shepherding Jethro’s flock. He sees a burning bush. He decides to turn aside and investigate the bush. The LORD introduces Himself to Moses.

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:4-6)

Since there were numerous gods during this time, the LORD introduces Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. This phrase for the rest of the Torah is almost always attached to the tetragrammaton when a proper title is needed for God.

Later in the conversation, Moses asks the LORD who should he say sent him when he goes back to the sons of Israel.
15 God furthermore said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘The Lord, 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 this is the name for all generations to use to call upon Me. 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. (Exodus 3:15-16)

Jesus also uses the phrase the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when talking to the Sadducees:

On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; and the first married and died, and having no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 It was the same also with the second brother, and the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her in marriage.”
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, since you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. (Matthew 22:23-33)


I am the Lord, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to idols. (Isaiah 42:8)


I am the Lord, and there is no one else;
There is no God except Me.
I will arm you, though you have not known Me,
6
So that people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no one else,
7
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating disaster;
I am the Lord who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7)


May they be ashamed and dismayed forever,
And may they be humiliated and perish,
So that they will know that You alone, whose name is the Lord,
Are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83:17-18)


Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2
Serve the Lord with jubilation; 
Come before Him with rejoicing.
3
Know that the Lord He is God; 
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
 We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
 And His courtyards with praise.
 Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5
For the Lord is good;
 His mercy is everlasting
 And His faithfulness is to all generations. (Psalm 100)

Erroneously using the word Jehovah for the tetragrammaton 
Today, the word yud-hey-vav-hey is sometimes translated into English as Jehovah. This is where we get the certain phrases such as Jehovah jireh (the LORD will provide), Jehovah nissi (the LORD is our banner), Jehovah rophe (the LORD is my healer) and the religious domination Jehovah Witnesses. Translating the tetragrammaton into the word Jehovah is very inaccurate. Although we do not know how to properly say the four letters, we can be sure it is not Jehovah. There is no “j” in Hebrew.

The best guess as to how to pronounce the tetragrammaton is yahweh or yahwo-eh.

Why was the LORD’S name changed to Jehovah?
When the Bible was translated from Latin to German, the translators tried to make words sound like their Latin counterparts. In German, the “J” is pronounced like a “Y” in English. So, writing the LORD’S name as “Jehovah” would sound like “Yehovah”. This is very close to the Hebrew.
When the German Bible was translated into English, translators did not take into account that J’s in German sound like Y’s in English. Instead, they transliterated words, leaving Jehovah as Jehovah.
Does it matter how you pronounce the LORD’S name?
The answer to that question is up to you. Personally, I say yes it does. If you know how someone’s name is not pronounce, but you pronounce it wrong anyway, it is very disrespectful.

In Spanish, J’s are pronounced like H’s in English. The name Juan is pronounced wah-an. If we used English to pronounce Juan, it would be jew-an. Most English speakers know how to say the name Juan. If a man came to work for you whose name was Juan, you would not decide to pronounce his name in English as jew-an. If you did, the man probably would not respond to you.

I feel God is the same way. We know the LORD’S name is not Jehovah. We should avoid calling the LORD Jehovah. However, since we do not know His exact name, I feel it is ok to say Yahweh which is a close guess at what the actual name of God is. I see it similar to the following.

When I lived in Spain, my roommate’s name was Jessie. As mentioned above, J’s in Spanish are pronounced like H’s in English. The house mom tried listening to how Jessie pronounced her name. Since the English “J” does note exist in Spanish, the house mom tried her best to say Jessie as Jessie. However, the closest the woman could get was “Yessie”. My roommate thought it was very sweet the house mom tried her best to pronounce her name correctly. Jessie responded to the name Yessie when the house mom called for her. I cannot be sure, but I believe if we try our best to pronounce the LORD’S name as best as we can, He also will answer us.

Personally, I avoid using the word Yahweh. I feel it is too sacred of a name. I do not want to make the LORD’S name common and mundane. I often use the word God to refer to the LORD. I feel even using the word LORD (although it is just the English name for the Hebrew word Adonai) should be used as little as possible. Since God is a word which is non-specific, I feel more comfortable using it, knowing many religions around the world use the word god to represent their deities.