To see why His name is pronounced “Yahweh” I would point you to the following resource which I have checked out thoroughly and have found to be adequate and in agreement with what I have found on the pronunciation. 

Click the below links to download the in-depth study that demonstrates “Yahweh” to be the correct pronunciation:

Note that the u and w are often interchangeable (e.g. persuade and perswade sound the same). Thus if one spelled it Yahweh or Yahueh we could get the same pronunciation, but most people who see the word “Yahueh” would tend to pronounce the H as a hard consonant. Thus, Yahweh seems to be the best spelling to convey the sounds in Hebrew.

This download is a chapter from the book entitled “The Sacred name” by R.Clover. I don’t necessarily endorse the views of the author in other chapters of this book or other topics.

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I have noticed that there are many using the form “Yahuah” or “Yahuwah” based on the fact that the name יהודה “Yahudah/Yehudah” (Judah) contains the same letters as יהוה with the exception of the ד Daleth (D) being added (Hebrew reads from right to left). In other words, Yahweh’s name contains יהוה (Yod Heh Waw Heh) and the name of one of the sons of Israel (Judah) is יהודה (Yod Heh Waw Daleth Heh.)

They say that the Heavenly Father’s name can be “made simple” by believing that since there is only one letter difference between the two names, we can learn the right pronunciation of the Heavenly Father’s name by looking at how Judah’s name is pronounced in Hebrew.  

But the truth is, we cannot determine the pronunciation of one Hebrew word by looking at how another word is pronounced with similar letters. This is because Hebrew words usually contain missing vowels. The reader has to supply the vowels based on their existing knowledge of the language. Thus, you can have numerous words where there is one consonant difference and yet they are pronounced completely different. 

Here are a couple of examples in Hebrew where there is only one letter different than Yahweh’s name, yet the pronunciation is different:

1. The verb “Hama” (#1993) is found in Jer. 6:23, 48:36, 50:42 in the qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular form, and is spelled יהמה but pronounced “Yehemeh.” This is only one letter different than יהוה, yet the pronunciation is different. 
    
2. The Hebrew word “Hegeh” (#1897) is found in Job 27:4, Psalm 37:30 and 7 other verses in the qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular form and is spelled יהגה, yet it is pronounced “Yehgeh.” This is only one letter different than יהוה, yet the pronunciation is different.

If we removed vowels from two English words that had similar consonants, no one would argue that we can learn the vowels of one word by knowing the vowels of another. For instance “word,” “ward” and “weird’ would all have the same consonants (WRD) but different vowel sounds and different meanings. 

In fact, there are examples in Hebrew of where two words are spelled exactly the same way, but they are pronounced differently. The word שאול, which is pronounced “Shaul” (King Saul’s name) is spelled exactly the same as the word שאול, pronounced “Sheol.” “Shaul” means “desired” but “Sheol” means “grave.” The vowels and meaning are different, but the word is spelled the same. If שאול(Shaul) is spelled the same as שאול (Sheol), yet has different vowels, why would we believe that יהוה must automatically have the same vowels as יהודה?

If the “Yahu” in “Yahu-dah” means “praise Yahweh,” this would be a compound word with the “Yahu-” referring to Yahueh/Yahweh and the “-dah” coming from another word altogether, “Yadah.” Thus, we really can’t rely on the “Dah” pronunciation to arrive at the correct pronunciation of the final syllable in יהוה. It is derived from a different source.

The reason why Yahweh’s name is upon His people is not because “Yahudah” contains part of Yahweh’s name as some claim. All of Israel is called by His name, including those who don’t have “Yah” in their names like Levi, Dan and others. The reason why all of Israel is called by Yahweh’s name is because of the elements seen in the priestly blessing:

So in conclusion, to base the pronunciation of the Heavenly Father’s name on how another name or word is pronounced is not sound reasoning and should be completely disregarded when seeking to understand how יהוה is pronounced.

Furthermore, the pronunciation “Yahuah” does not carry any meaning in Hebrew. This is because it is not a legitimate Hebrew conjugation of the root verb “Hayah” (to be, or to exist). It’s like someone who doesn’t know English trying to tell us “Run” changes to “Rin” rather than “Ran.” “Yahuah” means nothing in Hebrew in the same way “Rin” means nothing in English.

Yehowah/Yehovah?

It’s a surprise to me, but another pronunciation growing in popularity is “Yehowah.” This is actually the Hebraic way of saying “Jehovah.” The term “Jehovah/Yehowah” came about when the Masorite scribes placed the vowels for Adonai in between the letters of Yahweh’s name. This was to show the reader that he was supposed to say “Adonai” instead of uttering the actual pronunciation of His name. 

Those who support the “Yehowah” pronunciation often say that the scribes were not trying to hide the name, but were actually correct in their vowel pointing. Their evidence is that the first vowel point in “Yehowah” produces an “Eh” sound and not an “Ah” sound like the first vowel sound in “Ah-donai.” But the Masorites had to omit or change the first vowel simply because the first vowel sound in Adonai (Ah) matches the first vowel in “Yahweh.” What else were they to do?

The Qumran manuscript of the Septuagint (4Q120) transliterates the first part of the sacred name as “Yah” (Yaw) rather than “Yeh,” along with a number of other ancient Greek writers including Clement of Alexandria.

Nevertheless, there is a way to be certain that the scribes were actually inserting vowels to cause the reader to say “Adonai” rather than the actual pronunciation of His name. 

If you have a Strong’s concordance, look up word number 3069. It says:

Notice that the vowel points underneath Yahweh’s name are different than #3068, and produce the pronunciation: Yehowih (Yehowee). Where did this come from?

In the Masoretic text (Hebrew scriptures) “Yehowih” is found in over 300 instances. In each instance where “Yehowih” is found, the Hebrew word “Adonai” always comes before it. Thus, it says “Adonai Yehowih.” 

Normally the four letters contain the vowels from “Adonai” so that the reader will say “Adonai” instead of the true pronunciation of the Heavenly Father’s Name. But what if the Hebrew word “Adonai” comes before the sacred name?

If the scribes had actually put “Adonai Yehowah” instead of “Adonai Yehowih” the reader would have had to say “Adonai Adonai” whenever they came across this phrase, a rather awkward situation. Therefore, they put the vowel points for “Elohim” (YeHoWiH) in Yahweh’s name whenever “Adonai Yahweh” existed in the text so that the reader would say “Adonai Elohim” rather than “Adonai Adonai.” 

To me this easily proves that the intent of the vowel points inserted in Yahweh’s name was not to supply a correct pronunciation of our Father’s name, but rather to get the reader to say “Adonai” or “Elohim” instead. Thus, “Yehowah” (and it’s companion “Yehowih”) are not correct pronunciations of our Father’s name, but are actually hybrids that combine the letters of Yahweh’s name with the vowel sounds of two other words: Adonai and Elohim.

Some suggest that since there are cases where even the vowel point for “O” from Adonai is missing from the Name, there was a conspiracy to prevent readers from pronouncing the Name as “Yehowah.” But Exodus 13:9, Jeremiah 36:8, Ezekiel 44:5 and Nahum 1:3 you will find both Yehowah and Yehwah in the same verse. Also, whenever the vowel points for “Elohim” are used, about 90% of of the time they also lack the “O” sound in the middle. It appears that the Masorites were more careless with the placement of these uninspired vowel points due to the fact that most Jews had practiced the substitutions from their youth, and one or two vowel points from either “Adonai” or “Elohim” would have been sufficient reminder.

Contact me if you are interested in a point-by-point rebuttal to an article (which was written by an unbeliever) supporting the “Yehowah” pronunciation.

Yahweh

It is important to understand that in Hebrew, the verb form determines how the vowels sound. This is somewhat like English where the verb “Run” changes to “Ran” if past tense is intended, and “Running” if present tense is intended. And just as it will be hard for us to explain why “Ran” becomes “Running” to someone who doesn’t know the language, it can be difficult for English speakers to understand why Hebrew does the things it does unless we know the language and how it functions.

Hebrew functions quite differently than English because Hebrew words typically trace back to a three letter root. From that three letter root, certain letters and/or sounds are added to the beginning of the word or the end of the word along with changes in vowel sounds. The changes inform you whether the word is 1st, 2nd or 3rd person (me, you, him), whether it is masculine or feminine, perfect (completed action) or imperfect (ongoing or incomplete action), or more complex things such as intensive or causative. 

Understanding this basic fundamental principle of the Hebrew language will help us to understand Yahweh’s own explanation of His name in Exodus 3:13-15:

In the above verse, Yahweh said Moshe “I AM THAT I AM” or “Ehyeh asher ehyeh.” Thus, He said to tell them “ehyeh” had sent Moshe to them.

“Ehyeh,” is the way you pronounce the root verb “Hayah” (a verb meaning, “to be”) in the first person imperfect masculine singular form. In light of this, why don’t we call Him “Ehyeh?”

We don’t call Him “ehyeh” because Moshe said to call Him יהוה ‘Yahweh’ rather than אהיה ‘Ehyeh’ in the following verse:

To discover the pronunciation of His name יהוה we only need to figure out what the Hebrew word actually means. We can learn what His word means by discovering the verb form that is being expressed. Thankfully, we already know the three letter root word, “hayah” becuase Yahweh already connected His name to the root verb “Hayah” when He said “ehyeh.”

The yod being in front gives us the “He” (third person) because it is a consistent feature of biblical Hebrew to put a yod in the front to mark the word as the third-person (masculine singular) when in the imperfect (still existing) tense. However, it’s not just the basic 3rd person form because the basic 3rd person singular imperfect form would actually be pronounced (Yihyeh) “Yee-yay.”

Because the letters are Yod Heh Waw Heh and not Yod Heh Yod Heh (yihyeh), the only possible verb form that gives the tetragrammaton a meaning in Hebrew is the causative verb form known as the “Hiphil.” This results in the name meaning “He causes to be.“

In light of this, the Hebrew word would be pronounced, “Yahweh.”

Is it possible that it was pronounced a little different anciently? We do see evidence of various Hebrew dialects in scripture itself, such as when the Ephraimites didn’t know how to say “Shibboleth” in Judges 12:6. But in Exodus 3 Yahweh is connecting His name to a particular meaning in the Hebrew language. In whatever dialect that is spoken, the main thing is that it retains its meaning in Hebrew, “He causes to be.”

The central question of all the religions around the world is, “Who is the one that caused all things to be?” When we say “Yahweh” we are calling on the one Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who “caused all things to be.”

Yahweh literally said to tell them “He that causes to be,” Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you.” And He said “This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.”

If someone wants to propose a different pronunciation to give us the meaning “He causes to be,” they will also have to provide us with an entirely different system of pronunciation in the entire Hebrew bible, not just Exodus 3:15-16.

The Masoretic text does provide us with a full system of pronunciation in the entire Hebrew bible, and it is the only Hebrew text available that provides us with vowel sounds. Scholars can understand and translate the bible from Hebrew because of it. If someone wants to say they were wrong, there is no way to really prove that they were. And if someone claims they are, they will have to provide an entirely different system of pronunciation, grammar and syntax for the entire bible, not just the one verse.

We know the Father’s name begins with “Yah” based on words like “Hallelu-Yah” and the standalone “Yah” in which there are vowel points giving us the “ah” sound.

In light of this, the latter part of His name is where we will need to seek some clarity. If His name is in the Hiphil (“He causes to be,”) it is grammatically impossible for His name to end in “wah” or any other vowel sound. The name would actually have no meaning at all in Hebrew if it ended in “wah.” The causative (Hiphil) in Hebrew consistently uses the “eh” (technically the tsere vowel sound, ay) ending for verbs like “Hayah.” In English, everyone pronounces Yahweh as “Yahway” so the “weh” ending in English works just fine.

Getting back to the concept of Yahweh’s name meaning “He causes to be,” this also supported in places like:

Don’t they already know He is Yahweh? What is He saying here? 

If we understand that יהוה is the 3rd person causative form of the verb “hayah”, the Hebrew reader would understand that once He puts breath in them and they live, they would know that “I am ‘He who causes to be‘.” 

All throughout history this has been the ultimate debate in all religions. Who is the author of all that exists? Who caused all things to be? When we use the name Yahweh we are calling on the one who caused all things to exist.

There are 73 scriptures where Yahweh makes this statement that one “shall know that I am Yahweh”. He wants us to have the understanding that HE IS, and HE WILL CAUSE YOU TO KNOW THAT HE IS BY WHAT HE DOES. This is how He introduced Himself to Yisrael, for “He who comes to Elohim must believe that HE IS” (Hebrews 11:6).

Other proposed pronunciations (Yahuah, Yahuwah, Yehowah, etc) have absolutely no meaning at all in the Hebrew language. This, even though Yahweh Himself in Exodus 3:14 was trying to attach a genuine meaning to His name.

An “-ah” ending (with ה as the final letter) is actually a feminine ending for names in Hebrew unless it is referencing the “Yah” portion of Yahweh’s name, such as ObedYah, “Servant of Yah.” Examples of feminine names in Hebrew ending with -ah (with ה as the final letter) are plentiful (Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Deborah, Channah, Dinah, Bilhah, Tirzah). Why then would Yahweh’s name end in -ah (with ה as the final letter)?

Also, the Masorites didn’t want anyone to pronounce the name properly so they inserted the vowel points for “adonai” or “Elohim” in the Father’s name. If were willing to place a vowel point indicating an “ah” sound for final syllable of Adonai at the end of יהוה, their entire plan is thwarted. This is further evidence that His name does not end in “ah.” 

Some suggest that since there are some other Hebrew names that don’t precisely follow Hebrew verb patterns, Yahweh’s name shouldn’t either. But the fact that “Ehyeh” does follow the correct (1st person) grammatical verb pattern, it would logically follow that יהוה would also contain the correct grammatical verb pattern. After all, He was using first person form to clarify the etymology of His name. And of all the proposed pronunciations, the only one I have seen that makes any grammatical sense or even carries a meaning at all in the Hebrew is the form “Yahweh.” 

In light of this, I love the fact that one can actually use the scripture where Yahweh gave His name to Moshe in Exodus 3 to discover the pronunciation. There is no better foundation than scripture, and the pronunciation “Yahweh” communicates what Yahweh intended for us to express whenever we call upon Him: “He causes to be.” Yahweh, the true Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the one who caused all things to be.

One final point

In the book of Josephus, a first century Jewish historian and priest, he speaks of the high priest’s garments. In his description of those garments he says:

“A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels.”

Flavius Josephus: The Jewish War 5:5:7 [5:235]( Translated by William Whiston)

Notice he said the sacred name consists of “four vowels.” In Hebrew, there are four Hebrew letters that function as vowels: Aleph, Yod, Heh and Waw. Scholars call this the matres lectionis.

That may suprise some of you, but the oo sound in “Halleloo-Yah” uses the Waw to give us the “oo” sound, the “ee” in Eloheem uses the Yod to give us an “ee” sound and the “ey” in Ninevay (Eng. Nineveh) uses a Heh to give us the “ay” sound, the “ah” in Yahweh uses the “heh” to give us an “ah” and the final “ey” sound.

So if one were to pronounce the sacred name only using vowels, it could be ee-ah-oo-ay if spoken very slowly and “Yahweh” if spoken quickly.

Since the sacred name contains four vowel letters, no one needs to say the pronunciation was lost due to Hebrew being written as consonants. In the case of Yahweh’s name, it consists of all vowels.

Years ago, a person I was in fellowship with attended a linguistics class in Israel. In that class, they taught the students to pronounce the “verbal vowel continuum.” A vowel continuum chart (or vowel quadrilateral) plots vowel sounds based on articulatory features: Front vowels: /i/ (as in “see”), /e/ (as in “say”). Central vowels: /a/ (as in “father”). Back vowels: /u/ (as in “moon”), /o/ (as in “go”). Height: High (/i/, /u/), mid (/e/, /o/), low (/a/).

Remarkably, if you were to pronounce the entire series of vowel sounds in the way they qre ordered around chart, starting with the “ee” sound, you will be saying, “Yahweh,” especially if you end where you started.

I find it interesting that if you were to arrange the vowels you were taught in grade school, A E I O U into a different order: I A O U E, and pronounce them “ee” for I, “ah” for A, “oh” for O, “oo” for U and “eh” for E, it would sound a lot like Yahweh because slight “oh” sound can be subtly heard when you go from “ah” to “oo.” Thus, “IAOUE” sounds a lot like “Yahweh.”

The vowel continuum is not the main point I bring up when showing that the sacred name should be pronounced “Yahweh,” but it goes to show that Yahweh’s name really does consist of vowels, just as Josephus, a first century priest, declared. Those vowels go all the way around the chart and closely resembles the way a person says, “He causes to be” in Hebrew.

Furthermore, when studying all the languages around the world, I found that almost 100% of the earth’s population can speak the four vowels in Yahweh’s name.

Ultimately, I don’t condemn those who use a different pronunciation than I do. We should all just do our very best. But for me the evidence all points to “Yahweh” being the best possible pronunciation, and most Hebrew scholars have come to this same conclusion, with the well-respected Encyclopedia Brittanica saying “this pronunciation…was never really lost.”

I wholeheartedly agree.