Hebrew
יהוה
YHWH
The personal name of God revealed at the burning bush
The four-letter personal name of God — revealed to Moses at the burning bush, considered so sacred that observant Jews do not pronounce it.
YHWH (יהוה) — sometimes called the Tetragrammaton ('four letters') — is the personal name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. The four letters are yodh, heh, waw, heh — usually rendered Y-H-W-H in English. Because ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, the original pronunciation is not certain. Modern scholarly consensus reconstructs it as 'Yahweh.' The Latin/English form 'Jehovah' (popularized in the King James era) comes from combining the consonants of YHWH with the vowels of Adonai ('Lord') — a hybrid that observant Jews would never have pronounced. The name comes from the Hebrew verb hayah ('to be'). God's self-introduction to Moses — 'I AM THAT I AM' (ehyeh asher ehyeh, Exodus 3:14) — is grammatically related to YHWH. The name therefore carries the meaning of 'self-existent' or 'the one who is.' By the time of Jesus, Jewish reverence for the name was so absolute that it was not pronounced. When the Hebrew text said YHWH, readers would substitute Adonai ('Lord') aloud. Modern Jews continue this practice — many do not even write 'God' but 'G-d' to honor the sacredness of the name. The Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) translated YHWH as Kyrios ('Lord') — and the New Testament inherited this convention. When the New Testament applies the title Kyrios to Jesus, it is therefore identifying him with YHWH.
YHWH appears about 6,800 times in the Hebrew Old Testament — by far the most-used divine name. Major examples: Exodus 3:14-15 — God reveals the name to Moses at the burning bush. Exodus 6:3 — 'I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.' Deuteronomy 6:4 — the Shema, foundational Jewish confession: 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD' (YHWH our God is one YHWH). Isaiah 42:8 — 'I am the LORD: that is my name.' Most English translations follow the ancient practice of substituting 'LORD' (in small caps) for YHWH, while using 'Lord' (normal case) for Adonai. Where you see 'LORD' in capital letters in your Bible, the original Hebrew is YHWH. Where you see 'Lord' in normal case, the original is Adonai. (NASB and a few other translations sometimes use 'Yahweh' explicitly.) The name is also used in compound names. YHWH-Jireh ('the LORD will provide,' Genesis 22:14). YHWH-Rapha ('the LORD who heals,' Exodus 15:26). YHWH-Nissi ('the LORD is my banner,' Exodus 17:15). YHWH-Shalom ('the LORD is peace,' Judges 6:24). YHWH-Tsidkenu ('the LORD our righteousness,' Jeremiah 23:6). YHWH-Shammah ('the LORD is there,' Ezekiel 48:35). Personal names embedding YHWH (often shortened to 'Yah' or 'Jah'): Isaiah ('YHWH saves'), Jeremiah ('YHWH appoints'), Ezekiel (whose name uses El, but other prophets), Hezekiah ('YHWH strengthens'), Zechariah ('YHWH remembers'). The 'iah' or 'jah' ending in many Old Testament names is a fragment of YHWH.
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM... Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
YHWH revealed
“The LORD God of your fathers... hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever.”
The name as eternal
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another.”
“God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”
Applied to Jesus as the Lord (Kyrios)
YHWH is God's personal name — not a generic 'God' but his self-identification. To know God's name is to be invited into personal relationship. The Old Testament saints used the name in prayer; the prophets received it in revelation. By the New Testament, the name's mystery had grown so great that Jewish readers no longer pronounced it. Then Jesus came, applying to himself the divine 'I AM' (John 8:58) — claiming to be the God whose name Moses heard at the burning bush. The God of YHWH and the Jesus of the Gospels are not two Gods but one: the personal God who calls his people by name and gives them his own.
YHWH (יהוה) is the four-letter personal name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). The name is related to the Hebrew verb 'to be' and means something like 'I am' or 'the one who is.' Modern scholarship reconstructs the pronunciation as 'Yahweh,' though observant Jews do not pronounce the name out of reverence. Most English Bibles translate YHWH as 'LORD' (in small capitals), distinguishing it from 'Lord' (Adonai).
Yes and no. Both refer to the same God — YHWH, the personal name of God revealed to Moses. 'Yahweh' is modern scholarship's reconstruction of the original pronunciation. 'Jehovah' is a Latin/English hybrid created by combining the consonants of YHWH with the vowels of Adonai ('Lord') — a name that observant Jews would never have spoken. Jewish and most Christian scholarship today prefer 'Yahweh' as more historically accurate, though 'Jehovah' remains in some hymns and translations (notably the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses).
Observant Jews do not pronounce YHWH out of profound reverence — the third commandment forbids taking God's name in vain, and the rabbinic tradition extended this to mean the name should not be pronounced at all to avoid any possible misuse. When reading Scripture, Jews substitute 'Adonai' ('Lord') or 'HaShem' ('the Name') for YHWH. This practice goes back at least to the Second Temple period (c. 500 BC - 70 AD) and continues among observant Jews today. Many also avoid writing 'God' in full, writing 'G-d' or 'L-rd' instead.