When Moses received his commission to be the deliverer of Israel, the Almighty, who appeared in the burning bush, communicated to him the name which he should give as the credentials of his mission: 'And God said unto Moses, 'I AM THAT I AM ( ehyea asher ehyeh ) and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' That this passage is intended to indicate the etymology of Jehovah, as understood by the Hebrews, no one has ventured to doubt. According to Jewish tradition, it was pronounced but once a year, by the high priest on the day of atonement when he entered the holy of holies but on this point there is some doubt. This custom, which had its origin in reverence, was founded upon an erroneous rendering of ( Leviticus 24:16 ) from which it was inferred that the mere utterance of the name constituted a capital offence. The Jews scrupulously avoided every mention of this name of God, substituting in its stead one or other of the words with whose proper vowel-points it may happen to be written. The Scripture appellation of the supreme Being, usually interpreted as signifying self-derived and permanent existence. indicates this entry was also found in Smith's Bible DictionaryĮaston, Matthew George. indicates this entry was also found in Hitchcock's Bible Names

indicates this entry was also found in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, It is found, however, on the 'Moabite stone' (q.v.), and consequently it must have been in the days of Mesba so commonly pronounced by the Hebrews as to be familiar to their heathen neighbours.

It is worthy of notice that this name is never used in the LXX., the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Apocrypha, or in the New Testament.

The Hebrew word is translated 'Jehovah' only in Exodus 6:3 Psalms 83:18 Isaiah 12:2 26:4, and in the compound names mentioned below. The Hebrew name 'Jehovah' is generally translated in the Authorized Version (and the Revised Version has not departed from this rule) by the word LORD printed in small capitals, to distinguish it from the rendering of the Hebrew Adonai and the Greek Kurios, which are also rendered Lord, but printed in the usual type. (Compare Malachi 3:6 Hosea 12:5 Revelation 1:4 Revelation 1:8.

The meaning of the word appears from Exodus 3:14 to be 'the unchanging, eternal, self-existent God,' the 'I am that I am,' a convenant-keeping God. This Jewish practice was founded on a false interpretation of Leviticus 24:16. The Massorets gave to it the vowel-points appropriate to this word. Whenever this name occurred in the sacred books they pronounced it, as they still do, 'Adonai' (i.e., Lord), thus using another word in its stead. This name, the Tetragrammaton of the Greeks, was held by the later Jews to be so sacred that it was never pronounced except by the high priest on the great Day of Atonement, when he entered into the most holy place. The special and significant name (not merely an appellative title such as Lord ) by which God revealed himself to the ancient Hebrews ( Exodus 6:2 Exodus 6:3 ).

Lord jehovah meaning