JAHWEH. — The divine name, called the “tetragrammaton” because it consists of four letters, is the most frequently used name in the Hebrew Bible (about 6,823 times). It was revealed by God Himself to Moses when establishing His new relationship with Israel in the covenant at Sinai (Ex. 3:13–17; 6:2–4). God Himself explains: “I am who am” (Ex. 3:14), that is, the eternally existent One whose existence is intrinsic, who assists (v. 12) His people, unchanging and therefore infallible in keeping His promises (U. Cassuto [see bibl.], p. 85).
Jahweh is the only divine name in all Semitic languages that has a preformative verbal formation (=imperfect of the verb hwuh, hjh: in Greek δύω: “He who is”; A. Vaccari, F. [see bibl.], pp. 5 ff.; 9 ff.). Among the Jews, after the exile, a reverential usage prevailed of not pronouncing the most sacred name; substituting the generic ’ădōnāj (“My Lord”), they vocalized the tetragrammaton as ’ădōnāj, whence arose the erroneous reading “Ydhōwah (Jehovah),” already attested in R. Martini, *Pugio fidei*, of 1270, though much earlier in origin. The Septuagint renders ’ădōnāj as Κύριος, and the Vulgate as *Dominus* for Jahweh.
Jahweh, the full form, is the original (it is found in the only ancient document that mentions Jahweh: the Mesha Stele, line 18); from it are derived the short forms: *Jahū*, in the Elephantine papyri, and in theophoric names together with *Jah*, *Šo*. It was once thought (1932) that the divine name Jahweh in the form *Jah* was found in the Ras Shamra texts (*’nt*, VI, pl. X, lines 13–15; C. Gordon, *Ugaritic Literature*, Rome 1949, p. 26), which would make it the primitive form (K. G. Kuhn, A. L. Williams, R. Dussaud). But this identification remains a mere possibility, and the transition from *Jah* to *Jhwh* is unexplained (H. Bauer, O. Eissfeldt, A. Vaccari, A. Bea). To date, every attempt to derive Jahweh from the Egyptian pantheon (D. Völter, W. M. Müller, J. Lieblein), or from the Babylonian (F. Delitzsch, A. Lods), or from the Kenites (K. Budde, H. Gressmann, E. Sellin, C. Toussaint), has proved arbitrary and futile (C. Toussaint [see bibl.], pp. 218–225; J. Plessis [see bibl.], cols. 837 ff.; F. X. Kortleiner, *Commentationes biblicae*, III, Innsbruck 1930, pp. 90–93; VIII, 1933, pp. 5–8). The very verbal form contradicts this. Jahweh is a name not created by men, but revealed by Jahweh Himself (Vaccari).
Bibl.: F. Prat, Theban, in DB, III, cols. 1220–44; J. Plessis, *Babylone et la Bible*, in DB, I, col. 837 ff.; L. Hennequin, *Éléphantine*, in DB, II, cols. 990 ff.; J. P. van Kasteren, *Thebé et El-Schaddai*, in *La science catholique*, 8 (1894), pp. 296–315; M.-J. Lagrange, *La révélation du nom divin «Tétragrammaton»*, in *Revue biblique*, 2 (1893), pp. 239–50; id., *El té Thébé*, ibid., 12 (1903), pp. 370–75; id., *Encore le nom de Thébé*, ibid., 16 (1907), pp. 383–86; C. Robert, *La révélation du nom divin Thébé*, ibid., 3 (1894), pp. 161–81; S. Landersdorfer, *Der Gottesname Thébé und den Keilschriften*, in *Biblische Zeitschrift*, 10 (1912), pp. 24–35; G. R. Driver, *The evidence for the name «Thébé» outside the Old Test.*, in *Old Test. essays*, London 1927, pp. 18–24; M. Noth, *Die israelitischen Personennamen im Rahmen der gemeinsemitischen Namengebung*, Stuttgart 1928, pp. 101–104; A. Lods, *Israel des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle*, Paris 1930, p. 371 ff.; C. Toussaint, *L’ancien jahvisme*, 1931, pp. 215–29; H. Bauer, *Die Gottheiten von Ras Schamra*, in *Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft*, 51 (1933), p. 92 ff.; A. Vaccari, *Nomen Domini*, in *Verbum Domini*, 13 (1933), pp. 3–7; id., *I nomi divini nelle religioni semitiche*, in *Biblica*, 17 (1936), pp. 1–10; U. Cassuto, *La questione della Genesi*, Florence 1934, pp. 19 ff.; 24 ff., 84 ff.; F. Ceuppens, *De historia primaevae*, Rome 1923, p. 66 ff.; O. Eissfeldt, *Neue Zeugnisse für die Aussprache des Tetragramms als J.*, in *Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft*, 53 (1935), pp. 59–76; K. G. Kuhn, *Thebé*, in *Thebé und die Entstehung des Namens J.*, in *Orientalische Studien E. Littmann*, Leiden 1935, pp. 25–42; R. Dussaud, *Les découvertes de Ras Shamra et l’Ancien Testament*, Paris 1936, p. 107; A. L. Williams, *The Tetragrammaton-J., name or surrogate?*, in *Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft*, 54 (1936), pp. 262–69; A. Vincent, *La religion des Judéo-Araméens d’Éléphantine*, Paris 1937, pp. 25–60; A. Bea, *Archäologisches und Religionsgeschichtliches aus Ugarit-Ras Shamra*, in *Biblica*, 20 (1939), p. 440 ff.; G. Mercati, *Sulla scrittura del tetragramma nelle antiche versioni greche del Vecchio Testamento*, ibid., 22 (1941), pp. 339–66; F. Zorell, *Lexicon hebraicum*, Rome 1940 sqq., p. 228 ff.; R. Dussaud, *Yahvé*, in *Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et des Belles-Lettres*, 1940, pp. 364–70; W. A. Irwin, *The tetragrammaton*, in *The Journal of Near Eastern Studies*, 3 (1944), pp. 257–59; J. A. Montgomery, *The Hebrew divine name and the personal pronoun hê*, in *The Journal of Biblical Literature*, 63 (1944), pp. 161–63.
