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Easton's Bible Dictionary
The special and significant name (not merely an appellative
title such as Lord [adonai]) by which God revealed himself to the ancient Hebrews
( Exodus
6:2 , 6:3
). 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. 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. The Massorets gave to it the vowel-points
appropriate to this word. This Jewish practice was founded on a false interpretation
of Leviticus
24:16 . 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. (Compare Malachi
3:6 ; Hosea
12:5 ; Revelation
1:4 , 1:8
.)
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.
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.
It is worthy of notice that this name is never used in the LXX., the Samaritan
Pentateuch, the Apocrypha, or in the New Testament. 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.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
self-subsisting
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(I am; the eternal living one)
The Scripture appellation of the supreme Being, usually interpreted as signifying
self-derived and permanent existence. 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. 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. 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. 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. While Elohim exhibits God displayed in his power
as the creator and governor of the physical universe, the name Jehovah designates
his nature as he stands in relation to man, as the only almighty, true, personal,
holy Being, a spirit and "the father of spirits," ( Numbers
16:22 ) comp. John
4:24 who revealed himself to his people, made a covenant with them, and became
their lawgiver, and to whom all honor and worship are due.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
je-ho'-va, je-ho'-va.
See GOD,
NAMES OF, II, 3.
Tags:
Adonai, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, God, jehovah, kurios, LORD, supreme Being
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