Yahweh is the personal name of God in the Old Testament. It conveys the biblical pronunciation of the Hebrew name יהוה – YHWH, known as the Tetragrammaton, that is, the “four letters,” because it consists of four consonants: yod, he, vav, he.
In the biblical text, this name is particularly associated with God’s revelation to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asks about God’s name, God replies: “I am who I am” or “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14). He then says: “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your fathers… has sent me to you” (cf. Ex. 3:15). The name Yahweh is therefore associated with the Hebrew verb root for “I am,” “I exist,” “I become,” although its exact etymology remains a matter of scholarly debate.
The name Yahweh expresses that God is not one of the deities in the world, nor a force associated with a specific place or natural element. He is the Living, Self-existent, faithful God of the covenant, who freely reveals himself, speaks and acts in history. In the Old Testament, Yahweh is the God who creates the world, chooses Abraham, leads Israel out of Egypt, gives the Law and leads his people through the prophets.
Due to reverence for the name of God, in the Jewish tradition the Tetragrammaton gradually ceased to be pronounced aloud. When reading instead of YHWH, Adonai, that is, “Lord”, is pronounced, and in later usage, Ha-Shem – “The Name”. This tradition also strongly influenced the translations of the Bible. In the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the name of God is usually rendered as Κύριος – “Lord”. Hence the common Christian practice in many translations of the Tetragrammaton to render it as Lord.
The form “Jehovah” arose later from the combination of the consonants YHWH with the vowels, reminding the reader to pronounce Adonai. Therefore, in modern biblical studies, the form “Yahweh” is usually considered closer to the ancient pronunciation, although it cannot be restored with complete certainty. In the New Testament, the use of the expression “I am” – Greek ἐγώ εἰμι, in the Gospel of John is of particular importance. In Johannine theology, this expression often carries a deeper meaning and recalls God’s self-revelation in Ex. 3:14: “I am who I am.” Therefore, Christ’s words “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) are perceived as a testimony to His divine dignity. The same echo is felt at His arrest in Gethsemane: when the soldiers seek “Jesus of Nazareth,” He answers, “I am,” and they step back and fall to the ground (John 18:5–6).
