Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The Phrase "Jehovah God"

An examination of Genesis Chapters 2 and 3 alone show that the phrase "Jehovah God" is in fact used over 20 times (understanding that "Jehovah" is the common English vocalization for YHWH (the tetragrammaton). The first occurrence of the phrase appears in Genesis 2:4 as follows:

אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשות יהוה אלהים ארץ ושמים


יהוה is YHWH
עשות is Elohim
(remember, Hebrew is read right to left)


Various translations read -




"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven" – ASV

"These are the histories of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day that Jehovah Elohim made earth and heavens" – Darby

"This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens" – WEB

"These 'are' births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God's making earth and heavens" – Young's Literal

"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens" – KJV

(If you recall, the KJV replaces every occurrence of "יהוה" or the common English vocalization "Jehovah" with "LORD" to hide the name.)

"This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven" – NWT


In Chapters 2 and 3 alone, this exact phrase does exist in the original language (20 times), and is rendered so in many translations.