What does YHWH mean? (God's name in the Bible)

YHWH (H3068), the Tetragrammaton, is God's personal covenant name — not a title like God or Lord, but a name. It is bound to the Hebrew verb "to be," as God explained when Moses asked whom he should say had sent him:

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”Exodus 3:14 (KJV)

Devout Jewish readers stopped pronouncing the name aloud, substituting Adonai ("Lord"). The KJV honors that tradition: wherever you see LORD in small capitals, the Hebrew underneath is YHWH — 5,521 times. It renders the name itself as "Jehovah" only a handful of times:

“That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”Psalms 83:18 (KJV)

God told Moses that even the patriarchs had not known Him by this name in its full covenant significance:

“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”Exodus 6:3 (KJV)

The shortened form Yah survives in a word every Christian sings: hallelu-jah, "praise Yah."

See where the LORD (H3068) appears →

Word studies behind this answer

More Bible questions

• • What was Jesus' real name in Hebrew?
• • What does agape love mean in the Bible?
• • What does Selah mean in the Psalms?
• • What does hallelujah mean?
• • What does hosanna mean?
• • What birds did Noah send out from the ark?

Verse text quoted from the King James Version. Study any passage free at Ekdia — no ads, no subscriptions.