The Hidden Name of God – Session 2

PLEASE NOTE: This is not part of The Hidden Name of God Bible Study. The Bible study version is in smaller, more easily digested portions and contains updated information. You can find those posts by clicking the Bible Study tab on the Home page.

The Importance of His Name

Have you ever stopped to consider that the eternal God of the universe thinks names are important? When He spoke creation into existence, He named each part of His creation. The Genesis 1 account tells us He named the light Day, the darkness Night, the firmament Heaven, the dry land Earth, and the waters Seas. After He created Adam, God told him to name the animals. Psalm 147 tells us God calls all the stars by their names! Revelation 2 tells us that the overcomers will be given a new name written on a white stone that only the one receiving it will know. Many of the Israelites had names with the divine name in them. Most importantly, God caused His own personal name to be placed in the Hebrew Scriptures 6828 times!

In this session we will wade deeper into God’s name, its importance in the lives of the Israelites, why God chose to reveal His name to His people (including us), and how we are to honor it.

The Shem HaMeforash:

This is a Hebrew term that is usually translated into English as the ineffable or unspeakable name, but it actually means the “explicit” or “unequivocal” name.  Ancient Jewish sources would refer to God’s actual name (YHVH – יהוה) as the Shem HaMeforash to distinguish it from God’s numerous titles such as Lord (Adonai), Most High (El Elyon), God Almighty (El Shaddai), etc.

Jewish rabbinical teaching says that YHVH – יהוה is too holy to use in common speech and prayer, so they systematically replace it with one of His titles, usually Adonai, which we translate as LORD. But even the Rabbis knew, with regard to the Priestly Blessing at least, that the priests were to place the Shem HaMeforash, YHVH – יהוה, upon the people. The Talmud (200-500 AD) discusses this, and Ibn Ezra wrote about it in the 12^th century AD as well. In the Mishnah, Sotah 7:6 there is an explanation of how the Priestly Blessing was performed during the latter 2^nd Temple period:

“How is the Priestly Blessing performed? …In the Temple they say the name the way it is written and outside the Temple they use a title.”

Sotah 7:6

Here are two more quotes regarding Rabbinical teachings on speaking the name, one ancient and one modern:

“The following have no portion in the world to come, Abba Saul says: Also one who pronounces the divine name as it is written.”

Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1

“It is forbidden to read the glorious and terrible name as it is written, as the sages said, ‘He that pronounces the name as it is written has no portion in the world to come.’ Therefore it must be read as if it were written Adonai.”

Mishnah Berurah 5:2

The rabbis themselves did not seem to know where this practice originated or why they believed that God’s name could only be spoken in the Temple. But, after the 2^nd Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, there was no longer any place for them to speak the Tetragrammaton. No Temple, no Tetragrammaton. It is easy to see why the Jewish people would never say the divine name, since they were taught that to pronounce it prevented them from entering the Messianic kingdom.

The question for us to consider is, do the Scriptures actually prohibit speaking the Tetragrammaton outside the Temple or teach that it can only be spoken by the priests in the Priestly Blessing? The short answer is NO.

A brief look at Jewish history during the intertestamental period may help to shed some light on the matter.

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In the time of the Maccabees, around 168 BC, the Greeks (under Antiochus Epiphanes, the 8^th ruler of the Seleucid Empire) began to stamp out the Jewish faith. They wanted all of the many religions in the region to unite under the culture of the Greeks and wanted all to worship Zeus and change the names of their various gods to Zeus. All of these religious groups were willing to comply with the desire of the Greek rulers, except for the Jews in Judea.  The king got many of the Jews to follow his policies and agree to his terms and then he sent them to win over their Judean brothers and sisters. This eventually led to the five-year revolt led by the family of Matthias and his five sons. Ultimately, the Greeks were defeated and the Temple liberated, and the Jews enjoyed an eighty-year period of independence. 

“The Greeks made decrees to eradicate Israel, ordering them to deny the kingdom of heaven, to declare that they have no portion with the God of Israel, and not to mention the heavenly name on their lips.”

Scholion on Megilat Ta’anit

This was the first prohibition against speaking the Tetragrammaton. It came by the decree of the Greek government. Once they were defeated, the Jewish people again spoke YHVH – יהוה. 

In 63 BC, the Romans invaded Greece and also conquered the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. The Romans ruled Judea, but in Jerusalem the Jews had some autonomy. The Romans decreed that Jews no longer had authority to carry out public executions. It was the exclusive right of the Romans to carry out executions. This put the Jewish leaders in a quandary, which they resolved by writing a tachanot to make it impossible to carry out public executions. (Tachanot – man-made rules and regulations and traditions of men written by the Pharisees. Their purpose was often to protect the Jews from the persecutions of their conquerors.) In the entire history of the Sanhedrin after 63 BC, not a single execution was ever carried out by the Sanhedrin because it was forbidden by the Romans and by the tachanot of the Pharisees.  The Jews had to get the Romans to carry out the death penalty for them.  This is why the Jewish rulers at the time of Christ sent Jesus to Pilate and insisted he crucify Jesus. (Sorry for this little historical bunny trail!)

Later, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, in the early 2^nd century AD, a second prohibition against speaking the Tetragrammaton in public was made. Hadrian patterned his anti-Jewish decrees after the Greeks during the time of the Maccabees. Between 130-138 AD, Hadrian executed Jewish Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion for speaking YHVH – יהוה publicly. According to the Talmud, the Romans asked Rabbi Hanina why he engaged in the study of the Torah, to which he answered, “Because the Lord my God commanded me.” The Talmud states that Hanina was sentenced to be burned “because he used to pronounce the name the way it is written…” This tells us that at least some of the Jews during the late 1^st and early 2^nd centuries AD still knew and spoke the Tetragrammaton outside the Temple, because the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.  Another rabbinical source corroborates that it was commonplace during the Hadrianic persecutions for the Jewish people to pronounce YHVH – יהוה. Because of the martyrdom of Hanina for speaking the name in public, a tachanot was written that directed the Jews to insert a different word (Adonai) until Messiah comes and restores it. 

“This world is not like the world to come. In this world the name is written Yeho[vah] and read Ado[nai] but in the world to come it will be one, written Yeho[vah] and read Yeho[vah].”

Talmud, Pesachim 50a

This explanation is based on a verse in Zechariah:

“And the LORD (Yehovah) shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD (Yehovah), and his name one.”

Zechariah 14:9

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The ancient rabbis who instituted the tachanot to ban the name from being spoken never intended the tradition of substituting YHVH – יהוה with Adonai to be permanent! The Jews understood that the world to come was the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, when it would not only be Israel speaking the name Yehovah, but all mankind.

Jesus (Yehoshua) said in His prayer to the Father before He went to the cross,

“I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it…”
John 17:26

Jesus was fulfilling Psalm 22,

“I will declare Thy name unto my bretheren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.”  

Psalm 22:22

If Jesus declared His Father’s name to His disciples, Christians today can speak His name, too.  When He taught the disciples how to pray He said, “… hallowed be Thy name…” Certainly, we call Him Abba, Father, Lord, and all the other titles that exemplify who He is. We can add to that, now that we know it, His Shem HaMeforash, His unique, explicit, unequivocal name – YEHOVAH – יהוה. Hallelujah, praise Yah!

How was God’s unique name used in Biblical times? Let’s take a look:

The first recorded spoken use of YHVH – יהוה by a person is in Genesis 4:1, where Eve says after the birth of the first human child, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.”

Genesis 4:26 records that after Enos was born to Seth, men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Noah blessed God in Genesis 9:26. He said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem…” right after he had cursed Canaan.

In Genesis 12:8, Abram built an altar to the LORD between Bethel and Ai, and called on the name of the LORD. 

In Genesis 14:22, Abram identified his God by the four-letter name to the king of Sodom, so he would not mistake him with the pagan god who was also called the most high god.

Abram first addressed God as Adonai YHVH (my Lord Yehovah) in Genesis 15:2. This appears in English translations as Lord GOD.

The Israelites used the name Yehovah in common speech, in their greetings, blessings, and oaths. 

And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

Ruth 2:4

This was a common greeting among the Jews in the Old Testament times. It was said often among them. Today, we say “God bless you.” Now, we can say,

Yehovah bless you!

יברכך יהוה

Ye-va-re-khe-kha Ye-hov-ah!

The Israelites also commonly swore by Yehovah. They would say,

 חי-יהוה

(chay Ye-hov-ah)

This is usually translated “As the LORD lives” (As Yehovah lives). Variations of this are: As the LORD God of Israel lives, As the LORD thy God lives, As the LORD of hosts lives.

Boaz said this to Ruth when he promised to fulfill the role of kinsman redeemer to her. 

“Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the morning.”

Ruth 3:13

Even Achish, the king of the Philistines, swore by Yehovah in this same way:

“Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day…”

I Samuel 29:6

King David swore by Yehovah often. He used this oath when Nathan, the prophet, came to him with the story about the rich man who stole a poor man’s pet sheep to feed a traveling stranger, rather than taking one from his own huge flock, just before Nathan revealed to him that the story was about him and his affair with Bathsheba. David said,

“As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:”

II Samuel 12:5

In the book of Jeremiah, God speaks about the wicked nations that have come against Israel and taken them into captivity, and He says that if they will learn to swear by His name Yehovah, in the same way that these nations have taught God’s people to swear by Baal, that he will join them to His people. It is evident that part of the sin of Israel and Judah was learning the ways of the nations around them, which included swearing by the name of the god of the heathens, Baal. This brought Yehovah’s judgment upon them. But He says that if these heathen nations will learn His ways, including to swear by His name, He will bring them into His fold.   

“And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.”

Jeremiah 12:16

Therefore, to swear by His name Yehovah is not prohibited in the law. They were instructed to swear by His name. The prohibition was against swearing falsely. Even today in a court of law, people swear to God on the Bible to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” If you swear such an oath, you better tell the truth, or else you will have sworn falsely. I wonder what a court would say if someone swore this oath using Yehovah in place of God?  

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name.”

Deuteronomy 6:13

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by His name.”

Deuteronomy 10:20

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Zecher – זכר

In this section we are going to look at a Hebrew word that will help us understand the importance of knowing, remembering, and honoring God’s divine name. Hopefully, you will begin to see why He placed His name so many times in His Word!

The word Zecher (Strong’s H2143) means memorial, remembrance, memory. It comes from the root Zachar (זכר) (Strong’s H2142) which means (Qal) to remember, recall, call to mind, (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, to be thought of, to be brought to mind, (Hiphil) to cause to remember, remind, to cause to be remembered, to mention, to record, to make a memorial.  Zecher is the term that Yehovah uses when He tells Moses His four-letter name (YHVH – יהוה).

“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, יהוה – YHVH (Yehovah) God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name forever, and this is My memorial (remembrance – zecher) unto all generations.”

Exodus 3:15

The root form of this word is used in the following verse and is translated “record” in the KJV and NKJV, but most other English translations translate it as “cause my name to be remembered,” or “cause my name to be honoured.” 

“An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record My name (where I cause My name to be remembered) I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”

Exodus 20:24

In Jewish thought, to remember something goes hand in hand with mentioning it. When you remember something, you are summoning it up in your mind or memory. When you mention something you are summoning it up on your tongue (in your mouth). When we remember something or someone, it often causes us to mention it or the person with our mouth, as when we reminisce about days gone by, we speak to others about it, and when we remember a person who died, we talk about them with others.  This is the implication in these verses. God’s name Yehovah is a “REMEMBRANCE” for all generations. It is to be remembered and mentioned. In all the places where He causes His name to be remembered, we are to MENTION it! 

To remember and mention someone is to honor him. To forget and/or never mention someone is to dishonor him. In fact, in Jewish thought, to forget and not mention someone is to curse them. Compare the following verses with the two we just read.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial (Strong’s H2146 – zichron – זכרון from the same root as Zecher) in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance (same word zecher from Ex 3:15) of Amalek from under heaven.”

Exodus 17:14

“Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.”

Deuteronomy 25:19

Yehovah was cursing Amalek and promising not only to defeat them, but to utterly destroy and wipe them out, so that they would not be remembered. He wants Joshua to remember this, when he brings the children of Israel into the promised land, so he has Moses write it in a book and rehearse it in Joshua’s ears (read it out loud to him – mention it to him) so that he will not forget that God plans to wipe out the memory and mention of Amalek, through the Israelites.

“For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.”

Hosea 2:17

“How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.”

Jeremiah 23:26-27

Going further, consider this verse:

“And ye shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.”

Leviticus 19:12

The word translated “profane” is the Hebrew word Chalal (חלל) (Strong’s 2490) which is defined here as: (Piel) to profane, make common, defile, pollute, to violate the honor of, dishonor, to violate (a covenant), to treat as common.

In light of the fact that Yehovah says that His name is a remembrance and that He causes His name to be remembered, if we fail to remember it and mention it, it can be said that we have violated the honour of it.  We have dishonoured His holy name, His Shem HaMeforash, by forgetting it.  The rabbis banned the name; they caused the Jews to pronounce it as Adonai or Elohim. The English translations covered it up with LORD or GOD so that readers would not know that it was there. It seems that there has been an attempt to blot out His memorial name.  Who do you think might be behind that?

Allow me to take this one step further:  

There is a Jewish curse still used today. “May his name and memory (zecher) be blotted out.” The Hebrew for this is ימח שמו וזכרו (yemakh shemo vezichro). From this phrase, there is a Jewish acromyn of sorts, formed by the first letters of yemakh and shemo and the last letter of vezichro – ישייו – pronounced yeshu. Jews use this term in place of the curse “May his name and memory be blotted out.”  This term is used even today by Jews in referring to Jesus (Yeshua). It becomes a play on words, because it is so close to Yeshua.  Yeshu was actually a nickname for Yeshua (which is a Hebrew form of Joshua) in the latter 2^nd Temple times.  The rabbis turned this nickname into a curse.

Circle back around for another look at “remembrance.”

“Then they that feared Yehovah spake often one to another: and Yehovah hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared Yehovah, and that thought upon His name.”

Malachi 3:16

Remembrance here is the word Zichron – זכרון (Strong’s 2146) from the same root word Zachar – זכר that we have already talked about. Here God has a book of remembrance written for Himself with our names in it, because we fear Yehovah and think about His name!  How awesome is that!

What is the advantage of knowing God’s unique, memorial name?

“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”

Psalm 91:14-16

This passage uses an unusual word for love in the Hebrew Bible. It is only used eight times with the Qal conjugation which means: to love, be attached to, long for. Verse 14 implies a longing desire to know God by His name.

There is an interesting commentary about this passage by Rabbi Kimchi of the 12^th century AD. He said that knowing the Tetragrammaton is loving God …and this is the greatest achievement that any person can achieve while he is still a body.  

SUMMARY:

We have learned some of the reasons that the Jewish people stopped speaking YHVH – יהוה. Tachanot were written as a way to preserve the Jewish people alive, and to protect the priests, rabbis, and people from persecution. We discovered that this tradition did not really take hold until well after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and even after the destruction of the 2^nd Temple. 

So then, why is it hidden even more effectively in the translations of the English Bible? (It may be hidden in other language translations as well, but I have not verified this.) In the Hebrew Scriptures, and in the oldest fragments of the Septuagint (LXX), YHVH – יהוה was written, but not pronounced when read aloud. In most English translations, it is covered by another word, LORD or GOD, which causes most readers to not even be able to remember (Zecher) the name in their mind when they read it. Some explanations given for not using YHVH – יהוה are: the Jews considered the name too holy to utter, and substituted Adonai, so the translators followed this tradition; the Hebrew text does not contain vowels and the Jews have not pronounced it for hundreds of years, so no one knows how to pronounce it; the LXX uses Kurios in place of the Tetragrammaton; the Latin Vulgate uses Dominus. While these explanations seem plausible, they are merely excuses, since Yehovah’s Word does not forbid speaking the Shem HaMeforash, and the Hebrew Scriptures are filled with instances of the YHVH – יהוה on the lips of the people.

Since there are no original manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible in existence today, it is impossible to know with any degree of certainty how the Tetragrammaton was originally written.  The stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, written with the finger of Yehovah Himself, are also no longer available for us to see how He wrote His own name. Because of this, I will not presume to tell you that any of the information that I am presenting can be taken as doctrine or dogma.

It is my own personal belief that our God has a unique name, that He revealed it to Moses for a reason, that it was important enough to the Father that He included it in His inspired Word 6828 times, that it increases our understanding of Who our Father is when we know and understand His name, and that the name of the Father is in His Son’s name. It is a fact that the revelation of His name became obscured for a number of reasons, but none of these seem to be supported by the Old Testament Scriptures themselves, but rather by the traditions of men. I encourage you to use this information as a starting point for your own study.  

Be a Berean!

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed…”

Acts 17:10-12a

Your Turn

This has been a long session with much information to digest! Thanks for hanging in with me this far! We have looked at a number of scriptures in this lesson and as you probably noticed, I have for the most part expressed God’s name as LORD, even though you have learned that this is a cover for YEHOVAH – YHVH – יהוה. I did it this way on purpose, because in most Bibles you will be reading this is how you will encounter Shem HaMeforash. I want you to develop a habit of remembering God’s memorial name as you read. He put it in the Scriptures as a memorial 6828 times, so it is important to Him and should be to us. If you feel comfortable doing so, speak the name out loud, or at least pronounce it in your mind. It may take quite some time before it becomes a habit to read LORD as YEHOVAH.

You know what is coming next…

Homework!

• If you feel up to it after this deluge of information, take a few minutes and start at the top of this session and replace every instance of LORD in the scripture references with YEHOVAH, preferably out loud. As you do this, notice if it has any effect on your understanding of the verses.
• Find other verses in the Old Testament that contain the Name. Write them down and/or read them aloud with God’s proper name, YEHOVAH. Look at familiar and favorite passages and see if you find YEHOVAH there. The Psalms are a great place to find His name. For your convenience, I have included a number of verses at the end of the homework that contain God’s name.
• Read the verses included at the end of the Scripture list below where the statement “As the LORD lives” is made. Once again, substitute YEHOVAH for LORD. You might even try saying “Chay Yehovah” —חַי-יְהֹוָה — as a way to experience how the Israelites used God’s name in everyday life. Notice who is speaking this oath in each of the verses. Is it a king, a prophet, a soldier, a servant, a woman? See if you can find other instances of this phrase in the Old Testament.
• Look for ways to incorporate the name YEHOVAH in your everyday life. For example, instead of “God bless you”, say, “Yehovah bless you!” A great way to speak His name is to speak the priestly blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26. Speak and pray this over your family, your children, grandchildren, friends, and neighbors. You can find this blessing at the end of the homework section. 
• If you feel adventurous and want to practice a little Hebrew, you can practice saying “Yehovah be with you” and “Yehovah bless you” in Hebrew! 

“Yehovah be with you” (יְהֹוָה עִמָכֶם) is transliterated:
Ye-ho-vah i-ma-khem

“Yehovah bless you” (יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהֹוָה) is transliterated:
ye-va-re-khe-kha Ye-ho-vah

(NOTE: ch and kh make a sound similar to clearing the throat. The ‘i’ in the above transliteration sounds like ‘ee’. The accented syllables are in bold type.)

• What will you do this week to remember and honor the name Yehovah?
• Do you know others who might be interested in learning about God’s true and unique name? If you do, tell them His name and invite them to come along on this journey with us!

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Scriptures:

Genesis 4:26  And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:8  And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 13:4  Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 26:25  And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.

Exodus 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

Exodus 33:19  And He said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

Exodus 34:5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 21:5  And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto Him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:

I Samuel 17:45  Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom thou hast defied.

I Samuel 20:42a  And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.

II Samuel 6:18  And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.

I Kings 8:20  And the LORD hath performed His word that He spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

I Kings 9:3  And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou has made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

I Kings 18:24  And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

Job 1:21  …Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Psalm 5:11-12  But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them: let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee. For Thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour will Thou compass him as with a shield.

Psalm 116:13  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalm 116:17  I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalm 118:10  All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.

Psalm 118:26  Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.

Psalm 124:8  Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Proverbs 18:10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe.

Isaiah 56:6-7  Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Joel 2:26, 32  And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed.  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant who the LORD shall call.

Zephaniah 3:9  For then will I turn to the people a pure language, than they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

Scriptures containing “As the LORD liveth:”

Judges 8:19  And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

I Samuel 14:39  For, as the LORD liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people that answered him.

I Samuel 14:45  And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.        

II Samuel 15:21  And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.

I Kings 17:1  And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

I Kings 17:12  And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

II Kings 2:2  And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.  

II Kings 4:30  And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.

II Kings 5:20  But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.

Jeremiah 38:16  So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.

The Priestly Blessing:

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Yehovah bless you and keep you;
Yehovah make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
Yehovah lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהֹוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
יָאֵר יְהֹוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָ
יִשָּׂא יְהֹוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם

ye-va-re-khe-kha ye-ho-vah ve-yish-me-re-kha
ya-eir ye-ho-vah pa-nav e-ley-kha vi-chun-ne-ka
yis-sa ye-ho-vah pa-nav e-ley-kha ve-ya-seim le-kha sha-lom

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Thanks for wading into deeper waters with me this session! You have accomplished much. You can now recognize where God’s Shem HaMeforash is hidden in our English Bibles. You also learned to say three Hebrew phrases that include God’s divine name. Wait…make that four phrases! Hallelujah! HALLELU-YAH! הָלְלוּ יָהּ

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Better get your wet suit out of storage for Session 3. We are about to take a deep dive!

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Feature Image background by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay, Hebrew calligraphy by Melody Cash.