四字神名
法老的名字是破译埃及象形文字的关键，同样神名字是圣经中最重要的课题。
在希伯来语圣经中，神有一个特定的个性化的专有名称，它以 4 个字母表示，יהוה（音译成拉丁字母为“JHVH”，英文是 YHWH）。这个词被圣经学者称为 Tetragrammaton（希腊语为“四个字母”，华人学术界称为"四字神名"）。
יהוה这个词在希伯来圣经中被使用了近七千次，（精确地说，根据BibleWorks的数据为 6,828次），覆盖从创世记到最后一本小先知书，包括那些被放逐后的先知，例如哈该、撒迦利亚和玛拉基。唯一的例外是以斯帖记、传道书和雅歌，没有提到这个名字。
显然，希伯来圣经作者并没有禁止使用“YHWH”。
很明显，神要我们称他的名。他说了6828次。这一定是他想要的。
希伯来语音译注意的事项：
因为希伯来字母只有辅音，没有元音。
יהוה 使用古典拉丁字母音译为 JHVH。
- 拉丁字母 [yod י ] - J 带有 Y 音。英语中的 Y 仅在 10 至 15 世纪的中后期才出现。
- 字母 [vav ו ] 通常音译为 V，但在发音中，它是 [w] 音。
因此， יהוה 在英文中的字母对译是 YHWH，而有些学者则写成 YHVH。
现代学者对YHWH大写为“Yahweh”是普遍接受的共识。我们采用普通话的音译为 "雅伟"。 （"耶和华"是上世纪的一个误译，容我下文以后交代。)
Tetragrammaton
As the Royal name of the Pharoah was the key to deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, the name of God is the most significant issue in the Bible.
In the Hebrew language Bible, God has a specific personalized proper name, presented in 4 alphabets: יהוה (transliterated into Latin alphabets as "YHWH"). This word is known by Biblical scholars as the Tetragrammaton (Greek for “four letters”).
The word יהוה is used nearly seven thousand times in the Hebrew Bible, to be exact, (the count totals 6,828 by the Biblework software) throughout from the Book of Genesis to the last of the books, the Latter Prophets, including those post-exilic ones such as Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The only exceptions are the books of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, where there is no mention of the name at all.
Clearly, there is no prohibition for the Hebrew Bible authors from using "YHWH".
Clearly, God wants us to call Him by His name Yahweh. He said so more than 6,800 times. It must be what He wants.
Notes on the transliteration of Hebrew:
As the Hebrew alphabet has only consonants, not vowels.
יהוה is transliterated using classical Latin letters as JHVH.
- The letter [yod י ] - J in Latin carries a Y sound. Y in English is introduced only in the Late Middle age, 10th-15th centuries.
- The letter [vav ו ] is often transliterated as a V, but in pronunciation, it is a [w] sound.
Therefore, a reasonable transliteration (not “translation”) of יהוה in English is YHWH, while some scholars write it as YHVH.
Modern scholars reach a virtual consensus of "Yahweh" as a generally accepted form.
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