I thought El Shaddai was the name of the giant sandworms in Dune.
Last time I talked to God He called Himself Selah.
Lost Goat,
Your link does not provide names. These are descriptive titles of God. The God of the Muslims does not have a name.
zev_steinhardt,
Gotta tell you, zev, I once confronted a Jewish scholar/activists about God’s name. When I said, “Isn’t God’s name pronounced yah-weh?”, she screamed at me and said, “We are NOT supposed to use that name!!” After she calmed down, she said, “I serve HaShem. Using the name of God is forbidden, and you Goyim have no right to use it.”
QUESTION FOR YOU:
What forbids a Jew from using the name of God? Is there something in the Hebrew Bible that forbids it? She would not tell me.
Exodus 20:7 reads
Note “in vain”. One popular theory is that it refers to swearing by the Lord’s name and not honoring your word; ie breaking a contract and the like.
I don’t think there is something in the Old Testament (using that term only for clarity, not ascribing any value to it) that forbids speaking the name of God, although it is certainly Jewish tradition that it is forbidden.
No, I didn’t miss the 3rd Commandment:
“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.”
It actually read, “Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain…”
As I have posted before on this thread, I had a Jewish partner that I owned a bookstore with, and he had no problem confirming that “yah-weh” was the correct way to say God’s name (obviously, he was NOT a religious man). The Jewish scholar/activist that I know absolutely will NOT even use the term “God.” When I ask her why, she only says that it is forbidden under Jewish custom.
Folks, I realize I’m not a scholar on paleo-Hebrew, but I’ve studied this for 2 years. I’ve consulted with people who are scholars in the paleo-Hebrew and CAN read it. There really is very, very little doubt that God’s name is pronounced “yah-weh” (the God of the Bible, that is).
Regardless of what Muslims say, the God of the Koran has no name. People refer to me as “Barefooter” because I only wore shoes when I had to when I was growing up. However, that does not mean that “Barefooter” is my name.
First of all, I’ve never even heard the term paleo-Hebrew. All the books I used during my own studying years used the term ancient Hebrew, or just Hebrew.
Second of all, why start a debate if you’re just gonna lecture everybody else (without providing cites)?
Third of all, since you apparently put this in the wrong forum, in what forum is it proper to ask a question, await answers, and then give your own answer, deriding all others?
Fourth of all, there is general agreement that the first syllable is yah. The second syllable is unknown, but is generally assumed to be weh. If there’s any reason to believe that it is weh other than precedence (similar sounds in Hebrew et cetera), I’m unaware of it.
Sorry I put this in the wrong forum, and I sure didn’t intend to deride anyone. If I have offended anyone, please accept my apology. That was not my intent.
Thank you all for you input, comments and feedback. I respect your opinions. I’ll let you guys have the last word.
ThoughtPolice, I think we are getting into one of those semantic arguments here. 
What is a name, exactly? How does it differ from a “descriptive title” which those who use it call a Name?
Why isn’t Barefooter a name, for that matter? it is a term referring to a entity - you. There may be other entities referred to by that name - but names need not be unique terms.
Oh, and BTW - I was “Barefoot Boy.” 
Shoeless joes unite!
I don’t know if it’s worth resurrecting this thread after a couple of weeks, but the “notify me of new posts” option only seems to be working sporadically for me. I can confirm what Polycarp said. According to my Biblical Hebrew textbook, there are three main pronunciation systems currently used for Ancient Hebrew. Ashkenazi and Sefardic Jews each have their ownmethod of promouncing the text. This book doesn’t describe Ashkenazi pronounciation, but in Sefardic pronunciation, the sixth letter is Vav, and is pronounced like an English V. My professor spent some time in Israel, and teaches a sort of hybrid Sefardic/modern ponunciation. (Modern Hebrew, AFAIK, basically uses Sefardic pronunciation, but with more hard sounds for the Begadkefat letters.)
The 3rd system is called “academic” pronunciation and was developed mainly by Christian scholars. They believe, as Poly says, that the Vav has undergone a shift in value and was once pronounced like a W. My professor is pretty dismissive of this, saying since we don’t really know for sure, why not pronounce it like actual Jews and Israelis do today, inasmuch as it’s their language!
Good!, His/Her name is Gus-Sie. It’s son, Je-sus, just happened to mention that last night while sharing a Sherry and Montecristo No. 2 Cuban cigar…
I don’t know what his first name is but his last name is Christ.
Right??
Isn’t that why it’s Jesus Christ?
OT:1471
gowy (go’-ee); rarely (shortened) goy (go’-ee); apparently from the same root as OT:1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts:
KJV - Gentile, heathen, nation, people.
(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
I’m sure Thought Police enjoyed being singled out by a word with such a pleasant connotation.
Jim. His name is Jim, and he lives Northwest Washington state, and runs a bicycle shop.
How do Jews pronounce YHVH? Thats easy - Adonai. Christians pronounce it YahWeh.
Why? You start with the 3rd Commandment. Then you go,“You know, if you NEVER say the name of the Lord, God, then there’s not much chance that you’ll use his name in vain.” That’s how this tradition got started, but now that I think of it, it’s not really a tradition anymore. It’s more of a TABOO if you ask me. That’s why I get a little internal cringe when I hear the tetragram pronounced (and you should understand that I’m a not very observant Jew raised in the Reform tradition).
If YHVH is translated “I am what I am” or “I cause what I cause to be” is that not also a disscription in the same way as Allah “THE god” or God -capitalization indicating- “THE god”.
Names in the OT seem to be changeable (Jacob – Israel) and are formed for their meaning as discription of the name owner, or puns on the situation of the name owners birth.
Now in English I could say of myself “I am what I am” or “I cause what I cause to be” these seem to be statements mearly of existance (and possibly free will) not statements of Godly power or position. Does the ancient Hebrew give the word more meaning and connotation than the English translation?
Bippy, the translation is not “I am what I am” (that’s the English translation of “Popeye,” I think:)) – but rather “I am that I am” – with the connotation of absoluteness – “That Which Has Absolute Existence” might be a noun-phrase way to render that Hebrew idiom. In any case, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” is the Hebrew, as closely as I can remember, for “I am that I am,” and is a first person construction of which Yahveh would be the third-person formation from the same root.
Bippy, the translation is not “I am what I am” (that’s the English translation of “Popeye,” I think:)) – but rather “I am that I am” – with the connotation of absoluteness – “That Which Has Absolute Existence” might be a noun-phrase way to render that Hebrew idiom. In any case, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” is the Hebrew, as closely as I can remember, for “I am that I am,” and is a first person construction of which Yahveh would be the third-person formation from the same root.
What is going on with this thread? Is there a question for debate? ThoughtPolice sure doesn’t seem to have one.
ThoughtPolice: When you started this post, what did you want to accomplish?
Are you saying: “I don’t know what God’s name is. I’m genuinely curious. Can anyone here tell me what it is?”
Or are you saying: “Lots of people say God doesn’t have a name. He does. It’s Yahweh. Whoever says otherwise is wrong. Who’s willing to challenge that assertion?”
Or something else … ? It’s just odd that you start a thread with a question, and then later seemingly answer the question yourself. Please let me know.
Thanks Polycarp. Does the phrase then suggest existance without creation, or self-creation. Or is this all up in the air?
Cheers, Bippy
Uncreated existence and non-contingency, I think – though I’d have to submit this one to one of our scholars who’s read Tillich and Buber in more depth than I for a more definitive answer.