Editing Names of God in Judaism (section)

===Tetragrammaton===
{{Main|Tetragrammaton|Yahweh|Lord#Religion}}
[[File:Tetragrammaton_scripts.svg|thumb|{{nwr|The Tetragrammaton in [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]]}} ({{floruit|1100&nbsp;BCE}}{{snd}}500&nbsp;CE) (two forms), and [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] ({{floruit|1100}}&nbsp;BCE&nbsp;– 200&nbsp;CE) or [[modern Hebrew]] scripts]]
[[File:Tetragrammaton benediction.png|thumb|The Tetragrammaton in the [[Ketef Hinnom]] silver scrolls with the [[Priestly Blessing]] from the [[Book of Numbers]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Num.|6:23–27|HE}}.</ref> ({{circa|lk=no|600}}&nbsp;BCE)]]
Also abbreviated ''Jah'', the most common name of God in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton, {{lang|he|יהוה}}. The [[Hebrew script]] is an [[abjad]], and thus vowels are often omitted in writing. The Tetragrammaton is sometimes rendered with vowels, though it is not known which vowels were used originally. Direct transliteration is avoided in Jewish custom.<ref>{{citation |first=Robert |last=Alter |year=2018 |title=The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary |volume=3 |publisher=W. W. Norton |page=intro |isbn=978-0-393-29250-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S75SDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT696 |access-date=2023-03-31}}</ref>

Modern Rabbinical Jewish culture judges it forbidden to pronounce this name. In prayers it is replaced by saying the word {{lang|he|אֲדֹנָי}} ({{tlit|he|Adonai}}, {{IPA|he|adoˈnaj}} {{gloss|My Lords}}, [[Pluralis majestatis]] taken as singular), and in discussion by {{tlit|he|HaShem}} 'The Name'. Nothing in the [[Torah]] explicitly prohibits speaking the name<ref>{{citation |last=Byrne |first=Máire |title=The Names of God in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: A Basis for Interfaith Dialogue |publisher=A&C Black |year=2011 |page=24}}</ref> and the [[Book of Ruth]] shows that it continued to be pronounced as late as the 5th century&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{bibleverse|Ruth|2:4|HE}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|The [[World English Bible]] translation: "Behold, [[Boaz]] came from [[Bethlehem]], and said to the reapers, 'Yahweh be with you.' They answered him, "Yahweh bless you.{{'"}}<ref>[http://biblehub.com/web/ruth/2.htm Ruth 2:4] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011193012/http://biblehub.com/web/ruth/2.htm |date=2015-10-11 }} ([[World English Bible|WEB]]).</ref> The book is traditionally ascribed to the [[Jewish prophet|prophet]] [[Samuel]], who lived in the 11th and 10th centuries&nbsp;BCE; but a date of the 6th or 5th century BCE for the passage is more common among subscribers to the Documentary Hypothesis regarding the [[development of the Hebrew Bible canon]].}} Mark Sameth argues that only a pseudo name was pronounced, the four letters {{script|he|יהוה}} (YHVH, YHWH) being a cryptogram which the priests of ancient Israel read in reverse as {{transliteration|he|huhi}}, 'he–she', signifying a dual-gendered deity, as earlier theorized by [[Guillaume Postel]] (16th century) and {{ill|Michelangelo Lanci|it|vertical-align=sup}} (19th century).<ref>{{citation |last=Sameth |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozzpDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Name:+A+History+of+the+Dual-Gendered+Hebrew+Name+for+God%22 |title=The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God |publisher=Wipf & Stock |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-5326-9384-7 |page=25 |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref><ref>"At one point he [Guillaume Postel] observes that the [[Tetragrammaton]] יהוה‎ yhwh contains both feminine and masculine pro-nouns — וה‎ wh, and יה yh. He then finds this discovery is corroborated in {{bibleverse|1 Kings|17:15}}, when the Prophet [[Elijah]] sits down with the Widow of Zarephath and the Hebrew says "she ate, she and he" וַתֹּאכַל הוא-והיא הִיא-וָהוּא. What is striking here in Kings is that the vowels of the pronouns are swapped around: הוא hw' (he) is vocalized as היא hy' (she), and vice versa. This was exactly the sort of divine gender-bending he was after." — {{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xyoBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22earlier+form+1551;+final+state+1566%22&pg=PA337 |title=Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-28817-1 |location=Boston |page=337 |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Postel |first=Guillaume |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmkytAEACAAJ |title=Le thrésor des prophéties de l'univers |publisher=Springer |year=1969 |isbn=978-90-247-0203-9 |editor-last=Secret |editor-first=François |page=211 |language=fr |author-link=Guillaume Postel |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Lanci |first=Michelangelo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-q4WAAAAQAAJ&dq=Paralipomeni+Alla+Illustrazione+Della+Sagra+Scrittura&pg=PR15 |title=Paralipomeni alla illustrazione della sagra Scrittura |publisher=Dondey-Dupre |year=1845 |isbn=978-1-274-01691-1 |edition=Facsmile of the 1st |pages=100–113 |language=it |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref> It had ceased to be spoken aloud by at least the 3rd&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE, during [[Second Temple Judaism]].<ref>{{citation |last=Harris |first=Stephen L. |author-link=Stephen L. Harris |title=Understanding the Bible: A Reader's Introduction |edition=2nd |location=Palo Alto, CA |publisher=Mayfield |year=1985 |page=21 |isbn=978-1-55934-083-0 }}</ref> The Talmud relates, perhaps anecdotally, that this began with the death of [[Simeon the Just]].<ref>Yoma; Tosefta Sotah 13</ref> [[Niqqud|Vowel points]] began to be added to the Hebrew text only in the early medieval period. The [[Masoretic Text]] adds to the Tetragrammaton the vowel points of Adonai or Elohim (depending on the context), indicating that these are the words to be pronounced in place of the Tetragrammaton (see [[Qere and Ketiv]]),<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znB4gOMlb3AC&dq=Tetragrammaton+%22came+to+be+pronounced%22&pg=PA71 |title=אדון ādhōn |dictionary=Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament |publisher=Eerdmans |volume=I |page=71 |isbn=978-0-8028-2325-0 |last1=Johannes Botterweck |first1=G. |last2=Ringgren |first2=Helmer |last3=Fabry |first3=Heinz-Josef |date=6 December 1974 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQKyfwYlQV4C&dq=%22Origen+on+Psalm+2%3A2%22&pg=PA20 |title=New Testament and Christian Apocrypha: Collected Studies II |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2009 |page=20 |isbn=978-3-16-149050-7 |last1=Bovon |first1=François}}</ref> as shown also by the pronunciation changes when combined with a preposition or a conjunction. This is in contrast to [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite Jews]], who traditionally viewed pronouncing the Tetragrammaton as a [[mitzvah]] because the name appears some 6800 times throughout the Tanakh; however, most modern Karaites, under pressure and seeking acceptance from mainstream Rabbinical Jews, now also use the term ''Adonai'' instead.<ref>{{Citation|title=Pseudo-Qumisian Sermon to the Karaites|year=1976|journal=American Academy for Jewish Research|volume=XLIII|pages=49–105}}</ref> The [[Beta Israel]] pronounce the Tetragrammaton as ''Yahu'', but also use the [[Geʽez]] term {{lang|gez-Latn|[[Igziabeher]]}}.<ref>{{citation |last=Kaplan |first=Steven |title=The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia |page=29 |year=1992 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=0-8147-4848-1 }}</ref>

The Tetragrammaton appears in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Gen.|2:4|HE}}</ref> and occurs 6,828 times in total in the [[Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia]] edition of the [[Masoretic Text]]. It is thought to be an archaic [[third-person singular]] of the [[imperfective aspect]]{{refn|group=n|Biblical Hebrew did not have strictly defined past, present, or future tenses, but merely perfective and imperfective aspects, with past, present, or future connotation depending on context: see [[Modern Hebrew verb conjugation#Present tense]].}} of the verb "to&nbsp;be" (i.e., "[He] is/was/will be"). This agrees with the passage in [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] where God names himself as "[[#Ehyeh asher ehyeh|I Will Be What I Will Be]]"<ref name="ex314">{{bibleverse|Exod.|3:14|HE}}</ref> using the [[first-person singular]] imperfective aspect, open to interpretation as [[present tense|present]] [[grammatical tense|tense]] ("I am what I am"), [[future tense|future]] ("I shall be what I shall be"), or [[imperfect]] ("I used to be what I used to be").<ref>[https://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew/drupal/themes/hebrewgrid/bh/bhonline/grammar/aspect.pdf "Biblical Hebrew Grammar for Beginners"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319043541/http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew/drupal/themes/hebrewgrid/bh/bhonline/grammar/aspect.pdf |date=2015-03-19 }}, [[University of Texas at Austin]]</ref>

[[Rabbinic Judaism]] teaches that the name is forbidden to all except the [[High Priest of Israel]], who should only speak it in the [[Holy of Holies]] of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] on [[Yom Kippur]]. He then pronounces the name "just as it is written."<ref>{{citation |contribution-url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Theology/God/About_God/Speaking_about_God/Gods_Names/Tetragrammaton.shtml |contribution=The Tetragrammaton—The Unpronounceable Four-Letter Name of God |url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ |title=My Jewish Learning |access-date=17 September 2014 |archive-date=18 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140918070901/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As each blessing was made, the people in the [[temple of Jerusalem#Physical layout|courtyard]] were to [[prostration|prostrate themselves completely]] as they heard it spoken aloud. As the Temple has not been rebuilt since its destruction in 70&nbsp;CE, most modern Jews never pronounce YHWH but instead read {{lang|he|אֲדֹנָי}} ({{Transliteration|he|Adonai}}, {{IPA|he|adoˈnaj}}, {{gloss|My Lords}}, [[Pluralis majestatis]] taken as singular) during prayer and while reading the [[Torah]] and as [[#HaShem|HaShem]] 'The Name' at other times.<ref>{{citation |contribution-url=http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/Adonai/adonai.html |contribution=Hebrew Name for God—Adonai |url=http://www.hebrew4christians.com/ |title=Hebrew for Christians |access-date=21 May 2014 |archive-date=17 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517153725/http://hebrew4christians.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{citation |contribution-url=http://www.theopedia.com/Adonai |contribution=Adonai |url=http://www.theopedia.com/ |title=Theopedia |access-date=2015-03-25 |archive-date=2015-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329045246/http://www.theopedia.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Most [[English translations of the Bible]] write "the {{Lord}}" for YHWH, and "the {{Lord}} God" or "the Lord {{GOD}}" for Adonai YHWH instead of transcribing the name. The [[Septuagint]] may have originally used the Hebrew letters themselves amid its Greek text,<ref>[[Origen]], ''Commentary on Psalms 2:2''.</ref><ref>[[Jerome]], ''[[Prologus Galeatus]]''.</ref> but there is no scholarly consensus on this point.