The Old Testament Masoretic Text uniformly and consistently maintains the name Jehovah (Hebrew: Yehovah)—see Exodus 6.3; Psalm 83.18; Isaiah 12.2 and 26.4. The form Jehovah (or ‘Yehovah’) is found in thousands of Hebrew manuscripts dating from the seventh to tenth centuries AD, including highly regarded sources such as the Aleppo Codex and the Codex Leningradensis (Codex B19A). Several medieval manuscripts of the Tiberian Masoretic tradition, notably the British Library’s Codex Or. 4445 (ninth or tenth century), are similar.2 These manuscripts consistently include the full vowel pointing of the Divine Name YHVH, suggesting that the pronunciation was not meant to be lost or obscured. For example, in the Aleppo Codex (a key manuscript of the Hebrew Bible) the name appears with the vowels יְהֹוָה (YeHoVaH), indicating an intentional vocalisation pattern (vocalisation is supplying the vowels for the Hebrew consonants of a word).
These manuscripts were copied by trained scribes who were meticulous in their transmission of both consonants and vowels, adding to the credibility and intentionality behind the vocalisation Jehovah. These consistent vowel markings across such a large body of textual evidence support the view that Jehovah reflects a long-standing and reverent tradition of pronouncing the Divine Name as ‘Yehowah’ or ‘Yehovah’. Conversely, no known Hebrew manuscript of the many thousands of Biblical manuscripts contains Yahweh.
Over 1,000 Hebrew Bible manuscripts have been catalogued in which the full vowels are preserved in the Tetragrammaton.3 These occurrences span across various Biblical books and genres, such as in Genesis 2.4, Exodus 6.3, and Isaiah 42.8.
