Technically speaking, Hebrew doesn’t have any vowels. Let me try to explain. In the USA you use symbols to distinguish between ‘a long A’ and ‘a short A’. These symbols are used for learning purposes only. Well, Hebrew has 9 symbols it uses somewhat in the same way. These symbols are modern learning tools that help with reading and pronunciation.
Lura’s (Hebrew/English) Bible uses them, likewise Messianic song sheets and Hebrew learning material. We also have a beginner’s newspaper which comes out once a week that uses these symbols. Otherwise, if you don’t know the word, all you can do is guess or play ‘pick a vowel’ (smile).
Now that’s what happened with the name of God. For example, most Jews will not write the word God, instead they’ll write it as G-d. They feel that writing the word God on a piece of paper that may get discarded would be breaking the 3rd commandment, thus failing to keep the name of the Lord thy God holy. Many feel that man is not even worthy to pronoun The Name. Well, if everyone was afraid to say and write His Name, and this spelling ‘G-d’ was passed down from generation to generation, eventually no one would know what the missing letter was or how to pronounce the Name. All they could do is guess!
In my Bible God’s name is written Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh (Ex 6:3)
Note: When trying to translate Hebrew letters and words into English, they write it the way it sounds (stuck on phonics). I’ve seen Hebrew words translated to English using 3 and 4 different spellings. Words like yod/yood, hay/heh, etc. follow this same pattern (grin and bear).
In Lura’s Bible, since Hebrew is written from right to left, it reads: Heh-Vav-Heh-Yod
The yod is like an English ‘y’, the heh = h, vav = v.
Well, you now know about the no vowel thing, and over the years no one knows how to really pronoun The Name. So let the guessing games begin! Y-H-V-H (filling in the missing vowels).
JaHoVaH (but the Hebrew language doesn’t have a ‘J’ or a letter having a ‘J’ sound).
YaHWeH (but ancient Hebrew doesn’t have a ‘W’ or a letter having a ‘W’ sound).
I feel that it’s best to just refer to God by His attributes: “Adonai/Lord”, "Elohim/God", "Avi/My Father", etc. and not get involved or play the name game. Who knows, one could keep messing around swapping vowels until he or she accidentally pronounces The Name and self-combust right on the spot or something.
As for me, I don’t have a need to know right now. I’ll just wait till I’m over in Glory.
Edwin Beckford