Is Jehovah the same as Jesus? The Trinity explained plainly
Jesus is not the Father, yet he is fully God and shares the one divine name. How the Trinity answers the question, with the Scriptures that shape it.
The Name: Jehovah.
A lexicon of the name: what it means, where it appears in Scripture, the compound names, and how the English form came to be.
Independent. This site is not affiliated with Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society. Read why
Ask about the Name Lexicon
Lexicon answers from the Bible and public-domain reference works. It is a study aid and is not affiliated with any organisation.
A name built on the verb “to be”
The four Hebrew letters YHWH are tied, in Exodus 3, to God’s own “I AM”. Jehovah is the traditional English form of that name; LORD in small capitals is the substitute most Bibles print in its place.
- Jehovah
- The name is built on the Hebrew verb ‘to be’, given to Moses at the burning bush and printed as Jehovah throughout the ASV. What the name says about who God is.
- Four forms of the Name (YHWH, Yahweh, Jehovah, LORD)
- Four spellings, one name. What the consonants YHWH are, where Yahweh and Jehovah come from, and why most English Bibles print LORD in small capitals instead.
- Exodus 3:14 and 6:3
- At the bush God said I AM and gave his name; in Exodus 6 he said the patriarchs had not known it. How the two passages fit, and what the exodus added to the name.
- Pronunciation of the Name
- Jehovah is said jih-HOH-vuh and Yahweh YAH-weh, but the ancient sound of the four letters was never recorded. How the vowels were lost, and what we know.
- LORD (small capitals)
- LORD in small capitals stands for the name YHWH; Lord in ordinary type is the title Adonai. Where the convention came from, and why the ASV broke with it.
- Saying the Name
- No. The third commandment forbids misusing the name, not using it, and the Psalms call us to praise it. Why Jewish custom kept silence, and how to say it well.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
— Exodus 3:15 (ASV)
Seven places in the King James, and everywhere in the ASV
The King James translators kept the Hebrew name in seven verses and wrote “the LORD” elsewhere. The American Standard Version of 1901 restored “Jehovah” in every one of its roughly 6,800 occurrences.
- Genesis 22:14KJV · 1 of 7
- And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah–jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
- Exodus 6:3KJV · 2 of 7
- And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.
- Exodus 17:15KJV · 3 of 7
- And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it JEHOVAH–nissi:
- Judges 6:24KJV · 4 of 7
- Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah–shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi–ezrites.
- Psalm 83:18KJV · 5 of 7
- That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.
- Isaiah 12:2KJV · 6 of 7
- Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
- Isaiah 26:4KJV · 7 of 7
- Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:
ASV note — the same Psalm 83:18 in the American Standard Version reads: “That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth.” The ASV and the name
Ten phrases where the name is joined to what God does
Each is a real phrase in the Hebrew text — an altar name, a place name, or a line of praise — that later readers gathered into a list. The entries explain the passage first and the label second.
01 Jehovah-Jireh the Lord will provide Genesis 22:14 02 Jehovah-Rapha the Lord who heals Exodus 15:26 03 Jehovah-Nissi the Lord is my banner Exodus 17:15 04 Jehovah-Shalom the Lord is peace Judges 6:24 05 Jehovah-Tsidkenu the Lord our righteousness Jeremiah 23:6 06 Jehovah-Shammah the Lord is there Ezekiel 48:35 07 Jehovah-Rohi the Lord is my shepherd Psalm 23:1 08 Jehovah-Sabaoth the Lord of hosts 1 Samuel 1:3 09 Jehovah-Mekoddishkem the Lord who sanctifies you Exodus 31:13 10 Jehovah-Elyon the Lord Most High Psalm 7:17
The questions people bring to this name
Answered plainly from Scripture and from a mainstream, Nicene Christian position — respectfully, including where Jehovah’s Witnesses read things differently.
Is this site connected to Jehovah's Witnesses?
No. This lexicon is independent of the Watch Tower Society. Who the Witnesses are, what they teach about the name, and where mainstream Christians differ.
Did the New Testament originally contain the name Jehovah?
No surviving Greek manuscript of the New Testament contains the divine name. What the evidence shows, why Kyrios was used, and what the apostles did with it.
Is God's name Jehovah or Yahweh?
Both are English attempts at the four Hebrew letters YHWH. Why Yahweh is the likelier ancient sound, why Jehovah endures, and why neither is wrong to use.
Why does God have a name at all?
A name makes it possible to know, trust and call upon someone. Why the God of the Bible gave his name, what it reveals, and how Jesus made it known.
Can I pray using the name Jehovah?
Yes. The Psalms pray by the name, and Jesus taught us to call God Father. How Jehovah, Yahweh, LORD and Father all fit, and why reverence matters most.
Three ways English speakers meet the same four letters
None of them is the ancient pronunciation with certainty. Each is an honest attempt, and each has a history.
Jehovah jih-HOH-vuh
The traditional English form since Tyndale (1530): the four consonants read with the vowels that Jewish scribes had written to signal “Adonai”.
Yahweh YAH-weh
The reconstruction most scholars regard as the more probable ancient sound, built from early Greek transcriptions and Hebrew grammar.
YHWH the Tetragrammaton
The four letters themselves, left unpronounced in Jewish reading and replaced aloud by “Adonai”, my Lord — the custom behind the English LORD.
Every entry, by letter or by section
- The Name6 entries
- What the four Hebrew letters mean, how they became Jehovah, Yahweh and LORD in English, and how the name is said.
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- Compound names10 entries
- The ten phrases in which the name is joined to a word for what God does: provides, heals, sanctifies, is present.
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- In Scripture6 entries
- The seven places the King James prints it, the Psalms in the American Standard Version, and what the New Testament does with the name.
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