So you say you follow the Torah

There has been a growth in the amount of people who claim to be Torah followers among the gentile nations lately. Many groups and organizations, like Hebrew Roots and Messianics etc, all claim to be turning back to the Torah and its ways. But is this what is really happening? One passage in the Scriptures comes to mind when I think about this, “Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name? And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!” (Mat 7:22-23)

The Messiah was speaking of those who call him Master and even do many things in his name. So it is clear that he is not speaking of the worldly people and those from other religions, but rather of those who profess his name. This idea should get everyone who does profess his name to evaluate themselves and make sure that they do not fall under this category of lawlessness who the Messiah will say, “depart from me” in the end of days, which is a very scary idea.

Every single one of us, who profess to follow the Torah, has the duty to ourselves to test and make sure that we really are following the Torah. Many people claim to do so, but there actions make it very clear that they do not.

The message of the Torah is a life of selflessness and loving the Almighty and one another. Every single command in the Torah teaches us how to love. We cannot rely on our own understanding of love, but must do as the Torah teaches us, which is the instruction for true love. The Torah teaches us not to murder, steal, commit adultery, curse or harm our parents etc which are all destructive and it also teaches us to respect our fellow humans. But do we really do this? Or do we only do this when it suites us to do it? The Torah requires it all the time.

Being a Torah follower, we are supposed to be a light to the world and live by example. If we do not, then how can the non-believers ever see anything good that might convince them to seek something better? If we look like and do what the world does and looks like, then there is no difference and there cannot be any good in the world, and as such, we are not following the instructions of the Almighty.

Let us look at a few examples of things that are not always thought of as transgressions of the Torah, but are clear transgressions.

STEALING
Do not steal, which is one of the Ten Commandments, but do you really keep this commandment? Now we really have to start being honest with ourselves as we are not going to answer to one another, but rather to the Almighty who knows what you have done or not.

Do you have DVD’s that are not originals, or movies that have been downloaded or copied but have copyright protection? If so, then you are a thief and have transgressed the Torah.

Do you have music that you have not bought, including MP3’s and copies that are protected by copyright laws etc? And do you freely share any copyrighted music with your friends? If so, then you are a thief. (this does not include any freeware music which is perfectly fine to give out).

Do you have any software (which is not freeware) installed on your computer that you use that has not been bought, or for which you do not have a working license for? If so, then you are stealing.

One might justify that the authors and owners of the software, music and movies are all rich and that the few things that you have does not make any difference to these people, or some other similar excuse. But is that what you are going to say to the Almighty when you stand in front of Him and He asks you why you broke the Commandment of, “do not steal?” Will your excuse be acceptable to the Almighty?

If we do such things, then we are supporting theft and are not living as an example to the nations. If we support criminal activities, then we are no different to the world and, in fact, contribute to the destruction that is caused by stealing.

RESPECT FOR FELLOW HUMANS
This is a very wide field and can be applied in all situations of our lives. I am going to use a few examples that should stimulate your thought process and understanding in other situations too.

Do you obey the rules of the road as set by your local government? If not, then you are transgressing the Torah. Let me explain further. The rules of the road were set in place to protect the people and keep them as safe as possible. If everyone on the roads kept to all the rules of the road, then it would almost totally prevent any deaths and losses on the roads, but this is unfortunately not the case and many thousands of lives are lost annually because of people not obeying the rules of the road. Are you contributing to this destruction or are you being an example of righteousness?

Do you keep to the speed limits of the roads? If not, then you do not respect any of the other people around you as you are creating a dangerous situation for them that could result in damages and even loss of life.

Do you quickly speed around another car that is keeping to the speed limit just to gain one cars position and get to your destination a fraction quicker? If so, then you are stealing… you are breaking the law and causing the person who you pushed in front of to lose money in the form of using more petrol, waiting for you, and also wear and tear such as break pads from having to break harder for you. It is a very selfish and destructive action. You are supposed to be an example to the world and keep to the laws of the land.

Do you stop at a stop street and at the traffic light as required (even if there are no other cars around), or do you just slow down at the stop street or quickly jump over a traffic light that has just turned red when you could have stopped? If so, then you are transgressing the Torah and putting lives in danger and even stealing from others. I have found that the person who does not intend to stop at a stop sign but rather just slow down, approaches it at a high speed usually jumps in front of the law abiding citizen who does stop and causes loss of petrol, and might even cause an accident in the process, just so that you can jump in front of one car and be king of the road. This is a clear violation of the Torah.

OTHER EXAMPLES
Here are some other examples of ways people transgress the Torah.

Do you smoke? If so, then you are transgressing the Torah. I am speaking more along the lines of smoking in public or around other people, but not limited to that alone. All people are allergic to smoke as it always has a negative effect on your body. Second hand smoke is destructive and is known to kill non-smokers too. If you smoke in front of anyone else, you are causing harm to that person and could even contribute to the death of that person and even yourself.

Are you honest concerning paying your taxes? If not, then you are transgressing the Torah by lying and stealing.

Do you pay your employees of time? If not, then you are transgressing the Torah.


I could mention many more things, but think that you get the idea and can reason within yourself what other activities are not acceptable to the Almighty.

We are to be a light to the world and live by example in righteousness. We are to love one another and not take away from each other. We are to put others before ourselves and not be selfish.

If we cannot submit to local authorities, whom the Almighty has put above us, then how can we submit to the ultimate authority who is YHWH the Almighty.

So are you one of those who do many mighty works in the name of the Messiah, but yet live a lawless life by transgressing the Torah? This is something you need to ask yourself and be honest about too.

May we all submit to the Torah and all that it commands so that we all learn to love each other with the love of the Almighty.

Nehemia Gordon and the Name of Yehovah

We are living in the information age, with the internet giving the opportunity to anyone and everyone who desires, to post whatever information they want to, whether it be written articles, audio teachings or even video teachings. The problem that arises, is that many people post so many 'things' on the internet that are not factual,things which are even downright lies and falsehood. There is not really any control over this, this situation is beyond control. Also, many people, who call themselves scholars, have the opportunity to teach their own personal doctrines, topics and opinions,as if the absolute truth, and that without any restraint at all. Two such people who have taken advantage of the wide audience of the internet is Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson who claim to teach the only correct pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty, even make lots of money by doing so.

This article has been written to test the so called “proofs” of Nehemia and Keith, and see if it is in fact true or not (factual or opinionated). This article is in no way an attack on Nehemia or Keith and I certainly do not want to speak any bad things about them. It is written purely to bring the truth to the light and to hopefully encourage others to test everything that they hear, no matter who they hear it from. This article is also not intended to diminish anyone’s faith and I am certainly not trying to make anyone believe what they do not wish to believe. Everyone has a right to do and believe whatever they want to. All I will be doing is to provide evidence and facts on this topic, and then it is up to the reader to do with it whatever they like.

The topic of this article is to see whether the pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty is “Yehovah,” as Nehemia and Keith proclaim it is, or not. Keith Johnson has written a book trying to “prove” or justify this pronunciation and the book is endorsed by Nehemia who taught Keith that the Name if pronounced is “Yehovah.” Both Keith and Nehemia influence thousands of people by touring the world and speaking, through their books and even through internet radio and other forms of communication, and try to convince them all that this is the only correct pronunciation and that the other people are all wrong. They do this, all while making a lot of money in the process. That is why I am writing this article, to give an objective look at their theory for other people to see the whole truth and not just a snippet taken out of context, which Nehemia has done as we will see below.

Now, to get to the explanations…

While listening to a recording that Nehemia and Keith did on an internet radio station, called Truth2u with Jono Vandor, about the Torah portion, “Beshalach – Exodus 13:17-17:16”. Nehemia explained in short why he teaches that the Name is to be pronounced as “Yehovah.” His explanation might sound clever and impressive to anyone who does not know any Hebrew grammar rules. But to anyone who has a good understanding of the Hebrew grammar rules, will see that Nehemia contradicted himself and actually rendered his theory to be false, as will be explained in detail below.

I am attaching a short MP3 file of Nehemia explaining it, for you to listen to it and analyze it for yourself. (It is attached below). I will be analyzing what Nehemia says and compare it according to the facts and grammar rules to see if he is telling the truth or not. I suggest that you listen to the audio MP3 (less than 3 min) before you carry on reading this article. Then after reading the rest of this article, you can listen to it as many times as you want and compare it to the facts for yourself.


(Listen to audio below before you carry on reading).

In order to download the MP3, right click the play button and then choose the first option, "download document".

Okay, now let us break it down and tackle what Nehemia said piece by piece. I have transcribed the audio to text and will now analize it piece by piece. I am also going to color code it for ease of reading and understanding. Keith’s words will be the color of  green, Nehemia’s words will be in the color of blue and the reply will be in the color of red.

Keith: The second issue I want to bring up, is for all of my brothers and sisters out there that say, “well now Keith, you should change your pronunciation. Here it clearly says, Nehemia Gordon, the great Hebrew scholar, just said, the way you pronounce this two letter name, is what Nehemia… how do you pronounce it?

Reply: Here Keith admits that many people have challenged him about the Name of the Almighty. He also sees Nehemia Gordon as “Great” Hebrew scholar. The fact of the matter is that Nehemia is more than competent in the Hebrew language, but there are many people who are far more advanced in the knowledge of the Hebrew language than Nehemia is.

Nehemia: Yah

Reply: Regarding the name, “Yah” one does not need a Hebrew expert to know that it is written and spelled as Yah and cannot be anything else. There is absolutely no dispute about this word at all.

Keith: Yah, so that’s why we should call Him Yahweh. And I am not going to move from this until you can help us understand, Nehemia, What is this YAH…

Nehemia: … Well, I mean, so look, the poetic form, if you can call it that, of the name Jacob in some languages is James. Does that mean…..

Reply: I do not want to argue this statement too much, but James is not a poetic form of Jacob. It is merely a result of the confusion of a language (English) which is made up of mixed multitude of other languages. This often results in many words, often totally different from one another, having the same or similar meaning. This is what has happened with James and Jacob… the one is not a poetic form of the other.

Nehemia: Lets take the example of Michael (which in Hebrew is Micha’el, where the English name is Michael), but what’s the nickname for Michael, Its Mickey. Does that mean that really… lets say that I didn’t have the vowels of the word Michael but I knew it was Mickey, would I then call him Michal? I guess I would call him Michal, Michi’el.

Reply: Here Nehemia did not say anything that has anything to do with his case. Theoretically, the statement he just made is more proof of the opposite of what he is trying to teach. But this is not where the problem is. We will see, when we get to the Hebrew grammar, where Nehemia makes his errors.

Nehemia: So that’s the type of logic that they’re implying when they say that YAH as the poetic form, therefore, it means that the full form is Yahweh, um, I mean there’s absolutely no connection there.

Reply: Firstly, I am not saying that the pronunciation of, “Yahweh” is perfectly correct. This article is about testing the pronunciation of Yehovah. So I am not going to get into why Yahweh is not perfectly correct.

To say that “Yah” has absolutely no connection to the pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty is not true at all. We will see this below when we get into the grammar rules.
Nehemia: Its, uh, you know, YAH… and actually the significance of YAH is that it almost always appears at the end of a word, like HalleluYAH. That’s the form you will normally find.

And even in Ex 15:2 (g¡I Z¡X¥N¦F¥E I¦i¡R – Ozi v’zimrat Yah) and that word Yah is attached toward zimrat which is called smuchut, or the construct case. Its attached to the previous word.

Reply: The question is, is the short form of the Name of the Almighty, “Yah” (spelled yud hey) ever pronounced differently when it is not attached to another word? No it is not, it does not ever have to be attached toward another word for it to be pronounced as Yah. (Ex 15:2; 17:16; Ps 68:4 & 18; 76:11; 89:8;)

Nehemia: And that’s very similar to what we would find when we have, “Yud hey vav”, the three letters of the full name in a larger name, as a compound name, for example, Isaiah, is YeshaYAHU, Elijah is, EliYAHU. So we always have YAHU, which is exactly what we find with YAH, the poetic form.

Reply: The Hebrew grammar rule teaches us that, in a “compound” word (as Nehemia calls it) the suffix (end part of the word) ALWAYS keeps its original form and pronunciation of the word it is using as the suffix, where the prefix (beginning of the word) ALWAYS shortens its syllables whenever possible. Nehemia and Keith so conveniently “forget” to quote the whole grammar rule and only part of it to try and justify their theories.
Nehemia: Now here’s the thing, whenever Yud Hey Vav appears at the beginning of a word its never YAHU, or YAH, its always Yeho, Yehoshua, Yehonatan, Yehonadav.

Reply: Remember that what the Hebrew grammar rule says, the prefix (beginning) always shortens its original syllables whenever possible. Let us look at a simple example. (Please note that this is also true according to ALL Hebrew grammar books. You can look it up for yourself)

Lets use the “Compound” name of Yehonatan (which is Jonathan in the English). It is constructed by joining two words together. The two words are Yahu (from the Name of the Almighty) + natan (give)

Yahu + natan = Yehonathan

Now lets join these two words together but in the opposite order, namely, natan + Yahu. If we do so, then we get the following:

Natan + Yahu = Netanyahu (Nethaniah in the KJV)
Notice how 'natan' shortened its 'vowels' and became 'netan' when used as a prefix.

(found in 2 Kings 25:23, 2 Kings 25:25, 1 Chr 25:2, 1 Chr 25:12, 2 Chr 17:8, Jer 36:14, Jer 40:8, Jer 40:14-15 (2), Jer 41:1-2 (2), Jer 41:6-7 (2), Jer 41:9-12 (4), Jer 41:15-16 (2), Jer 41:18)

As you can see, according to the Hebrew grammar rule, the suffix (end of the compound word) always keeps its original form and pronunciation of the word used for the prefix and that the prefix (beginning part) always shortens its syllables whenever possible.

Let us look at another example quick:

Yasha (to save, be saved, be delivered) + Yahu (from the Name of the Almighty) = Yeshayahu (Isaiah in the KJV)

Notice once again that the prefix shortened its syllable and that the suffix keeps its original pronunciation.

So if the prefix shortens and the suffix keeps its original form and pronunciation, then …yahu at the end of a word is the original form and pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty.
Nehemia: Now here’s the question you have to ask, In the Father’s Name (yud hey vav hey) are those three letters at the beginning of the Name, like in Yehoshua, Yehonatan, Yehonadav, Yehochanan, etc. Or are they at the end of the Name, like in, YeshaYAHU, EliYAHU etc. Obviously they’re at the beginning of the Name.

Reply: This is Nehemia’s explanation on why the Name must be “Yehovah”. As you can see by the above Hebrew grammar rules concerning “compound” words (two words joined to create one word/name), that the Name of the Almighty cannot be Yehovah as Nehemia professes to be true (the Almighty's Name is not a compound word). Now ask yourself, is Nehemia ignorant concerning Hebrew grammar, or is he purposely hiding this rule from you in order to promote his theory (which would be an outright lie)? (Remember that the Almighty's Name is not a compound word).

Once again, the Hebrew grammar rule proves that the original form of yud hey vav, the three letters of the Name of the Almighty, is Yahu and NOT Yeho

But it does not end here, there are a couple more problems with the pronunciation of Yehovah and also with what Nehemia said about it. He really does like to contradict himself a lot, which is the result of not standing by the truth.

Now, Nehemiah said above, that because the three letters, yud hey vav, are at the beginning of the Name, like that of Yehoshua, Yehonatan, Yehonadav etc. proves that it must be pronounced as Yehovah. But there is a very obvious problem with his statement. All the other names that Nehemia compared it to are all “compound names” (as Nehemia called them). The question you need to ask is, is Yud hey vav hey (the full Name of the Almighty) a “compound word”? And if it is, then from what word does the final “hey” come from and what is its meaning?

The fact of the matter is that the Name of the Almighty is NOT a “compound” word comprised of two or more words (as I mentioned above). Therefore, the grammar rule that Nehemia twists to try justify his pronunciation does not and cannot apply to the Name of the Almighty.

Now let us look at another Hebrew grammar rule that does not apply to “compound” words. In Hebrew, the general rule is that the accent falls on the final syllable. The syllable that is accented always keeps its original form and so does the syllable that directly precedes the accented syllable. So, the general rule is that the last two syllables of a word keep their original form (when the accent falls on the final syllable).

In Nehemia’s pronunciation of Yehovah, the accent falls on the final syllable. That means that the last two syllables must keep its original form. This is NOT the case in the pronunciation of Yehovah. Once again, it has failed to meet the Hebrew grammar rules.

Let us look at such an example of a similar type of word and see what the result is.

The Name Y’hudah is a “compound” word which is a combination of the two words, Yahu and yadah. Leah named her son Y’hudah because she, “gratefully praised YHVH” (Gen 29:35).

The accent falls on the last syllable of the name of Y’hudah. That means that the final syllable retains its original form and so does the syllable directly before it. That is why the name is Y’hUdah and not Y’hodah.

Now we have to apply this grammar rule to the Name of the Almighty too. If the accent falls on the final syllable, then the syllable directly before it has to keep its original form as it does in Y’hudah. Therefore, if Nehemia is correct, then the Name should be Yehuvah and cannot be Yehovah.

So once again we have proved the pronunciation of Yehovah to be false.
But we can even go a step further. And this is a clincher.

Nehemia outrightly admitted that the first three letters of the Name of the Almighty, when in the beginning of a word, is “Yeho...” Now if this is the case, all we are left with is the single letter, “hey”. Now the question that you have to ask yourself, once again, is, “is it ever possible to get the pronunciation of “…vah” from a single hey?”

The fact of the matter is that it is never possible and that what Nehemia teaches is false and has been proven to be a lie.

We once again need to ask ourselves the question, is Nehemia Gordon ignorant of these Hebrew grammar rules? Or is he outrightly lying to thousands, if not millions, of people? If he is lying, what is his reason for doing so?

The problem that Nehemia has gotten himself into is that his only audience, and the only people who buy his books and support him are the Christians and Messy-anics. Nehemia does not have any Hebrew following at all. For that reason, he is seen as a leader and makes a very pretty penny on the book sales and support from such people.

After realizing how Nehemia so blatantly lies about such an important topic, how then can he be trusted with anything else? Yes, many of the things that Nehemia teaches is truth, but the problem is that he mixes a lot of falsehood in-between. Everyone has the duty to test everything that they hear.

Every time that I have asked Nehemia about all this, He simply ignores me and has even deleted me as a friend on Facebook. If someone makes such a declaration, like he does, then is it not fair to give explanations and answer questions? Maybe he is unable to answer them without contradicting himself?


I posted a comment on the website where this teaching of Nehemia comes from. Jono Vandor, the owner of the website, has still not moderated my comment for others to see. It seems as if Jono is very biased and does not like anyone to speak against the doctrines of Nehemia, even if he speaks falsehood.

The comment I left was on 27 Jan 2012 and Jono has still not approved it as a comment.

I will post that comment in the comments section below for you to read for yourself.

May the Almighty open all our eyes to the truth of His Word.

In the beginning was the Word

Can it be that the Messiah is the Almighty Himself? This is what the churches teach us, that the Almighty came to earth and died for us, and they use the passage in John 1:1-3 to justify their teaching. But does John 1 really teach us that? Let us read the passage in the KJV Bible first (which is a translation) and then in a different translation that is more correct according to the original writings second. Then we can look at the wording and see if the statement can be true by comparing it to other passages in the Scriptures too.

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3 KJV)

Now let us look at a more correct translation.

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim. All came to be through Him, and without Him not even one came to be that came to be” (John 1:1-3 The Scriptures).

One should notice that the difference between the two is that the KJV Bible, and also most other English translations, uses the term “God” and the more correct translation uses the term “Elohim” which is the actual Hebrew word. For those who do not know what Elohim means, it is a Hebrew word which is the plural form of the root word “Eloah” meaning either “mighty ones” or Mighty One” and can be used to refer to other things too, as we will see below.

Now to really understand what the true meaning of the text found in John 1:1-3, we need to first do a more in-depth study on the Hebrew word “Elohim.”

We have seen above from where the word comes from, but for what exactly is it used for in the Hebrew Scriptures?

The Hebrew word Elohim appears 2605 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. The great majority of the time when this word appears, it is translated as “God” in the English translations, in fact, 2366 times out of the 2606 (the word ‘God’ is not a correct translation of the word “Elohim” and should never be used). But that is not the only English word that is used to translate the Hebrew word “Elohim.” Let us have a look at a few other uses, or meanings, of the word “Elohim.”

”then his master shall bring him before Elohim (Judges), and shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl. And he shall serve him forever” (Exodus 21:6). Here the word is used to speak of Judges, who bring the righteous judgments concerning any cases that are brought before them. They represent the judgments of the Almighty

“If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought before Elohim (Judges) to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbour’s goods” (Exodus 22:8). Here, once again, the word “Elohim” is used to speak of Judges.

“Yet You have made him a little less than Elohim (Messengers (Angels)), And have crowned him with esteem and splendour” (Psalm 8:5). Here the term Elohim is referring to Messengers of the Almighty.

”So יהוה (YHWH) said to Mosheh, ‘See, I have made you an elohim to Pharaoh, and Aharon your brother is your prophet’” (Exodus 7:1). Here Mosheh (Moses) is being referred to as an elohim to Pharaoh, which means that Mosheh is a mighty one to Pharaoh.

”And the sovereign said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Sha’ul, “I saw a spirit (Elohim) coming up out of the earth.” (1 Sam 28:13). Here is where King Sha’ul went to a medium to call up the prophet Samuel. When the Medium saw the spirit of Samuel coming up from the grave, she referred to his spirit as Elohim.

So the Hebrew word Elohim can mean “Mighty One”, “mighty ones”, “judges”, “Messengers”, “spirit”, “great” and even called Mosheh, Elohim.

So now that we know that the Hebrew word “Elohim” does not always refer to the Almighty, we can start to understand what John 1:1-3 really means.

Let us then try and translate it correctly so that it stays perfectly in line with the rest of Scripture.

”In the beginning was the Word (Torah), and the Word (Torah) was with Elohim (the Almighty), and the Word (Torah) was Elohim (Mighty, Superior, Perfect). The Word (Torah) was in the beginning with Elohim (the Almighty). All came to be through the Word (Torah), and without the Word (Torah) not even one came to be that came to be” (John 1:1-3).

This Word that is being spoken of is the Word of the Almighty which is called the Torah. 4,000 years later, the Torah became flesh and walk upon this earth, and His name was Y’hoshua haMashiyach (The Messiah).

This Word is NOT the Almighty, but rather the Word of the Almighty that comes out of His Mouth. The Church falsely teaches that there is a Trinity where the Messiah is the Almighty. But that doctrine does not meet the requirements of the rest of Scripture. In fact, in order to teach this false doctrine, they need to falsely translate the Scriptures to say things that it does not really say. The Church has even added entire verses that never existed in the original writings to push the false Trinity doctrine.

John 1:1-3 makes it very clear that the Messiah is the Torah in the flesh and that He is NOT the Almighty, but rather the Son of the Almighty who is a being on His own.

Now, with this understanding of the word Elohim, we can understand Matthew 1:23

“See, a maiden shall conceive, and she shall give birth to a Son, and they shall call His Name Immanu’ĕl,” which translated, means, “Ěl with us” (Mat 1:23). This verse is also use a lot to try and justify the false Trinity doctrine. In the KJV Bible and the great majority of the other English translations of the Bible, it is translated as “God with us.”

We can now know that it is not a correct translation at all. If one wanted to translate it correctly, then it should either say, “Elohim with us” or “a Mighty One with us”

In order to really understand the Scriptures, you have to go back to the Hebrew text and read it with a Hebrew mindset as it was written in Hebrew by Hebrew’s. As soon as we “Westernize” the Scriptures, it looses most of its true meaning and actually changes the meaning of what should be taught.

If we truly want to know the truth of the Scriptures, then we really do need to start learning Hebrew. The English can NEVER convey what is written in the Hebrew text.

The Greatest Commandments

“Teacher, which is the great command in the Torah?” And יהושע (Y’hoshua) said to him, “You shall love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and great command. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commands hang all the Torah and the Prophets.”” (Matthew 22:36-40)

When Y’hoshua the Messiah was approached by a Pharisee who was learned in the Torah, the Pharisee tried to test Y’hoshua by asking Him which is the great command of the Torah.

Now Y’hoshua who understood that the Torah is the Perfect Word of His Father and knew exactly what the Word really teaches.

Y’hoshua then summed up the entire Torah and prophets by saying that the two greatest commands is to love the Almighty with everything that we have and also to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Now the question is, does that mean that all the other commands are not important or even not necessary any more? Well, in order to know this, we need to understand what the Torah teaches. The best place to start looking is at the Ten Commandments.

Now the Ten Commandments were written down on two separate tablets of stone by the hand of the Almighty Himself. On the first tablet of stone were written the first five Commandments and that stone referred to loving the Almighty. The second stone which had the remaining five commandments on it, referred to loving your neighbor.

So, how then do we love the Almighty?

First Commandment (how to love the Almighty)

I am יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery.

Second Commandment (how to love the Almighty)

You have no other mighty ones against My face. You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth, you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim am a jealous Ěl, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commands.

Third Commandment (how to love the Almighty)

You do not bring the Name of יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim to naught, for יהוה (YHWH) does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught

Fourth Commandment (how to love the Almighty)

Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart. Six days you labour, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim. You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days יהוה (YHWH) made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore יהוה (YHWH) blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.

Fifth Commandment (how to love the Almighty)

Respect your father and your mother, so that your days are prolonged upon the soil which יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim is giving you.

We have now seen what the Almighty requires from us in order to love Him. But what about our neighbors? Well, let us have a look at the Second Tablet of the Commandments.

Sixth Commandment (how to love your neighbor)

You do not murder

Seventh Commandment (how to love your neighbor)

You do not commit adultery

Eighth Commandment (how to love your neighbor)

You do not steal

Ninth Commandment (how to love your neighbor)

You do not bear false witness against your neighbour

Tenth Commandment (how to love your neighbor)

You do not covet your neighbour’s house, you do not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, or whatever belongs to your neighbour

Now we know how to love the Almighty and our neighbor too. But do these Ten Commandments teach us in detail how to keep them? Some of them seem to be basic in understanding, like, “do not commit adultery,” but what is adultery?

In order to understand all these Ten Commandments, we need to learn the rest of the Torah which teaches us how to keep these Commandments.

So when Y’hoshua the Messiah taught that the Greatest of the Commandments is to love the Almighty with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself, He was teaching that the ENTIRE Torah is important and is summed up by these two commands. If you violate any of the Commands of the Torah, then you directly violate these two commands.

But what about the Prophets? Well, the role of a prophet was to bring the people to repentance, which is turning back to the Instruction of the Almighty, which is the Torah. So the prophets also hang on the entire Torah.

So as you can see, the Messiah taught that the entire Torah is necessary to keep. If one does not keep all the Torah, then that person does not love the Almighty. Only by following His Instruction (Torah) can we receive favor.

Pronunciation of YHWH from Y’hudah?

The Name of the Almighty is the Name above all names. There is so much might and power in His Name. The Name of the Almighty is so set apart that the Torah makes it very clear that anyone who profanes His Name, or brings it to naught, will not go unpunished. But there are many people who do such things by proclaiming a false pronunciation of His Name and teaching others to follow their false teachings.

These people who do so are self professed “experts” and yet, they do not have any Hebrew grammar or linguistic knowledge at all. Neither do these people take any historic evidence into consideration, but proclaim their personal opinions so loudly and claim that it is factual. I have seen article on the internet and even youtube videos of such people blurting out their opinions as if they were fact. None of these ‘so-called experts’ are Jews (Yehudim) or people who actually understand the Hebrew language. Only people who do not have any knowledge of the Hebrew language falls for these false teachings.

These so-called experts make a very large claim that the Name of the Almighty is “YaHuWaH” or something similar to that. They also claim that this pronunciation comes from the name of the fourth son of “Ya’akov” who’s name is Y’hudah. These are totally false claims and this article will prove them to be false by looking at the actual facts and Scriptural evidence.

These people claim that the Name יהוּדה (Y’hudah) is the key to the correct pronunciation as it has the same letters as יהוה (YHWH) and in the same order too, only with a ‘dalet’ between the ‘waw’ and the last ‘hey’. Then it is said that because of this, when the ‘dalet’ falls away, then it would be pronounced “Yahuah” instead of Yahudah”. However, there are many errors to this theory:

In order to understand the name יהוּדה (Y’hudah) we need to go to the Scriptures and find out what it means. Then we have to see what the root of the word is and see if it is the same root as for the Name of the Almighty. Once we know these things, we will then be able to see why we cannot deduce the pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty from it. Let us now have a look at where the name יהוּדה (Y’hudah) originates from:

“And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I praise  יהוה (YHWH)”יהוה  Z£@ D£C]@ (odeh et YHWH). So she called his name Yehuḏah. And she ceased bearing” (Gen 29:35). This is the key to what the name יהוּדה (Y’hudah) means and how it is formed.

Now if you go do a little research, You will notice that the root of ‘odeh’ (which is Imperfect tense, first person, singular) is ‘yadah’ and that you will also find that the root of the name of Yehudah is ידה (yadah). Now the word ידה (yadah) means, “to throw, cast…. I. to confess openly and freely…. II. To give thanks, to praise.  “Yad” is Hebrew for ‘hand’, where as “yadah” is an action (verb), what the hand is doing. Here it is praising.

The name יהוּדה (Y’hudah) is a combination of the words “yadah” and “YHWH” or rather “Yahu”, which gives us theoretically, “Yahu-dah” but, when two words are joined, to create a compound word/name, the prefix shortens its syllables which then gives us the correct pronunciation as Y’hudah or Yehudah. This is always the case and we do not need the Massoretic markings to know this, as it was so from the time of giving the name by Leah in Gen 29:35.

You can also see that the “….ah” at the end of the name “Y’hudAH” comes from the root word “yadah” and NOT from the Name of the Almighty. It is therefore 100% incorrect to claim that the Almighty’s Name ends with “….ah” or is pronounced as “YAHUWAH” by using the name of יהוּדה (Y’hudah) to prove it.

One cannot just add or remove letters from a Hebrew word to make it another word or pronunciation. This violates the language of the Almighty and brings His Name to naught, which is breaking the Third Commandment.

One very simple thing that should be very obvious is that the 'dalet' is the vocal sound holder of "a." So if you are going to remove the 'dalet' then you also have to remove the 'a' sound as there is no letter there that can hold it.

So once again, we can clearly see that only the people who do not have a working knowledge of the Hebrew language are the ones who try use the name of Y'hudah as proof of the name of the Almighty. The fact is that it is not possible to do so and anyone who claims that it is, is either a liar or just ignorant of the Hebrew language.

Some more proof

Another proof as to why the Name of the Almighty cannot be written as “YAHUWAH” is the actual Hebrew language. Let me explain.

In all the names of people that end with (יהו) “yud hey waw,” the pronunciation is always “….yahu”. Now according to Hebrew grammar rules, the suffix (end part of a word) in a conjunction word (two words/names joined together to create a single word/name) always keeps its original form and pronunciation.

The letter (ו) “waw” can either be used as a consonant or as a vowel. In the case of a consonant, it is pronounced as “v” whereas when it is used as a vowel, it can be pronounced as either “o” or “u”. It can never be used as a consonant and a vowel at the same time. So the pronunciation of “Yahuw” from (יהו) is impossible, because that form and pronunciation is using the “waw” as a consonant and a vowel at the same time. Anyone teaching this form and pronunciation is a false teacher.

So we know that (יהו) is pronounced as “Yahu” (unless it is used as a prefix in a conjunction word). Now all we are left with in the Name of the Almighty is the last letter, which is a (ה) “hey”. Now ask yourself, can you ever get the pronunciation of “wah” from a (ה) “hey”? No, it is also impossible.

Although it is possible in the Hebrew language to have the pronunciation of “Yahuah” (without the ‘w’), that pronunciation does not meet any historical findings or evidence at all.  Once again, the people proclaiming this pronunciation are NOT experts at all and do not consider any facts or evidence or even Scripture.

Are you going to listen to and follow someone who does not have any Hebrew knowledge, or are you going to search for the Truth and follow that?

Is the Name of the Almighty “Yehovah”?

The Name of the Almighty is one of the most contested things among believers today. Many claim that they have the correct pronunciation and that the other pronunciations are wrong. The majority of these pronunciations do not have any factual or linguistic support and yet the people swear by the authenticity of that pronunciation, even though it is totally incorrect. There are other pronunciations that do have “so called” evidence, but is not evidence at all.

In this article, I am going to show you why the pronunciation of “Yehovah” cannot be the correct pronunciation. I will present evidence and facts to prove this as that is what we need to go by. The true pronunciation must meet all facts and evidence and not only some. If it contradicts even one Hebrew grammatical rule, then it is false. So let us have a look to see if it is correct or not.

 

The original Hebrew Tanakh existed without the Masoretic markings, which were later added in the middle ages. Because of the Pharisaical teachings and tradition that the Name of the Almighty was not to be uttered, certain vocal sounds were added to the Name to hide the true pronunciation. In order to create the vocal sounds for the written name and continuing to keep the Name "secret" and "hidden" the vocal sounds for Adonai were transplanted into the word YHWH. Later the vocal sounds for Eloah (singular form of Elohim) were used creating YeHoWaH.

Since in Modern Hebrew the Hebrew letter WAW (later called VAV) is pronounced "V" in place of its ancient pronunciation "W", YeHoWaH became YeHoVaH. This became transliterated in the original KJV English as IEHOVAH and later when the letter “J” was added to English IEHOVAH became JEHOVAH. However the J and the V in "Jehovah" are incorrect, as are the vowels E-O-A which actually come from ELOAH. In fact only one of the two letters H-H are correct.

Another fact is that the English transliteration YHWH or YHVH is not even100% correct and should actually keep its original Hebrew form יהוה, but for understanding purposes, we will use it here.

Another argument for why the Name should be ‘Yehovah” comes from many Jews and even very learned people, like Nehemiah Gordon and Keith Johnson (who has even written a book on this subject), who claim that the root of the Name of the Almighty is “hayah” and is explained in Exodus 3:14. Let us read. “And Elohim said to Mosheh, “I am that which I am.” (Eyeh asher eyeh) And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Yisraĕl, ‘I am has sent me to you”. Now they say that the Name is derived from “eyeh” which comes form the root “hayah” which means to exist. But is this really the root word for the Name of the Almighty? Well, ‘eyeh’ is explaining the character of the Almighty, he is the only mighty one who actually exists, which is partly in the Name of the Almighty, but is NOT the root of His Name. We refer to the Almighty as Elohim too, but is that His Name or the root of His Name? Certainly not. Let us read the very next verse, “And Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisraĕl, ‘יהוה (YHWH) Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Avraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Ya’aqoḇ, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations” (Exodus 3:15).

So why then did Elohim say ‘eyeh asher eyeh’ in the previous verse? And say “eyeh” has sent me to you? This is because the people were specifically waiting for a prophecy to be fulfilled that the one who exists (eyeh) will deliver them from slavery and bring them back to the land of their fathers. So where and when was this prophecy given, and by whom?

In Genesis we see the Ya’akov spoke to Yosef telling him that Elohim will be (hayah, which is the root of eyeh) with him and bring him and bring them back to the land of their fathers. (Genesis 48:21).

So basically what the Almighty was saying when he said “eyeh asher eyeh” was two fold, firstly He was telling them that the Elohim of their forefathers has come to deliver them and take them to the land of their fathers, as the people were expecting according to the prophecy given by Ya’akov. And secondly, He was proclaiming that He is the only Mighty One who is alive and exists and that there is no one who can go against Him, and that there is no end to Him or His power. He was not saying that that was His Name, as He gave them His Name in the very next sentence.

Evidence from the Hebrew language

Another thing that should be mentioned is another piece of evidence that proves that the Name of the Almighty cannot be pronounced as Yehovah is because it is using the middle ‘waw’ as a vowel and a consonant at the same time, which is not possible or allowed in the Hebrew language. Let me explain. Keith Johnson so nicely explains that when the Name is in the beginning of other people’s name’s that it is pronounced Yeho, as in Yehochanan, or Yehoshua etc. therefore the Name of the Almighty has to start with “Yeho…”.

This information that Keith just gave actually contradicts the rest of his theory.

If we look at these names in the Hebrew, it starts with יהו (yud hey waw) and is pronounced Yeho. Now according to Keith, the first three letters of the Name of the Almighty are pronounced as “Yeho”, but what are we then left with? We are left with only the last “hey.” Now can we ever get the sound or pronunciation of “…vah” from the Hebrew letter “hey”? According to the Hebrew language, it is impossible. In order to get the “v” sound, it needs to come from the “waw”, but it then it cannot be used to get the “o” sound in “Yeho”. So the only options we are left with are, either, “Yehoah” or “Yehvah” but never “Yehovah”

The difference between prefix and suffix  

Hebrew grammar teaches that in a composite word/name, the prefix, which is the beginning part of the name, always shortens its syllables. But the suffix in a composite word/name always keeps its original form and pronunciation. This is a Hebrew grammatical rule that Nehemiah Gordon knows very well and yet never quotes the entire rule in order that keep to his own theory.

Now how does this matter in the pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty? Well, if we look at the many names in Scripture where the Name of the Almighty (יהו (yud hey waw)) is used as the suffix, it is ALWAYS pronounced as “….yahu,” as in YeshaYAHU, and YirmeYAHU etc.

Now according to the grammatical rule stated above, the suffix always keeps its original pronunciation, and in the case of the Name of the Almighty, we clearly see that the original pronunciation is always Yahu. Because of this simple fact, we know for certain that the pronunciation of Name of the Almighty has to start with “Yahu..” It can never be anything else.

If we want to know the truth, then we need to learn the Hebrew language. Many people follow Keith Johnson and Nehemiah Gordon for the simple reason that they do not know any better and assume that these people are teaching the truth.

To sum it up, when the Name of the Almighty is used as a suffix in a composite word/name, then it is always pronounced as “…yahu” which is the original pronunciation. But when it is used as a prefix, then the syllables shorten and then we get “Yeho…” Therefore, the Name “Yehovah” cannot be correct as it is NOT a composite word and has to, therefore, start with “Yahu..” which is the original form.

Why is there no retaliation from the Jews?

The Messiah was persecuted by the Jewish people for proclaiming the Name of the Almighty openly as the Jewish people have hidden it and banned anyone from speaking the Name of YHWH openly. Now if Nehemiah and Keith were correct, then the Jewish community would have been in such an uproar about this as it is a huge issue for them because Nehemiah lives in Israel and is well known among the communities there. But something I noticed… not even one Jew is condemning Nehemiah or Keith for there pronunciation of Yehovah as it is not the true pronunciation.

What about the Leningrad Codex

There is also “so called” evidence that the people, who subscribe to this pronunciation, use a lot to say that His Name is definitely Yehovah. It even looks like rock solid evidence, but only to those who are uneducated in the subject. So what am I talking about? There are photos of manuscripts of the Leningrad Codex, which is the text that has the Masoretic markings that is used for the Hebrew texts, which has the Name written in them with the Masoretic markings indicating the pronunciation of “Yehovah.” (I have added some of these photo’s here for you to see for yourself).

 

It only appears a very few times compared to the, more than 6,000 other times, where the Name is written, and there are no masoretic markings for the Name at all, and the only places that these very few (I think about twelve times or something like that), appears in only one of the books of the Tanakh. Not one of these instances appears in the Torah.

The reason the markings appear like that, is because when the Scribe was writing the copy, he would firstly vocally sound out every word before he wrote it, it was a painstaking process. When the Scribe wrote the Name in certain places, he would lose concentration and sound out the name and accidentally write it with the sounds that he spoke out (remember that they did not have erasers in those days). We know this is not the true pronunciation, as these Scribes were forbidden to speak out the true pronunciation of the Name, and therefore they spoke out the word “Yehovah” instead, which had the vocal sounds of “Eloah” but still kept the Name of YHWH secret.

So as you can see, this is not proof of the pronunciation of “Yehovah” at all, but is actually proof that it isn’t “Yehovah”

Conclusion

We can now see that all the “so called” evidence for the pronunciation of “Yehovah” is not evidence at all, but rather proves that pronunciation to be false.

We can see from the Scriptures and from the Hebrew language that the Name cannot start with “Yeho…” but must start with “Yahu…”

We can also see that the pronunciation of “Yehovah” cannot be true as it is using the “waw” as a consonant and a vowel at the same time, which is a transgression of the rules of Hebrew.

The root of the Name of the Almighty is not “hayah.” The fact of the matter is that the Name of the Almighty is a root word on its own and cannot be broken into further roots.

The Name of the Almighty is the Highest Word in the entire Hebrew language!!!

We are to follow the facts and evidences rather than people who seek a following like Keith and Nehemiah. They do have a lot to offer, but should not be considered the authority for the study of the Scriptures. If you follow them, then you deny the facts and the truth.

Shalom to all those reading here.

There is only One Name for the Messiah.

I have decided to write this article because of so many people who ignorantly claim that their pronunciation of the Name of the Messiah is true, and yet, they do not consider any of the facts or evidence available. These people go by their own opinions and speculations without any knowledge of the Hebrew language. The true Name of the Messiah is based only on facts and evidence and NOT on opinions whatsoever.

One false opinion that I recently heard is that no one knows for certain what the true pronunciation of the Name of the Messiah is. This opinion is due to pure ignorance. How can the Messiah say that He came to restore the Name of His Father, and then ignorant people claim that we do not even know the Messiah’s Name. It just does not make any sense.  

Contrary to Christian beliefs, the Name of the Messiah is NOT “Jesus”. I have covered this issue in another article explaining this. You can go to the article by clicking on the name “Jesus”.

Now contrary to the Messy-anic belief, the names “Yashua”, “Yahushua”, “Yeshua”, “Yahusha”, “Yasha”, “Yahuw”, “Yehosha” and “Yahuwshua” are all incorrect and are NOT the names of the Messiah. This article will also prove all these to be incorrect too.

Let us start off with some Hebrew grammar rules.

With just a little knowledge of Hebrew grammar, you can know that many of the above pronunciations are absolutely impossible. We are going to have a quick look at a specific Hebrew grammar rule, and then apply it to the above names and see if they are legit or not.

Many Messy-anic leaders like to think that names, especially the Name of the Messiah, must start with either “Yah” or “Yahu.” These people probably mean well but do not have any knowledge of the language of the Almighty. They then teach thousands of their follower’s the false pronunciations because of their own ignorance on the subject. They base their teachings upon their own opinions or what they have learned from other ignorant teachers, rather than upon facts. Let us now get to the facts and see what the Hebrew grammar teaches us.

A composite word or name in Hebrew is made up of two words that are joined together to create a single word or name. The Hebrew language teaches us that the suffix (the end of the word) ALWAYS keeps its original form and pronunciation. However, the prefix (which is the beginning part of the word) ALWAYS shortens its syllables. There are no exceptions to this rule at all.

Now let us have a look at the practical side to this rule.

If we put “Yahu” in the front of a name, then we get the following:

Yahu + Nathan = Yehonathan (יהונתן) (which means, “YHWH has given”) (Jonathan in the KJV)

Yahu + yada = Yehoyada (יהוידע) (which means, “YHWH knows”) (Jehoiada in the KJV)

Yahu + shaphat = Yehoshaphat (יהושׁפט) (which means, “YHWH has judged”) (Jehoshaphat)

You can see that whenever the Name of the Almighty gets put in the front of a name, as Yahu, then its syllables ALWAYS shorten to become, “Yeho….” just as the Hebrew language rules teach us.

But if we now put the Name, “Yahu” at the end of a composite name or word, then we get the following:

Yasha + Yahu = Yeshayahu (ישׁעיהוּ) (which means, “YHWH has saved”) (Isaiah in the KJV)

Yaram + Yahu = Yirmeyahu (ירמיהוּ) (which means, “whom YHWH has appointed”) (Jeremiah in the KJV)

Banah +Yahu   = Benayahu (בּניהוּ) (which means, “YHWH has built”) (Benaiah in the KJV)
Please take note that when the prefix "Yahu" changes to Yeho THE MEANING DOES NOT CHANGE. It is only the syllable sounds that do. The meaning STAYS THE SAME.

Here we can see, once again, that the prefix (beginning of the word) always shortens its vowels as the Hebrew language demands (which is even evident in the KJV Bible), but the suffix (end of the word) ALWAYS retains its original form and pronunciation. Keith Johnson just happens to forget to share this piece information in His book on the Name of the Almighty, supporting the false pronunciation of “Yehovah”, but I will cover this in another article in the future.

Now I challenge everyone to go and research this for yourselves and try find even one case or name that does not work according to this Hebrew grammatical rule. There are many more examples of the names of people in the Scriptures that prove this to be true, I only picked a few to give a practical example.

So as you can see, the name (yud hey waw shin ayin) cannot be pronounced with the beginning of the name as “Yahu…” as its syllables must be shortened when joined to another word. So all the supposed pronunciations that start with “Yahu…” or “Yah…” are NOT correct according to the language of the Almighty. This disqualifies the majority of the pronunciations mentioned above. Anyone claiming that the name of the Messiah starts with “Yahu...” or “Yah….” Is ignorant in this subject and does not know what he or she is talking about.

Now for the most common pronunciation, “Yeshua”

Although the name Yoshua is a shortened form of the correct Name of the Messiah, it is not His full Name. Yeshua is used 78 times in the Tanakh and is the passive participle of ‘yasha’ (save or savior), which is used 205 times. “I have waited for your yeshua (salvation, deliverance), O YHWH” (Gen 49:18). Yeshua means “salvation” or “deliverance” it is however NOT the Name of the Messiah.

The Messiah comes in His Fathers Name. The question therefore is, “where is the Name of YHWH in the name Yeshua?” It is not there, and this point alone disqualifies the name “Yeshua” as being the Name of the Messiah. Although the Messiah did come to save and deliver us, His Name is much more than that.

So what then is the Name of the Messiah?

Let us start off with some evidence given to us by the Greek Septuagint LXX and the Greek manuscripts of the Brit Chadashah (New Testement or more correctly, Renewed Covenant). In the Greek New Testament, the Name of the Messiah is “Iesous”, which is translated as “Jesus” in the English bibles.

Now we find the name “Iesous” which is the exact same name that was used for the name of the Messiah in the Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint LXX too. The name of Joshua son of Nun was also translated as “Iesous” in the Septuagint LXX. This is because he has exactly the same name as the Messiah and was even a Messiah (saviour) in his own right.

Because of this reason, it is easy to know what the Name of the Messiah is. His Name has never been hidden at all. It also fits all the requirements for the Name of the Messiah. It has the Name of His Father the Almighty in it combined with the word meaning “saves”.

Let us go have a look at the name of Joshua in the Hebrew Tanakh. I have copied and pasted it here directly out of the Hebrew Tanakh and it is R§[]D¥I and is pronounced “Yehoshua” or “Y’hoshua”. The Name “Yehoshua” means, “YHWH is salvation”

Yehoshua is the Name of the Messiah, there is no other Name that is correct.

What then about “Yehosha” or “Yahusha” instead of “Yehoshua”?

Many people believe that the name of the Messiah ends with a “…sha” instead of “…shua”. This is because they say that it ends with a “shin ayin” and not a “shin waw ayin”. They say that the “waw” is necessary to give the “u” sound in “…shUa”. This however could not be further from the truth.

If you ever come into contact with a Hebrew magazine or newspaper, the first thing that you will notice is that there are no Masoretic markings in them whatsoever. This is because it is not necessary for native Hebrew speaking people to understand it. To understand it is actually a relatively simple process. Without the Masoretic markings, certain words have the same letters, but have a different pronunciation and even a different meaning.

In order to know what the word is without having the Masoretic markings, you have to read it in the context of the sentence or even paragraph. Let me give you an example:

If I give you the word “cr”, the first word that probably comes to mind is “car”. However, if I give you a sentence to put that same word into, for instance, “I have to take cr of my grandmother” then we can know for certain that the “cr” is the word “care” and not “car”.

Now when a Hebrew speaking person comes across the Hebrew word יהושׁע, they immediately know that it is pronounced “Yehoshua” and NOT as “Yehosha” or “Yahusha”. This is because there is no need for a “waw” for the “u” sound in Hebrew.

Let us look at the photo above which we find in the Hebrew Sh’mot/Exodus 1:22. we find the word that is circled (tashlichuhu). Notice that there are two ‘u’ sounds “…..chuhu” but there is only one ‘waw’ at the end of the word giving the ‘u’ sound for only the final letter. Where then does the first ‘u’ sound come from? If you take away the Massoretic markings, how would you pronounce the word? (It cannot be pronounced “tashlichhu”)

In this second photo in which we find in Sh’mot/Exodus 3:3 in the Hebrew Tanakh, is the word “asurah.” Once again, there is the ‘u’ sound but no ‘waw.’ We have to again ask ourselves how would we pronounce it if the Massoretic markings were not there. We would then try to pronounce it as "asrah" but that would be totally incorrect and would either change the meaning of the word or there would be no such ronunciation of the word in Hebrew. So there has to be a vocal sound inserted when speaking it out.

Another thing to remember is that the name of the Messiah has a specific meaning. It means YHWH saves, or YHWH is our salvation. You cannot get this meaning from Yehosha or Yahusha as the ending “…..sha” does not have any meaning and there is no such word in Hebrew, and certainly does not mean save(s).

The end part of the name of the Messiah “…shua” can be spelled with the (shin waw ayin) but can also be spelled with the two letters (shin ayin) without the ‘waw’ but with the added “qubbuts” under the ‘shin’, as you can see in the photo provided below that was taken of page 172 of the Benjamin Davidson Hebrew Lexicon. It still retains the “…shua” sound.

So it is very clear that the Name of the Messiah does NOT end with, “….sha”. Those people who teach this false pronunciation are once again ignorant of the Hebrew language and do not have any knowledge on this topic. Also, these people do not read the Hebrew Torah at all. If they did, then they would have noticed that the name of Joshua is also spelled with "yud hey vav shin vav ayin" in Deut 3:21. I would love to see how they explain this one.

Now I need to put a note here that the name can also be shortened. Yeho... becomes Yo according to Hebrew grammar. So the shortened version of his name is Yoshua. Yeshua is a verb which means "salvation". Yeshua is also the Aramaic form of his name.

So the correct pronunciation of the name of the Messiah is undoubtedly Yehoshua, or Y’hoshua, if we stick to the facts, rules and regulations of the language of the Almighty and do not use our own opinions and speculations. It cannot ever be Yahushua or Yahusha.

Yehoshua is the Messiah