02A.05.4. Translating the tetragrammaton

Fourth, the Hebrew Old Testament has a tetragrammaton for the personal name of God. It was so sacred the Hebrews never uttered it. It was hwIhyÃ’ (YHWH), and when they came to it they gave it the pronunciation of adonai "lord" and indicated this by giving the vowel markings of adonai (thus ), and when in the context with adonai they gave it the pronunciation of elohim "God" and the vowels of elohim and thus it appeared . The KJV approached this matter and showed the best scholarship of any translation known. When they came to they used the word "LORD" in all caps indicating it was the tetragrammaton pronounced as adonai "lord", and for they used "GOD" in all caps showing it was the tetragrammaton pronounced as elohim. What a marvelous technique, so similar and parallel to the Hebrew itself!

Here the ASV falls quite short. Instead of following the KJV they proceeded to try and translate YHWH by "Jehovah" an old unscholarly pronunciation from the medieval period. (The KJV used "Jehovah" in four instances, Exodus 6:3; Psalms 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 26:4). The best way to translate the name of God appears to be as "Yahweh." But according to which vowels one supplies there are about fifteen variations in pronouncing it.

Here the RSV and NEB recognized the weakness of "Jehovah" and returned to following the scholarly method of the KJV.