YHWH is the name-title of The Living God Who guides the destinies of men and nations; Who’s very name is a contraction of the verb “be” Hence, He Is, He Was and He Shall Be.

Notice that God gave the Tetragrammaton Gen.2 after, and not in the creation account: and He did that long before He gave His people the revelation of Himself as YHWH.Ex.6:3 Elohim introduced the Tetragrammaton in conjunction with Himself, using the compound YHWH-Elohim; then He showed the relation of provision in rain for the trees, mist for the seed, a garden for man, etc; and after that unveiled the revelation of Himself in the Tetragrammation.

The Tetragrammaton is YHVH, or YHWY, the Hebrew letters Yud, Hay, Vav, and Hay. The W came to be substituted for V, but both represent the seventh Hebrew letter Vav. The Tetragrammaton is (as it were), the fingerprint of God. It occurs over 6,800 times in Scripture

English Bibles generally translate the Tetragramaton “LORD” with all the letters capitalized. There is no sound or letter “J” in Hebrew, nevertheless, outside Hebrew culture Jehovah and Yahweh have become popular substitutes for The Tetraaagrammation.

From Exodus 20:7 ancient Jewish sages and rabbis teach that the Tetragrammaton may not be pronounced under any circumstances. Adonai, which means Master or HaShem, meaning, The Name is substituted in all oral readings of the occurrences of the Tetragrammaton. Once a year, on The Day of Atonement, only the high priest spoke the Name of God, and then, precisely ten times within the Holy of Holies.

Within the Jewish religion, The Tetragrammaton is held to be so sacred, that once it was transcribed onto anything, the Tetragrammaton was not to be removed, altered or destroyed from its host object. Thus, it is not written; the approved substitutes are used. This fact ought to weigh heavily in considerations and determinations around the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of El Shaddai, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.     Exodus 6:3

Before the knowledge of how to pronounce it was lost, pronouncing the Tetragrammaton was considered to be so efficacious that speaking it would seal an oath in God- like ability, and responsibility in the fulfilling of that oath; and that with uncompromising and irrevocable consequences of blessings or curses in the keeping or breaking of that oath. It was thus used to swear into office. Placing the right hand on something on which the Tetragrammaton was written and pronouncing it out loud called YHWH and all else in covenant with Him to witness and bear the Truth of that (lesser) covenant…that it is not a falsehood to profane His Name (see Lev. 19:12). Using the right hand was done to indicate the right hand of God—His strength and power to carry out the oath.

Thus we place our hands on the Bible and solemnly swear….