Is Yahweh's name forbidden to be spoken?

Answer 1

Ouch! Tough question! Well, Yahweh is God's name and God said not to use his name is vein which means not swearing. If you used inappropriately, then yes, you should not say it. But God wants us to call out to him! God wants us to praise his name! Is it wrong to pray using Gods name? No!

So I would say no: it is not wrong to say Yahweh as long as you don't use it to curse or swear. You can use it in a prayer, you can use it to praise or worship God. That is not wrong.

• Jewish Answer

"Yahweh" is not the correct spelling, but rather a mistakenly attempted transliteration of the Name of the Creator. The pronunciation "Yahweh" is a concoction of modern theology.

There are many reasons why Jews do not pronounce the name. Predominant of which is - No one knows how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton. One can see it as that the name is beyond the ability of humans to pronounce or verbalise. By pronouncing the name, a human would commit pejoration on the Creator. A pejorative is committed when describing someone with an inaccurate description of that person. The Tetragrammaton signifies the infinite characteristics of the Creator. Therefore, someone who wishes to pronounce it would have to know what those characteristics are. While Christians and Muslims believe that pronouncing a name of the Creator is the supreme way to be identified with the Creator, Jews are taught that observing the Sabbath and the commandments are the ways to identify with the Creator. Therefore, one way to see it is - to learn to pronounce the name of the Creator is not by verbally pronouncing but by learning and practicing the precepts of the Torah. Therefore, attempting to pronounce the name verbally rather than observing the precepts surrounding the name in the Torah would be committing pejoration on the Creator. By verbally pronouncing the name would then seem to be a lazy short-cut to pronouncing the name. Don't you hate it when someone describes your ethnic group with a convenient syllabic stereotype? Jews especially know how it feels to be stereotyped by inaccuracies. Therefore, it will be dificult for Jews to stereotype their Creator by pronouncing the name.

Answer 2

Beside the fact that "Yahweh" is an incorrect rendition of God's name, there is also a prohibition for Jews on pronouncing it even if you knew how (Sanhedrin 11:1).See also the Related Link.

More about God's names

Answer 3

It is meant to be unpronounceable - the unpronounceable name of God.