"Yahweh, Not Yahuwah: How a 3,400-Year-Old Inscription Settles the Divine Name Debate!"

For many years, Christians and Bible readers have debated the exact pronunciation of God’s sacred name YHWH, the Tetragrammaton. Some movements today strongly promote the form “Yahuwah,” insisting it is the original name of the God of Israel. But what if archaeology could help answer this ancient question?

In one of the most remarkable discoveries in recent years, a 3,400-year-old inscription from Soleb, Sudan, has emerged as the earliest extra-biblical reference to the God of Israel, and it doesn't support “Yahuwah.” It supports Yahweh.

Let’s explore why this matters not only for scholars, but for everyday believers who want confidence that our faith stands firmly in both history and Scripture.

1. The Name that Appears 6,823 Times

The divine name YHWH appears over 6,800 times in the Old Testament. It is God’s personal covenant name, the name He revealed to Moses. But pronunciation? Ancient Hebrew wrote only consonants. So to recover the sound of the name, we rely on:

• linguistic patterns,

• early Hebrew theophoric names (e.g., Yah, Yahu),

• ancient transcriptions in other languages,

• and archaeological evidence.

Across these lines of evidence, one pronunciation rises to the top: Yahweh (Yah-weh), not Yahuwah. Not Yehowah. Certainly not Jehovah (a much later hybrid).

2. The Sacred Name Debate: What’s the Issue?

The Sacred Name Movement (SNM) argues that God’s name must be spoken only in “restored Hebrew form,” often insisting on:

• Yahuwah

• Yahowah

• Yehovah

But here is the problem: No ancient inscription uses these forms. Not one from Israel, Egypt, Canaan, or Babylon. Meanwhile, forms that look like Yahweh appear across inscriptions, tablets, and ancient translations. A sincere desire to honour God’s name is good. But sincerity must walk with evidence.

Why “Yahweh” and not “Yahuwah”?

• Most modern Hebrew/semantics scholars accept that the original pronunciation was Yahweh (yāh-weh). The form “Jehovah” arises from combining the consonants YHWH with the vowel points of “Adonai” (Lord) in the Masoretic text, a hybrid, later advent. 

• While exact pronunciation cannot be known for certain (ancient Hebrew lacked vowel letters), the preponderance of evidence supports Yah-weh rather than Yah-u-wah.

• The short form “Yah” (as in Hallelu-yah) also points to Yah as the first syllable.

In short, when someone argues for “Yahuwah” as the “true” divine name, you can ask: what is the scriptural, linguistic, or archaeological basis for the “-uwah” syllable? By contrast, Yahweh has far stronger backing.

3. The Discovery at Soleb: Yahweh in Stone

The turning point in this discussion comes from the Temple of Soleb, built by Pharaoh Amenhotep III around 1400 BC, the era many scholars connect with the Exodus. Egyptologists studying the temple’s carved pillars found lists of foreign peoples defeated or encountered by Egypt. One of the pillar inscriptions reads, in Egyptian transliteration: “Land of the Shasu Nomads of Yhwꜣ.” It is an Egyptian inscription referring to nomads associated with Yahweh. In Egyptian transliteration:

• tꜣ šꜣsw Yhwꜣ, which means “the land of the nomads (shasu) of Yhwꜣ”. 

• “šꜣsw” (shasu) is the Egyptian word for nomads or “wanderers”.

• Yhwꜣ: this is read as “Yahweh” (or equivalent). Scholars interpret the four consonants Y-H-W-A as the deity’s name, not a place name. 

• The context: the Egyptians depicted the subjugated peoples, and this group is identified solely by their god (“of Yahweh”). 

This makes it the oldest known reference to Yahweh outside the Bible. Imagine that: A 3,400-year-old stone carving in Sudan naming the God of Israel before Israel even entered Canaan.

Why this matters

• If the inscription is dated to c. 1400 BC (late 15th century BC), then by that date, Egypt already knew of a people whose god was Yahweh. 

• It correlates surprisingly well with a “biblical” early Exodus chronology (c. 1446 BC) and 40 years wandering and settling. (As per 1 Kings 6:1 and traditional readings.) 

• For those who argue that the Israelites and Yahweh worship did not exist until much later, this finding places them firmly in the 15th century BC.

• It also strongly reinforces that “Yahweh” was a divine name used by a nomadic people group (shasu) identifiable with early Israel. 

Putting it into an apologetic setting

When someone says, “No proof exists outside the Bible for the name of God”, you can reply: “Actually, yes, this Soleb inscription is the earliest known extra-biblical mention of the god Yahweh.” And then ask: “Would those favoring ‘Yahuwah’ offer an inscription using that form?” At present, none of the mainstream epigraphic materials use Yahuwah.

But here is the problem: No ancient inscription uses these forms. Not one from Israel, Egypt, Canaan, or Babylon. Meanwhile, forms resembling Yahweh appear in inscriptions, tablets, and ancient translations. A sincere desire to honour God’s name is good. But sincerity must walk with evidence.

4. Why This Supports “Yahweh,” Not “Yahuwah”

The inscription spells the divine name with the equivalent of the consonants Y-H-W-A. Linguistically, this fits perfectly with the scholarly reconstruction of Yahweh. It does not fit:

• Yahuwah (Y-H-W-U-W-A)

• Yahowah

• Yehovah

There is zero archaeological evidence for those forms in the Bronze Age or Iron Age. The Soleb inscription aligns with:

• the shorter Hebrew forms “Yahu” and “Yah,”

• early Israelite theophoric names like EliYahu (Elijah),

• and the consensus of Hebrew linguistics.

History doesn’t whisper ‘Yahuwah.’ It clearly speaks ‘Yahweh.’

A Powerful Apologetic Point

For believers, this discovery strengthens two powerful truths:

• God’s name was known among ancient peoples exactly as Scripture describes
  
  
• The earliest archaeological record supports the pronunciation Yahweh

This is a beautiful example of how archaeology and the Bible walk hand-in-hand, not in conflict but in confirmation.

How to Use This in Apologetic Conversations

If someone insists that “Yahuwah” is the only true name:

You can gently ask:

1. Where is the historical evidence?
   Are there any ancient inscriptions using “Yahuwah”? → None so far.

2. Why does the earliest inscription, 1400 BC, use Yahweh instead?

3. Why do older Hebrew names end in “-yah” or “-yahu,” not “-yahuwa”?

4. Why do historians, linguists, and archaeologists all converge on Yahweh?

This approach keeps the discussion kind, respectful, and rooted in facts, not speculation. Honouring God’s name means embracing the God of truth. Evidence matters.

Final Thoughts: Faith Meets History

The Soleb inscription is more than just an old carving in Sudan. It is a reminder that:

• The God who revealed Himself to Moses is a God rooted in real history.

• His name was known long before critics claimed Israel “invented” it.

• And the ancient world knew Him as Yahweh.

For Christians today, this strengthens our confidence that Scripture is aligned with history, even down to the divine name itself. The stones cry out, and they say Yahweh.

Addressing the Sacred Name Movement (SNM) Concerns

The SNM often emphasises preserving Hebrew names and claims “Yahuwah” (or “Yehowah”, “Yahowah”) is the original, sometimes claiming the accepted “Yahweh” is compromised or corrupted.

Here’s how you can engage:

1. Preserve Hebrew Names? Good—but use evidence.
   Preserving Hebrew names is laudable, but it must go hand-in-hand with scholarship. The linguistic evidence favours Yahweh rather than Yahuwah.

2. Where is “Yahuwah” in ancient inscriptions?
   To my knowledge, no ancient inscription from the Bronze Age or early Iron Age uses the precise form “Yahuwah”. The Soleb form is Y-H-W-A (Yhwꜣ), not Y-H-W-U-W-A.

3. Pronunciation vs reverence.
   Some may argue that because the pronunciation was lost, we should default to one or another form. True, but scholarly consensus leans on Yah-weh. Moreover, revering the name is distinct from insisting on an unattested variant.

4. Focus on substance not just spelling.
   The key is: the God of Israel is referred to by name in ancient epigraphy. That strengthens confidence in the biblical record. The argument over extra syllables is secondary, important, but not essential for the main apologetic claim (that God’s name was known).

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REFERENCES 

Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology. (n.d.). The Soleb inscription: Earliest discovered use of the name Yahweh.

Bible Archaeology Report. (2019, March 8). Three Egyptian inscriptions about Israel.

Bible Archaeology Report. (n.d.). The Soleb inscription: Yahweh and the Shasu nomads. 

Britannica. (n.d.). Yahweh.

eScholarship. (n.d.). The land of the šꜣsw-nomads of Yhwꜣ at Soleb.

eScholarship. (n.d.). Yhwꜣ and the Shasu nomads: Egyptian references to Yahweh.

FaithWriters. (n.d.). Tetragrammaton and the name of God.

GotQuestions Ministries. (n.d.). What is YHWH?

SciSpace. (n.d.). The land of the S3sw-nomads of yhw3 at Soleb.

SciSpace. (n.d.). Interpretation of Yhwꜣ in Egyptian inscriptions.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Jah.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Soleb.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Tetragrammaton.

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