The Aleppo Codex (see photo below) and apparently at least 90 Hebrew manuscripts have the vowels for the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) as per the introduction to the Chumash – Stone Edition
You may note in the image from the Stone Edition of the Chumash below, (preface page xiv), that the Orthodox Jews are instructed by the author to NEVER pronounce His name as it should be pronounced!
You might ask why?
There are a great many issues with Orthodox (or Akiva) Judaism (as opposed to the true faith of Yeshua Judaism), but here I believe is a perhaps well-intentioned but mistaken and mis-guided attempt to avoid blaspheming the Name of the Almighty (some argue that this use of Adonai or HaShem, etc instead of Yehovah started as early as the return from Babylon).
As explained in the ‘duolingo’ article (link below) these vowels are ‘shva’ (pronounced ‘e’), Cholam (pronounced ‘o’) and Kamatz (pronounced ‘a’), giving the pronunciation of the Almighty’s name as ‘Yehovah’.
While there are many who dispute this, having listened to Nehemia Gordon and after doing some research of my own, I am fairly persuaded.
In the linked article: “Because of Arab influence on Hebrew, some pronounce the vav letter as a W and call it a waw.” That’s why you see the word Yahweh instead of Yahveh and the transliteration YHWH instead of YHVH.
Nehemiah Gordon’s recent research (2016-2017) proves that “It’s a Vav,” as one of his blog posts is aptly titled.
He shares evidence from the scrolls of Jeremiah, 1 Kings and Nehemiah that vet (always a V sound) and vav are equivalent because the word for “back” (gav) is written alternatively with either letter. Check out in the Hebrew Aleppo Codex Ezekiel 23:35 (“back”/gav spelled with vav) vs Ezekiel 43:13 (“back”/gav with soft bet/vet) and 1 Kings 14:9 (“back” gav spelled with vet). Nehemiah 9:26 (“back”/gav with vav).
He also debunks the idea that Arab or Ashkenazi/Yiddish influence led to the vav being pronounced as a W universally. He lists six Jewish communities (without European influence) who nevertheless pronounced the vav as a V: Kurdish Jews, Syrian Jews, Egyptian Jews, Persian Jews, Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews. This is in contradiction to five communities who pronounce it as a W due to Arab influence: the Yemenite Jews, Baghdadi Jews, Libyan Jews, Tunisian Jews, Atlas Mountain Jews.”
I think His Name is important – at least according to the Tanakh:
Zechariah 13:9 “… They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say: They are My people, and they will say: “Yehovah is our God.”
Ezekiel 39:7 “So I will make My holy name known among My people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am Yehovah, the Holy One in Israel.”
Of course, knowing Him and being obedient to Him is much more important than knowing how to properly pronounce His personal name.
If we truly know Yeshua as Mashiach ben Yosef, we will also be obedient to his Father and ours.
Some supporting links:
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/7253301/Hebrew-Time-8-The-Hebrew-Vowels
Below is a chart showing what the vowels ‘shva’ (pronounced ‘e’), Cholam (pronounced ‘o’) and Kamatz (pronounced ‘a’) look like:
For much more detail see this link on Nehemia Gordon’s site:
Global Truth International 