Strictly speaking, the only personal name of God belonging to Him alone, and the most significant name of God found in the Old Testament (over 5000 times). Yahweh is the approximate (and likely) pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, the four-letter word YHWH. When Moses asked what His name was to take back to the Hebrews in Egypt, God replied, “I AM THAT I AM (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑הehyeh esher ehyeh): and he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה, ehyeh, 1st person singular, giving God's declaration of His name) has sent me to you” (Exod 3:14). Thus God revealed to Moses the very essential meaning of His name as Yahweh (יְהוָ֞ה, Yahweh, 3rd person singular, the response of the people of God, He is). There is a strong indication that Jesus (or Yeshua, Yahweh is salvation) used this name and its divine implication to apply to himself when he said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (ἐγὼ εἰμί, egō eimi) (John 8:58). Thus, the very Person who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush was the very same Person who addressed the startled Jews in the Gospel of John.
For a more complete discussion of the personal name of God, see the passage in Exodus in which He reveals His name to Moses, Exodus 3:14, 15.
A Name of God (אֱלֹהִים; 'elohim)
Word Study
| Hershel Wayne House
אֱלֹהִיםʼĕlôhîym·Strong's H430
This is a generic name for the divine being. In the Hebrew Bible, the word is regularly used in the plural in reference to the God of Israel but in regard to His majesty or intensity. The plural has a third person singular with the God of Israel, but a third plural with foreign deities.
Abba, Father
Word Study
| Hershel Wayne House • Steve Stanley
ἈββᾶAbbâ·Strong's G5
This Aramaic term is used only three times in the NT and approximately 80 times in the writings of the early church fathers when quoting or paraphrasing Jesus’ words. It is translated by the very next word in this verse as ὁ πατήρ (ho pater) “the Father,” as it is in all three NT uses. Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and Hebrew, both languages being used in Israel. In Jesus’ day, abba was used for the father in the family, and was a customary title for God in prayer among the Jews. It was eventually taken over by Greek-speaking Christians as a liturgical formula. Some posit that abba is equivalent to “daddy,” an American English term for “father.” This assumes that the American informality expressed by children toward their father would have an analogy in Jesus’ culture, an assumption difficult to sustain. It is, therefore, not appropriate to refer to God as “daddy.” Linguistically, then, abba means "father" in Hebrew, Greek and English. It must be noted, however, that while “father” is a term of respect in biblical literature, it is also a term of affection, very deep and abiding affection. With His use of “Abba,” Jesus expresses His respectful and intimate relationship with His Heavenly Father in prayer, a wonderful example for all believers.
1Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. Yahweh has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3Yahweh your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken. 4Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5Yahweh will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them, for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”
7Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it. 8Yahweh himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.”
9Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. 10Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths, 11when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, learn, fear Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, 13and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”
14Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.”
Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.
15Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door. 16Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’ 18I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
19“Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 21It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised them.”
22So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.
23He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you.”
24When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, saying, 26“Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of Yahweh your God’s covenant, that it may be there for a witness against you. 27For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death? 28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”
30Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.