An editorial note in BAR, November/December 1984 (“Who or What Was Yahweh’s Asherah?” BAR 10:06) states that the pronunciation Yahweh for the Tetragrammaton is “by scholarly convention.” It should be noted that there are many strong linguistic and epigraphic arguments in favor of Yahweh as the correct form. [...] So Yahweh is not just some sort of “scholarly convention.”
—Prof. Anson F. Rainey,
“How Was the Tetragrammaton Pronounced?”,
Biblical Archaeology Review,
“Queries & Comments” Jul/Aug 1985.
Ya done it again! In a footnote to J. Glen Taylor’s article (“Was Yahweh Worshiped as the Sun?” BAR 20:03), you say: “No one knows how YHWH was pronounced, but it is usually vocalized as Yahweh.” This, despite the fact that you had published my letter, “How was the Tetragrammaton Pronounced?” (Queries & Comments, BAR 11:04), in which I gave the epigraphic and linguistic evidence in support of the pronunciation “Yahweh” (I’m still getting correspondence from all over the world in response to that letter). [...] This is not hocus-pocus. Any layman can readily comprehend the equation. [...] Obviously, my letter in 1985 did not impress you. But the evidence for Yahweh as the correct pronunciation for the Sacred Name is at least as strong as the view that Sennacherib destroyed Lachish Stratum III.
—Prof. Anson F. Rainey,
“How Yahweh Was Pronounced”,
Biblical Archaeology Review,
“Queries & Comments.” Sep/Oct 1994.
