THE GOD CULTURE PHILIPPINES BLOG | OCTOBER 22, 2025

From YHWH to Kyrios: How the Name Was Replaced

Tracing the Disappearance — and the Return — of the Father’s Name. Part 2.

“My people shall know My Name.” — Isaiah 52:6

1. The Substitution Begins

The disappearance of the sacred Name did not occur overnight.
It began quietly, centuries before the New Testament, when Jewish scribes translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek — the Septuagint (LXX) — around the 3rd century B.C.

At first, the translators preserved the Name.
Early fragments like Papyrus Fouad 266 (1st cent. B.C.) show the divine Name written in paleo-Hebrew letters (יהוה) within Greek text.
But later copyists, following the Pharisaic practice of avoiding pronunciation, began replacing it with Κύριος (Kyrios) — “Lord.”

It was a linguistic accommodation born of reverence — but it became a theological erasure.
When YHWH was replaced, His identity became abstract.
“Lord” could mean anyone.

2. The Testimony of the Fathers

Several early witnesses confirm that the substitution was conscious and widespread.

• Origen (3rd cent.) observed that in older Greek manuscripts the divine Name was still written in Hebrew characters, but that some readers mistook it for the Greek word ΠΙΠΙ (PIPI) because the characters looked similar.
  He writes in his Hexapla that this was not Greek at all but the sacred Name “in the ancient Hebrew letters.”

• Jerome (4th cent.), translator of the Latin Vulgate, reported that the Name appeared in ancient Greek copies as IAO or Iaho — clear phonetic renderings of the Hebrew Yahu.
  He even noted that some still pronounced the Name in this form, though others had ceased to utter it altogether.

These admissions prove that the translators knew what they were replacing.
They did not misunderstand — they substituted deliberately.

3. The Morphing of a Name

To visualize the transition:

יהוה (YHWH) → Yahu / Yah → IAO / Iaho → Κύριος (Kyrios) → Dominus → Lord

At each stage, reverence met restriction.
Greek lacked the consonants Y and H, so Yahu became Iao.
Then reverence forbade even that — and Iao became Kyrios, a title rather than a name.
By the time the Latin Vulgate appeared, “Dominus” replaced it entirely, and the English “Lord” followed suit.

4. The Septuagint’s Inheritance

When the New Testament writers quoted the Old, they often cited the Septuagint.
Thus, when Matthew, Luke, and Paul wrote “Lord,” they were reproducing the Greek form already in circulation, which by that time no longer contained the Hebrew characters.

Yet the meaning was understood.
When Paul quoted Joel 2:32 — “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:13) — the Hebrew text read YHWH.
He wasn’t inventing a new title; he was reaffirming the ancient covenant Name in Greek clothing.

Kyrios, then, was not meant as replacement but as translation of function — until later theology froze it as the only acceptable term.

5. Theological Consequences

The substitution carried immense implications.

1. Identity Dilution — The covenant God became generic “Lord,” making it easier to merge Hebrew faith with Greco-Roman religiosity.

2. Messianic Confusion — Because “Lord” applied to both YHWH and Yahusha, the distinction between Father and Son blurred linguistically, fueling centuries of debate.

3. Loss of Invocation — Prayer and praise lost the Name itself; reverence turned to silence.

In effect, reverence replaced relationship.

6. The Name Was Never Absent

Even amid suppression, the linguistic traces remained.
The -IAS endings in names like Elias, Esaias, Jeremias, and Matthias are the fossilized remains of Yahu.
The final shout of Scripture, “Hallelu-Yah,” still preserves it perfectly.

The very language of the apostles testifies that YHWH was present, spoken, and known — not erased, only disguised.

7. Modern Witnesses Rediscover the Trail

Contemporary papyrology continues to affirm this progression:

• Papyrus Fouad 266 — YHWH in paleo-Hebrew inside Greek text.

• Papyrus Oxy 1007 (LXX Job) — the Tetragrammaton written as ΙΑΩ.

• 1QIsaa (Great Isaiah Scroll) — confirms early vocal forms of Yahu.

Each fragment tells the same story: the Name moved across languages, not vanishing but adapting until forbidden to appear.

8. The Restoration Begins

Today, restoration is not rebellion.
It is returning to what Scripture actually said.

The true reading is not hidden in secret codes or mystical traditions; it survives in plain phonetics — Yahuah — the Name found within every prophet who carried His message.
When we read Hallelu-Yah, Eli-Yahu, or Mattith-Yahu, we still proclaim it.

To restore YHWH is to honor the text, not to violate it.
It is to speak as Abraham, Moses, and Yahusha Himself did — in the Name of the Father.

9. The Honest Acknowledgment

Scholars and theologians may debate pronunciation, but one fact remains indisputable:
The substitution occurred.
Even major Bible prefaces (such as the 1611 KJV) admit that LORD in capital letters represents the divine Name.

“Wherever the name of God, YHWH, occurs in the Hebrew, it is translated LORD.” — KJV Preface, 1611

They never denied it — they simply normalized it.
But normalization does not equal truth.

10. A Closing Thought

“That they may know that You, whose Name alone is YHWH, are the Most High over all the earth.” — Psalm 83:18

History replaced that Name.
Translation buried it.
But the record remains — in the mouths of prophets, in the names of apostles, in the praise of heaven.

Now, as prophecy foretold, His people are remembering.
The Name of YHWH is returning to the tongues of men.

Next in the Series:

“The Pronounceable Name: Evidence from Prophetic Names and Greek Endings (-IAS) That Preserve YAHU.”
A detailed linguistic analysis of how -Yahu survived as -ias throughout the New Testament — and what this means for the restoration of the Sacred Name today.

Yah Bless. The God Culture Team.

🪶 Source Box — Documented Witnesses to the Substitution of the Name

Primary Manuscripts & Epigraphic Evidence

• Papyrus Fouad 266 (LXX Deuteronomy – 1st cent. B.C.) – Greek text retaining יהוה in paleo-Hebrew letters within the Septuagint. Demonstrates that the Name was originally written, not translated.

• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1007 (LXX Job – 1st cent. B.C.) – Contains ΙΑΩ (IAO) where later copies read Kyrios; the Greek phonetic rendering of Yahu.

• 4Q120 (Leviticus – Dead Sea Scrolls) – Preserves the same form ΙΑΩ, confirming vocal usage of Yahu in the 1st century B.C.

• 1QIsaᵃ (Great Isaiah Scroll) – Shows consistency of the Tetragrammaton in ancient Hebrew orthography; the form YHWH never disappeared in pre-Christian texts.

Early Writers & Patristic Admissions

• Origen, Hexapla (3rd cent. A.D.) – Notes that the divine Name appeared in Hebrew characters which some Greek readers mistook for ΠΙΠΙ (PIPI), clarifying that these letters represented YHWH, not Greek text.

• Jerome, Prologus Galeatus and Letters to Marcellus (4th cent. A.D.) – States that in ancient Greek copies of Scripture the Name was written as IAO or Iaho, and that Jews later substituted Kyrios out of fear to pronounce it.

• Theodoret of Cyrrhus (5th cent. A.D.) – Records that Samaritans pronounced the Name as “Iabe,” showing continuing awareness of its vocal form long after translation began.

Translation Prefaces & Modern Admissions

• King James Version Preface (1611) – Acknowledges: “Wherever the Name of God, YHWH, occurs in the Hebrew, it is translated LORD.”

• Revised Standard Version Preface (1952) – Adds: “For two reasons the word ‘LORD’ has been substituted for the Name YHWH … the long tradition and reverence for the divine Name.”

• New Jerusalem Bible Preface (1985) – Restores “Yahweh” and confirms that the Tetragrammaton was replaced in earlier English editions.

From Fouad 266 to Jerome’s own hand, the record is undeniable: the Name was not lost by accident but replaced by policy. Its recovery is not innovation — it is repentance.

✒️ Author’s Reflection — Why We Restore What They Removed

History did not silence the Name by accident.
It was set aside through fear, tradition, and the slow erosion of courage to speak what was once holy on every tongue.
The same reverence that claimed to protect the divine identity eventually concealed it.

But restoration is not rebellion. It is obedience — a return to the covenant truth that the Almighty revealed His Name to be known, not hidden.
To say Yahuah is not presumption; it is participation in Scripture’s call: “Declare My Name among the nations.”

We are not rewriting history; we are removing the footnotes that replaced revelation.
The Name was not lost — it was covered by the dust of translation.
Now, that dust is being swept away.

When the veil of language lifts, the voice of the Father resounds once more.
And His people, from the Isles of the East to the ends of the earth, are remembering who He is — and who they are.