Exodus 6:3
That appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; and my name ADONAI I did not shew them.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- qui apparui Abraham, Isaac et Jacob in Deo omnipotente : et nomen meum Adonai non indicavi eis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ὤφθην πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου Κύριος οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי לָהֶֽם
Haydock's commentary
My name Adonai. The name which is in the Hebrew text, is that most proper name of God, which signifieth his eternal self-existing being, (Exodus iii. 14,) which the Jews, out of reverence, never pronounce; but instead of it, whenever it occurs in the Bible, they read Adonai, which signifies the Lord; and therefore they put the points or vowels, which belong to the name Adonai, to the four letters of that other ineffable name, Jod, He, Vau, He. Hence some moderns have framed the name Jehovah: unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians: for the true pronunciation of the name, which is in the Hebrew texts, by long disuse, is now quite lost. (Challoner)
This name was first clearly revealed to Moses, that he might have confidence in his special protection and love. (Menochius)
To know one by his name is to treat him with familiarity and distinction, Exodus xxxiii. 17. The pronunciation of the name of God might be known to Abraham, &c., but it was not so fully explained, nor the power and excellence of it declared in such a stupendous manner, as it was to Moses. (Du Hamel)
Or perhaps Moses made use of this name in the history of the patriarchs, because he wrote his account of them after this revelation. (Calmet)
The Septuagint always put Kurios, "the Lord," instead of the ineffable name; and our Saviour and his apostles, citing text where it occurs, follow their example. (Matthew iv. 7, 10; Romans xv. 11.) (Worthington)
Philo informs us, that it was death to pronounce it out of the temple; and since that was destroyed, it has never been heard. (Calmet)
Read on
Galatinus, who wrote in 1518, is supposed to have invented the word Jehovah, (see Amama Antib. p. 319,) the year after the pretended reformation began. (Haydock)
St. Jerome (ep. 136 ad Marc.) explains the ten names of God, but never reads Jehovah. (Tirinus)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Hippolytus The Refutation of All Heresies, Chapter XXXI
Let, then, those (heretics) pursue these inquiries among themselves, (and let others do so likewise) if it should prove agreeable to anybody else to investigate (such points. Valen tinus) subjoins, however, the following statement: That the trespasses appertaining to the Æons within (the Pleroma) had been corrected; and likewise had been rectified the trespasses appertaining to the Ogdoad, (that is) Sophia, outside (the Pleroma); and also (the trespasses) appertaining to the Hebdomad (had been rectified). For the Demiurge had been taught by Sophia that He is not Himself God alone, as He imagined, and that except Himself there is not another (Deity). But when taught by Sophia, He was made to recognise the superior (Deity). For He was instructed by her, and initiated and indoctrinated into the great mystery of the Father and of the Æons, and divulged this to none. …
St Hippolytus The Refutation of All Heresies, Chapter XIII
When, therefore, according to these (heretics), the entire world and super-mundane entities were finished, and (when) nothing exists labouring under deficiency, there still remains in the (conglomeration of) all germs the third Sonship, which had been left behind in the Seed to confer benefits and receive them. And it must needs be that the Sonship which had been left behind ought likewise to be revealed and reinstated above. And His place should be above the Conterminous Spirit, near the refined and imitative Sonship and the Non-Existent One. …