Exodus 6:2-3 (UASV):
“2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him, ‘I am Jehovah. 3 And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah I was not made known to them.’”

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The Issue of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) in Exodus 6:3

Exodus 6:3 has long been a point of difficulty in Old Testament interpretation and translation. The text seems, at first reading, to suggest that the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—had no knowledge of God’s covenant name, Jehovah (יהוה, YHWH). Yet, the Genesis record clearly shows that the Tetragrammaton was not only used in narrative but also placed upon the lips of the patriarchs themselves. For example, Abraham “built an altar to Jehovah” (Gen. 12:8), Jehovah identified Himself to Abram in vision (Gen. 15:7), and Abraham named the place of sacrifice “Jehovah-jireh” (Gen. 22:14). Likewise, Isaac and Jacob also invoked the Name (Gen. 26:25; 28:16). Thus, it cannot be that Exodus 6:3 denies the patriarchs’ awareness of the name Jehovah.

The crux of the issue lies in the Hebrew phrase:

וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם
(ushmi YHWH lo nodátti lahem)

literally, “and by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.”

The verb nodátti (from the root ידע, yada‘, “to know”) appears here in the Niphal perfect, conveying a state or experience of knowledge rather than the simple cognition of information. The force of the verb is relational and experiential—it is not that the patriarchs had never heard the divine name Jehovah, but that they had not come to know God under that name in its fullest covenantal significance.

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Translation Philosophy: Preserving the Hebrew Force

A literal translation must preserve the wording “I was not known to them by My name Jehovah.” Many modern translations attempt to soften the tension by inserting interpretive renderings such as:

• “I did not make Myself known” (ESV, NASB 2020, NIV, CSB).

• “I did not reveal Myself” (NLT, NET).

These introduce interpretive elements absent from the Hebrew. The text does not say that God failed to “make known” His name in the sense of revelation of its phonetics, but that the patriarchs did not come to know Him experientially by it. Such translations obscure the theological development in the text and fail to allow readers to wrestle with the force of the Hebrew.

The UASV rightly retains the literal form: “but by my name Jehovah I was not made known to them.” This preserves the inspired ambiguity and allows the reader to seek its sense within the broader canonical context.

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Experiential Knowing of Jehovah

The Hebrew root yada‘ is frequently used of relational, experiential, or covenantal knowledge rather than simple acquaintance. For example:

• Nabal “knew” David’s name, yet dismissed him: “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?” (1 Sam. 25:9–11). Here knowing is about recognition of worth and status.

• Pharaoh’s question to Moses, “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice…? I do not know Jehovah” (Ex. 5:2), does not deny awareness of the name but denies recognition of Jehovah’s authority and covenantal identity.

Therefore, in Exodus 6:3, God is saying that the patriarchs did not know Him in the fullness of what His covenant name “Jehovah” signified. They worshiped Jehovah and invoked His Name, but the reality that the Name carried—His covenant-keeping power in redeeming Israel from bondage and bringing them into the Land—was not yet experienced by them.

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The Covenant Name “Jehovah” and Its Progressive Revelation

The divine name Jehovah (יהוה, YHWH) is connected with God’s eternal self-existence and His faithfulness to act in accordance with His promises. The Name is expounded in Exodus 3:14, where God declares to Moses: Ehyeh asher ehyeh (“I AM WHO I AM”), revealing His eternal being and His certainty to carry out His word. Thus, Jehovah is the God who both exists and acts in history to fulfill His covenant.

For the patriarchs, Jehovah’s covenant promises were received but not fulfilled. Abraham was promised countless descendants, but during his lifetime he saw only Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob was promised a nation and land, but died in Egypt. They invoked the Name Jehovah, but they did not know Him in the fulfillment of His covenantal actions under that Name. Now, in Exodus, God was about to make known what the Name truly meant: He would deliver Israel with a mighty hand, judge Egypt, and bring His people into the Promised Land. Thus, Israel would “know that I am Jehovah your God” (Ex. 6:7).

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Illustration: Abram Becomes Abraham

This can be illustrated by the renaming of Abram to Abraham. When Abram bore the name “Exalted Father” (Abram), he had but one son. Only when God multiplied his seed did the name “Abraham” (“Father of a Multitude”) take on its full force. Similarly, the patriarchs knew the Name Jehovah, but only now, through the Exodus, would its meaning in covenantal action be fully realized.

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Scholarly Support for Experiential Knowing

Professor D. H. Weir observed:

“Those who claim Exodus 6:2–3 marks the first time the name Jehovah was revealed, have not studied [these verses] in the light of other scriptures; otherwise they would have perceived that ‘by name’ must be meant here not the two syllables which make up the word Jehovah, but the idea which it expresses. When we read in Isaiah 52:6, ‘Therefore my people shall know my name;’ or in Jeremiah 16:21, ‘They shall know that my name is Jehovah;’ or in the Psalms, Psalm 9:10, ‘They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee;’ we see at once that to know Jehovah’s name is something very different from knowing the four letters of which it is composed. It is to know by experience that Jehovah really is what His name declares Him to be.” (Imperial Bible-Dictionary, Vol. I, pp. 856–857).

Thus, Exodus 6:3 does not present a contradiction with Genesis, nor does it support theories of multiple sources or documentary redaction (as critical scholars allege). Rather, it highlights the progressive unfolding of God’s covenantal self-revelation in history.

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Theological Implications

1. Jehovah’s Faithfulness: The verse emphasizes the covenantal dimension of the divine name. Jehovah is not merely “the existing one” but the God who acts to fulfill His promises.

2. Progressive Revelation: The patriarchs knew Jehovah in promise, but Israel would know Him in fulfillment. This pattern recurs throughout Scripture—what is promised earlier is revealed in fuller glory later.

3. Experiential Knowledge: To “know Jehovah” is not limited to linguistic recognition of His Name but involves trusting Him as He demonstrates His covenant-keeping power.

4. Against Documentary Hypothesis: Critical scholars, following Wellhausen, claim Exodus 6:3 reflects contradictory traditions (a supposed “E” source using Elohim and a later “P” source introducing Yahweh). Yet this fails to account for the many pre-Mosaic uses of Jehovah in Genesis and ignores the semantic nuance of yada‘. The verse, properly understood, affirms unity of authorship and theological coherence.

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Conclusion

Exodus 6:3 does not deny that the patriarchs knew and used the divine name Jehovah. Rather, it reveals that the full covenantal significance of that Name—Jehovah as the God who acts to redeem His people and fulfill His promises—was not experientially known to them. Through the Exodus and covenant at Sinai, Israel would come to know Jehovah in truth, not merely as a name spoken, but as the living God who acts in history for His people.

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