The Dead Sea Scrolls give us the oldest surviving Hebrew manuscripts of most of the Old Testament, copied between roughly 250 BC and AD 70. In those manuscripts the divine name appears not as Adonai or HaShem but as the four consonants יהוה — the Tetragrammaton. Scribes wrote it in the old paleo-Hebrew script even inside texts otherwise copied in the later square (Aramaic) script, and a few manuscripts use it in square letters. That practice shows the name was still written, not replaced by a substitute, in the centuries just before and during the New Testament era.
The scrolls do not tell us how the name was pronounced. They tell us it was treated as a name, set apart visually, and copied with care. That is the heart of the matter, and the rest of this article answers the questions that follow.
What exactly is the Tetragrammaton?
The Tetragrammaton is the four-letter Hebrew name of God: yod, he, waw, he (יהוה). In English Bibles it is usually rendered LORD in small capitals, and in the American Standard Version it is rendered Jehovah. The form Jehovah is a later English hybrid: the consonants of יהוה with the vowel points of Adonai (or, in some forms, of Elohim). It has been used in English since at least the sixteenth century and appears in the King James Version in a handful of places.
God Himself treats the name as His memorial:
God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.” — Exodus 3:15 (BSB)
That verse matters for the scrolls because it shows the name is not a title like Lord or God. It is the personal name by which Israel was to remember Him.
How does the Tetragrammaton appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Three patterns show up.
Paleo-Hebrew inside square-script texts. Many manuscripts written in the square script still write יהוה in the older paleo-Hebrew letters. The scribe switches script for the name and then switches back. This is not an accident of copying; it is a deliberate signal that the name is different from the words around it.
Square script for the name. Some manuscripts simply write יהוה in the same square letters as the rest of the text. This is the more ordinary practice, and it is the ancestor of the way the name appears in later medieval Hebrew Bibles.
Greek manuscripts with Hebrew characters. Among the Greek Minor Prophets scroll from Nahal Hever and related finds, the Greek text carries the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew letters rather than the Greek word kyrios (Lord). Later Christian copies of the Greek Old Testament generally use kyrios, which is why most English Bibles read “the LORD” rather than a transliteration.
None of this proves a particular pronunciation. It does show that Jewish scribes in the Second Temple period preserved the name in writing and marked it out visually.
Why did scribes treat the name differently from other words?
Because Scripture itself sets the name apart. The third commandment forbids misuse of the name:
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain. — Exodus 20:7 (BSB)
The same command is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:11. Leviticus 24:16 prescribes serious penalties for blaspheming the Name. By the time of the scrolls, many Jews had developed a reverent practice of not pronouncing the name aloud in ordinary speech, reading Adonai instead. The written name, however, was still written. The scrolls are evidence of that exact combination: spoken substitution alongside written preservation.
This is also why the Masoretes, centuries later, added the vowel points of Adonai to the consonants of יהוה. They were not inventing a new name; they were reminding the reader to say Adonai while the text still showed the four letters.
Does the Tetragrammaton in the scrolls settle how the name was pronounced?
No. The scrolls give consonants, not vowels. Hebrew of that period was written without vowel points, and no Dead Sea Scroll preserves a vocalised form of the name. Scholars have proposed Yahweh as the most likely original pronunciation, based on early Greek transcriptions, on the short form Yah in names and in the Psalms, and on theophoric names such as Elijah and Isaiah. But this is a scholarly reconstruction, not something the scrolls state.
What the scrolls do settle is that the name was not a later invention. It was there in the text, in the oldest Hebrew copies we have, written as a name and treated as holy.
What does this mean for how we read the Bible today?
It means that when you see LORD in small capitals in your English Bible, you are looking at a translation decision, not a different word. The Hebrew behind it is יהוה. The American Standard Version chose to print Jehovah in those places; the King James Version prints LORD in small capitals and uses JEHOVAH in a few verses, such as Psalm 83:18. The Berean Standard Bible, like most modern versions, prints LORD in small capitals.
None of these choices is a denial of the name. They are different ways of handling the same four letters. What matters is that the God who revealed Himself as יהוה is the God who saves:
I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. — Isaiah 42:8 (BSB)
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9, BSB). The name is still to be hallowed. The scrolls remind us that this has been the church’s inheritance from the beginning.
How should this affect the way we speak of God?
With reverence, and with the freedom of children speaking to a Father. The scrolls show us scribes who copied the name carefully and set it apart. They do not show us a name to be used as a charm or a formula. They show us the covenant name of the God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you want to study further, read Exodus 3 and Exodus 20 slowly, and notice how the name and the command about the name sit together. Pray the Psalms that use the name, such as Psalm 83, and let the words shape your speech. And do this in the company of a local church, where the name of God is confessed and sung week by week. The scrolls are a witness; the living voice of the church, gathered around Scripture, is where that witness is meant to be heard.
Questions readers ask
Do the Dead Sea Scrolls use the Tetragrammaton or a substitute like Adonai?
They use the Tetragrammaton itself, written as יהוה. Some manuscripts write it in paleo-Hebrew letters inside square-script texts; others use square letters. There is no evidence in the scrolls of a written substitute such as Adonai or HaShem replacing the four letters.
Does the paleo-Hebrew Tetragrammaton in the scrolls tell us how to pronounce the name?
No. The scrolls give consonants only, not vowels. The pronunciation Yahweh is a scholarly reconstruction based on early Greek transcriptions and short forms like Yah, not something the scrolls record.
Why do most English Bibles print LORD instead of the Tetragrammaton?
Because Jewish readers had long read Adonai in place of the name, and the Masoretes pointed the text accordingly. English translators followed that tradition by printing LORD in small capitals. The American Standard Version chose Jehovah instead, and the King James Version uses JEHOVAH in a few verses.
Is the Tetragrammaton in the Dead Sea Scrolls evidence for the Trinity?
Not directly. The scrolls are pre-Christian Jewish manuscripts and do not address the Trinity. They do show that the one God of Israel revealed Himself by a personal name, and the New Testament applies that same divine identity to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Lexicon answers from the Bible and public-domain reference works. It is a study aid and is not affiliated with any organisation.