How Should YHWH Be Translated?

The problem with translating YHWH is that ancient written Hebrew did not contain vowels. On top of that, the name was considered so sacred that it was only pronounced once a year by the High Priest. So translating it as “Yahweh” is more of an educated guess than definitive translation.

Jewish practice was to avoid reading the name aloud and to instead speak the words adonai (“lord”) or elohim (“God”) in its place.

In keeping with Jewish tradition the Church has asked Catholics not to use the name Yahweh and instead use adonai/Lord.