JEHOVAH

The name by which the Deity is represcnted'in the Hebrew Scriptures; in which language it signifies the Self-existent, the / am. The word itself was held in peculiar veneration by the Jews, who never allowed themselves to pronounce it in the reading of their sacred books, but substituted for it, whenever it occurred, the term Adonai, or Lord. This practice is maintained even to this day; nor will they write the word in perfect Hebrew letters. And, agreeably to this scruple, they have left the word Jehovah imperfectly written over the beautiful altar piece in the recently-erected synagogue in St. Helen's Place; making it to resemble that word, but in reality to signify the Beloved. [s. 636]