They Should Not Take the Name of the Lord Their God in Vain. The Jews anciently interpreted this commandment in the Decalogue so literally that they ceased to pronounce the sacred Name entirely. Where it occurred in the inspired writings, they read "Adonai" (Lord), or "Elohim" (God) instead. But, as they, originally, did not have vowel points to indicate the correct pronunciation, this, in course of time, was entirely forgotten. Vowel points came into use in the early part of the sixteenth century, but at that time no one could tell for certain what points to put under the letters YHVH, which represented the sacred Name. This is still a debated question, but it is quite generally supposed that "YAVETH" best represents the original pronunciation. The meaning of the name is given by the Divine representative who spoke to Moses in the flaming bush, as "I AM"; i. e. "The Existent One" (Ex. 3:14). This conception of God, I understand, was expressed in an inscription in an Isis temple at Sais, Egypt, thus: "I am all that has been, that is, and that will be." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, under "Jah.") When, therefore, Moses came to the Pharaoh of the oppression in the Name of "I AM," that potentate had no excuse for pretending ignorance of the authority of the messenger (Ex. 5:1, 2). (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1976], 1:389)
