I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.
World English Bible
Exodus 6:3
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
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- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible A Messianic-Jewish English Bible using transliterated Hebrew names and terms · CC BY 4.0
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- KJV King James Version Public Domain
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- GNV Geneva Bible (1599) The Reformation-era study Bible that preceded the King James · Public Domain
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- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
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Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Can God be seen?
The Hebrew Bible repeatedly narrates theophanies in which God is seen face-to-face — by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, seventy elders, Manoah, Micaiah, Job, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Habakkuk. A parallel stream (Exod 33:20; John 1:18; 1 Tim 6:16; Col 1:15) insists God is invisible and cannot be seen, and that anyone who did see him would die.
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
Theology
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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What is God's name?
The Hebrew Bible gives God several different "names" and in some cases insists that a particular one is THE name. Exodus 6:3 says God's name is Jehovah (YHWH), Exodus 3:14 gives "I AM THAT I AM," Isaiah 42:8 flatly claims "the LORD" is his name, Exodus 34:14 says his name is Jealous, Amos 5:27 says his name is the God of hosts, and Psalm 68:4 says his name is JAH.
Critical scholarship: Genuinely disputed among scholars.
Historical detail
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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Did Abraham know God's name?
Genesis 22:14 has Abraham naming a place "Jehovahjireh" (YHWH-yir'eh, "YHWH will provide") — he knows and uses the name YHWH. Exodus 6:3 has YHWH telling Moses that he appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai (God Almighty), "but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them."
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
Historical detail
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
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Cite this page
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Exodus 6:3 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/exodus/6/3?version=WEB (retrieved 26 August 2026).