Single · March 2025
YHWH
A comedian’s joke about colonial missionaries sent him looking for the name of God. He found it in his own breathing.
No email, no account, no catch. It is yours to keep and yours to pass on.
The storyExodus 3:14Revelation 5:12Psalm 10:16
YHWH began with a joke Yemi did not find funny. He heard a comedian ask whether the colonial masters who arrived claiming to be sent by God had ever actually known the name of the God they were sent by. It was a punchline, and it landed somewhere it was not aimed. He says what he felt was anger at the shallowness of it. Then came the uncomfortable realisation that the question was fair, and that he could not answer it either.
So he went looking, in Exodus 3 and in what others had written about the name.
A revelation hidden right beneath my nostrils, woven into every inhale, whispered with every exhale.On what the search turned up
What he came back with was the four letters and a claim about them: that the name is not so much spoken as breathed, already in the inhale and the exhale, and there the whole time.
The song is built out of the names rather than about them. Yahweh Asher Yahweh is Exodus 3:14 answered in the third person: God says ehyeh asher ehyeh, I will be what I will be, and the song replies with the name, Yahweh, he will be. The LORD our banner. Yahweh Sabaoth, the LORD of hosts, in the verse about power. Each one is a title God is recorded as using, and the song simply calls him by them in turn.
This song is not just a melody; it is a declaration. A truth so profound that my very lungs depend on it.Yemi Alafifuni
The bridge is Revelation 5:12 almost verbatim: wisdom and honour, glory and power, praises forever. Which makes this the second song he has written out of Revelation chapter five: Behold The Lamb came from verse eight, four years earlier, and went orchestral. This one is a worship anthem. Same chapter, opposite room, which is the pattern by now.
YHWH. Breathe it in. Sing it out.How he ends the note
It ends by giving up on elaboration. The last four passes are the same three lines repeated (the name inside my lungs, the name that conquers all) and then the letters on their own.
Lyrics
I love to call your name Yahweh Asher Yahweh See now the works of your hands Come to give you praise
YHWH
I love to call you Daddy I belong to the “I AM” Sufficient for my days The LORD our banner
YHWH
Though the heavens fade And all wisdom take Your name I will retain
You’re the God who saves And your love remains Your name is Yahweh!
YHWH
I love to show your power Yahweh Saboath When you fight, who can stand? LORD Defender
YHWH
Though the heavens fade And all wisdom take Your name I will retain
You’re the God who saves And your love remains Your name is Yahweh!
YHWH
Yahweh Yahweh Yahweh Yahweh
Yahweh Forever Wonder Forever Beautiful Father That’s your name
Wisdom and honour Glory and Power Praises forever To your name
Yahweh Forever Wonder Forever Beautiful Father That’s your name
Wisdom and honour Glory and Power Praises forever To your name
Yahweh The name inside my lungs The name that conquers all
YHWH
Yahweh The name inside my lungs The name that conquers all
YHWH
Yahweh The name inside my lungs The name that conquers all
YHWH
Yahweh The name inside my lungs The name that conquers all
YHWH
Yahweh Asher Yahweh puts Exodus 3:14 in the third person. The verse itself reads ehyeh asher ehyeh, I AM THAT I AM, or I will be what I will be; Yahweh is the name in the third person, he will be. Yahweh Sabaoth is the LORD of hosts, and the LORD our banner is Yahweh Nissi. Each is a name God is recorded as using of himself.
Credits
- Written by
- Yemi Alafifuni
- Produced by
- Ian Copeland Green
- Released
- March 2025
- Length
- 4:01
- ISRC
- TCAIU2412112
- Label
- Yemi Alafifuni · self-released
- Versions
- YHWH · Single, March 2025YHWH · Track three of the YHWH EP, April 2025YHWH (Acoustic) · June 2026
Scripture
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
Exodus 3:14
“Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”
Revelation 5:12
“The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.”
Psalm 10:16
Scripture quotations are from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown's patentee, Cambridge University Press.
