Footnote 6 – Did the Ark Stop at Elephantine?

The tetragrammaton YHWH (Yahweh), the name of the Israelite deity, never appears at Elephantine. In the papyri, the regular form of the divine name is written YHW; in the ostraca, the divine name is YHH. It appears that this abbreviated version of the divine name was confined to vernacular usage, while sacred writings used the form YHWH.