📖 Biblical Definition
Yahweh-Yireh (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה) — KJV Jehovah-jireh, "the LORD will provide" or "the LORD will see (and see to it)" — is the name Abraham gave Mount Moriah after God provided a ram in place of Isaac: "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Genesis 22:14). The Hebrew root raah ("to see") carries both "see" and "see to it" — God provides because God sees ahead. The name declares the LORD as the One who sees the need, sees the substitute, and supplies what no man could supply. The same mountain became the temple-site and the ground near which Christ — the true Lamb provided by God in our place — was sacrificed. Provision begins with God’s sight.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
‘The LORD will see / provide’ — the name of Mount Moriah after the substitution of the ram for Isaac.
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From Hebrew Yahweh (the covenant name of God) and yir'eh (he will see / provide).
Genesis 22:14 records the naming: “Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.”
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 22:8 — "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."
Genesis 22:13 — "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns."
Genesis 22:14 — "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen."
John 1:29 — "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Jehovah-jireh has been reduced to a slogan for getting what we want; the original is about God providing a substitute when our own offering fails.
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The need on Moriah was for a substitute — a life to die in place of a life. Abraham was already obedient; what he needed was a body to put on the wood. God provided.
Modern usage has flattened Jehovah-jireh to mean ‘the Lord will pay our bills.’ That is true and good in its place, but the deeper note in Genesis 22 is sacrificial substitution: the ram for Isaac, and one day, the Lamb for us.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Two Hebrew words form the name: the covenant Name and the verb to see.
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H3068 — יְהוָה (YHWH) — the covenant Name of God, revealed at the bush.
H7200 — רָאָה (ra'ah) — to see, to look on, to provide; God's seeing is His providing.
Usage
"Yahweh Yireh: God sees, God provides — usually a substitute, sometimes a bill."
"The ram in the thicket is the gospel in seed."
"Abraham looked up and saw what God had already prepared."