---
title: Psalms 83:18
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-83-18/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-83-18.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 83:18
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 83:18

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth."

## JW Usage

Psalm 83:18 is the Watchtower's flagship proof-text for the exclusive-Jehovah-name claim. The verse is invoked to argue that Jehovah is the personal name of God — and that any religion not using the name "Jehovah" cannot be Jehovah's people. The argument is often the door-opening move at the start of a Witness study: "What is God's name? Look at Psalm 83:18 in your own Bible."

## Protestant Usage

The verse does identify Jehovah as the name of God — Christians agree on this. The disagreement is what the verse proves. Many Christian traditions use the name Jehovah: it appears in the King James Version (here, and at Exodus 6:3, Isaiah 12:2, 26:4), in Reformed confessional documents, and in hymns sung across Protestant traditions ("Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah"). The exclusive-use claim is a branding argument, not a historical one. And Jesus said "not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7:21) — pronouncing the right name is not the same as honouring the person. The fruit test, not the name test, is what Jesus actually proposed.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [9 Million Publishers — What the Number Does and Does Not Prove](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-8-million-membership.md) — Growth is evidence only if growth is the criterion [Epistemology]