Q. Why does my Bible have two different shapes of the word ‘Lord’ in the Old Testament—one with all uppercase letters (LORD) and one with just the first letter capitalized (Lord)? Is there a difference in meaning?
A. You are an observant reader and have asked an important question.
In fact, the difference between these two words is significant. ‘LORD’ stands in as a substitute for the proper name of God; ‘Lord’ signifies something else. Let’s begin with the latter and then return to the former.
‘Lord’ (with uppercase L- and lowercase -ord) translates the Hebrew word Adonay (or Adonai), meaning “My Lord” or “Lord of all.” This title of honor refers to God as Master or Ruler. It occurs 425 times in the Old Testament, as in Job 28:28 (“Behold, the fear of the Lord [Adonay], that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding”) and Psalms 57:9 (“I will give thanks to you, O Lord [Adonay], among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations”).
‘LORD’ (with four uppercase letters) is different. It represents a convention adopted in most English Bibles as a stand-in for the proper name of God. This requires some unpacking.
In the story of the burning bush (Exod 3), God revealed his personal name to Moses, the consonants of which (in English letters) are YHWH (hence, the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter word). It occurs more than 6,800 times in the Old Testament.
As Providence would have it, we are uncertain of the exact pronunciation of God’s name because Jewish scribes considered it too sacred to be spoken aloud. So when they copied the Hebrew Scriptures, they did not write in the vowel signs that should accompany the four consonants YHWH. (There are good reasons to believe that the full spelling would be Yahweh.) Instead, whenever the scribes encountered this name, they uttered the word Adonay (which means Lord) in its place, thus avoiding speaking the holy name of God. And to preserve this practice, they wrote the vowels of the word Adonay alongside the consonants YHWH, yielding a hybrid that is in fact unpronounceable. In this way they formed a kind of protective hedge around God’s name to prevent anyone’s speaking it.
The scribal practice of saying Adonay in place of YHWH continues today. When my eyes are on the Hebrew Bible or whenever I quote it publicly, I do not pronounce the proper name of God; I say Adonay instead of Yahweh. And so it is with all Hebrew readers. Most English Bibles follow this convention by rendering God’s proper name as ‘LORD.’ This is a good translation of Adonay, but it is not an actual translation of YHWH (YHWH does not mean LORD). LORD is a surrogate that takes the place of YHWH so as to avoid speaking God’s name. (The actual meaning of YHWH is revealed in Exodus 3, where God declares, “I AM WHO I AM.” In the context of that passage, God is saying, “I AM the personal, present, and delivering God, and so shall I always be. That is my name.”)
To complicate matters further, sometimes these two words, Adonay and YHWH, occur together in the Hebrew Bible (315 times). Instead of reading “Lord LORD,” as we would expect, most modern English publishers choose to render it “Lord GOD,” with ‘GOD’ in all capital letters, as in Genesis 15:2 (“But Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless. . .”) and Psalms 73:28 (“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works”).
I realize that this has been a rather technical discussion. Let me offer two concluding points for reflection. First, on a seasonal note, the name Jesus, assigned to him at birth, is a compound of God’s proper name YHWH plus the Hebrew verb ‘save.’ In other words, the name Jesus means YHWH saves, which is why the angel said to Joseph, “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). Jesus is the bearer of God’s proper name––the incarnate personal, present, and delivering YHWH.
Second, the reluctance of Jews even to utter God’s name should serve as a convicting reminder of the reverence that is due the holy name of our Lord—so holy that its announcement required Moses to keep his distance and to remove his sandals! The Second Commandment prohibits the abuse of God’s name in any way, including careless and mindless speech. The psalmist expressed it positively: “O LORD [YHWH], our Lord [Adonenu], how majestic is your name in all the earth!” As did Jesus, who taught us to pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” The implications are worth pondering.
This question was answered by Dr. Vern Steiner, founder and president emeritus of the Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies. For more information, visit www.emmausinstitute.net.
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