Your English Bible will have three common words for God: LORD (all uppercase), Lord (lowercase), and God. Why is that? This is an accessible introduction how English translations in general, and the Authorised King James Version in particular have translated the Hebrew words for God. It answers the question why you see both LORD upper-case and Lord mixed-case. It also explains why the Hebrew has two words for God, and in what case the author decides to use the one or the other.

1. Translating the Hebrew
words God and Jehovah
Berend de Boer, chairman TBS New Zealand

2. Starting with William Tyndale, almost
every translation in English distinguishes
between Lord lowercase and LORD all
uppercase. Why?

3. Reason 1: because of the Hebrew

4. Hebrew words for God
(slightly simplified)
Authorised Version Hebrew
LORD (5554) / GOD (300) /JEHOVAH (4) Yehovah ‫ָה‬‫ו‬ֹ‫ְה‬‫י‬
LORD (48) / JAH (1) Yah (abbreviation) ‫ָהּ‬‫י‬
God (2,346) 'Elohiym ‫ים‬ִ‫ה‬ ֱ‫א‬
Lord (431) 'Adonay (title) ‫ָי‬‫נ‬ֹ ‫ד‬ֲ‫א‬

5. Reason 2: because of the meaning

6. God has a name
Exodus 3:13
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel,
and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and
they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

7. William Tyndale
"Iehovah is God's name... Moreover, as oft as thou seeist LORD in great letters
(except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew Iehovah."

8. Exodus 20:7
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD (Yehovah) thy God in vain; for the
LORD (Yehovah) will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

9. God’s name is mentioned very often
Psalm 34:3
O magnify the LORD (Yehovah) with me, and let us exalt his name together.

10. Psalm 54:6
I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD (Yehovah); for
it is good.

11. Priestly blessing
Numbers 6:23-27
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the
children of Israel, saying unto them,
● The LORD (Yehovah) bless thee, and keep thee:
● The LORD (Yehovah) make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto
thee:
● The LORD (Yehovah) lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

12. Lowercase Lord or God
● LORD or GOD refers to God’s name. Used very often.
● God is the other main word: it’s the generic word for an almighty being. Used
quite often.
● Lord is a title. Used less often.

13. God’s name is important
● God’s name is used more than any other description (including titles)
combined: over 6,000 times.

14. Also in the New Testament
Luke 11:2
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven,
so in earth.

15. Reason 3: the distinction is important

16. Distinction between God and Lord
● The distinction between LORD (Jehovah) and God (Elohim) is very important.
● Both are chosen deliberately by the writers to convey something to us.
When did a Bible author use God, the generic name, or LORD, God’s own name?
(I will rely here on Dissertations on the genuineness of the Pentateuch (1847) by Ernst Wilhelm
Hengstenberg)

17. First example: sacrifice
● We do not see: sacrifice unto God.
● We always see: sacrifice (un)to the LORD.
● Same with altar.
Exodus 8:29: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the
people go to sacrifice to the LORD.
Judges 2:5: And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed
there unto the LORD.
Genesis 8:20: And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD.

18. Second example: temple
● We never see: tabernacle or temple of God.
● We always see: tabernacle or temple of the LORD.
Leviticus 17.4: And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the
LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man;
This clearly indicates using either LORD (Yehovah) or God (Elohim) is intentional.

19. The distinction between God and LORD
God: deity, divine being; the creator, the eternal, the all-powerful, the almighty.
LORD: describes him to his innermost nature; the God who appears to men, the
God who makes himself known to men. The God of revelation.
Without revelation, monotheism would always have to use Elohim. It cannot rise
any further.

20. LORD and God
● God: is everywhere. He is the creator.
● LORD: can only be said to be there where he reveals himself.

21. Jacob
Genesis 28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD
is in this place; and I knew it not.
This must be LORD, it cannot be God, as God is everywhere. God reveals
himself, and by revealing he becomes Jehovah.

22. Jonah
Should we have God or LORD here?
Jonah 1:3: Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of ????

23. Cain
Genesis 4:16 4.16: And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt
in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
This also must Yehovah. God is everywhere. The writer here indicates that Cain
withdrew himself from the place where God revealed himself, from the worship of
God.

24. Angels
● Never: angels of the LORD.
● Always: angels of God.
One exception: angel of the LORD. Only one can be the bearer of Jehovah’s
image, the one who reveals God.

25. The Old Testament uses God (Elohim), not God’s name when contrasting
between heavenly and earthly:
Job 1:16: “The fire of God is fallen from heaven”
And between the divine purposes and man’s purposes:
1 Kings 12:22-23: “But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God,
saying, … Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of
Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me.”
Contrast between heaven and earth

26. Enoch
Contrast between Enoch’s conduct (godly) and a corrupt world:
Genesis 5:24: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took
him.”
Sarah: laughter, versus common laughter:
Genesis 21:6: And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that
hear will laugh with me.

27. Prophetic use
Ishma-El means God (El, Elohim) hears:
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and
shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath
heard thy affliction.
● Note the explanation is Jehovah (LORD) hears, but in the name it uses God
(Elohim). This is prophetic.
● Note secondly angel of the LORD.

28. Ishmael
Genesis 21:17: And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to
Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God
hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
● God heard the voice of the lad named God hears.
● It is now God hears, no longer Jehovah hears.
● It is now angel of God: she has left the place of God’s special revelation.

29. Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
We could see his punishment had a divine origin. But we did not see the hand of
the LORD in it.

30. Psalm 9:16-17
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in
the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. The wicked shall be turned into hell,
and all the nations that forget God.
● So the nations not only live as if God did not see, they completely forget the
concept of a God altogether.
● The LORD is known, reveals himself, by his judgment.

31. There’s more!
Gave a glimpse of the most common cases.
There is much more to say:
● We have rules for poetry.
● There are a few special cases.

32. Answers to common questions

33. A few common questions
● How do you pronounce Jehovah?
● Before Moses, did people know God’s name?
● Should the Authorised Version have kept Jehovah in the translation?

34. Pronunciation

35. Pronunciation
● The Jehovah spelling we have leads us to pronounce it incorrectly, we should
say Yehovah, or Iehovah as Tyndale had it.
(In the past English pronounced an I or J at the beginning the same).
● There is a lot of discussion about how to pronounce the Hebrew word!
● It’s an extremely technical discussion, only a few in this world can participate.
● Basically we all rely on experts.
● My expert is Hebrew scholar Nehemia Gordon, a Karaite.
● He says the pronunciation is simply what we have in the Authorised Version:
Yehovah.

36. Scholars will often say Jahweh.
● Suggestion by Hebrew scholar Gesenius, a German unbeliever.
● His reason: “I suppose this word to be one of the most remote antiquity,
perhaps of the same origin as Jovis, Jupiter, and transferred from the
Egyptians to the Hebrews.”
● Whatever you believe to be the correct pronunciation, the third consonant is
a “v”, not a “w”, as a “w” is indisputably wrong.
Pronunciation: what it is not

37. Jehovah’s witnesses
On page 23 of their 1969 edition of The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the
Greek Scriptures they write:
“While inclining to view the pronunciation ‘Yah-weh” as the more correct way,
we have retained the form ‘Jehovah’ because of people’s familiarity with it
since the 14th century.

38. Proper pronunciation
● Pronunciation not that important!
● We pronounce all Hebrew names wrong anyway!

39. Did the patriarchs know God’s name?

40. First public worship
Genesis 4:26: And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called
his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
You cannot call upon the name of God without knowing that name.

41. 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.
Genesis 22:2: “get thee into the land of Moriah”
● Jehovah Jireh: the Lord will provide.
● Abraham could not have called a place name using Jehovah if he had not
known it.
● Given the rules of using God versus Yehovah (LORD) only LORD makes
sense: the deity revealed himself here, and became Jehovah.
● Mor-iah: the showing (appearance) of Yehovah (Yah).
Abraham used it in a place name

42. So why do some say Jehovah was not known?
Some say Jehovah was first revealed to Moses. They quote this passage:
Exodus 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by
the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to
them.
Note that this is much later, Moses here has already been to Pharaoh.

43. Exodus 6:3
Calvin: He says that He was not known to them by His name “Jehovah;” signifying
thus that He now more brightly manifested the glory of His divinity to their
descendants.
The idea is that God would so much more extend his revelation that compared to
that it almost was as if patriarchs had not known God’s revelation. The brightness
of the revelation coming would completely overshadow the previous revelation.

44. Translate Yehovah or LORD?

45. Jehovah or LORD?
Given the importance of God’s name, should the translators have used Jehovah
instead of LORD?

46. AV still uses Jehovah
The Authorised Version uses Jehovah where only Jehovah makes sense:
Psalm 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
art the most high over all the earth.
Contrast that with NIV/NKJV/ESV:
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD— that you alone are the
Most High over all the earth.
Sorry, that makes no sense! God’s name is not LORD.

47. AV also uses the abbreviation Jah
Jehovah is used as well as Jah:
Psalm 68:4: Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth
upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.
But NIV/ESV:
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.
Wrong translation again.

48. It would require more
Often the abbreviation is used in names. For example:
● Nehem-YAH: YAH comforts.
● Jerem-iah: Exalted by YAH.
● Ur-iah: YAH is my light.
● Jo-shua: YAH saves.
How would you handle that in English? Have not seen a good answer for that.

49. Reason to translate LORD
The real reason to translate the word Jehovah with LORD:
● God’s own example.
● Peter spoke Hebrew in Acts 2:21: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
● Joel 2:32: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of
the LORD shall be delivered”
● Acts is written in Greek. The inspired pensman Luke translated Jehovah into
Greek using the Greek word for Lord.
● Almost all translations since then have followed that.
● Using uppercase LORD in the Old Testament still shows us the underlying
word and meaning.

50. Has Jesus replaced Jehovah?
Consider also these verses:
● Philippians 2:9-10: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth;
● Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

51. God’s word is magnified above his name
● Psalm 138:2: “for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”
● Revelations 1911-13: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse;
and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his
head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but
he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name
is called The Word of God.”

52. But perhaps there’s more
Various end-time prophecies seem to mention that the heathen will use God’s
name:
Joel 2:32: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of
the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD
shall call.

53. Zechariah
Zechariah 13:9: And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine
them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on
my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say,
The LORD is my God.
14:9: And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be
one LORD, and his name one.

54. The gentiles will know God’s name
Ezekiel 39:7: So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people
Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen
shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
Jeremiah: 16:19-21: O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in
the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the
earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things
wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are
no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause
them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is
The LORD.

55. Summary
● The Hebrew uses different words for God.
● The Authorised Version shows that in the translation.
● LORD: God’s own name.
● God: the generic name, the deity.
● Lord: one of God’s titles.
● The meaning matters, translations should show what the underlying Hebrew
word is.

56. The End
Any questions?

57. Tetragrammaton
An entire presentation and I didn’t mention Tetragrammaton once!