6: Why Is “LORD” Often In All Caps In The Bible?

Welcome back to the Ready for Eternity podcast. I'm Eddie Lawrence. Have you ever noticed that often the letters in the word LORD are all uppercase in the Bible and other times the Bible only capitalizes the first letter?

Why LORD Appears in All Caps in English Bibles

Both LORD in all caps and LORD with only the first letter capitalized refer to God, but why is there a difference? In this episode, let's answer the question, why is LORD often in all caps in the Bible?

Bible translators use all capital letters when translating the four-letter Hebrew name for God. Ancient Hebrew had no written vowels. Of course, they pronounced the vowels, but the written Hebrew alphabet only had consonants.

Because of this, God's name was spelled YHWH in ancient Hebrew. In English, YHWH is often accompanied with the vowels A and E, resulting in Yahweh. During the later Old Testament period, the ancient Jews came to believe that God's name was too holy to be spoken out loud, and as time passed, they actually forgot how to pronounce God's name.

Eventually, everyone who knew what vowels belonged in God's name had passed away, and because their alphabet lacked vowels, written vowels, they lost the knowledge of the correct pronunciation of God's name.

Translators of English Bibles have chosen to respect the Jewish custom of not spelling out God's name. Therefore, rather than transliterating the Hebrew letters that are the equivalent of YHWH in English, they simply use the word LORD in all capital letters.

So when you see LORD in all caps in the Bible, it is referring to God's proper name that we pronounce YHWH. Scholars refer to God's four-letter name as the TETRAGRAMMATON. We don't know with certainty what the correct pronunciation of the TETRAGRAMMATON is.

Likewise, the meaning of the TETRAGRAMMATON is difficult to nail down precisely. Scholars believe its meaning is some variation of I exist because I exist, or I will exist because I will exist, or I am who I am, I will be who I will be, and I am that which exists.

It is this name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. He told Moses to tell those who asked his name that it.

Is I am. Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am, and he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you.

Exodus 3 13 and 14.

Jehovah, Adonai, and the Tetragrammaton

In the recent past, it was common to hear God's proper name pronounced Jehovah by English speakers. This is actually a misnomer. The word Jehovah was introduced into English Bibles by William Tyndale.

Jehovah appeared in a few early English translations, most notably the King James Version. But where did this word Jehovah come from? The Jews who wished to respect God's name would say Adonai whenever they encountered the Tetragrammaton in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Adonai is the Hebrew word for Lord. The Jewish scribes adopted a practice of adding additional letters to the name YHWH in the Scriptures as a visual reminder to never speak God's name aloud when they read the Scriptures.

Whenever they wrote the name YHWH, they placed the vowels from the word Adonai in between the consonants of the Tetragrammaton. The result was Y-A-H-O-W-A-H. If you say this word out loud, it's easy to hear the beginnings of the English word Jehovah.

If it had been spoken out loud, it would have sounded like Yah-ha-oh-wah. The Jews never pronounced this. It was just a made-up word which was used as a visual cue when someone was reading the Scriptures out loud to say Adonai instead of YHWH.

LORD in Mixed Case and Human Authority

So what does Lord in mixed case mean? Lord with a capital L with the remaining letters in lowercase. The word Lord refers to someone of higher rank. Lord was a term of respect similar to the way we may use Sir today or maybe the way we would use the word boss, someone who's in a superior position.

The Bible applies the word Lord to humans as well as to God. The context of the passage will make it clear who is under consideration. Now you know the difference between Lord in all uppercase and Lord in mixed case, and you know where the English word Jehovah came from.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. We hope this episode has deepened your understanding of Scripture. If you found this content valuable, please share it with your friends. For more Biblical studies, visit our website at ReadyForEternity .com.

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Keep studying your Bible, growing closer to God, and getting ready for eternity. See you next time.