Sometimes "LORD" is used and other times "Lord" (both I found to be referring to The Lord). Same goes for "Him" and "him". Also does the rule apply when speaking of Jesus?
2007-12-28 08:59:55 · 6 answers · asked by Kake 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Actually, there is a very specific and concrete rule.
It's all about the Hebrew. There's a beautiful bit of Jewish theology which says that we shouldn't even try to pronounce the name of G-d because whatever we say will leave something out. So the convention developed of saying Adonai (lit. my lord / master) in place of of the sacred name.
When Torah and the Tanakh are translated into other languages, LORD is used to represent the sacred name. But sometimes adonai appears, not as a name, but as a normal word. In that case, it's translated as 'my lord.' So the different ways of writing indicate two significantly different meanings/uses.
Jesus should never be referred to as LORD.
Here's a parallel Hebrew-English link from Psalm 110:
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt26b0....
In the second line, after 'A Psalm of David', look carefully at the second and third words. לַאדֹנִי (l-adon-ai) is 'to my lord', referring to King David. The word before it is the sacred name, referring to G-d. In the Hebrew, they are very different words and the meaning is clear.
2007-12-28 09:24:29 · answer #1 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"LORD" is used in most translations to denote the so-called "Divine Name" of "God", YHWH in the Hebrew. It came from a Jewish superstition about uttering the name of "God."
"Lord" is generally used when the passage is referring to "God" or Jesus of Nazareth, although some translations differ on this.
The same goes for the capitalization of "him."
Edit - The following quotation is from the preface of the American Standard Version of 1901.
"The change first proposed in the Appendix - that which substitutes 'Jehovah' for 'Lord' and 'God' (printed in small capitals) - is one which will be unwelcome to many, because of the frequency and familiarity of the terms displaced. But the American Revisers, after a careful consideration, were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament, as it fortunately does not in the numerous versions made by modern missionaries. This Memorial Name, explained in Ex. iii. 14, 15, and emphasized as such over and over in the original text of the Old Testament, designates God as the personal Friend of his people; - not merely the abstractly 'Eternal One' of many French translations, but the ever living Helper of those who are in trouble. This personal name, with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim."
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2007-12-28 17:12:26 · answer #2 · answered by Weird Darryl 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It depends on whose name it was substituted for. The KJV when referring to God, all letters are capitalized. When referring to Jesus, only the first letter is.
This was done over 6,000 times in the KJV. Sometimes they do use God and Jesus properly.
2007-12-28 17:07:30 · answer #3 · answered by grnlow 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No rules; the editors of the particular version simply use their own preferred convention.
2007-12-28 17:07:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It depends on who else is in the sentence.
If God Jehovah is alone in the sentence, then "he" is used. If he is with another male, the the "He" refers to God, and "he" to the other male.
2007-12-28 17:03:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
LORD & Him = God
Lord & him = Jesus...
2007-12-28 17:06:53 · answer #6 · answered by Geist König 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋