Questions for the Pulpit

with your rector, Harold Munn
May 20, 2009

Why is the word "Lord" sometimes printed in small capitals in the Bible?

"Lord" is printed in small capitals to indicate that the word which is being translated means more than just "lord".
When William Tyndale translated the Bible into English he came across a word spelled (in Hebrew letters) "Yahovah". Sometimes this name is spelled "Jehovah" in English.
However, in the original Hebrew, there were no vowels, so words had to be spelled using consonants only. So the word was originally spelled "Yhvh". When one of the ancient Hebrews read the word out loud, they would have put in the correct vowels, just as they put in the vowels for all the other words in the Bible.
In time, however, the word Yhvh, which referred to the name of God, became so holy, that it was forbidden for anyone to ever pronounce it except the High Priest, and only when he was in the temple in Jerusalem.
Because the name could never be pronounced, the ancient Hebrews decided to use a different word whenever they came to the word "Yhvh". The word they decided to use was "Adonai" (which means "Lord"). So whenever they were reading the Hebrew scriptures, and came to the word "Yhvh" (which is the word for God) they didn't speak that word, but instead said the word "Adonai".
Later on, when vowels were invented, they decided to put the vowels for "Adonai" in between the consonants of Yhvh" so as to remind the reader not to try to pronounce "Yhvh", but to pronounce "Adonai" instead.
When they put the vowels from "Adonai" into the consonants for Yhvh", the combination became "Yahovah".
When William Tyndale translated the Bible, he knew that the Hebrew word for God must never be spoken, but he didn't know that the vowels came from "Adonai", and so he thought the original pronunciation was something like "Jehovah". That's where the name "Jehovah" comes from. But there never was any such word!
Nobody now knows what the original vowels were, and so nobody knows what the original pronunciation was. Probably it was something like "Yaweh".

What all this means to us: When we read the Bible and come across the English word "Lord" in small capitals, it is good to remember that this is the word for God which is so holy it must never be pronounced. That helps us be aware that the real God is far beyond our understanding, and it is good not to pronounce the word for God in case that gave us the mistaken impression that we know what we are talking about when we speak about God. Some modern English translations have adopted this idea and said that we should never say the word "God", and so they write it as "G-d". Perhaps when people use that form, they might decide always to say "The Mystery" whenever they come to the written word "G-d".