Why Is There a Difference in the Word "Lord"?

[SpeakKindly]

I just had an interesting question pop up in my head. I don’t have a Bible on me right now, so I’ll have to use a website.

**This may be different in a physical Bible, but I just noticed it online, so correct me if it’s not like this in a physical Bible. **

When looking at the Old Testament it seems that the word “Lord” is written differently, like it’s in caps or a different font.

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31&version=NIV

Why is it when Jesus is referred to as Lord, this type of caps or font doesn’t seem to be used ?

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:28&version=NIV

 

[YiiNaa]

I just had an interesting question pop up in my head. I don’t have a Bible on me right now, so I’ll have to use a website.

**This may be different in a physical Bible, but I just noticed it online, so correct me if it’s not like this in a physical Bible. **

When looking at the Old Testament it seems that the word “Lord” is written differently, like it’s in caps or a different font.

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31&version=NIV

Why is it when Jesus is referred to as Lord, this type of caps or font doesn’t seem to be used ?

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:28&version=NIV

Because Jesus is not God. God in the OT is referenced as Lord because of his majesty.

read this:
Difference between Adonai and adoni

 

[SpeakKindly]

Because Jesus is not God. God in the OT is referenced as Lord because of his majesty.

read this:
Difference between Adonai and adoni

What ? How is Jesus NOT God ?

 

[YiiNaa]

What ? How is Jesus NOT God ?

Jesus not being God one possible answer to the OP’s question supported by the link I posted (which I don’t think you read).

I made a thread about the trinity, let’s not discuss it here.

 

[Razanir]

SpeakKindly– In your first link it’s being used as a name of God, but in the second one it’s a title.

YiiNaa– I understand that Unitarians don’t believe in the Trinity, but this is a primarily Catholic forum. Atheists don’t go on threads just to say they don’t think God doesn’t exist, and our Muslim and Jewish members don’t go on threads like this saying the Trinity is false. I would respectfully ask you to do the same.

 

[DaveBj]

I just had an interesting question pop up in my head. I don’t have a Bible on me right now, so I’ll have to use a website.

**This may be different in a physical Bible, but I just noticed it online, so correct me if it’s not like this in a physical Bible. **

When looking at the Old Testament it seems that the word “Lord” is written differently, like it’s in caps or a different font.

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31&version=NIV

Why is it when Jesus is referred to as Lord, this type of caps or font doesn’t seem to be used ?

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:28&version=NIV

In the English OT when “Lord” is written in upper-case letters, it is translating the name YHVH, which the Jews haven’t pronounced since the Babylonian exile; when they see it, they say “Adonai,” which means “my lord” (actually, “my lords,” but that’s another story). Thus the English translation “LORD.” When the actual word “Adonai” appears in the Hebrew, it is translated “Lord” (with three lower case letters).

 

[Elizium23]

Because Jesus is not God. God in the OT is referenced as Lord because of his majesty.

read this:
Difference between Adonai and adoni

That kind of heresy may fly in the Non-Catholic Religions forum, but here in the Apologetics area, we talk about Catholic beliefs. I don’t know what the Restoration Fellowship is, but they appear to be Arians much like the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They espouse many heretical beliefs on their website. It’s not a good one for linking authentic teachings about the Christian faith. A person who denies the divinity of Jesus is not a Christian, he is an Arian heretic.

As for the question at hand, you have already been proven wrong by the above poster. LORD is a substitution out of reverence for the Holy Name of God, the Tetragrammaton.

Likewise, in the Catholic liturgy, we use LORD or some other substitution for the Tetragrammaton in our worship. We always have, but in 2008 the Vatican had to issue a special directive because for decades, certain awful songs had been invoking the Holy Name of God in the liturgy, which went against the unbroken tradition of Christian and Hebrew worship. It is alright to mention “Yahweh” in a scholarly context but it is not considered reverent to invoke His personal name in the liturgy.

On the other hand, Jesus freely invoked His Father’s name when the Jews asked him who he was.

[BIBLEDRB]John 18:4-8[/BIBLEDRB]

 

[JMJ_coder]

I just had an interesting question pop up in my head. I don’t have a Bible on me right now, so I’ll have to use a website.

**This may be different in a physical Bible, but I just noticed it online, so correct me if it’s not like this in a physical Bible. **

When looking at the Old Testament it seems that the word “Lord” is written differently, like it’s in caps or a different font.

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31&version=NIV

Why is it when Jesus is referred to as Lord, this type of caps or font doesn’t seem to be used ?

Example: biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:28&version=NIV

It most likely has to do with who typeset the Bible (or entered the text on the computer, or hand copied the scroll).

For example, for those two examples you provided (Jeremiah and John, which I’ll refer to as OT and NT, respectively), the following is observed in my hard copies:

New American Bible - St. Joseph Edition (Catholic Book Publishing Co.) - OT → LORD; NT → Lord
Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition (Ignatius Press) - OT → LORD; NT → Lord
Douay-Rheims (Loreto Publications) - OT → Lord; NT → Lord
Nova Vulgata - Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio - Editio Typica Altera (Libreria Editrice Vaticana) - OT → Dominus; NT → Dominus/Domino
La Sacra Bibbia CEI - (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, via vatican.va website) - OT → Signore; NT → Signore

 

[YiiNaa]

That kind of heresy may fly in the Non-Catholic Religions forum, but here in the Apologetics area, we talk about Catholic beliefs. I don’t know what the Restoration Fellowship is, but they appear to be Arians much like the Jehovah’s Witnesses. %between%

Sorry for posting it here, I’m new to this forum. The issue of quoting them was to show the difference in the Masoretic pointings, not to promote them.

They espouse many heretical beliefs on their website. It’s not a good one for linking authentic teachings about the Christian faith. A person who denies the divinity of Jesus is not a Christian, he is an Arian heretic.

The trinity to a 1’st century jew could in turn be deemed heretical. I do however, believe in the Monotheistic creed of Jesus (the Shema), not some later invented trinitarian doctrine.

 

[YiiNaa]

SpeakKindly– In your first link it’s being used as a name of God, but in the second one it’s a title.

YiiNaa– I understand that Unitarians don’t believe in the Trinity, but this is a primarily Catholic forum. Atheists don’t go on threads just to say they don’t think God doesn’t exist, and our Muslim and Jewish members don’t go on threads like this saying the Trinity is false. I would respectfully ask you to do the same.

Apologies…

 

[SonCatcher]

In the English OT when “Lord” is written in upper-case letters, it is translating the name YHVH, which the Jews haven’t pronounced since the Babylonian exile; when they see it, they say “Adonai,” which means “my lord” (actually, “my lords,” but that’s another story). Thus the English translation “LORD.” When the actual word “Adonai” appears in the Hebrew, it is translated “Lord” (with three lower case letters).

Close. When a Jew encounters the Tetragrammaton, he usually pronounces “Ha’Shem”, which means “the Name”. (“Tetragrammaton” refers to the sacred, four-letter name transliterated YHVH or JHVH, which is sometimes rendered “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” in translations from before about 10 years ago)

So (summary guide):
LORD = Tetragrammaton

Lord = Adonai

 

[SpeakKindly]

That kind of heresy may fly in the Non-Catholic Religions forum, but here in the Apologetics area, we talk about Catholic beliefs. I don’t know what the Restoration Fellowship is, but they appear to be Arians much like the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They espouse many heretical beliefs on their website. It’s not a good one for linking authentic teachings about the Christian faith. A person who denies the divinity of Jesus is not a Christian, he is an Arian heretic.

As for the question at hand, you have already been proven wrong by the above poster. LORD is a substitution out of reverence for the Holy Name of God, the Tetragrammaton.

Likewise, in the Catholic liturgy, we use LORD or some other substitution for the Tetragrammaton in our worship. We always have, but in 2008 the Vatican had to issue a special directive because for decades, certain awful songs had been invoking the Holy Name of God in the liturgy, which went against the unbroken tradition of Christian and Hebrew worship. It is alright to mention “Yahweh” in a scholarly context but it is not considered reverent to invoke His personal name in the liturgy.

**On the other hand, Jesus freely invoked His Father’s name when the Jews asked him who he was.
**
[BIBLEDRB]John 18:4-8[/BIBLEDRB]

With the bolded, would that be when He said “I AM” ?

 

[SonCatcher]

It most likely has to do with who typeset the Bible (or entered the text on the computer, or hand copied the scroll).

For example, for those two examples you provided (Jeremiah and John, which I’ll refer to as OT and NT, respectively), the following is observed in my hard copies:

New American Bible - St. Joseph Edition (Catholic Book Publishing Co.) - OT → LORD; NT → Lord
Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition (Ignatius Press) - OT → LORD; NT → Lord
Douay-Rheims (Loreto Publications) - OT → Lord; NT → Lord
Nova Vulgata - Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio - Editio Typica Altera (Libreria Editrice Vaticana) - OT → Dominus; NT → Dominus/Domino
La Sacra Bibbia CEI - (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, via vatican.va website) - OT → Signore; NT → Signore

The Tetragrammaton does not exist in Greek so the New Testament would have no meaningful use for all capitals. The use of all-caps is only relevant when the source text is Hebrew.

NAB and RSV both translate the OT from Hebrew and would use the all-caps convention.

D-R translated from the old Latin Vulgate (not the “New” one) but would have simply have translated the Latin word used.

The new Latin (Nova Vulgata) and Spanish translations may use different conventions due to differences in the target languages.

 

[SonCatcher]

With the bolded, would that be when He said “I AM” ?

That was recorded in Greek but since Jesus was speaking in Aramaic, most translators change it to all caps to indicate He did utter the Name.

 

[latingirl]

//I do however, believe in the Monotheistic creed of Jesus (the Shema), not some later invented trinitarian doctrine.//

Then you are not a Christian.

 

[just_came_back]

Close. When a Jew encounters the Tetragrammaton, he usually pronounces “Ha’Shem”, which means “the Name”. (“Tetragrammaton” refers to the sacred, four-letter name transliterated YHVH or JHVH, which is sometimes rendered “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” in translations from before about 10 years ago)

So (summary guide):
LORD = Tetragrammaton

Lord = Adonai

What he said. LORD=I AM