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God
His Real Name
In the Old Testament, God is called Lord in some places and LORD in others. See the difference? Sometimes it’s L-ord (lowercase) and sometimes it’s L-ORD (all caps — but sometimes the "-ORD" caps are smaller than the "L"). That's not a typo. It's intentional.
When just the first letter is capitalized, Lord is a title of honor and respect for God, like how we might use Professor or Doctor: “Excuse me, Professor Smith, can you please repeat that?” or, "Doctor Jones, how long will I have to wear this full-arm cast?"
LORD with all caps is used for the Hebrew word Yahweh (YAH-way). It looks like this in the original letters:
יהוה
In ancient cultures, people believed that personal names were powerful. The more powerful the person, the more powerful their name was. So it’s a very big deal that the one true God, creator of all that exists, willingly revealed his name to humanity rather than hide it.
Back then, each culture worshipped a unique local god. The Bible mentions some of them: Marduk, Asherah, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Dagon, and more. A main theme in the Old Testament is that those other “gods” are not really gods at all. They are just human inventions, manmade idols, given strange made-up names. There is only one God. He is Yahweh. Only Yahweh is true. Only Yahweh is Almighty. Only Yahweh is Creator. And only Yahweh is Love.
Talk about the questions below, watch the video, and read the Bible passages to learn more about Yahweh, the God who made us and loves us.
Warm-Up
- Check out this list for a general conversation starter. Then talk about these questions:
- Why are names important?
- Have you ever forgotten someone's name? Has someone ever forgotten your name? Talk about that.
- When can nicknames be a good thing? A bad thing?
- What are some of the names you've heard used for God?
Watch
"YHWH: LORD" [3:59] *This video mentions, Moses, Adonai, Jehovah, and Yahweh.
Read
Psalm 8:1, Psalm 9:1-2, Psalm 5:1-3
Respond
Read the Psalm verses out loud as written. Then read them out loud again, but this time say "Yahweh" where you see "LORD" or "the LORD." So Psalm 8:1 would be,
"O Yahweh, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!"
- What is it like to hear God's personal name in these verses?
- Why do you think God wanted his people to know his personal name?
- How do you imagine God when you call him God, Lord, LORD, Father, or Yahweh?*
*Think about introducing your mom to someone. You could say: "This is my mom." Or, "This is my mom, Gabby." Or, "This is my mom, Gabrielle." Or, "This is my mom, Gabrielle Jones." Or, "This is my mom, Mrs. Jones." Or, "This is my mom, Dr. Jones." They're all a little different, but it's still the same person.
End
When reading your Bible, if you come across the word LORD, sometimes say his personal name to remind yourself that even though he is the Almighty God and Ruler of everything that exists, he invites us to know him personally.
P.S.
- Hebrew is written from right to left. So יהוה would be spelled out loud like this: י (yod) ה (hey) ו (vav) ה (hey).
- Jews considered God’s name יהוה too sacred to speak aloud. So they used the word Adonai instead.
- Biblical Hebrew originally had no written vowels (but obviously they had spoken vowels — it’s impossible to talk without vowel sounds. Go ahead. Try it.). If you ever look at a Hebrew Bible, you’ll see little dots and dashes below and above the letters. Those represent vowel sounds and were added in the Middle Ages. (Fun fact to impress your friends with.)
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2103 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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