Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
adon / adonai
Lord, master, sir. An ordinary word, and also what is said aloud in place of the divine name.
Psalm 110:1, in every translation this tool compares.
Yes, sir. That is a form of address, not a title. Now imagine using it every time a particular name came up, out of respect, until people forgot the name underneath.
Because Jewish practice substitutes this word when reading the divine name, and English inherited the substitution as the small-capital LORD, which almost nobody has been told about.
Versions print Lord for this word and LORD in small capitals for the divine name.
אָדוֹן adon · H113
Adon is a master or superior and is used of ordinary men. Adonai, my lord, became the spoken substitute for the divine name, and the Septuagint's kurios follows the practice.
English uses typography to carry a distinction Hebrew carries in vocabulary, and typography is silent when read aloud.
Small capitals mark the divine name. Ordinary capitals mark this word. Learn the convention once and a large number of verses open up.
Lord is the majority rendering; the small-capital convention is universal across English versions.
- adoni of human superiors: Genesis 23:6; 1 Samuel 22:12
- Psalm 110:1 uses both words in one line
- Septuagint kurios for both
