Adonai Yahweh is a combination of the names Adonai (Lord) and Yahweh (God’s Self-given name). This combination is used about 271 times in the OT, and of those, 222 are in Ezekial. There are times when Adonai Yahweh is used to reference God, and other times it is used in addressing God. A number of occasions, the full phrase is “Lord GOD of hosts.” The major use is to indicate a word that comes from God as “Thus says the Lord GOD” (Jer 7:20) or “declares the Lord GOD” (Eze 14:10). This is how Ezekiel uses it the vast majority of the times.
As we have mentioned before, the unwillingness to translate the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) as Yahweh has led to a loss for readers of English translations. We have lost the point of this combination name is not just the praise of God but the exalting of the Name of God: Yahweh. I feel the better translation would be “Lord Yahweh.” The most common translation is “Lord GOD” (first letter of Lord capitalized and GOD in all caps). This is used by the ESV, CSB, KJV, NASU, and NCV. The LEB has “Yahweh, my Lord” (I like this!). The NLT, NIV (84 & 2011) and NET have “Sovereign LORD” (LORD in all caps with only the NET not capitalizing Sovereign).
You should note in our English translations we will see “LORD God” (all caps LORD and the first letter of God capitalized) about 80 times. This is a translation of Yahweh Elohim, which we will cover in a future article. So, you can see how difficult it is in most English translations to see what words are being translated. You have to know how the translation you use translates these Hebrew words and also carefully read the passages to see the differences. If your translation does not indicate how it handles these, look at Exodus 9:30 for Yahweh Elohim and Eze 14:10 for Adonai Yahweh. Translations are not perfect. In Ex 34:23 and 2 Sam 7:22, the ESV has “LORD God” instead of “Lord GOD.”1This is one of the reasons I would prefer to translate the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) as Yahweh or leave it as YHWH.
With the use of Adonai with Yahweh, it is easy to see how Adonai came to replace Yahweh as the preferred name for God in Jewish life. In order to honor God and His name, the Jewish people came to the point in the intertestamental period (586 BC-4 BC) of not pronouncing YHWH for fear of being irreverent and using God’s name in vain. So instead of using Yahweh, they would use Adonai (Lord) or Hashem (the Name). With Adonai already closely associated with Yahweh, it became the natural replacement.
The significance of the name Adonai Yahweh is for us to think of this as Yahweh is Lord! This is especially true when used for a quote from God. The biblical writer is emphasizing who is speaking. It is not just anyone but the One True God of the universe. The one who revealed Himself in His name Yahweh: He that was, is and will always be: He is eternal. The emphasis is on declaring the lordship and majesty of Yahweh. He is our Master. He is not like other gods. They have been given names like Baal or Zeus, but Yahweh is Master and Lord. His is Lord of lords and King of kings! (1 Tim 6:15; Rev 17:14; 19:16).
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless! #CultivatingFaithOrg
- I contacted Crossway about these errors. This is the response I received, “Thank you for reaching out regarding these! You are correct that they’ve been formatted incorrectly and should read “Lord GOD”. We’ve been notified of the 2 Sam passage previously but hadn’t caught the Exodus one so this is extremely helpful. I’ve passed this on for consideration by the TOC and it should be corrected for in the next ESV text revision whenever that may be.”