Question:

I have a study that focuses on the words “LORD” Hebrew Yahovah {yeh-ho-vaw’} H3068 from H1961. Jehovah = “the existing One” 1) the proper name of the one true God.

“Lord” Hebrew Adonay (ad – o – noy) H136 from H113 1) my lord, lord a) of men b) of God.  “Lord” Hebrew “adown” (adone) H113 1) firm, strong, lord, master.

Are you able to summarize what you believe the difference to be between H113 and H136? I have taken the viewpoint that they are different words, however they also seem to be virtually the same. Any light on this topic would be appreciated, perhaps a comparison in English.

Answer:

On the names for God, I think that many people make more of this than is justified by scripture, yet, on the other hand, there is some rich theology behind the different names used for God, especially in the Old Testament.

The name YHWH was not used of God before that name was spoken to Moses by God in the desert.  Before this time, names such as Elohim, Adonai, El, El Elyon and El Shaddai were used.   If I understand correctly, Adonai is more of a description than a name for God, as it simply means Lord.    It is like Jesus Christ.  Christ is a description, whereas Jesus is a name.  So, as you seem to notice, one can argue that YHWH is a “name” for God, whereas Adonai is a description of him.  By analogy, before Moses was given the “name” YHWH, one can argue that the “name” used for God was El or El Shaddai.      In fact, even in the “name” El Shaddai, one can argue that the word El is the “name” and Shaddai is the description.

About the difference between Adonai and Adone, I am not an expert on this.   However, let me throw an opinion out there, which is that these are simply different grammatical forms of the same word.  In fact, what you copied and pasted implies this.   Like it says, Adonai (H136) comes “from” Adone (H 113), so making a distinction between the two would be a stretch, as far as I can see.  However, I am the last person you should talk to about the precise interpretation of Hebrew grammatical usages.   From the grammatical description you copy and paste below, it appears that Adonai is about the Lord of…. A bit more of a title, whereas adone seems to more of a descriptor.      Something like Jesus is my Lord (capital L) versus Jesus is the lord (small l).

I hope this helps at least a bit.

John Oakes