What do LORD, GOD, Lord, and God stand for in the Bible?

This is the second name of God found in the Old Testament. Its first occurrence is found in Genesis 2:4. It is translated GOD some 300 times, and LORD about 6,000 times. Its meaning is: He who always was, who always is, who always will be — the Eternal. It is mentioned far more often in Scripture than any other name of God. Wherever the reader finds the name GOD printed in capital letters, or the name LORD printed likewise in capital letters in his Bible, he may know that in both cases it refers to Jehovah.

The Jews, from time immemorial, never pronounce the word Jehovah, or write it in anything but Hebrew characters. Now the translators of the Septuagint were Jews, holding the common view of their nation. As a result the word Jehovah does not appear once in the Septuagint; it is always rendered by Kurios, or Lord, which was a common title of respect between one man and another. This peculiarity passed into the Vulgate, where Dominus is the equivalent for Jehovah; and, for some unexplained reason, it has been almost always kept in our common English Bibles. Because of this, a great deal of the meaning of the Bible is sometimes missed, and the proper name of the invisible God does not appear where it ought to be.

The true pronunciation of Jehovah is said to be lost: the Jews, when reading the Old Testament, never speak it, but say "the name," "the great and terrible name," and so on.

JEHOVAH is the name God specially took in His covenant relationship with Israel… The word means the self-existent One, and, as another has observed, is practically translated, "Who is, and was, and is to come." Derived from the verb "to exist," it expresses the eternity, and therefore the unchangeableness, of His being.

But in Genesis 2 we have another title added to God, namely "Lord" (Jehovah). Why is this? Because man is now on the scene, and "Lord" expresses the divine relation with man. It is impossible to read these two chapters without being struck by the difference between the titles "God" and "the Lord God" — "Elohim" and "Jehovah Elohim"; and the difference is both beautiful and instructive.

There are those who argue that it is simply, according to Hebrew usage, a plural of excellence, and that the word in this form conveys the excellency or perfections of the One spoken of; there are others who maintain that it is divinely intended to set forth the Trinity… In support of this the devout reader will notice the language of Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

It would be well to recall that the title Jehovah, whether translated GOD or LORD, is always printed in our Bibles in capital letters, while Adonai, always translated Lord, is printed in small letters with only an initial capital. Adonai is used a great deal in the Psalms, Isaiah and Ezekiel. It is often set out as "The LORD GOD [Jehovah-Adonai]". It is a name used largely by the Lord's people in Old Testament times when turning to God for help, guidance, mercy and compassion.

God, in His government, was about to destroy the human race and every living thing. But Jehovah, in infinite grace, shut Noah in. Notice the distinction. If a mere man were writing the history, he might swap the titles round, not seeing what was involved. Not so the Holy Spirit… To the world He was Elohim; to His beloved people He was Jehovah.

There is no kind of doubt that they used the title kurios, or the LORD, exactly as the Septuagint translators had done — as a well-understood equivalent for Jehovah. And when this title of LORD became, in an emphatic way, fixed upon the Redeemer, He was by that very fact proclaimed to be Jehovah.