adonay · Adonai, Lord

What it means

adonay (אֲדֹנָי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Adonai, Lord”.

"Adonai": "my Lord", said only to God. It is a title of respect that acknowledges his authority. It is not another god besides YHWH: often it goes with his name, "Adonai YHWH", Lord YHWH.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A title of honor given only to God: "my master".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Adonai: a title of God that means “Lord”. BDB notes that it is used as a proper name of God only. It is a form of אָדוֹן, “lord”, reserved for God; said to a man, the word is a different one (H113).

• “Adonai YHWH”, the title next to the name Genesis 15:2Ezekiel 2:4
• In pleas addressed to God Exodus 4:10
• Alone, as a name of God Isaiah 6:1Psalms 2:4

Historical and cultural background

Ezekiel is the book that uses it most: in it “Adonai YHWH” opens many of the oracles (“Thus says Adonai YHWH”, Ezekiel 2:4).

How we translate it

“Adonai” 437 times. This edition writes the names and titles of God as they stand in the original, transliterated: “Adonai”, and “Adonai YHWH” when they go together. In 8 verses it is translated “Lord” instead (“the Lord of all the earth”, Joshua 3:11; “our Lord”, Nehemiah 8:10). Where the vowels of the text mark the divine form even though the context is uncertain, it writes “Adonai”, with a note (Genesis 18:3).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• Adonai ×437
• Lord ×8

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×8
• Exodus×6
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×3
• Joshua×5
• Judges×4
• 2 Samuel×7
• 1 Kings×5
• 2 Kings×2
• Nehemiah×4
• Job×1
• Psalms×55
• Isaiah×48
• Jeremiah×14
• Lamentations×14
• Ezekiel×222
• Daniel×11
• Hosea×1
• Amos×25
• Obadiah×1
• Micah×2
• Habakkuk×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2
• Malachi×2

• Genesis 15:2

  But Abram said, “Adonai YHWH, what will you give me, while I go on childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

• Genesis 15:8

  But he said, “Adonai YHWH, how will I know that I will possess it?”

• Genesis 18:27

  Abraham answered and said, “Look, I have ventured to speak to Adonai, though I am dust and ashes.

• Genesis 18:30

  Then he said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak: perhaps thirty will be found there.” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

• Genesis 18:31

  He said, “Look, I have ventured to speak to Adonai: perhaps twenty will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

• Genesis 18:32

  He said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak only this once: perhaps ten will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

• Genesis 19:18

  But Lot said to them, “No, please, Adonai!

• Genesis 20:4

  Now Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, “Adonai, will you kill a nation, even one that is righteous?

• Exodus 4:10

  Moses said to YHWH, “Please, Adonai, I have never been a man of words, either in the past or before that or since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of mouth and slow of tongue.”

• Exodus 4:13

  But he said, “Please, Adonai, send, I pray, by the hand of whomever you will send.”

• Exodus 5:22

  Then Moses returned to YHWH and said, “Adonai, why have you done evil to this people? Why is it that you sent me?

• Exodus 15:17

  You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place for you to dwell in that you have made, YHWH, the sanctuary, Adonai, that your hands have established.

• Exodus 34:9

  And he said, “If, please, I have found favor in your eyes, Adonai, let Adonai go, please, in our midst; although it is a stubborn people, forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

• Numbers 14:17

  And now, please let the power of Adonai be great, just as you have spoken, saying,

• Deuteronomy 3:24

  “Adonai YHWH, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand; for what god is there in the heavens or on the earth who can do according to your works and according to your mighty deeds?

• Deuteronomy 9:26

  I prayed to YHWH and said, “Adonai YHWH, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you ransomed by your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

• Deuteronomy 10:17

  For YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and fearsome El, who does not show favoritism and does not take a bribe.

• Joshua 3:11

  Look, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing before you into the Jordan.

• Joshua 3:13

  And it shall be, when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of YHWH, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, the waters that come down from above, and they will stand in one heap.”

• Joshua 5:14

  He said, “No, but I am the chief of the army of YHWH; now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the ground and bowed down and said to him, “What is my lord saying to his servant?”

• Joshua 7:7

  And Joshua said, “Alas, Adonai YHWH! Why did you bring this people all the way across the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorite, to make us perish? If only we had been content to stay beyond the Jordan!

• Joshua 7:8

  Please, Adonai, what can I say, after Israel has turned its back before its enemies?

• Judges 6:15

  He said to him, “Pardon, Adonai, with what shall I save Israel? Look, my thousand is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father.”

• Judges 6:22

  Gideon saw that he was the angel of YHWH, and Gideon said, “Alas, Adonai YHWH! For because of this I have seen the angel of YHWH face to face.”

• Judges 13:8

  Then Manoah pleaded with YHWH and said, “Pardon, Adonai, let the man of Elohim whom you sent come again, please, to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

• Judges 16:28

  And Samson called to YHWH and said, “Adonai YHWH, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this time, O Elohim, that I may take one vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

• 2 Samuel 7:18

  Then King David went in and sat before YHWH and said, “Who am I, Adonai YHWH, and who is my house, that you have brought me this far?

• 2 Samuel 7:19

  And this was still small in your eyes, Adonai YHWH; and you have spoken also of the house of your servant for a long time to come; and this is the manner of humankind, Adonai YHWH!

• 2 Samuel 7:20

  And what can David add further to say to you? You know your servant, Adonai YHWH.

• 2 Samuel 7:22

  Therefore you are great, Adonai YHWH; for there is none like you, and there is no Elohim besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

• 2 Samuel 7:28

  And now, Adonai YHWH, you are Elohim, and your words are truth, and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.

• 2 Samuel 7:29

  And now, be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may be forever before you; for you, Adonai YHWH, have spoken, and with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

• 1 Kings 2:26

  And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you deserve death; but on this day I will not put you to death, because you carried the ark of Adonai YHWH before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all that my father was afflicted.”

• 1 Kings 3:10

  And the thing was good in the eyes of Adonai, that Solomon had asked this thing.

• 1 Kings 3:15

  And Solomon woke up, and he saw that it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

• 1 Kings 8:53

  For you separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke by means of Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Adonai YHWH.”

• 1 Kings 22:6

  Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to war, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up, and Adonai will give it into the hand of the king.”

• 2 Kings 7:6

  Adonai had caused the camp of Aram to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great force; and they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.”

• 2 Kings 19:23

  Through your messengers you have taunted Adonai, and you have said, ‘With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the remotest parts of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars, its choicest cypresses; I will enter its farthest lodging, the forest of its orchard.

• Nehemiah 1:11

  I beg you, Adonai, let your ear, I beg you, be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name; and give success, I beg you, to your servant today, and grant him mercy before this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

And 405 more times.