Adonai
A Hebrew word signifying "the Lord," and used by the Hebrews when speaking or writing of Jehovah, the awful and ineffable name of the God of Israel. The Jews entertained the deepest awe for this incommunicable and mysterious name, and this feeling led them to avoid pronouncing it and to the substitution of the word Adonai for "Jehovah " in their sacred text. This custom still prevails among the Jews, who attribute to the pronouncement of the Holy Name the power of working miracles. The Jehovah of the Israelites was their invisible protector and king, and no image of him was made. He was worshipped according to his commandments, with an observance of the ritual instituted through Moses. The term "Jehovah" means the revealed Absolute Deity, the Manifest, Only, Personal, Holy Creator and Redeemer. (See Magic, God, Egypt, Kabala.)