LORD

Starting in Genesis 2:4 the term translated as LORD:

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

The above is the King James Version.   It is translated LORD also in NIV, NASB,  NLT among others.  The original Hebrew is what we would pronounce Yahweh.  That means that if one were to read the Hebrew as it is written, it would be Yahweh Elohim.  Prior to this point, if you read Genesis; you will just see "God" without "LORD".  It makes one wonder why a writer would start adding the extra word.

If you have read about Moses talking with God in Exodus (wouldn't that just be the coolest thing?) Moses says:

“Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

God responds by saying:

God said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM”

The Hebrew for that is

If you look at the first and the last word, you will see a similarity to the word above.   If you consider, the "I AM THAT I AM" to LORD consider that God IS!   We know that God has no beginning and no end.  Have you ever considered eternity?  One time I remember reading on a church reader board

Eternity is not time after time but lack of time  

Consider that statement with the statement of "I AM"  God doesn't say "I've been around forever."  He says "I AM"  He just "BEs".    Maybe that's why Moses (or whoever) used the name Yahweh.    Isn't it cool what you find out when going back to the Hebrew?

Another interesting note is that the Jewish tradition is to substitute the word "Adonai" instead of Yahweh for fear of the name being blasphemed.   It is believed that translators followed the same tradition by using the word LORD.

I stumbled across an interesting thought when looking up the history of YHWH at Eliyah.com about the use of LORD and Adonai.  I'm not sure I totally agree with the writer's thoughts but I wanted to put the link here because it was interesting to read.

There's more information on YHWH on Bible-researcher.com

Meanwhile may the LORD God bless you....
YHWH Elohim.....