When to Capitalize ?

[Doug]

In the text for Thursday, June 27, 2019 ,  mid sentence , 'His' (Jehovah's) is capitalized.  But in other scriptures , when 'his' is used in reference to Jehovah, it isn't capitalized.

 

What are the rules for capitalizing when the word is not the first word and when it isn't a proper noun?

[Sheep]

In short... When referring to Jehovah, normally the pronouns 'he' and 'his' are not capitalized. However, when it is not evident from the context that the pronoun refers to Jehovah, it is capitalized. Especially is this the case when there is an interaction between Jehovah and some other person, for example today's daily text, Psalm 1:2. The possessive pronoun 'his' could refer to either one. You will notice in that verse that in the first instance, 'his' is not capitalized because it refers to a human being, the one who delights in Jehovah's law. But in the second instance, 'His' is capitalized because it refers to Jehovah.

[Beggar for the Spirit]

Very nice explanation Eric. 

And here is a good article from an older WT which was a response to a question that was similar to Doug's question.

Quote

*** w57 11/15 p. 703 Questions From Readers ***

● Sometimes in your publications you capitalize personal pronouns referring to Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, but generally you do not. Why not?—W. S., United States.
The practice of some who capitalize all personal pronouns referring to Jehovah and Christ appears to be merely a matter of preference or style and not something made obligatory by any principle in God’s Word. The way to praise and honor Jehovah and Christ is not by the mere capitalizing of initial letters in personal pronouns referring to them, but is by study and service, obedience and preaching. In the oldest Bible manuscripts available all the letters are alike. Capitalization is of relatively recent origin. Says Sir Frederic Kenyon in his book Textual Criticism of the New Testament, pages 19, 20, 25: “Capital letters, which are occasionally used in business documents to mark the beginning of a clause, do not occur in literary papyri . . .” It is interesting to note that not even the translators of the respected King James or Authorized Version always capitalized personal pronouns referring to Jehovah and Christ.—See Genesis 15:4-13; John 1:1-4, AV.
It is our policy to lower-case pronouns referring to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ in all our publications, with the exception that capitals are used when other pronouns in the sentence might make the meaning doubtful. If, for instance, both Jehovah and Jeremiah are mentioned in a sentence and then in that sentence the pronoun “he” occurs, the “h” would be capitalized if the pronoun were referring to Jehovah and it would be lower-cased if it referred to Jeremiah.

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Beggar for the Spirit

[Sheep]

1 hour ago, Beggar for the Spirit said:

Very nice explanation Eric. 

And here is a good article from an older WT which was a response to a question that was similar to Doug's question.

Thanks for the article reference. I think that's where I had gotten my explanation from several years ago, but couldn't find it when I was writing my post. I like the references to the AV (King James), namely Genesis 15:4-13 and John 1:1-4. For example, in Genesis 15:6, the pronoun 'he' is used twice, once referring to Abram and once to Jehovah. Neither one is capitalized. Apparently they didn't think it was important 400 years ago when the AV was produced. They just let the reader figure it out from the context. I think the capitalized and lower-cased 'h' is only a shortcut for us today.