THE MANY NAMES OF GOD

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Give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name (Psalm 105:1a NJB)

The Bible gives many different names to the One True God. The most frequently used names are YHWH, usually rendered as Yahweh (ca. 6,800 times); Elohim (ca. 2,600 times); Adonai (ca. 439 times); and El (ca. 238 times). Most other names are combinations of El Shaddai, El Eloah, and Yahweh Elohim. The most commonly used names for God in the Hebrew and Protestant Bibles are Ha-Shem (meaning "the name," which is in the modern Jewish Masoretic Text translations of the Tanach) and Jehovah (used in both Protestant and Jewish translations). Both are names for God that only date back to the Middle Ages and are not found in the ancient texts of Sacred Scripture.

ADONAI: The word adon, in Hebrew, is translated as "lord." God's name, rendered as Adonai, is a form of the word "adon" with an "ai" ending. Adonai is used about 439 times in the Bible and can be translated as "Lord" or "my Lord." Biblical scholars and linguists, however, cannot agree as to the meaning of the "ai" suffix that has been added to the Hebrew word for "lord" (adon). Some scholars have suggested it indicates a plural of majesty. In most English translations, this word is rendered as "Lord" with the first letter capitalized and the other letters lowercase. Those translations that have the word "Lord" in all capital letters, "LORD," instead indicate God's covenant name, YHWH (usually rendered "Yahweh"). All capital letters denote the difference between the use of Adonai and Yahweh. (Only the NRSV translation confuses the issue by rendering Adonai as both "Lord" and "LORD").

EL and ELOHIM: El is used for God about 238 times, while Elohim appears about 2,600 times. In the Bible, Elohim has two distinct meanings. First, it is a plural form (-im/in and -ot are the standard Hebrew plural endings) of the word "god" in the Hebrew and the Canaanite languages, which is rendered "el" in the singular (when the word "el" is used for the One True God it is always capitalized as "El"). An example of the first meaning used in the plural form can be found in Deuteronomy 5:7, "You shall have not other false gods [elohim] before me." However, the most common use of Elohim is its second distinct meaning when it is used as a personal name for God or when referring to God as the true God among false gods. Thus, it is used in Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth..." and also in Joshua 24:19, "You cannot worship Yahweh for He is a holy god [elohim]..." There is no explanation why the plural form is used for the One True God (as it is in Genesis 1:1). However, scholars from the times of the Fathers of the Church have suggested that the plural form indicates the mystery of the Trinity, which was hidden in the Old Testament but revealed in the New.

YHWH: The four Hebrew consonants that comprise YHWH are given in Scripture as God's holy Covenant name, and this form of His name is the most frequently used in the Bible (about 6,800 times). These four Hebrew characters, YHWH = yad, hay, vav (v in Hebrew can also be rendered w in English), and hay are called the "tetragrammaton" or "tetragram," meaning "the four-letter word." Biblical scholars do not know how YHWH was initially pronounced because its original pronunciation, which was part of the sacred Oral Tradition of the Jews, was lost when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in AD 70. Throughout history, God's Old Covenant people treated God's name with great reverence, declaring it too holy to be spoken aloud. Speaking God's Covenant name was restricted to the priests and the faithful worshipping in God's Temple in Jerusalem, and, therefore, with the destruction of the Temple, God's holy Covenant name was no longer spoken, and the correct pronunciation of the name was lost. The rendering of YHWH as "Yahweh" is a modern conjecture first suggested in the 16^th century by Biblical scholar Gilbert Genebrard, professor of Hebrew at the College Royal in Paris. But this has been accepted by Biblical scholars today as the most likely rendering. You will find this rendering in the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible translation. In other translations, following what became the Jewish custom, YHWH is rendered as LORD. For example, see this rendering in the Catholic Revised Standard, New American Bible, New American Bible Revised Edition, and most Protestant Bible translations. This rendering of the Divine Name became a custom in the 3^rd century BC when the ancient Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) into the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. They replaced the Sacred Name YHWH with "ho Kyrios" or "the Lord." In the modern Jewish Tanach, YHWH is rendered as Hashem (or ha-Shem, meaning in Hebrew, "the name") or Adoshem, a contraction of Adonai and ha-Shem.

But what does the Tetragrammaton YHWH mean? Biblical scholars have been arguing about the meaning of YHWH for centuries. Since Biblical names generally have a discernible meaning, scholars have believed that YHWH can be reasonably translated. Based on etymology and context, most scholars have agreed that YHWH is an archaic form of the verb "to be" (in Hebrew hawah) and should be translated as "I am who I am, or I will be who I will be." This meaning contextually fits the passages in Exodus 3:13-15a: "Moses then said to God [Elohim], Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to me, "What is his name?" what am I to tell them?' God [Elohim] said to Moses, I am [YHWH] he who is.' And he said, This is what you are to say to the Israelites I am [YHWH] has sent me to you...'" This meaning agrees with Exodus 3:6, "I am the God of your ancestors," and Jesus' I AM statements in the fourth Gospel, i.e., "In all truth I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I AM." (John 8:58).

JEHOVAH: The Biblical reference to God as Yehova (Jehova) spelled out with Hebrew characters first appeared in the Middle Ages (c.AD 800). At that time, Jewish scholars (called the Masorites) translated the Greek Old Testament Bible back into Hebrew and added vowel points to the Hebrew language, which was originally written in consonants. Since then, Hebrew Bible manuscripts have inserted the vowels from Adonai within the tetragrammaton, YHWH, as a reminder that readers should say "Adonai" instead of the sacred name, which "must not be spoken." The pronunciation of "Jehovah" was unknown until AD 1520, when a Biblical scholar named Galatians introduced it. Other scholars contested this pronunciation as being against grammatical and historical propriety. However, when Protestant scholars began their vernacular translations (into their common languages) of the Old Testament using the Jewish Masoretic translations, they also mixed the four consonants of YHWH (JHWH in German) with the vowels of Adonai in the mistaken belief that this was the correct pronunciation of the Sacred Name and from then on YHWH appeared in Protestant Biblical texts as "Jehovah." This rendering is most frequently used in the King James Version translations as in, "Let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth" (Psalm 83:18). Modern scholars do not recognize this form as a legitimate name for the Hebrew God and dismiss it as a misreading or mispronunciation.

YAHUAH: The name Yahuah is a suggested vocalization of YHWH by taking the word Yehudah (yod-heh-vav-dalet-heh), arbitrarily dropping the dalet (Yehuah), and inserting a full vowel under the yod (Yahuah), so it contains God's shortened name (Yah). This suggestion defies several rules of Hebrew, but it has gained popularity in certain circles.

Names for God found in Sacred Scripture and some of the passages in which these names appear:

• Elohim = "God" (plural) as in the Creator, Genesis 1:1 ~"In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth."
• El Elyon = "God (singular) Most High," Genesis 14:18-20 ~"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of (El Elyon) God the Most High. And He blessed him and said, "blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand."
• El Roi = "God Who Sees," Genesis 16:13-14 ~ "Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You are a (El Roi) God who sees'; for she said, Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?' Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (well of the living one who sees me."
• El Shaddai= "God Almighty"?, or "God the All-Sufficient One"?; the etomology is so ancient that Biblical scholars disagree on the meaning of this name. Genesis 17:2-3 ~ "I AM El Shaddai. Live in my presence, be perfect, and I shall grant a covenant between myself and you, and make you very numerous. And Abram bowed to the ground."
• Yahweh = found in Scripture as the consonants YHWH, and known as the "tetragramaton," is God's holy Covenant name. The letters form a word or words from the verb "to be." Most scholars translate it as "I AM who I am or I will be who I will be," or "the Self-Existent One": Exodus 3:13-14 ~ "Moses said to God, Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name?' what am I to tell them?' God said to Moses, I AM He who is. Tell them that I AM who I am sent you." (Yahweh)
• Adonai = "Lord," Exodus 4:10-12 ~ "Then Moses said to the LORD, Please Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. And the LORD said to him, Who has made men's mouth? Or who make him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?'" Note: LORD, all in capital letters, is a substitution out of reverence for God's covenant name, "Yahweh".
• Yahweh-jireh = "Yahweh will provide" or "I AM will provide." Genesis 22:11-14 ~ "But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, Here I am.' And he said, Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.' Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behind him, he saw a ram caught up in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place (Yahweh jireh) The LORD WILL provide, as it is said to this day: On the Mountain Yahweh provides."
• Yahweh-rapha = "Yahweh who heals," Exodus 15:26 ~ "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of Yahweh your God and do what He regards as right, if you pay attention to His commandments and keep all His laws, I shall never inflict on you any of the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, for I am Yahweh your Healer (Yahweh rapha)."
• Yahweh "nissi = "Yahweh My Banner," Exodus 17:16 (after willing a battle with God's assistance ) ~ "Moses built an altar, and named it (Yahweh-nissi) Yahweh is My Banner..."
• Yahweh-mekoddishkem = "Yahweh Who Sanctifies You," Exodus 31:12 ~ "And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, "You shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am (Yahweh-mekoddishkem)Yahweh who sanctifies you..."
• Yahweh-shalom = "Yahweh is Peace," Judges 6:22-24 ~ "He said, Alas, my Lord, Yahweh! Now I have seen the Angel of Yahweh face to face Yahweh answered, Peace be with you; have no fear; you will not die.' Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and called it (Yahweh-shalom) Yahweh is peace."
• Yahweh-sabaoth = "Yahweh of Hosts," Psalm 22:10 ~ "Who is He, this king of glory? (Yahweh-saboath) Yahweh of Hosts, He is the king of glory." Psalm 46:7 "Yahweh-sabaoth is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold."
  Note: the "hosts" are the army of angels who serve God.
• Yahweh-raah = "Yahweh My Shepherd," Psalm 23:1 ~ "(Yahweh raah) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."
• Yahweh-tsidkenu = "Yahweh Our Saving Justice," Jeremiah 23:5-6 ~ "Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall rise an upright Branch for David; He will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country. In his days Judah will triumph and Israel live in safety, and this is the name He will be called (Yahweh-tsidkenu) Yahweh-our-saving-justice."
• [New Jerusalem translation]

Whatever word you use when you call upon God's name, remember to call in reverence and love, for the word that expresses the essence of God in His most intimate relationship with you is LOVE, for "God is love" (1 John 4:16c).

"We are waiting for Yahweh;
He is our help and our shield,
For in Him our heart rejoices,
In His holy name we trust.
Yahweh, let your faithful love rest on us.
As our hope has rested in you."
Psalm 33:20-22

Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2003; revised 2025 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

REFERENCES
1. The Jewish Book of Why, Alfred J. Kolatch, Jonathan David Publishers, Inc. 1995
2. Bible Review (August 2003): "Why God has so Many Names" by Bernhard Lang (Old Testament and religious studies, University of St. Andrews, Scotland & Professor of Catholic Theology, University of Paderborn, Germany).
3. Dictionary of the Bible, John L McKenzie, editor (Simon & Schuster, 1995).
4. Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament vol II, Martin R. Vincent, D.D., Union Theological Seminary, (Hendrickson Publishers).
5. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, R. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, (Hendrickson Publishers,2002).