Elohim: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Elohim.svg|thumb|''Elohim'' in Hebrew script. The letters are, right-to-left: ''[[aleph]]-[[Lamedh|lamed]]-[[He (letter)|he]]-[[Yodh|yud]]-[[mem]]''.]] |
[[File:Elohim.svg|thumb|''Elohim'' in Hebrew script. The letters are, right-to-left: ''[[aleph]]-[[Lamedh|lamed]]-[[He (letter)|he]]-[[Yodh|yud]]-[[mem]]''.]] |
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'''''Elohim''''' ({{Lang-he|אֱלֹהִים|translit=ʾĔlōhīm}}: {{IPA-he|(ʔ)eloˈ(h)im|}}), the plural of {{lang|he|אֱלוֹהַּ|rtl=yes}} ({{transl|he|ʾĔlōah}}), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is grammatically [[plural]], in the [[Hebrew Bible]] it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal [[grammatical agreement|agreement]] and refers to a single deity, particularly the [[God in Judaism|God of Israel]]. In other verses it refers to the singular gods of other nations or to [[deity|deities]] in the plural. |
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[[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphologically]], the word is the plural form of the word ''[[eloah]]'' |
[[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphologically]], the word is the plural form of the word ''[[eloah]]'' and related to ''[[El (deity)|el]]''. It is [[cognate]] to the word ''{{'}}l-h-m'' which is found in [[Ugaritic]], where it is used as the [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]] for [[Canaanite gods]], the children of [[El (deity)|El]], and conventionally vocalized as "Elohim". Most uses of the term ''Elohim'' in the later Hebrew text imply a view that is at least [[monolatrist]] at the time of writing, and such usage (in the singular), as a proper title for Deity, is distinct from generic usage as ''elohim'', "gods" (plural, simple noun). |
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Rabbinic scholar [[Maimonides]] wrote that ''Elohim'' "Divinity" and ''elohim'' "gods" are commonly understood to be [[homonym]]s.<ref name=maimonides /> |
Rabbinic scholar [[Maimonides]] wrote that ''Elohim'' "Divinity" and ''elohim'' "gods" are commonly understood to be [[homonym]]s.<ref name=maimonides /> |
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One modern theory suggests that the notion of [[divinity]] underwent radical changes in the early period of [[Israelites|Israelite]] identity and development of [[Ancient Hebrew religion]]. In this view, the ambiguity of the term ''elohim'' is the result of such changes, cast in terms of "vertical translatability", i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods of the earliest recalled period as the [[national god]] of monolatrism as it emerged in the 7th to 6th century BCE in the [[Kingdom of Judah]] and during the [[Babylonian captivity]], and further in terms of [[monotheism]] by the emergence of [[Rabbinical Judaism]] in the 2nd century CE.{{sfn|Smith|2010|page=19}} |
One modern theory suggests that the notion of [[divinity]] underwent radical changes in the early period of [[Israelites|Israelite]] identity and development of [[Ancient Hebrew religion]]. In this view, the ambiguity of the term ''elohim'' is the result of such changes, cast in terms of "vertical translatability", i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods of the earliest recalled period as the [[national god]] of [[Monolatry|monolatrism]] as it emerged in the 7th to 6th century BCE in the [[Kingdom of Judah]] and during the [[Babylonian captivity]], and further in terms of [[monotheism]] by the emergence of [[Rabbinical Judaism]] in the 2nd century CE.{{sfn|Smith|2010|page=19}} |
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Another theory, building on an idea by Gesenius, argues that even before Hebrew became a distinct language, the plural ''elohim'' had both a plural meaning of "gods" and an abstract meaning of "godhood" or "divinity", much as the plural of "father", ''avot'', can mean either "fathers" or "fatherhood". ''Elohim'' then came to be used so frequently in reference to specific deities, both male and female, domestic and foreign (for instance, the goddess of the Sidonians in 1 Kings 11:33), that it came to be concretized from meaning "divinity" to meaning "deity", though still occasionally used adjectivally as "divine".{{sfn|Burnett|2001}} |
Another theory, building on an idea by Gesenius, argues that even before Hebrew became a distinct language, the plural ''elohim'' had both a plural meaning of "gods" and an abstract meaning of "godhood" or "divinity", much as the plural of "father", ''avot'', can mean either "fathers" or "fatherhood". ''Elohim'' then came to be used so frequently in reference to specific deities, both male and female, domestic and foreign (for instance, the goddess of the Sidonians in 1 Kings 11:33), that it came to be concretized from meaning "divinity" to meaning "deity", though still occasionally used adjectivally as "divine".{{sfn|Burnett|2001}} |
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==Grammar and etymology== |
==Grammar and etymology== |
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{{Further|El (deity)|Ilah|Allah}} |
{{Further|El (deity)|Ilah|Allah}} |
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⚫ | The word ''elohim'' or'' 'elohiym'' (''ʼĕlôhîym'') is a [[grammatical number|grammatically plural]] [[noun]] for "[[gods]]" or "deities" or various other words in [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref name="Strong 1890">{{cite book |last=Strong |first=James |author-link=James Strong (theologian) |chapter=H430 - 'elohiym |chapter-url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H430 |title=[[Strong's Concordance]] |date=1890 |publisher=[[Blue Letter Bible]] |access-date=1 August 2020 |quote={{lang|he|'''אֱלֹהִים'''}} '''ʼĕlôhîym''', el-o-heem; plural of H433 ({{lang|he|אֱלוֹהַּ}} ĕlôah); gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:—angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.}}</ref><ref name="Biblehub">{{cite web |url=https://biblehub.com/str/hebrew/430.htm |title=Strong's Hebrew: 430. '''אֱלֹהִים''' (elohim) -- God (Strong's Concordance; Englishman's Concordance; NAS Exhaustive Concordance; Brown-Driver-Briggs definition; Strong's Exhaustive Concordance definition; Forms and Transliterations) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2020 |website=Biblehub.com |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Britannica 1998">{{cite encyclopedia |author=<!--Not stated--> |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Elohim - Hebrew god |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elohim |date=20 July 1998 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |access-date=1 August 2020 |quote='''Elohim''', singular '''Eloah''', (Hebrew: God), the God of Israel in the Old Testament. The term Elohim—though sometimes used for other deities, such as the [[Moab]]ite god [[Chemosh]], the [[Phoenicia|Sidonian]] goddess [[Astarte]], and also for other majestic beings such as angels, kings, judges (the Old Testament ''[[Shophet|shofeṭim]]''), and the [[Jewish Messiah|Messiah]]—is usually employed in the Old Testament for the one and only God of Israel, whose personal name was revealed to [[Moses]] as [[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]], or [[Yahweh]] (q.v.). When referring to Yahweh, ''elohim'' very often is accompanied by the article ''ha-'', to mean, in combination, “the God,” and sometimes with a further identification ''Elohim ḥayyim'', meaning “the living God.”<br/> Though Elohim is plural in form, it is understood in the singular sense. Thus, in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] the words, “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth,” Elohim is monotheistic in connotation, though its grammatical structure seems polytheistic. The Israelites probably borrowed the Canaanite plural noun Elohim and made it singular in meaning in their cultic practices and theological reflections.}}</ref><ref name="BibleStudyTools">{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/elohiym.html |title='elohiym Meaning in Bible - Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon - New American Standard |website=Bible Study Tools |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Biblica 1902">{{cite encyclopedia |author=E. K. |title=DIVINE NAMES - 114. "Elōhīm" |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabib03cheyuoft/page/n343/mode/2up |year=1902 |editor1-last=Black |editor1-first=John S. |editor1-link=John Sutherland Black |editor2-last=Cheyne |editor2-first=Thomas K. |editor2-link=Thomas Kelly Cheyne |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Biblica]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Company]] |volume=3 |location=[[Toronto]] |pages=343–344 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Elohim NIE">{{Cite NIE |wstitle=Elohim |year=1905}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Outline of Biblical Usage |url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H430&t=NASB |access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref> |
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The word ''elohim'' or'' 'elohiym'' (''ʼĕlôhîym'') is a [[grammatical number|grammatically plural]] [[noun]] for "[[gods]]" or "deities" or various other words in [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref name="Strong 1890"/><ref name="Biblehub"/><ref name="Britannica 1998"/><ref name="BibleStudyTools"/><ref name="Biblica 1902"/><ref name="Elohim NIE"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Outline of Biblical Usage |url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H430&t=NASB |access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref> |
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In Hebrew, the ending ''[[Suffixes in Hebrew#Gender and number|-im]]'' normally indicates a masculine plural. However, when referring to the Jewish God, ''Elohim'' is usually understood to be grammatically singular (i.e., it governs a singular verb or adjective).{{sfn|McLaughlin|2000|pages=401-402}}{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|page=353}} In [[Modern Hebrew]], it is often referred to in the singular despite the ''-im'' ending that denotes plural masculine nouns in Hebrew.<ref>Glinert, ''Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar'', Routledge, p. 14, section 13 "(b) ''[[Agreement (linguistics)|Agreement]]''".</ref><ref>Gesenius, ''A Grammar of the Hebrew Language''.</ref> |
In Hebrew, the ending ''[[Suffixes in Hebrew#Gender and number|-im]]'' normally indicates a masculine plural. However, when referring to the Jewish God, ''Elohim'' is usually understood to be grammatically singular (i.e., it governs a singular verb or adjective).{{sfn|McLaughlin|2000|pages=401-402}}{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|page=353}} In [[Modern Hebrew]], it is often referred to in the singular despite the ''-im'' ending that denotes plural masculine nouns in Hebrew.<ref>Glinert, ''Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar'', Routledge, p. 14, section 13 "(b) ''[[Agreement (linguistics)|Agreement]]''".</ref><ref>Gesenius, ''A Grammar of the Hebrew Language''.</ref> |
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It is generally thought that ''Elohim'' is derived from ''eloah'',<ref name="Strong 1890"/><ref name="Biblehub"/><ref name="Britannica 1998"/><ref name="BibleStudyTools"/><ref name="Biblica 1902"/><ref name="Elohim NIE"/> the latter being an expanded form of the [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]] noun '''il''.{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285-288}}<ref name="DDD">{{cite book |last=Herrmann |first=W. | |
It is generally thought that ''Elohim'' is derived from ''eloah'',<ref name="Strong 1890"/><ref name="Biblehub"/><ref name="Britannica 1998"/><ref name="BibleStudyTools"/><ref name="Biblica 1902"/><ref name="Elohim NIE"/> the latter being an expanded form of the [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]] noun '''il''.{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285-288}}<ref name="DDD">{{cite book |last=Herrmann |first=W. |title=El |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=274–280, 352–353 |year=1999 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA274 |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_El |isbn=90-04-11119-0}}</ref> The related nouns ''eloah'' ({{lang|he|אלוה}}) and ''el'' ({{lang|he|אֵל}}) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with ''elohim''.<ref name="DDD" /> The term contains an added ''[[He (letter)|heh]]'' as [[Triconsonantal|third radical]] to the [[Semitic root|biconsonantal root]]. Discussions of the [[etymology]] of ''elohim'' essentially concern this expansion. An exact cognate outside of Hebrew is found in Ugaritic ''ʾlhm'',{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285-288}} the family of El, the [[Creator deity|creator god]] and chief deity of the [[Canaanite pantheon]], in [[Biblical Aramaic]] ''ʼĔlāhā'' and later [[Syriac language|Syriac]] ''Alaha'' ("God"), and in Arabic ''[[ʾilāh]]'' ("god, deity") (or ''[[Allah]]'' as "The [single] God").{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285–288}} "El" (the basis for the extended root ''ʾlh'') is usually derived from a root meaning "to be strong" and/or "to be in front".<ref name="DDD" /> |
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==Canaanite religion== |
==Canaanite religion== |
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{{Further|Ancient Canaanite religion}} |
{{Further|Ancient Canaanite religion}} |
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The word ''el'' (singular) is a standard term for "god" in Aramaic, paleo-Hebrew, and other related Semitic languages including Ugaritic. The Canaanite pantheon of gods was known as ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>ilhm'',{{Sfn|Pardee|1999|loc=p. 285 "The term expressing the simple notion of 'gods' in these texts is ''ilm''..."}} the Ugaritic equivalent to ''elohim''.{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|pages=352–353, 360–364}} For instance, the Ugaritic [[Baal Cycle]] mentions "seventy sons of [[Asherah]]". Each "son of god" was held to be the originating deity for a particular people ([[Keilschrift Texte aus Ugarit|KTU]] 2 1.4.VI.46).{{sfn|Day| |
The word ''el'' (singular) is a standard term for "god" in Aramaic, paleo-Hebrew, and other related Semitic languages including Ugaritic. The Canaanite pantheon of gods was known as ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>ilhm'',{{Sfn|Pardee|1999|loc=p. 285 "The term expressing the simple notion of 'gods' in these texts is ''ilm''..."}} the Ugaritic equivalent to ''elohim''.{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|pages=352–353, 360–364}} For instance, the Ugaritic [[Baal Cycle]] mentions "seventy sons of [[Asherah]]". Each "son of god" was held to be the originating deity for a particular people ([[Keilschrift Texte aus Ugarit|KTU]] 2 1.4.VI.46).{{sfn|Day|2003|page=23}} |
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==Usage== |
==Usage== |
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The word ''Elohim'' occurs more than two thousand five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible, with meanings ranging from "gods" in a general sense (as in {{bibleverse|Exodus|12:12|HE}}, where it describes "the gods of Egypt"), to specific gods (the frequent references to [[Yahweh]] as the "elohim" of Israel), to [[seraph]]im, and other supernatural beings, to the [[Sheol|spirits of the dead]] brought up at the behest of [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|King]] [[Saul]] in {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|28:13|HE}}, and even to kings and prophets (e.g., {{bibleverse|Exodus|4:16|HE}}).<ref name="DDD" /> The phrase ''[[Sons of God|bene elohim]]'', translated "sons of the Gods", has an exact parallel in [[Ugarit]]ic and [[Phoenicia]]n texts, referring to the council of the gods.<ref name="DDD" /> |
The word ''Elohim'' occurs more than two thousand five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible, with meanings ranging from "gods" in a general sense (as in {{bibleverse|Exodus|12:12|HE}}, where it describes "the gods of Egypt"), to specific gods (the frequent references to [[Yahweh]] as the "elohim" of Israel), to [[seraph]]im, and other supernatural beings, to the [[Sheol|spirits of the dead]] brought up at the behest of [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|King]] [[Saul]] in {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|28:13|HE}}, and even to kings and prophets (e.g., {{bibleverse|Exodus|4:16|HE}}).<ref name="DDD" /> The phrase ''[[Sons of God|bene elohim]]'', translated "sons of the Gods", has an exact parallel in [[Ugarit]]ic and [[Phoenicia]]n texts, referring to the council of the gods.<ref name="DDD" /> |
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Elohim occupy the seventh rank of ten in the medieval rabbinic scholar [[Maimonides]]' [[Jewish angelic hierarchy]]. Maimonides wrote: "I must premise that every Hebrew [now] knows that the term Elohim is a homonym, and denotes God, angels, judges, and the rulers of countries |
Elohim occupy the seventh rank of ten in the medieval rabbinic scholar [[Maimonides]]' [[Jewish angelic hierarchy]]. Maimonides wrote: "I must premise that every Hebrew [now] knows that the term Elohim is a homonym, and denotes God, angels, judges, and the rulers of countries ..."<ref name=maimonides>[[Moses Maimonides]]. ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp012.htm Guide for the Perplexed]'' (1904 translation by Friedländer). Starting from the beginning of chapter 2.</ref> |
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===With plural verb=== |
===With plural verb=== |
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In the Hebrew Bible, {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|28:13|HE}}, ''elohim'' is used with a plural verb. The [[witch of Endor]] tells [[Saul]] that she saw ''elohim'' ascending (''olim'' {{lang|he|עֹלִים}}, plural verb) out of the earth when she summoned the spirit of the [[Prophet]] [[Samuel]] at Saul's request.<ref>Brian B. Schmidt, |
In the Hebrew Bible, {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|28:13|HE}}, ''elohim'' is used with a plural verb. The [[witch of Endor]] tells [[Saul]] that she saw ''elohim'' ascending (''olim'' {{lang|he|עֹלִים}}, plural verb) out of the earth when she summoned the spirit of the [[Prophet]] [[Samuel]] at Saul's request.<ref>Brian B. Schmidt, "Israel's beneficent dead: ancestor cult and necromancy in ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition", ''Forschungen zum Alten Testament'', N. 11 (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr Siebeck, 1994), p. 217: "In spite of the fact that the MT plural noun 'elohim of v.13 is followed by a plural participle 'olim, a search for the antecedent to the singular pronominal suffix on mah-to'ro in v.14 what does he/it look like? has led interpreters to view the 'elohim ... 'olim as a designation for the dead Samuel, 'a god ascending'. The same term 'elohim ... He, therefore, urgently requests verification of Samuel's identity, mah-to'"ro, 'what does he/it look like?' The ... 32:1, 'elohim occurs with a plural finite verb and denotes multiple gods in this instance: 'elohim '"seryel'ku I fydnenu, 'the gods who will go before us'. Thus, the two occurrences of 'elohim in 1 Sam 28:13,15 – the first complemented by a plural ... 28:13 manifests a complex textual history, then the 'elohim of v. 13 might represent not the deified dead, but those gods known to be summoned – some from the [[underworld|netherworld]] – to assist in the retrieval of the ghost.373 ..."</ref> The word ''elohim'', in this context, can refer to spirits as well as deities.<ref>Bill T. Arnold, ''Necromancy and Cleromancy in 1 and 2 Samuel'', CBQ, 66:2, p.202</ref> Some traditional Jewish sources say that the spirits of deceased human beings are being referred to{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}. The [[Babylonian Talmud]] states: "''olim'' indicates that there were two of them. One of them was Samuel, but the other, who was he? – Samuel went and brought [[Moses]] with him."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chagigah 4b:9 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.4b.9?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> [[Rashi]] gives this interpretation in his commentary on the verse.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rashi on I Samuel 28:13:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_I_Samuel.28.13.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> Regarding this, [[Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno|Sforno]] states that "every disembodied creature is known as elohim; this includes the soul of human beings known as [the] 'Image of God'."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sforno on Deuteronomy 21:23:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sforno_on_Deuteronomy.21.23.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> |
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In {{bibleverse||Genesis|20:13|HE}}, [[Abraham]], before the polytheistic [[Philistine]] king [[Abimelech]], says that "Elohim (translated as 'God') caused ({{lang|he|התעו }}, plural verb) me to wander".<ref>{{cite book |last=Benamozegh |first=Elia |title=Israel and Humanity |year=1995 |publisher=Paulist Press International |isbn=978-0809135417 |author2=Maxwell Luria |page=104}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |title=Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary |year=2012 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0801031830 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUry0cGNR_IC&pg=PT1003}}</ref><ref>e.g. {{bibleverse||Genesis|20:13|HE}}: {{lang-he|התעו אתי אלהים מבית אבי }}, where {{lang|he|התעו}} is from {{lang-he|תעה }} "to err, wander, go astray, stagger", the [[hif'il|causative]] plural "they caused to wander".</ref> Whereas the Greek [[Septuagint]] (LXX) has a singular verb form (ἐξήγαγε(ν), aorist II), most English versions usually translate this as "God caused" (which does not distinguish between a singular and plural verb).<ref>[[Septuagint|LXX]]: {{lang|grc|ἐξήγαγέν με ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός}}; [[KJV]]: "when God caused me to wander from my father's house".</ref> Regarding this, the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] states: "All Names written regarding our father Abraham are holy [i.e., referring to the one God] except one which is profane, ''it was when the gods made me err from my |
In {{bibleverse||Genesis|20:13|HE}}, [[Abraham]], before the polytheistic [[Philistine]] king [[Abimelech]], says that "Elohim (translated as 'God') caused ({{lang|he|התעו }}, plural verb) me to wander".<ref>{{cite book |last=Benamozegh |first=Elia |title=Israel and Humanity |year=1995 |publisher=Paulist Press International |isbn=978-0809135417 |author2=Maxwell Luria |page=104}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |title=Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary |year=2012 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0801031830 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUry0cGNR_IC&pg=PT1003}}</ref><ref>e.g. {{bibleverse||Genesis|20:13|HE}}: {{lang-he|התעו אתי אלהים מבית אבי }}, where {{lang|he|התעו}} is from {{lang-he|תעה }} "to err, wander, go astray, stagger", the [[hif'il|causative]] plural "they caused to wander".</ref> Whereas the Greek [[Septuagint]] (LXX) has a singular verb form (ἐξήγαγε(ν), aorist II), most English versions usually translate this as "God caused" (which does not distinguish between a singular and plural verb).<ref>[[Septuagint|LXX]]: {{lang|grc|ἐξήγαγέν με ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός}}; [[KJV]]: "when God caused me to wander from my father's house".</ref> Regarding this, the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] states: "All Names written regarding our father Abraham are holy [i.e., referring to the one God] except one which is profane, ''it was when the gods made me err from my father's house.'' But some say this one also is holy, [i.e.,] 'were it not for God, they [humans] already would have made me err'."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:9:17 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Megillah.1.9.17?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> The same disagreement appears in [[Soferim (Talmud)|Tractate Soferim]], where [[Haninah ben Ahi R. Joshua]] maintained that the word is "holy".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tractate Soferim 4:6 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Tractate_Soferim.4.6?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> An alternative view (held by [[Onkelos]], [[Bahya ben Asher]], [[Jacob ben Asher]], [[Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno|Sforno]], and Rabbi [[Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg]]) is that the word means "gods" and the verse means that Abraham's distaste for the [[idolatry]] of his father [[Terah]] led him to decide to wander far from home.<ref> |
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*{{Cite web |title=Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 20:13:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rabbeinu_Bahya%2C_Bereshit.20.13.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}} |
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*{{Cite web |title=Tur HaArokh, Genesis 20:13:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Tur_HaArokh%2C_Genesis.20.13.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}} |
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* {{Cite web |title=Sforno on Genesis 20:13:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sforno_on_Genesis.20.13.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}} |
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*{{Cite web |title=HaKtav VeHaKabalah, Genesis 20:13:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/HaKtav_VeHaKabalah%2C_Genesis.20.13.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> Others, such as [[Hezekiah ben Manoah|Chizkuni]], interpret ''elohim'' as a reference to wicked rulers like [[Amraphel]] (often equated with [[Nimrod]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chizkuni, Genesis 20:13:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Chizkuni%2C_Genesis.20.13.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> |
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In {{Bibleverse|Genesis|35:7|HE}}, Jacob builds an altar at [[Bethel|El-Bethel]] "because there ''elohim'' revealed himself [plural verb] to [Jacob]". The verb ''niglu'' ("revealed himself") is plural, even though one would expect the singular.<ref>NET Bible with Companion CD-ROM W. Hall Harris, 3rd, |
In {{Bibleverse|Genesis|35:7|HE}}, Jacob builds an altar at [[Bethel|El-Bethel]] "because there ''elohim'' revealed himself [plural verb] to [Jacob]". The verb ''niglu'' ("revealed himself") is plural, even though one would expect the singular.<ref>''NET Bible with Companion CD-ROM'', W. Hall Harris, 3rd ed., 2003. "35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him.30 He poured out a 20tn Heb 'revealed themselves'. The verb iVl] (niglu), translated 'revealed himself', is plural, even though one expects the singular."</ref> This is one of several instances where the Bible uses plural verbs with the name ''elohim''.<ref>Haggai and Malachi p36 Herbert Wolf, 1976. "If both the noun and the verb are plural, the construction can refer to a person, just as the statement 'God revealed Himself' in Genesis 35:7 has a plural noun and verb. But since the word God, 'Elohim', is plural in form,8 the verb ..."</ref><ref>J. Harold Ellens, Wayne G. Rollins, ''Psychology and the Bible: From Genesis to apocalyptic vision'', 2004, p. 243: "Often the plural form Elohim, when used in reference to the biblical deity, takes a plural verb or adjective (Gen. 20:13, 35:7; Exod. 32:4, 8; 2 Sam. 7:23; Ps. 58:12)."</ref> Some Jewish sources (e.g., [[Targum Jonathan]], [[Abraham ibn Ezra|Ibn Ezra]], add [[Hezekiah ben Manoah|Chizkuni]]), seeking to explain the plural language of Genesis 35:7, translate ''elohim'' here as "angels",<ref> |
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*{{Cite web |title=Targum Jonathan on Genesis 35:7 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Genesis.35.7?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}} |
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*{{Cite web |title=Ibn Ezra on Genesis 35:7:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Ibn_Ezra_on_Genesis.35.7.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}} |
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*{{Cite web |title=Chizkuni, Genesis 35:7:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Chizkuni%2C_Genesis.35.7.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> noting that in the story being referenced Jacob experiences a vision of ''malakhei elohim'' (angels of God) ascending and descending the ladder.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Genesis 28:12 Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, Interlinear Bible |url=https://biblehub.com/text/genesis/28-12.htm |website=BibleHub}}</ref> [[David Kimhi|Radak]] agrees that this is a reference to angels but also presents the alternative view that the plural form in the verse is a [[Royal we|majestic plural]], as seen in other verses such as {{Bibleverse|Psalms|149:2|HE}} and {{Bibleverse|Job|35:10|HE}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Radak on Genesis 35:7:3 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Radak_on_Genesis.35.7.3?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> ''Elohim'' can be seen used in reference to the [[angel]]s in a variety of other cases, such as in {{Bibleverse|Psalms|8:6|HE}} and {{Bibleverse-nb|Psalms|82:1-6|HE}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Psalms 8:6 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.8.6?with=all&lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Psalms 8:5 Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, Interlinear Bible |url=https://biblehub.com/interlinear/psalms/8-5.htm |website=Bible Hub}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Psalms 82 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.82?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> |
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===With singular verb=== |
===With singular verb=== |
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''Elohim'', when meaning the God of Israel, is mostly grammatically singular, and is commonly translated as "God", and capitalised. For example, in {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:26|HE}}, it is written: "Then Elohim (translated as God) said (singular verb), 'Let us (plural) make (plural verb) man in our (plural) image, after our (plural) likeness{{'"}}. In the traditional Jewish understanding of the verse, the plural refers to [[God in Judaism|God]] taking [[Divine Council|council]] with His [[ |
''Elohim'', when meaning the God of Israel, is mostly grammatically singular, and is commonly translated as "God", and capitalised. For example, in {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:26|HE}}, it is written: "Then Elohim (translated as God) said (singular verb), 'Let us (plural) make (plural verb) man in our (plural) image, after our (plural) likeness{{'"}}. In the traditional Jewish understanding of the verse, the plural refers to [[God in Judaism|God]] taking [[Divine Council|council]] with His [[angel]]s (who He had created by this point) before creating [[Adam]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rashi on Genesis 1:26:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genesis.1.26.1?lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> It should also be noted that in the following verse of Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them"; the singular verb בָּרָא (bārāʾ), meaning "He created" is used as it is elsewhere in all the acts of creation featured in Genesis. This shows us that the actual creation of man (and everything else) in Genesis was a singular act by God alone.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Genesis 1:27 Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, Interlinear Bible |url=https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/1-27.htm |website=Bible Hub}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Conjugation of לִבְרוֹא |url=https://www.pealim.com/dict/257-livro/ |website=Pealim}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rashi on Genesis 1:26:2 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genesis.1.26.2?with=all&lang=bi |website=Sefaria}}</ref> |
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[[Wilhelm Gesenius]] and other Hebrew grammarians traditionally described this as the [[pluralis excellentiae]] (plural of excellence), which is similar to the [[pluralis majestatis]] (plural of majesty, or "Royal we").<ref>Gesenius, ''Hebrew Grammar'': 124g, without article 125f, with article 126e, with the singular 145h, with plural 132h, 145i</ref>{{efn|According to Rabbi [[Joseph Hertz]], the word's use in {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:1|HE}} "indicates that God comprehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity |
[[Wilhelm Gesenius]] and other Hebrew grammarians traditionally described this as the {{lang|la|[[pluralis excellentiae]]}} (plural of excellence), which is similar to the {{lang|la|[[pluralis majestatis]]}} (plural of majesty, or "Royal we").<ref>Gesenius, ''Hebrew Grammar'': 124g, without article 125f, with article 126e, with the singular 145h, with plural 132h, 145i</ref>{{efn|According to Rabbi [[Joseph Hertz]], the word's use in {{bibleverse||Genesis|1:1|HE}} "indicates that God comprehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16730346|title=The Pentateuch and Haftorahs: Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary|publisher=Soncino Press|year=1960|isbn=0-900689-21-8|editor-last=Hertz|editor-first=J. H.|edition=2nd|location=London|pages=2|oclc=16730346|orig-year=1937}}</ref>}} |
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Gesenius comments that the singular Hebrew term ''Elohim'' is to be distinguished from ''elohim'' used to refer to plural gods, and remarks that: |
Gesenius comments that the singular Hebrew term ''Elohim'' is to be distinguished from ''elohim'' used to refer to plural gods, and remarks that: |
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{{blockquote| |
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⚫ | There are a number of notable exceptions to the rule that ''Elohim'' is treated as singular when referring to the God of Israel, including {{bibleverse|Genesis|20:13|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Genesis|35:7|HE}}, {{bibleverse|2|Samuel|7:23|HE}} and {{bibleverse|Psalms|58:11|HE}}, and notably the epithet of the "Living God" ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|5:26|HE}} etc.), which is constructed with the plural adjective, ''Elohim ḥayyim'' ({{lang|he|אלהים חיים}}) but still takes singular verbs. The treatment of ''Elohim'' as both singular and plural is, according to Mark Sameth, consistent with a theory put forth by [[Guillaume Postel]] (16th century) and |
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The supposition that {{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים}} (''elohim'') is to be regarded as merely a remnant of earlier polytheistic views (i.e. as originally only a numerical plural) is at least highly improbable, and, moreover, would not explain the analogous plurals (see below). That the language has entirely rejected the idea of numerical plurality in {{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים}} (whenever it denotes ''one'' God), is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute (cf. §132h), e.g. {{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים צַדִּיק}} {{bibleverse|Psalms|7:10|HE}}, &c. Hence {{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים}} may have been used originally not only as a numerical but also as an abstract plural (corresponding to the Latin ''[[numen]]'', and our ''[[Deity|Godhead]]''), and, like other abstracts of the same kind, have been transferred to a concrete single god (even of the heathen). |
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⚫ | To the same class (and probably formed on the analogy of {{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים}}) belong the plurals {{lang|he|קְדשִׁים}} (''kadoshim''), meaning ''the Most Holy'' (only of Yahweh, {{bibleverse|Hosea|12:1|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Proverbs|9:10|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Proverbs|30:3|HE}} – cf. {{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים קְדשִׁים}} ''elohiym kadoshim'' in {{bibleverse|Joshua|24:19|HE}} and the singular Aramaic {{lang|arc|עֶלְיוֹנִין}} ''the Most High'', {{bibleverse|Daniel|7:18|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Daniel|7:22|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Daniel|7:25|HE}}); and probably {{lang|he|תְּרָפִים}} (''[[teraphim]]'') (usually taken in the sense of ''[[penates]]''), the image of a god, used especially for obtaining oracles. Certainly in {{bibleverse|1 Samuel|19:13|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1 Samuel|19:16|HE}} only ''one'' image is intended; in most other places a single image ''may'' be intended; in {{bibleverse|Zechariah|10:2|HE}} alone is it most naturally taken as a numerical plural.|source={{cite wikisource |chapter=124. The Various Uses of the Plural-form |wslink=Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar |plaintitle=Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar |last=Gesenius |first=Wilhelm |author-link=Wilhelm Gesenius |year=1910 |editor-last=Kautzsch |editor-first=Emil |editor-link=Emil Kautzsch |translator-last=Cowley |translator-first=Arthur Ernest |translator-link=Arthur Ernest Cowley |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=2nd, revised and enlarged |page=399 |wspage= |scan=}}}} |
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⚫ | There are a number of notable exceptions to the rule that ''Elohim'' is treated as singular when referring to the God of Israel, including {{bibleverse|Genesis|20:13|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Genesis|35:7|HE}}, {{bibleverse|2|Samuel|7:23|HE}} and {{bibleverse|Psalms|58:11|HE}}, and notably the epithet of the "Living God" ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|5:26|HE}} etc.), which is constructed with the plural adjective, ''Elohim ḥayyim'' ({{lang|he|אלהים חיים}}) but still takes singular verbs. The treatment of ''Elohim'' as both singular and plural is, according to Mark Sameth, consistent with a theory put forth by [[Guillaume Postel]] (16th century) and {{ill|Michelangelo Lanci|it}} (19th century) that the God of Israel was understood by the ancient priests to be a singular, dual-gendered deity.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sameth|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozzpDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Name:+A+History+of+the+Dual-Gendered+Hebrew+Name+for+God%22|title=The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God|publisher=Wipf and Stock|year=2020|isbn=978-1-5326-9384-7|pages=108}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xyoBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22earlier+form+1551;+final+state+1566%22&pg=PA337|title=Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God.|publisher=Brill|year=2015|isbn=9789024702039|location=Boston|pages=337}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Postel|first=Guillaume|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmkytAEACAAJ|title=Le thrésor des prophéties de l'univers|publisher=Springer|year=1969|isbn=9789024702039|pages=211|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lanci|first=Michelangelo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-q4WAAAAQAAJ&dq=Paralipomeni+Alla+Illustrazione+Della+Sagra+Scrittura&pg=PR15|title=Paralipomeni alla illustrazione della sagra Scrittura|publisher=Dondey-Dupre|year=1845|isbn=978-1274016911|pages=100–113|language=Italian}}</ref> |
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In the Septuagint and [[New Testament]] translations, ''Elohim'' has the singular {{lang|grc|ὁ θεός}} even in these cases, and modern translations follow suit in giving "[[God (word)|God]]" in the singular. The [[Samaritan Torah]] has edited out some of these exceptions.<ref>Richard N. Soulen, R. Kendall Soulen, ''Handbook of biblical criticism'', Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-664-22314-4}}, p. 166.</ref> |
In the Septuagint and [[New Testament]] translations, ''Elohim'' has the singular {{lang|grc|ὁ θεός}} even in these cases, and modern translations follow suit in giving "[[God (word)|God]]" in the singular. The [[Samaritan Torah]] has edited out some of these exceptions.<ref>Richard N. Soulen, R. Kendall Soulen, ''Handbook of biblical criticism'', Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-664-22314-4}}, p. 166.</ref> |
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===Angels and judges=== |
===Angels and judges=== |
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[[File:Angel head with Hebrew (?) text, St George's, Dublin.jpg|thumb|Carved angel's head with Hebrew text "Elohim |
[[File:Angel head with Hebrew (?) text, St George's, Dublin.jpg|thumb|Carved angel's head with Hebrew text "Elohim", from [[St. George's Church, Dublin]]]] |
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In a few cases in the Greek Septuagint (LXX), Hebrew ''elohim'' with a plural verb, or with implied plural context, was rendered either ''angeloi'' ("angels") or |
In a few cases in the Greek Septuagint (LXX), Hebrew ''elohim'' with a plural verb, or with implied plural context, was rendered either ''angeloi'' ("angels") or {{lang|grc-Latn|to kriterion tou Theou}} ("the judgement of God").<ref>Brenton ''Septuagint'' {{bibleverse|Exodus|21:6|HE}}: {{lang|grc|προσάξει αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸ κριτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ}}</ref> These passages then entered first the Latin [[Vulgate]], then the English [[King James Version]] (KJV) as "angels" and "judges", respectively. From this came the result that [[James Strong (theologian)|James Strong]], for example, listed "angels" and "judges" as possible meanings for ''elohim'' with a plural verb in his ''[[Strong's Concordance]]'',<ref name="Strong 1890"/><ref name="Biblehub"/> and the same is true of many other 17th–20th century reference works. Both Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon and the [[Brown–Driver–Briggs]] Lexicon<ref name="Biblehub"/> list both "angels" and "judges" as possible alternative meanings of ''elohim'' with plural verbs and adjectives. |
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Gesenius and [[Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg]] have questioned the reliability of the [[Septuagint]] translation in this matter. Gesenius lists the meaning without agreeing with it.<ref>''The Biblical Repositor'' p. 360 ed. Edward Robinson |
Gesenius and [[Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg]] have questioned the reliability of the [[Septuagint]] translation in this matter. Gesenius lists the meaning without agreeing with it.<ref>''The Biblical Repositor'' p. 360, ed. Edward Robinson, 1838. "Gesenius denies that elohim ever means angels; and he refers in this denial particularly to Ps. 8: 5, and Ps. 97: 7; but he observes, that the term is so translated in the ancient versions."</ref> Hengstenberg stated that the Hebrew Bible text never uses ''elohim'' to refer to "angels", but that the Septuagint translators refused the references to "gods" in the verses they amended to "angels".<ref>Samuel Davidsohn, ''An Introduction to the New Testament'', Vol. III, 1848, p. 282: "Hengstenberg, for example, affirms, that the usus loquendi is decisive against the direct reference to angels, because Elohim never signifies angels. He thinks that the Septuagint translator could not understand the representation ..."</ref> |
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The Greek New Testament (NT) quotes {{bibleverse|Psalms|8: |
The Greek New Testament (NT) quotes {{bibleverse|Psalms|8:4–6|HE}} in Hebrews 2:6b-8a, where the Greek NT has {{lang|grc|ἀγγέλους}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|angelous}}) in vs. 7,<ref>{{cite web |title=Hebrews 2:7 with Greek |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Hbr&c=2&v=7&t=KJV#conc/7 |access-date=18 March 2013}}</ref> quoting {{bibleverse|Psalms|8:5|HE}} (8:6 in the LXX), which also has {{lang|grc|ἀγγέλους}} in a version of the Greek Septuagint.<ref>{{cite web |title=Psalm 8:5 with Greek (8:6 in the LXX) |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&c=8&v=5&t=KJV#conc/5 |access-date=18 March 2013}}</ref> In the KJV, ''elohim'' (Strong's number H430) is translated as "angels" only in Psalm 8:5.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elohim as angels in the KJV only in Psalm 8:5 (8:6 in LXX) |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=angel%2A+h430&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1 |access-date=18 March 2013}}</ref> |
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The KJV translates ''elohim'' as "judges" in {{bibleverse|Exodus|21:6|HE}}; [https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/22-8.htm Exodus 22:8]; twice in [https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/22-9.htm Exodus 22:9] <ref>{{cite web |title=Elohim as |
The KJV translates ''elohim'' as "judges" in {{bibleverse|Exodus|21:6|HE}}; [https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/22-8.htm Exodus 22:8]; twice in [https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/22-9.htm Exodus 22:9] <ref>{{cite web |title=Elohim as 'judges' in the KJV |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=%22judges%22&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1 |access-date=18 March 2013}}</ref> as "judge" in [https://biblehub.com/1_samuel/2-25.htm 1 Samuel 2:25], and as "gods" in [https://biblehub.com/exodus/22-28.htm#lexicon Exodus 22:28], [https://biblehub.com/psalms/82-1.htm#lexicon Psalm 82:1], [https://biblehub.com/psalms/82-6.htm#lexicon Psalm 82:6], [https://biblehub.com/psalms/95-3.htm#lexicon Psalm 95:3], [https://biblehub.com/psalms/96-4.htm#lexicon Psalm 96:4], [https://biblehub.com/psalms/97-9.htm#lexicon Psalm 97:9], and [https://biblehub.com/psalms/138-1.htm#lexicon Psalm 138:1]. |
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[[Angel |
[[Angel]]s cited in the [[Hebrew Bible]] and external literature often contain the related noun [[El (deity)|''ʾĒl'']] ({{lang|he|אֵל}}) in their [[Theophory in the Bible|theophoric]] names such as [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]] and [[Gabriel]]. |
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===Other plural-singulars in biblical Hebrew=== |
===Other plural-singulars in biblical Hebrew=== |
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The [[Hebrew language]] has several nouns with ''-im'' (masculine plural) and ''-oth'' (feminine plural) endings which nevertheless take singular verbs, adjectives and pronouns. For example, ''[[Baal]]im'',<ref>Exodus 21:34, 22:11, Ecclesiastes 5:10, 7:12, Job 31:39</ref> ''[[Adon]]im'',<ref>Genesis 39:20, 42:30, 42:33, I Kings 16:24</ref> ''[[Behemoth]]''.<ref>Job 40:15</ref> This form is known as the "honorific plural", in which the pluralization is a sign of power or honor.<ref>Mark Futato (2010). |
The [[Hebrew language]] has several nouns with ''-im'' (masculine plural) and ''-oth'' (feminine plural) endings which nevertheless take singular verbs, adjectives and pronouns. For example, ''[[Baal]]im'',<ref>Exodus 21:34, 22:11, Ecclesiastes 5:10, 7:12, Job 31:39</ref> ''[[Adon]]im'',<ref>Genesis 39:20, 42:30, 42:33, I Kings 16:24</ref> ''[[Behemoth]]''.<ref>Job 40:15</ref> This form is known as the "honorific plural", in which the pluralization is a sign of power or honor.<ref>Mark Futato (2010). [https://www.nas.org/articles/Ask_a_Scholar_What_Does_YHWH_Elohim_Mean "Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?"].</ref>{{full citation needed|date=October 2023}} A very common singular Hebrew word with plural ending is the word ''achoth'', meaning sister, with the irregular plural form achioth.<ref>[http://www.balashon.com/2008/08/ach-and-achot.html ''ach and achot''] at balashon.com</ref> |
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Alternatively, there are several other frequently used words in the Hebrew language that contain a masculine plural ending but also maintain this form in singular concept. |
Alternatively, there are several other frequently used words in the Hebrew language that contain a masculine plural ending but also maintain this form in singular concept. The major examples are: Sky/Heavens ({{lang|he|שמים}} {{lang|he-Latn|shamayim}}), Face ({{lang|he|פנים}} {{lang|he-Latn|panim}}), Life ({{lang|he|חיים}} - {{lang|he-Latn|chayyim}}), Water ({{lang|he|מים}} {{lang|he-Latn|mayim}}). Of these four nouns, three appear in the first sentence of Genesis<ref>Genesis 1:1–2</ref> (along with ''elohim''). Three of them also appear in the first sentence of the Eden creation story<ref>Genesis 2:4–7</ref> (also along with ''elohim''). Instead of "honorific plural" these other plural nouns terms represent something which is constantly changing. Water, sky, face, life are "things which are never bound to one form".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.stateofformation.org/2015/05/but-not-in-number-one-and-many-in-hebrew-grammar/ |title='But Not in Number': One and Many in Hebrew Grammar |last=Zagoria-Moffet |first=Adam |date=2015-05-13 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-24}}</ref> |
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===The Divine Council=== |
===The Divine Council=== |
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{{main|Divine Council}} |
{{main|Divine Council}} |
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{{blockquote|God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. ... |
{{blockquote| |
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God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. ... |
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I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High. |
I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High. |
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Mark Smith, referring to this same Psalm, states in ''God in Translation'': "This psalm presents a scene of the gods meeting together in divine council ... Elohim stands in the council of El. Among the elohim he pronounces judgment: ..."{{sfn|Smith|2010|page=134}} |
Mark Smith, referring to this same Psalm, states in ''God in Translation'': "This psalm presents a scene of the gods meeting together in divine council ... Elohim stands in the council of El. Among the elohim he pronounces judgment: ..."{{sfn|Smith|2010|page=134}} |
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In ''Hulsean Lectures for...'', H. M. Stephenson discussed Jesus' argument in {{ |
In ''Hulsean Lectures for...'', H. M. Stephenson discussed Jesus' argument in {{Bibleverse|John 10:34-36||9|John 10:34–36|multi=yes}} concerning {{Bibleverse|Psalm 82:6-7|multi=yes}}. (In answer to the charge of blasphemy Jesus replied:) "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" – "Now what is the force of this quotation 'I said ye are gods.' It is from the Asaph Psalm which begins 'Elohim hath taken His place in the mighty assembly. In the midst of the Elohim He is judging.{{'"}}<ref>Stephenson, H. M. (1890) [https://books.google.com/books?id=K3tPAAAAYAAJ&q=Ye+are+gods&pg=RA1-PA14 ''Hulsean Lectures for...'' lecture 1, page 14]</ref> |
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===Sons of God=== |
===Sons of God=== |
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{{main|Sons of God}} |
{{main|Sons of God}} |
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The Hebrew word for "son" is ''ben''; plural is ''bānim'' (with the [[construct state]] form being "benei"). The Hebrew term ''benei elohim'' ("sons of God" or "sons of the gods") in {{bibleverse||Genesis|6:2|HE}}<ref>(e.g. {{bibleverse||Genesis|6:2|HE}}, "... |
The Hebrew word for "son" is ''ben''; plural is ''bānim'' (with the [[construct state]] form being "benei"). The Hebrew term ''benei elohim'' ("sons of God" or "sons of the gods") in {{bibleverse||Genesis|6:2|HE}}<ref>(e.g. {{bibleverse||Genesis|6:2|HE}}, "... the sons of ''the Elohim'' (''e-aleim'') saw the daughters of men (''e-adam'', "the adam") that they were fair; and they took them for wives ...",</ref> compares to the use of "sons of gods" (Ugaritic: ''b'n il'') sons of [[El (god)|El]] in [[Ugaritic mythology]].<ref>Marvin H. Pope, ''El in the Ugaritic texts'', "Supplements to Vetus Testamentum", Vol. II, Leiden, Brill, 1955. Pp. x—l–116, p. 49.</ref> [[Karel van der Toorn]] states that gods can be referred to collectively as ''bene elim'', ''bene elyon'', or ''bene elohim''.<ref name="DDD" /> |
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==Elohist== |
==Elohist== |
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{{main|Elohist}} |
{{main|Elohist}} |
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[[File:Documentary Hypothesis Sources Distribution English.png|thumb |
[[File:Documentary Hypothesis Sources Distribution English.png|thumb|right|[[Richard Elliott Friedman|Friedman]]'s distribution of materials by source of the first four books of the Hebrew Bible, including a [[Redaction|redactor]] (black), according to the [[documentary hypothesis]].<ref name="Friedman 1987">{{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Richard Elliott |author-link=Richard Elliott Friedman |year=2019 |orig-year=1987 |title=Who Wrote the Bible? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SuDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |pages=10–18 |isbn=978-1-5011-9240-1}}</ref><ref name="Berlin-Brettler">{{cite book |last=Brettler |first=Marc Zvi |author-link=Marc Zvi Brettler |chapter=Torah: Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aDuy3p5QvEYC&pg=PA1 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Adele |editor1-link=Adele Berlin |editor2-last=Brettler |editor2-first=Marc Zvi |editor2-link=Marc Zvi Brettler |year=2004 |title=The Jewish Study Bible: Featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=1–7 |isbn=9780195297515}}</ref>]] |
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The Hebrew Bible uses various names for the God of Israel.<ref name="Dever 2001">{{Cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |author-link=William G. Dever |year=2001 |chapter=Getting at the "History behind the History" |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC&pg=PA97 |title=[[What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?|What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] and [[Cambridge|Cambridge, U.K.]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=97–102 |isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3 |oclc=46394298}}</ref>{{rp|102}} According to the [[documentary hypothesis]], these variations are the products of different [[source text]]s and narratives that constitute the [[composition of the Torah]]: ''Elohim'' is the name of God used in the [[Elohist]] (E) and [[Priestly source|Priestly]] (P) sources, while ''[[Yahweh]]'' is the name of God used in the [[Jahwist]] (J) source.<ref name="Friedman 1987"/><ref name="Berlin-Brettler"/><ref name="Dever 2001"/><ref name="Elohist NIE">{{Cite NIE |wstitle=Elohist and Yahwist |year=1905}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Jacobs |first1=Joseph |last2=Hirsch |first2=Emil G. |author1-link=Joseph Jacobs |author2-link=Emil G. Hirsch |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5705-elohist |title=ELOHIST |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |year=1906 |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref> [[Form criticism]] postulates the differences of names may be the result of geographical origins; the P and E sources coming from the North and J from the South.<ref name="Dever 2001"/>{{rp|102}}<ref name="Elohist NIE"/> There may be a theological point, that God did not reveal his name, ''Yahweh'', before the time of [[Moses]], though [[Hans Heinrich Schmid]] showed that the Jahwist was aware of the prophetic books from the 7th and 8th centuries BCE.<ref>H. H. Schmid, ''Der Sogenannte Jahwist'' |
The Hebrew Bible uses various names for the God of Israel.<ref name="Dever 2001">{{Cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |author-link=William G. Dever |year=2001 |chapter=Getting at the "History behind the History" |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC&pg=PA97 |title=[[What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?|What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] and [[Cambridge|Cambridge, U.K.]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=97–102 |isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3 |oclc=46394298}}</ref>{{rp|102}} According to the [[documentary hypothesis]], these variations are the products of different [[source text]]s and narratives that constitute the [[composition of the Torah]]: ''Elohim'' is the name of God used in the [[Elohist]] (E) and [[Priestly source|Priestly]] (P) sources, while ''[[Yahweh]]'' is the name of God used in the [[Jahwist]] (J) source.<ref name="Friedman 1987"/><ref name="Berlin-Brettler"/><ref name="Dever 2001"/><ref name="Elohist NIE">{{Cite NIE |wstitle=Elohist and Yahwist |year=1905}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Jacobs |first1=Joseph |last2=Hirsch |first2=Emil G. |author1-link=Joseph Jacobs |author2-link=Emil G. Hirsch |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5705-elohist |title=ELOHIST |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |year=1906 |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref> [[Form criticism]] postulates the differences of names may be the result of geographical origins; the P and E sources coming from the North and J from the South.<ref name="Dever 2001"/>{{rp|102}}<ref name="Elohist NIE"/> There may be a theological point, that God did not reveal his name, ''Yahweh'', before the time of [[Moses]], though [[Hans Heinrich Schmid]] showed that the Jahwist was aware of the prophetic books from the 7th and 8th centuries BCE.<ref>H. H. Schmid, ''Der Sogenannte Jahwist'' |
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=== General bibliography === |
=== General bibliography === |
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{{refbegin|30em}} |
{{refbegin|30em}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Burnett|first=Joel|year=2001|title=A Reassessment of Biblical Elohim |location=Atlanta |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |pages= | |
* {{cite book|last=Burnett|first=Joel|year=2001|title=A Reassessment of Biblical Elohim |location=Atlanta |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |pages= |oclc=47689804 |isbn=9781589830165}} |
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* {{cite book|editor1-last=Coogan|editor1-first=Michael D.|editor1-link=Michael Coogan|editor2-last=Brettler|editor2-first=Marc Z.|editor2-link=Marc Zvi Brettler|editor3-last=Newsom|editor3-first=Carol A.|editor3-link=Carol A. Newsom|editor4-last=Perkins|editor4-first=Pheme|editor4-link=Pheme Perkins|chapter=Glossary: 'Elohim'|title=[[Oxford Annotated Bible|The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha]]|location=[[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=Glossary: 544|year=2007|edition=3rd, Augmented|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nc-i_pQsiW8C&pg=PA544|isbn=978-0-19-528880-3}} |
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Coogan|editor1-first=Michael D.|editor1-link=Michael Coogan|editor2-last=Brettler|editor2-first=Marc Z.|editor2-link=Marc Zvi Brettler|editor3-last=Newsom|editor3-first=Carol A.|editor3-link=Carol A. Newsom|editor4-last=Perkins|editor4-first=Pheme|editor4-link=Pheme Perkins|chapter=Glossary: 'Elohim'|title=[[Oxford Annotated Bible|The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha]]|location=[[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=Glossary: 544|year=2007|edition=3rd, Augmented|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nc-i_pQsiW8C&pg=PA544|isbn=978-0-19-528880-3}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Day|first=John| |
* {{cite book|last=Day|first=John|title=Reviewed work: Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, John Day |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |author-link=John Day (Old Testament scholar)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2xadCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23|series=[[Journal for the Study of the Old Testament|Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series]]|date=2003 |volume=265|issue=1 |location=[[Sheffield]]|publisher=[[Sheffield Academic Press]]|page=23|doi=10.2307/3217888|jstor=3217888|isbn=978-1-850-75986-7|s2cid=161791734}} |
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* {{cite book|last=McLaughlin|first=John L.|chapter=Elohim|editor1-last=Freedman|editor1-first=David Noel|editor2-last=Myer|editor2-first=Allen C.|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|pages=401–402|year=2000|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA401|isbn=0-8028-2400-5}} |
* {{cite book|last=McLaughlin|first=John L.|chapter=Elohim|editor1-last=Freedman|editor1-first=David Noel|editor2-last=Myer|editor2-first=Allen C.|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|pages=401–402|year=2000|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA401|isbn=0-8028-2400-5}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Miller|first=Patrick D.|author-link=Patrick D. Miller|title=The Religion of Ancient Israel|location=[[Louisville, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBhY9BQ7hIQC&q=the+religion+of+ancient+israel|isbn=978-0-664-22145-4}} |
* {{cite book|last=Miller|first=Patrick D.|author-link=Patrick D. Miller|title=The Religion of Ancient Israel|location=[[Louisville, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBhY9BQ7hIQC&q=the+religion+of+ancient+israel|isbn=978-0-664-22145-4}} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=James M.|last2=Hayes|first2=John H.|title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah|location=[[Louisville, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|year=1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDijjc_D5P0C&q=%22Yahweh%22%22national+god+of+Israel+and+Judah%22&pg=PA110|isbn=9780664212629}} |
* {{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=James M.|last2=Hayes|first2=John H.|title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah|location=[[Louisville, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|year=1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDijjc_D5P0C&q=%22Yahweh%22%22national+god+of+Israel+and+Judah%22&pg=PA110|isbn=9780664212629}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Niehr|first=Herbert|chapter=The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion|editor1-last=Edelman|editor1-first=Diana Vikander|title=The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms|location=[[Leuven]]|publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]]|series=Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology|volume=13|year=1995|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bua2dMa9fJ4C&pg=PA45|isbn=978-90-390-0124-0}} |
* {{cite book|last=Niehr|first=Herbert|chapter=The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion|editor1-last=Edelman|editor1-first=Diana Vikander|title=The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms|location=[[Leuven]]|publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]]|series=Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology|volume=13|year=1995|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bua2dMa9fJ4C&pg=PA45|isbn=978-90-390-0124-0}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Pardee|first=Dennis| |
* {{cite book|last=Pardee|first=Dennis|title=Eloah |editor1-last=Van der Toorn|editor1-first=Karel|editor2-last=Becking|editor2-first=Bob|editor3-last=Van der Horst|editor3-first=Pieter W.|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|pages=285–288|year=1999|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA285|doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Eloah|isbn=90-04-11119-0}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Preuss|first=Horst Dietrich|title=Old Testament Theology|location=[[Louisville, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|volume=1|series=The Old Testament Library|pages=147–149|year=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Le7BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA147|isbn=0-664-21844-X}} |
* {{cite book|last=Preuss|first=Horst Dietrich|title=Old Testament Theology|location=[[Louisville, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]]|volume=1|series=The Old Testament Library|pages=147–149|year=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Le7BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA147|isbn=0-664-21844-X}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Römer|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Römer|title=The Invention of God|chapter=The God of Israel and His Name|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z59XCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2015|isbn=978-0-674-50497-4}} |
* {{cite book|last=Römer|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Römer|title=The Invention of God|chapter=The God of Israel and His Name|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z59XCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2015|isbn=978-0-674-50497-4}} |
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* {{Cite book|last=Sameth|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozzpDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Name:+A+History+of+the+Dual-Gendered+Hebrew+Name+for+God%22|title=The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God|publisher=Wipf and Stock|year=2020|isbn=978-1-5326-9384-7}} |
* {{Cite book|last=Sameth|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozzpDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Name:+A+History+of+the+Dual-Gendered+Hebrew+Name+for+God%22|title=The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God|publisher=Wipf and Stock|year=2020|isbn=978-1-5326-9384-7}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|author-link=Mark S. Smith|chapter=El|editor1-last=Freedman|editor1-first=David Noel|editor2-last=Myer|editor2-first=Allen C.|year=2000|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|pages=384–386|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&q=%22facts+militate+against+an+identification+of+Yahweh+as+originally+a+title+of+El%22&pg=PA385|isbn=9789053565032}} |
*{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|author-link=Mark S. Smith|chapter=El|editor1-last=Freedman|editor1-first=David Noel|editor2-last=Myer|editor2-first=Allen C.|year=2000|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|pages=384–386|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&q=%22facts+militate+against+an+identification+of+Yahweh+as+originally+a+title+of+El%22&pg=PA385|isbn=9789053565032}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.| |
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|date=2001 |chapter=El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afkRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133|title=The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts|location=[[Oxford]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=133–148|doi=10.1093/019513480X.003.0008|isbn=9780195134803}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|year=2002|title=The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC&q=%22Iron+I+Israel+was+largely+Canaanite%22&pg=PA28|edition=2nd|isbn=9780802839725}} |
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|year=2002|title=The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC&q=%22Iron+I+Israel+was+largely+Canaanite%22&pg=PA28|edition=2nd|isbn=9780802839725}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|year=2010|title=God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvWlC0kUlkYC&q=%22various+chief+gods%22%22stand+more+or+less+on+par%22&pg=PA119|isbn=978-0-8028-6433-8}} |
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|year=2010|title=God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]|publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvWlC0kUlkYC&q=%22various+chief+gods%22%22stand+more+or+less+on+par%22&pg=PA119|isbn=978-0-8028-6433-8}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Van der Toorn|first=Karel|author-link=Karel van der Toorn|year=1999| |
* {{cite book|last=Van der Toorn|first=Karel|title=God (I) |author-link=Karel van der Toorn|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA352|editor1-last=Van der Toorn|editor1-first=Karel|editor2-last=Becking|editor2-first=Bob|editor3-last=Van der Horst|editor3-first=Pieter W.|editor3-link=Pieter Willem van der Horst|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|pages=352–353, 360–364|edition=2nd|doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godi|isbn=90-04-11119-0}} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Vriezen|first1=T. C.|last2=Van der Woude|first2=S. A.|year=2005|title=Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeOwyTae71cC&q=Ajrud+potsherd+Asherah&pg=PA18|translator-last=Doyle|translator-first=Brian|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=978-90-04-12427-1}} |
* {{cite book|last1=Vriezen|first1=T. C.|last2=Van der Woude|first2=S. A.|year=2005|title=Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeOwyTae71cC&q=Ajrud+potsherd+Asherah&pg=PA18|translator-last=Doyle|translator-first=Brian|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=978-90-04-12427-1}} |
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{{refend}} |
{{refend}} |
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{{Names of God}} |
{{Names of God}} |
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{{italic title}} |
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[[Category:Angels in Judaism]] |
[[Category:Angels in Judaism]] |
Revision as of 21:53, 3 July 2024
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Elohim.svg/220px-Elohim.svg.png)
Elohim (Hebrew: אֱלֹהִים, romanized: ʾĔlōhīm: [(ʔ)eloˈ(h)im]), the plural of אֱלוֹהַּ (ʾĔlōah), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is grammatically plural, in the Hebrew Bible it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal agreement and refers to a single deity, particularly the God of Israel. In other verses it refers to the singular gods of other nations or to deities in the plural.
Morphologically, the word is the plural form of the word eloah and related to el. It is cognate to the word 'l-h-m which is found in Ugaritic, where it is used as the pantheon for Canaanite gods, the children of El, and conventionally vocalized as "Elohim". Most uses of the term Elohim in the later Hebrew text imply a view that is at least monolatrist at the time of writing, and such usage (in the singular), as a proper title for Deity, is distinct from generic usage as elohim, "gods" (plural, simple noun).
Rabbinic scholar Maimonides wrote that Elohim "Divinity" and elohim "gods" are commonly understood to be homonyms.[1] One modern theory suggests that the notion of divinity underwent radical changes in the early period of Israelite identity and development of Ancient Hebrew religion. In this view, the ambiguity of the term elohim is the result of such changes, cast in terms of "vertical translatability", i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods of the earliest recalled period as the national god of monolatrism as it emerged in the 7th to 6th century BCE in the Kingdom of Judah and during the Babylonian captivity, and further in terms of monotheism by the emergence of Rabbinical Judaism in the 2nd century CE.[2] Another theory, building on an idea by Gesenius, argues that even before Hebrew became a distinct language, the plural elohim had both a plural meaning of "gods" and an abstract meaning of "godhood" or "divinity", much as the plural of "father", avot, can mean either "fathers" or "fatherhood". Elohim then came to be used so frequently in reference to specific deities, both male and female, domestic and foreign (for instance, the goddess of the Sidonians in 1 Kings 11:33), that it came to be concretized from meaning "divinity" to meaning "deity", though still occasionally used adjectivally as "divine".[3]
Grammar and etymology
The word elohim or 'elohiym (ʼĕlôhîym) is a grammatically plural noun for "gods" or "deities" or various other words in Biblical Hebrew.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
In Hebrew, the ending -im normally indicates a masculine plural. However, when referring to the Jewish God, Elohim is usually understood to be grammatically singular (i.e., it governs a singular verb or adjective).[11][12] In Modern Hebrew, it is often referred to in the singular despite the -im ending that denotes plural masculine nouns in Hebrew.[13][14]
It is generally thought that Elohim is derived from eloah,[4][5][6][7][8][9] the latter being an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun 'il.[15][16] The related nouns eloah (אלוה) and el (אֵל) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with elohim.[16] The term contains an added heh as third radical to the biconsonantal root. Discussions of the etymology of elohim essentially concern this expansion. An exact cognate outside of Hebrew is found in Ugaritic ʾlhm,[15] the family of El, the creator god and chief deity of the Canaanite pantheon, in Biblical Aramaic ʼĔlāhā and later Syriac Alaha ("God"), and in Arabic ʾilāh ("god, deity") (or Allah as "The [single] God").[15] "El" (the basis for the extended root ʾlh) is usually derived from a root meaning "to be strong" and/or "to be in front".[16]
Canaanite religion
The word el (singular) is a standard term for "god" in Aramaic, paleo-Hebrew, and other related Semitic languages including Ugaritic. The Canaanite pantheon of gods was known as 'ilhm,[17] the Ugaritic equivalent to elohim.[18] For instance, the Ugaritic Baal Cycle mentions "seventy sons of Asherah". Each "son of god" was held to be the originating deity for a particular people (KTU 2 1.4.VI.46).[19]
Usage
Elohim occurs frequently throughout the Torah. In some cases (e.g., Exodus 3:4, "Elohim called unto him out of the midst of the bush ..."), it behaves like a singular noun in Hebrew grammar and is then generally understood to denote the single God of Israel. In other cases, elohim acts as an ordinary plural of the word eloah and refers to the polytheistic notion of multiple gods (for example, Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me").
The word Elohim occurs more than two thousand five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible, with meanings ranging from "gods" in a general sense (as in Exodus 12:12, where it describes "the gods of Egypt"), to specific gods (the frequent references to Yahweh as the "elohim" of Israel), to seraphim, and other supernatural beings, to the spirits of the dead brought up at the behest of King Saul in 1 Samuel 28:13, and even to kings and prophets (e.g., Exodus 4:16).[16] The phrase bene elohim, translated "sons of the Gods", has an exact parallel in Ugaritic and Phoenician texts, referring to the council of the gods.[16]
Elohim occupy the seventh rank of ten in the medieval rabbinic scholar Maimonides' Jewish angelic hierarchy. Maimonides wrote: "I must premise that every Hebrew [now] knows that the term Elohim is a homonym, and denotes God, angels, judges, and the rulers of countries ..."[1]
With plural verb
In the Hebrew Bible, 1 Samuel 28:13, elohim is used with a plural verb. The witch of Endor tells Saul that she saw elohim ascending (olim עֹלִים, plural verb) out of the earth when she summoned the spirit of the Prophet Samuel at Saul's request.[20] The word elohim, in this context, can refer to spirits as well as deities.[21] Some traditional Jewish sources say that the spirits of deceased human beings are being referred to[citation needed]. The Babylonian Talmud states: "olim indicates that there were two of them. One of them was Samuel, but the other, who was he? – Samuel went and brought Moses with him."[22] Rashi gives this interpretation in his commentary on the verse.[23] Regarding this, Sforno states that "every disembodied creature is known as elohim; this includes the soul of human beings known as [the] 'Image of God'."[24]
In Genesis 20:13, Abraham, before the polytheistic Philistine king Abimelech, says that "Elohim (translated as 'God') caused (התעו, plural verb) me to wander".[25][26][27] Whereas the Greek Septuagint (LXX) has a singular verb form (ἐξήγαγε(ν), aorist II), most English versions usually translate this as "God caused" (which does not distinguish between a singular and plural verb).[28] Regarding this, the Jerusalem Talmud states: "All Names written regarding our father Abraham are holy [i.e., referring to the one God] except one which is profane, it was when the gods made me err from my father's house. But some say this one also is holy, [i.e.,] 'were it not for God, they [humans] already would have made me err'."[29] The same disagreement appears in Tractate Soferim, where Haninah ben Ahi R. Joshua maintained that the word is "holy".[30] An alternative view (held by Onkelos, Bahya ben Asher, Jacob ben Asher, Sforno, and Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg) is that the word means "gods" and the verse means that Abraham's distaste for the idolatry of his father Terah led him to decide to wander far from home.[31] Others, such as Chizkuni, interpret elohim as a reference to wicked rulers like Amraphel (often equated with Nimrod).[32]
In Genesis 35:7, Jacob builds an altar at El-Bethel "because there elohim revealed himself [plural verb] to [Jacob]". The verb niglu ("revealed himself") is plural, even though one would expect the singular.[33] This is one of several instances where the Bible uses plural verbs with the name elohim.[34][35] Some Jewish sources (e.g., Targum Jonathan, Ibn Ezra, add Chizkuni), seeking to explain the plural language of Genesis 35:7, translate elohim here as "angels",[36] noting that in the story being referenced Jacob experiences a vision of malakhei elohim (angels of God) ascending and descending the ladder.[37] Radak agrees that this is a reference to angels but also presents the alternative view that the plural form in the verse is a majestic plural, as seen in other verses such as Psalms 149:2 and Job 35:10.[38] Elohim can be seen used in reference to the angels in a variety of other cases, such as in Psalms 8:6 and 82:1–6.[39][40][41]
With singular verb
Elohim, when meaning the God of Israel, is mostly grammatically singular, and is commonly translated as "God", and capitalised. For example, in Genesis 1:26, it is written: "Then Elohim (translated as God) said (singular verb), 'Let us (plural) make (plural verb) man in our (plural) image, after our (plural) likeness'". In the traditional Jewish understanding of the verse, the plural refers to God taking council with His angels (who He had created by this point) before creating Adam.[42] It should also be noted that in the following verse of Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them"; the singular verb בָּרָא (bārāʾ), meaning "He created" is used as it is elsewhere in all the acts of creation featured in Genesis. This shows us that the actual creation of man (and everything else) in Genesis was a singular act by God alone.[43][44][45]
Wilhelm Gesenius and other Hebrew grammarians traditionally described this as the pluralis excellentiae (plural of excellence), which is similar to the pluralis majestatis (plural of majesty, or "Royal we").[46][a] Gesenius comments that the singular Hebrew term Elohim is to be distinguished from elohim used to refer to plural gods, and remarks that:
The supposition that אֱלֹהִים (elohim) is to be regarded as merely a remnant of earlier polytheistic views (i.e. as originally only a numerical plural) is at least highly improbable, and, moreover, would not explain the analogous plurals (see below). That the language has entirely rejected the idea of numerical plurality in אֱלֹהִים (whenever it denotes one God), is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute (cf. §132h), e.g. אֱלֹהִים צַדִּיק Psalms 7:10, &c. Hence אֱלֹהִים may have been used originally not only as a numerical but also as an abstract plural (corresponding to the Latin numen, and our Godhead), and, like other abstracts of the same kind, have been transferred to a concrete single god (even of the heathen).
To the same class (and probably formed on the analogy of אֱלֹהִים) belong the plurals קְדשִׁים (kadoshim), meaning the Most Holy (only of Yahweh, Hosea 12:1, Proverbs 9:10, 30:3 – cf. אֱלֹהִים קְדשִׁים elohiym kadoshim in Joshua 24:19 and the singular Aramaic עֶלְיוֹנִין the Most High, Daniel 7:18, 7:22, 7:25); and probably תְּרָפִים (teraphim) (usually taken in the sense of penates), the image of a god, used especially for obtaining oracles. Certainly in 1 Samuel 19:13, 19:16 only one image is intended; in most other places a single image may be intended; in Zechariah 10:2 alone is it most naturally taken as a numerical plural.
— Gesenius, Wilhelm (1910). . In Kautzsch, Emil (ed.). Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Translated by Cowley, Arthur Ernest (2nd, revised and enlarged ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 399 – via Wikisource.
There are a number of notable exceptions to the rule that Elohim is treated as singular when referring to the God of Israel, including Genesis 20:13, Genesis 35:7, 2 Samuel 7:23 and Psalms 58:11, and notably the epithet of the "Living God" (Deuteronomy 5:26 etc.), which is constructed with the plural adjective, Elohim ḥayyim (אלהים חיים) but still takes singular verbs. The treatment of Elohim as both singular and plural is, according to Mark Sameth, consistent with a theory put forth by Guillaume Postel (16th century) and Michelangelo Lanci (19th century) that the God of Israel was understood by the ancient priests to be a singular, dual-gendered deity.[48][49][50][51]
In the Septuagint and New Testament translations, Elohim has the singular ὁ θεός even in these cases, and modern translations follow suit in giving "God" in the singular. The Samaritan Torah has edited out some of these exceptions.[52]
Angels and judges
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Angel_head_with_Hebrew_%28%3F%29_text%2C_St_George%27s%2C_Dublin.jpg/220px-Angel_head_with_Hebrew_%28%3F%29_text%2C_St_George%27s%2C_Dublin.jpg)
In a few cases in the Greek Septuagint (LXX), Hebrew elohim with a plural verb, or with implied plural context, was rendered either angeloi ("angels") or to kriterion tou Theou ("the judgement of God").[53] These passages then entered first the Latin Vulgate, then the English King James Version (KJV) as "angels" and "judges", respectively. From this came the result that James Strong, for example, listed "angels" and "judges" as possible meanings for elohim with a plural verb in his Strong's Concordance,[4][5] and the same is true of many other 17th–20th century reference works. Both Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon and the Brown–Driver–Briggs Lexicon[5] list both "angels" and "judges" as possible alternative meanings of elohim with plural verbs and adjectives.
Gesenius and Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg have questioned the reliability of the Septuagint translation in this matter. Gesenius lists the meaning without agreeing with it.[54] Hengstenberg stated that the Hebrew Bible text never uses elohim to refer to "angels", but that the Septuagint translators refused the references to "gods" in the verses they amended to "angels".[55]
The Greek New Testament (NT) quotes Psalms 8:4–6 in Hebrews 2:6b-8a, where the Greek NT has ἀγγέλους (angelous) in vs. 7,[56] quoting Psalms 8:5 (8:6 in the LXX), which also has ἀγγέλους in a version of the Greek Septuagint.[57] In the KJV, elohim (Strong's number H430) is translated as "angels" only in Psalm 8:5.[58]
The KJV translates elohim as "judges" in Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8; twice in Exodus 22:9 [59] as "judge" in 1 Samuel 2:25, and as "gods" in Exodus 22:28, Psalm 82:1, Psalm 82:6, Psalm 95:3, Psalm 96:4, Psalm 97:9, and Psalm 138:1.
Angels cited in the Hebrew Bible and external literature often contain the related noun ʾĒl (אֵל) in their theophoric names such as Michael and Gabriel.
Other plural-singulars in biblical Hebrew
The Hebrew language has several nouns with -im (masculine plural) and -oth (feminine plural) endings which nevertheless take singular verbs, adjectives and pronouns. For example, Baalim,[60] Adonim,[61] Behemoth.[62] This form is known as the "honorific plural", in which the pluralization is a sign of power or honor.[63][full citation needed] A very common singular Hebrew word with plural ending is the word achoth, meaning sister, with the irregular plural form achioth.[64]
Alternatively, there are several other frequently used words in the Hebrew language that contain a masculine plural ending but also maintain this form in singular concept. The major examples are: Sky/Heavens (שמים shamayim), Face (פנים panim), Life (חיים - chayyim), Water (מים mayim). Of these four nouns, three appear in the first sentence of Genesis[65] (along with elohim). Three of them also appear in the first sentence of the Eden creation story[66] (also along with elohim). Instead of "honorific plural" these other plural nouns terms represent something which is constantly changing. Water, sky, face, life are "things which are never bound to one form".[67]
The Divine Council
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. ...
I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High.
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
— Psalm 82:1, 6–7 (AV)
Marti Steussy, in Chalice Introduction to the Old Testament, discusses: "The first verse of Psalm 82: 'Elohim has taken his place in the divine council.' Here elohim has a singular verb and clearly refers to God. But in verse 6 of the Psalm, God says to the other members of the council, 'You [plural] are elohim.' Here elohim has to mean gods."[68]
Mark Smith, referring to this same Psalm, states in God in Translation: "This psalm presents a scene of the gods meeting together in divine council ... Elohim stands in the council of El. Among the elohim he pronounces judgment: ..."[69]
In Hulsean Lectures for..., H. M. Stephenson discussed Jesus' argument in John 10:34-36 9 concerning Psalm 82:6-7. (In answer to the charge of blasphemy Jesus replied:) "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" – "Now what is the force of this quotation 'I said ye are gods.' It is from the Asaph Psalm which begins 'Elohim hath taken His place in the mighty assembly. In the midst of the Elohim He is judging.'"[70]
Sons of God
The Hebrew word for "son" is ben; plural is bānim (with the construct state form being "benei"). The Hebrew term benei elohim ("sons of God" or "sons of the gods") in Genesis 6:2[71] compares to the use of "sons of gods" (Ugaritic: b'n il) sons of El in Ugaritic mythology.[72] Karel van der Toorn states that gods can be referred to collectively as bene elim, bene elyon, or bene elohim.[16]
Elohist
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Documentary_Hypothesis_Sources_Distribution_English.png/220px-Documentary_Hypothesis_Sources_Distribution_English.png)
The Hebrew Bible uses various names for the God of Israel.[75]: 102 According to the documentary hypothesis, these variations are the products of different source texts and narratives that constitute the composition of the Torah: Elohim is the name of God used in the Elohist (E) and Priestly (P) sources, while Yahweh is the name of God used in the Jahwist (J) source.[73][74][75][76][77] Form criticism postulates the differences of names may be the result of geographical origins; the P and E sources coming from the North and J from the South.[75]: 102 [76] There may be a theological point, that God did not reveal his name, Yahweh, before the time of Moses, though Hans Heinrich Schmid showed that the Jahwist was aware of the prophetic books from the 7th and 8th centuries BCE.[78]
The Jahwist source presents Yahweh anthropomorphically: for example, walking through the Garden of Eden looking for Adam and Eve. The Elohist source often presents Elohim as more distant and frequently involves angels, as in the Elohist version of the tale of Jacob's Ladder, in which there is a ladder to the clouds, with angels climbing up and down, with Elohim at the top. In the Jahwist version of the tale, Yahweh is simply stationed in the sky, above the clouds without the ladder or angels. Likewise, the Elohist source describes Jacob wrestling with an angel.
The classical documentary hypothesis, first developed in the late 19th century among biblical scholars and textual critics, holds that the Jahwist portions of the Torah were composed in the 10th-9th century BCE[75]: 102 and the Elohist portions in the 9th-8th century BCE,[75]: 102 [76] i.e. during the early period of the Kingdom of Judah. This, however, is not universally accepted as later literary scholarship seems to show evidence of a later "Elohist redaction" (post-exilic) during the 5th century BCE which sometimes makes it difficult to determine whether a given passage is "Elohist" in origin, or the result of a later editor.[citation needed]
Latter Day Saint movement
In the Latter Day Saint movement and Mormonism, Elohim refers to God the Father.[79][80] Elohim is the father of Jesus in both the physical and the spiritual realms, whose name before birth is said to be Jehovah.[79][80][81]
In the belief system held by the Christian churches that adhere to the Latter Day Saint movement and most Mormon denominations, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the term God refers to Elohim (the Eternal Father),[79][80] whereas Godhead means a council of three distinct gods: Elohim (God the Father), Jehovah (the Son of God, Jesus Christ),[79][80] and the Holy Ghost, in a non-trinitarian conception of the Godhead.[79][80] In Mormonism, the three persons are considered to be physically separate beings, or personages, but united in will and purpose; this conception differs significantly from mainline Christian trinitarianism.[79][80][82] As such, the term Godhead differs from how it is used in mainstream Christianity.[79][80] This description of God represents the orthodoxy of the LDS Church, established early in the 19th century.[79]
The Book of Abraham, a sacred text accepted by some branches of the Latter Day Saint movement, contains a paraphrase of the first chapter of Genesis which explicitly translates Elohim as "the Gods" multiple times; this is suggested by Mormon apostle James E. Talmage to indicate a "plurality of excellence or intensity, rather than distinctively of number,"[83] in contrast to his contemporary apostle Orson F. Whitney's explanation that, while to "the modern Jew [Elohim] means the plural of majesty, not of number...to the Latter-day Saint it signifies both."[84]
Raëlism
The new religious movement and UFO religion International Raëlian Movement, founded by the French journalist Claude Vorilhon (who later became known as "Raël") in 1974,[85] claims that the Hebrew word Elohim from the Book of Genesis actually means “those who came from the sky” and refers to a species of extraterrestrial aliens.[86]
Gnosticism
In the Gnostic text known as the Secret Book of John, Elohim is another name for Abel, whose parents are Eve and Yaldabaoth. He rules over the elements of water and earth, alongside Cain, who is seen as Yahweh ruling over the elements of fire and wind.[87] However, the 2nd century Gnostic teacher Justin proposed a cosmological model with three original divinities. The first is a transcendental being called the Good, the second is Elohim, appearing here as an intermediate male figure, and the third is an Earth-mother called Eden. The world along with the first humans are created from the love between Elohim and Eden, but when Elohim learns about the existence of the Good above him and ascends trying to reach it, he causes evil to enter the universe.[88]
See also
- Anunnaki
- Henotheism § Canaanite religion and Yahwism
- Elyon
- Genesis creation narrative
- Monolatry § In ancient Israel
- Names of God
- Theophory in the Bible
- Allahumma
Notes
- ^ According to Rabbi Joseph Hertz, the word's use in Genesis 1:1 "indicates that God comprehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity".[47]
References
- ^ a b Moses Maimonides. Guide for the Perplexed (1904 translation by Friedländer). Starting from the beginning of chapter 2.
- ^ Smith 2010, p. 19.
- ^ Burnett 2001.
- ^ a b c Strong, James (1890). "H430 - 'elohiym". Strong's Concordance. Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
אֱלֹהִים ʼĕlôhîym, el-o-heem; plural of H433 (אֱלוֹהַּ ĕlôah); gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:—angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
- ^ a b c d "Strong's Hebrew: 430. אֱלֹהִים (elohim) -- God (Strong's Concordance; Englishman's Concordance; NAS Exhaustive Concordance; Brown-Driver-Briggs definition; Strong's Exhaustive Concordance definition; Forms and Transliterations)". Biblehub.com. 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Elohim - Hebrew god". Encyclopædia Britannica. Edinburgh: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
Elohim, singular Eloah, (Hebrew: God), the God of Israel in the Old Testament. The term Elohim—though sometimes used for other deities, such as the Moabite god Chemosh, the Sidonian goddess Astarte, and also for other majestic beings such as angels, kings, judges (the Old Testament shofeṭim), and the Messiah—is usually employed in the Old Testament for the one and only God of Israel, whose personal name was revealed to Moses as YHWH, or Yahweh (q.v.). When referring to Yahweh, elohim very often is accompanied by the article ha-, to mean, in combination, "the God," and sometimes with a further identification Elohim ḥayyim, meaning "the living God."
Though Elohim is plural in form, it is understood in the singular sense. Thus, in Genesis the words, "In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth," Elohim is monotheistic in connotation, though its grammatical structure seems polytheistic. The Israelites probably borrowed the Canaanite plural noun Elohim and made it singular in meaning in their cultic practices and theological reflections. - ^ a b "'elohiym Meaning in Bible - Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon - New American Standard". Bible Study Tools. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ a b E. K. (1902). "DIVINE NAMES - 114. "Elōhīm"". In Black, John S.; Cheyne, Thomas K. (eds.). Encyclopaedia Biblica. Vol. 3. Toronto: Macmillan Company. pp. 343–344. Retrieved 10 August 2020 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ "Outline of Biblical Usage". Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 401–402.
- ^ Van der Toorn 1999, p. 353.
- ^ Glinert, Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar, Routledge, p. 14, section 13 "(b) Agreement".
- ^ Gesenius, A Grammar of the Hebrew Language.
- ^ a b c Pardee 1999, pp. 285–288.
- ^ a b c d e f Herrmann, W. (1999). Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter W. (eds.). El (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 274–280, 352–353. doi:10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_El. ISBN 90-04-11119-0.
- ^ Pardee 1999, p. 285 "The term expressing the simple notion of 'gods' in these texts is ilm...".
- ^ Van der Toorn 1999, pp. 352–353, 360–364.
- ^ Day 2003, p. 23.
- ^ Brian B. Schmidt, "Israel's beneficent dead: ancestor cult and necromancy in ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition", Forschungen zum Alten Testament, N. 11 (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr Siebeck, 1994), p. 217: "In spite of the fact that the MT plural noun 'elohim of v.13 is followed by a plural participle 'olim, a search for the antecedent to the singular pronominal suffix on mah-to'ro in v.14 what does he/it look like? has led interpreters to view the 'elohim ... 'olim as a designation for the dead Samuel, 'a god ascending'. The same term 'elohim ... He, therefore, urgently requests verification of Samuel's identity, mah-to'"ro, 'what does he/it look like?' The ... 32:1, 'elohim occurs with a plural finite verb and denotes multiple gods in this instance: 'elohim '"seryel'ku I fydnenu, 'the gods who will go before us'. Thus, the two occurrences of 'elohim in 1 Sam 28:13,15 – the first complemented by a plural ... 28:13 manifests a complex textual history, then the 'elohim of v. 13 might represent not the deified dead, but those gods known to be summoned – some from the netherworld – to assist in the retrieval of the ghost.373 ..."
- ^ Bill T. Arnold, Necromancy and Cleromancy in 1 and 2 Samuel, CBQ, 66:2, p.202
- ^ "Chagigah 4b:9". Sefaria.
- ^ "Rashi on I Samuel 28:13:1". Sefaria.
- ^ "Sforno on Deuteronomy 21:23:1". Sefaria.
- ^ Benamozegh, Elia; Maxwell Luria (1995). Israel and Humanity. Paulist Press International. p. 104. ISBN 978-0809135417.
- ^ Hamilton, Victor P. (2012). Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0801031830.
- ^ e.g. Genesis 20:13: Hebrew: התעו אתי אלהים מבית אבי, where התעו is from Hebrew: תעה "to err, wander, go astray, stagger", the causative plural "they caused to wander".
- ^ LXX: ἐξήγαγέν με ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός; KJV: "when God caused me to wander from my father's house".
- ^ "Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:9:17". Sefaria.
- ^ "Tractate Soferim 4:6". Sefaria.
- ^
- "Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 20:13:1". Sefaria.
- "Tur HaArokh, Genesis 20:13:1". Sefaria.
- "Sforno on Genesis 20:13:1". Sefaria.
- "HaKtav VeHaKabalah, Genesis 20:13:1". Sefaria.
- ^ "Chizkuni, Genesis 20:13:1". Sefaria.
- ^ NET Bible with Companion CD-ROM, W. Hall Harris, 3rd ed., 2003. "35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him.30 He poured out a 20tn Heb 'revealed themselves'. The verb iVl] (niglu), translated 'revealed himself', is plural, even though one expects the singular."
- ^ Haggai and Malachi p36 Herbert Wolf, 1976. "If both the noun and the verb are plural, the construction can refer to a person, just as the statement 'God revealed Himself' in Genesis 35:7 has a plural noun and verb. But since the word God, 'Elohim', is plural in form,8 the verb ..."
- ^ J. Harold Ellens, Wayne G. Rollins, Psychology and the Bible: From Genesis to apocalyptic vision, 2004, p. 243: "Often the plural form Elohim, when used in reference to the biblical deity, takes a plural verb or adjective (Gen. 20:13, 35:7; Exod. 32:4, 8; 2 Sam. 7:23; Ps. 58:12)."
- ^
- "Targum Jonathan on Genesis 35:7". Sefaria.
- "Ibn Ezra on Genesis 35:7:1". Sefaria.
- "Chizkuni, Genesis 35:7:1". Sefaria.
- ^ "Genesis 28:12 Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, Interlinear Bible". BibleHub.
- ^ "Radak on Genesis 35:7:3". Sefaria.
- ^ "Psalms 8:6". Sefaria.
- ^ "Psalms 8:5 Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, Interlinear Bible". Bible Hub.
- ^ "Psalms 82". Sefaria.
- ^ "Rashi on Genesis 1:26:1". Sefaria.
- ^ "Genesis 1:27 Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, Interlinear Bible". Bible Hub.
- ^ "Conjugation of לִבְרוֹא". Pealim.
- ^ "Rashi on Genesis 1:26:2". Sefaria.
- ^ Gesenius, Hebrew Grammar: 124g, without article 125f, with article 126e, with the singular 145h, with plural 132h, 145i
- ^ Hertz, J. H., ed. (1960) [1937]. The Pentateuch and Haftorahs: Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary (2nd ed.). London: Soncino Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-900689-21-8. OCLC 16730346.
- ^ Sameth, Mark (2020). The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God. Wipf and Stock. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-5326-9384-7.
- ^ Wilkinson, Robert (2015). Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God. Boston: Brill. p. 337. ISBN 9789024702039.
- ^ Postel, Guillaume (1969). Le thrésor des prophéties de l'univers (in French). Springer. p. 211. ISBN 9789024702039.
- ^ Lanci, Michelangelo (1845). Paralipomeni alla illustrazione della sagra Scrittura (in Italian). Dondey-Dupre. pp. 100–113. ISBN 978-1274016911.
- ^ Richard N. Soulen, R. Kendall Soulen, Handbook of biblical criticism, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-664-22314-4, p. 166.
- ^ Brenton Septuagint Exodus 21:6: προσάξει αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸ κριτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ
- ^ The Biblical Repositor p. 360, ed. Edward Robinson, 1838. "Gesenius denies that elohim ever means angels; and he refers in this denial particularly to Ps. 8: 5, and Ps. 97: 7; but he observes, that the term is so translated in the ancient versions."
- ^ Samuel Davidsohn, An Introduction to the New Testament, Vol. III, 1848, p. 282: "Hengstenberg, for example, affirms, that the usus loquendi is decisive against the direct reference to angels, because Elohim never signifies angels. He thinks that the Septuagint translator could not understand the representation ..."
- ^ "Hebrews 2:7 with Greek". Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ "Psalm 8:5 with Greek (8:6 in the LXX)". Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ "Elohim as angels in the KJV only in Psalm 8:5 (8:6 in LXX)". Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ "Elohim as 'judges' in the KJV". Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Exodus 21:34, 22:11, Ecclesiastes 5:10, 7:12, Job 31:39
- ^ Genesis 39:20, 42:30, 42:33, I Kings 16:24
- ^ Job 40:15
- ^ Mark Futato (2010). "Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?".
- ^ ach and achot at balashon.com
- ^ Genesis 1:1–2
- ^ Genesis 2:4–7
- ^ Zagoria-Moffet, Adam (2015-05-13). "'But Not in Number': One and Many in Hebrew Grammar". Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ Steussy, Marti (2013). Chalice Introduction to the Old Testament. Chalice Press. ISBN 9780827205666.
- ^ Smith 2010, p. 134.
- ^ Stephenson, H. M. (1890) Hulsean Lectures for... lecture 1, page 14
- ^ (e.g. Genesis 6:2, "... the sons of the Elohim (e-aleim) saw the daughters of men (e-adam, "the adam") that they were fair; and they took them for wives ...",
- ^ Marvin H. Pope, El in the Ugaritic texts, "Supplements to Vetus Testamentum", Vol. II, Leiden, Brill, 1955. Pp. x—l–116, p. 49.
- ^ a b Friedman, Richard Elliott (2019) [1987]. Who Wrote the Bible?. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 10–18. ISBN 978-1-5011-9240-1.
- ^ a b Brettler, Marc Zvi (2004). "Torah: Introduction". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible: Featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–7. ISBN 9780195297515.
- ^ a b c d e Dever, William G. (2001). "Getting at the "History behind the History"". What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel. Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. 97–102. ISBN 978-0-8028-2126-3. OCLC 46394298.
- ^ a b c Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ Jacobs, Joseph; Hirsch, Emil G. (1906). "ELOHIST". Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ H. H. Schmid, Der Sogenannte Jahwist (Zurich: TVZ, 1976)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Davies, Douglas J. (2003). "Divine–human transformations: God". An Introduction to Mormonism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 67–77. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511610028.004. ISBN 9780511610028. OCLC 438764483. S2CID 146238056.
- ^ a b c d e f g Robinson, Stephen E.; Burgon, Glade L.; Turner, Rodney; Largey, Dennis L. (1992), "God the Father", in Ludlow, Daniel H. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan Publishing, pp. 548–552, ISBN 0-02-879602-0, OCLC 24502140, retrieved 7 May 2021 – via Harold B. Lee Library
- ^ First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, "The Father and the Son", Improvement Era, August 1916, pp. 934–42; reprinted as "The Father and the Son", Ensign, April 2002.
- ^ The term with its distinctive Mormon usage first appeared in Lectures on Faith (published 1834), Lecture 5 ("We shall in this lecture speak of the Godhead; we mean the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."). The term Godhead also appears several times in Lecture 2 in its sense as used in the Authorized King James Version, meaning divinity.
- ^ Talmage, James E. (September 1915). Jesus the Christ, (1956 ed.). p. 38.
- ^ Elias: An Epic of the Ages by Orson F. Whitney. 1914. p 118.
- ^ Dericquebourg, Régis (2021). "Rael and the Raelians". In Zeller, Ben (ed.). Handbook of UFO Religions. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Vol. 20. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 472–490. doi:10.1163/9789004435537_024. ISBN 978-90-04-43437-0. ISSN 1874-6691. S2CID 239738621.
- ^ Palmer, Susan J.; Sentes, Bryan (2012). "The International Raëlian Movement". In Hammer, Olav; Rothstein, Mikael (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 167–172. doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521196505.012. ISBN 978-0-521-19650-5. LCCN 2012015440. S2CID 151563721.
- ^ Marvin Meyer; Willis Barnstone (June 30, 2009). "The Secret Book of John". The Gnostic Bible. Shambhala. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ "Gnosticism - Apocryphon of John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
General bibliography
- Burnett, Joel (2001). A Reassessment of Biblical Elohim. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 9781589830165. OCLC 47689804.
- Coogan, Michael D.; Brettler, Marc Z.; Newsom, Carol A.; Perkins, Pheme, eds. (2007). "Glossary: 'Elohim'". The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha (3rd, Augmented ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. Glossary: 544. ISBN 978-0-19-528880-3.
- Day, John (2003). Reviewed work: Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, John Day. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series. Vol. 265. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. p. 23. doi:10.2307/3217888. ISBN 978-1-850-75986-7. JSTOR 3217888. S2CID 161791734.
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ignored (help) - McLaughlin, John L. (2000). "Elohim". In Freedman, David Noel; Myer, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. pp. 401–402. ISBN 0-8028-2400-5.
- Miller, Patrick D. (2000). The Religion of Ancient Israel. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22145-4.
- Miller, James M.; Hayes, John H. (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664212629.
- Niehr, Herbert (1995). "The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion". In Edelman, Diana Vikander (ed.). The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms. Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology. Vol. 13. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-390-0124-0.
- Pardee, Dennis (1999). Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter W. (eds.). Eloah (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 285–288. doi:10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Eloah. ISBN 90-04-11119-0.
- Preuss, Horst Dietrich (1995). Old Testament Theology. The Old Testament Library. Vol. 1. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 147–149. ISBN 0-664-21844-X.
- Römer, Thomas (2015). "The God of Israel and His Name". The Invention of God. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-50497-4.
- Sameth, Mark (2020). The Name: A History of the Dual-Gendered Hebrew Name for God. Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1-5326-9384-7.
- Smith, Mark S. (2000). "El". In Freedman, David Noel; Myer, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. pp. 384–386. ISBN 9789053565032.
- Smith, Mark S. (2001). "El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus". The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 133–148. doi:10.1093/019513480X.003.0008. ISBN 9780195134803.
- Smith, Mark S. (2002). The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802839725.
- Smith, Mark S. (2010). God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-6433-8.
- Van der Toorn, Karel (1999). Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter W. (eds.). God (I) (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 352–353, 360–364. doi:10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godi. ISBN 90-04-11119-0.
- Vriezen, T. C.; Van der Woude, S. A. (2005). Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Literature. Translated by Doyle, Brian. Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-12427-1.
External links
- 'elohiym (אֱלֹהִים), Strong's Concordance (1890).
- Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- Eisenstein, Judah D.; McLaughlin, John F. (1906). "NAMES OF GOD - Elohim". Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. Retrieved 10 August 2020.