The Names of God

Yahweh

The personal name of the god of Israel and Judah in the Tanakh is Yahweh. The earliest historical mention of Yahweh comes from Egyptian sources, where he is described as the god of the Shasu, a nomadic people possibly from Midian or Edom.

As a rule, the name Yahweh was never spoken, being replaced instead by Adonai (“my lords”). Traditionally, Yahweh is translated into English as “the LORD”, to represent this practice. While Yahweh is written with the consonants YHWH, it’s pointed with the Hebrew vowels for Adonai. Transliterating directly from the Hebrew, this would be ‘ădhonāy, with the vowels being ă-o-ā. Using these vowels, YHWH is spelled Yăhowāh. While Jewish readers would see the “incorrect” vowels and remember to pronounce YHWH as Adonai, Christian readers misinterpreted this and pronounced Yăhowāh as it was written, producing “Jehovah.”

EL/ELOAH/ELOHIM

El is the common Hebrew word for god, with cognates all across the Semitic languages. In the Canaanite pantheon, El was the high god and the father of many of the other deities – the children of El, related to the Biblical “sons of Elohim”. This Canaanite concept of a high god presiding over a divine council is reflected in the Hebrew scriptures, most explicitly in Job and the Psalms.

Eloah, a variation on El, is related to ilah, half of the component of the name of God in Arabic (al-ilah, “the god”, contracted to Allah). Elohim is the plural of Eloah, literally meaning “gods.” Despite being plural, Elohim is usually associated with singular verbs, implying that the word is meant to be understood as a singular entity. Sometimes Yahweh and Elohim are combined into the phrase Yahweh Elohim, usually translated as “the LORD God.” In Canaanite mythology, Elohim could also refer collectively to the children of El.

EL SHADDAI

Usually, El Shaddai is translated as God Almighty. It literally means “god of Shaddai” – shaddai could mean mountains, wilderness, breasts, or destroyer. It might also be related to Hadad, represented in the name of the Canaanite god Baal Hadad. When Yahweh appears to Moses in the book of Exodus, he tells him that the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew him by the name El Shaddai, not his personal name, implying that some level of syncretism may have occurred. The historicity of this event notwithstanding, it may represent that the potentially Midianite god Yahweh was later associated with the Canaanite El. According to the Torah, Moses himself had Midianite connections via his marriage to Zipporah, daughter of the priest of Midian. Taking a very broad set of liberties, it could be argued that the the Hebrews originally worshiped El, later adopting the Midianite Yahweh and equating the two gods as one.

ELYON

Elyon, or El Elyon, is usually translated as “the Most High” or “God Most High.” Melchizedek, king of Salem, was the priest of Elyon in Genesis. In Deuteronomy, Elyon is said to have divided the nations according to the sons of Elohim, with each nation being associated to a different god; Israel was given to Yahweh.