אל
El — The Mighty One
The ancient Semitic root for God or mighty one, found across the ancient Near East and throughout the Hebrew Bible.
Pronunciation
EL
Meaning of אל
אל (El) is the oldest and most fundamental Semitic word for God. It appears across ancient Near Eastern languages — Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, and Arabic — as the basic designation for divinity. In the Hebrew Bible it occurs over 200 times, sometimes as a standalone name and sometimes as the first element in compound divine names.
The root carries the sense of power, strength, and might. El is the God who is strong, the God who is first, the God before whom all other powers are secondary. In the patriarchal narratives of Genesis, El appears in compound forms: El Shaddai (God Almighty), El Elyon (God Most High), El Roi (God who sees).
El is the foundation upon which the other divine names are built. אלוה (Eloah) and אלהים (Elohim) both extend from this root, carrying its ancient weight into new forms of expression.
אלוה
Eloah — The Divine One
An exploration of the ancient Hebrew name for God — its meaning, its letters, and its place within the sacred tradition of the Hebrew Bible.
Meaning of אלוה
אלוה (Eloah) is a singular Hebrew noun meaning God or deity. It is one of the oldest and most direct designations for the divine in the Hebrew Bible, carrying a weight of solemnity and reverence that has endured across millennia.
The word is closely related to אל (El), the ancient Semitic root for God or mighty one, and to אלהים (Elohim), the plural form that appears throughout the Hebrew scriptures. While Elohim is the most common designation for God in the Torah, Eloah appears with particular frequency in the poetic and wisdom literature of the Bible, lending it a distinctly contemplative and lyrical character.
In its singular form, Eloah emphasizes the unity and singularity of the divine — one God, undivided, beyond all comparison.
The Hebrew Name
Pronunciation
eh-LO-ah
Biblical Tradition
Eloah appears approximately 57 times in the Hebrew Bible, with the vast majority of its occurrences found in the Book of Job — the great biblical meditation on suffering, justice, and the mystery of God. In Job, the word is used with striking intimacy and intensity, as the protagonist wrestles directly with the divine in language of extraordinary poetic power.
The word also appears in Deuteronomy, the Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Habakkuk, and Nehemiah, always carrying a tone of elevated solemnity. Its relative rarity compared to Elohim gives it a quality of weight and deliberateness — when a biblical author chose Eloah, the choice itself was meaningful.
It is important to distinguish אלוה (Eloah) as a title or designation for God from the personal divine name יהוה (YHWH), the Tetragrammaton. While Eloah describes what God is — the divine being, the deity — YHWH is who God is: the personal, covenantal name revealed to Moses at the burning bush, so sacred in Jewish tradition that it is not spoken aloud.
Where Eloah names the nature of the divine, יהוה names the person of God.
אלהים
Elohim — The Creator God
Pronunciation
eh-lo-HEEM
Meaning of אלהים
אלהים (Elohim) is the most frequently used name for God in the Hebrew Bible, appearing over 2,500 times. It is grammatically plural in form — the -im suffix marks masculine plural in Hebrew — yet when referring to the God of Israel it consistently takes singular verbs and adjectives, a profound grammatical paradox that has fascinated theologians and linguists for centuries.
Built upon the same root as אל (El) and אלוה (Eloah), Elohim carries the sense of the fullness of divine power — not many gods, but the one God in the totality of his being. Some scholars interpret the plural as a plural of majesty or intensity, a way of expressing that this God contains within himself all that divinity means.
It is the name used in the opening verse of Genesis — בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים — 'In the beginning, God created.' The name that speaks the world into existence is Elohim: the God of creation, power, and cosmic order.
יהוה
YHWH — The Personal Name of God
Pronunciation
Unspoken — read as Adonai
Meaning of יהוה
יהוה (YHWH) — the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name — is the personal name of the God of Israel. It is not a title or a description. It is a name: the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush when Moses asked, 'What is your name?' The answer was אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה — 'I AM WHO I AM' — and from this self-disclosure the name YHWH is derived.
The name is rooted in the Hebrew verb הָיָה (hayah), meaning to be or to exist. YHWH is the one who is, who was, and who will be — the self-existent, eternal, uncaused cause of all things. While Elohim names God as creator and Eloah as the singular divine being, YHWH names God as the living, personal, covenant-making God who enters into relationship with his people.
So sacred is this name that in Jewish tradition it is never spoken aloud. When reading the scriptures, the word אֲדֹנָי (Adonai, My Lord) is substituted wherever יהוה appears. In many English translations it is rendered LORD in small capitals. The name appears over 6,800 times in the Hebrew Bible — more than any other divine name — yet it remains, in the deepest sense, unspoken.
Related Divine Terms
God, mighty one. The ancient Semitic root for divinity, found across the ancient Near East and throughout the Hebrew Bible.
God or deity, singular. The contemplative, poetic name for God, most at home in the wisdom literature of Job and the Psalms.
God, gods, or divine beings depending on context. The most common divine name in the Torah, grammatically plural but theologically singular when referring to the God of Israel.
The personal name of the God of Israel, the Tetragrammaton. So sacred it is not pronounced; read aloud as Adonai (my Lord) in Jewish tradition.
"From language comes understanding; from understanding comes reverence."