The names of God in Hebrew: Elohim, YHWH, Adonai and more
The Hebrew Bible does not call God in just one way. It uses a proper name and several titles, and each one says something about who he is. Many versions replace them all with “God” or “Lord”; we leave them as they are in the Hebrew, so that you can see which one the text uses in each place.
Elohim: God
It is the first word the Bible uses for God: “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
In Hebrew Elohim has a plural form. That confuses many people, but the text itself makes it clear: when it speaks of the God of Israel, the verb is singular. In Genesis 1:1 “created” is singular: one God who creates.
The same word also serves for the gods of other peoples. That is why the commandment says “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Our rule is simple: when it refers to the God of Israel we write Elohim; when it is the gods of the nations, gods.
YHWH: the proper name of God
God introduces himself to Moses with a name: “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers […] has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever” (Exodus 3:15). Just before, he has said “I will be who I will be” (Exodus 3:14): the name is tied to the verb “to be.”
In Hebrew it is written with four letters, יהוה, and it is the most frequent word for God in the Old Testament: almost seven thousand times. Over the centuries, out of respect, people stopped pronouncing it and read “Adonai” (Lord) in its place. That is why its exact pronunciation was not preserved with certainty, and why many Bibles write “the LORD,” or “Jehovah,” which mixes the letters of YHWH with the vowels of Adonai.
We write YHWH, its four letters, wherever the Hebrew writes it. That way you can tell the proper name from a title: “Hear, Israel: YHWH our Elohim, YHWH is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Adonai: Lord
Adonai is a title: “Lord,” the one who has authority. It appears next to the name when Abram speaks to God: “Adonai YHWH, what will you give me?” (Genesis 15:2).
When one person says “my lord” to another person, the same root is used, but in another form; there we translate “lord,” in lowercase.
El Shaddai
“I am El Shaddai; walk before me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1). The exact sense of Shaddai is debated; tradition understood it as “the Almighty.” We leave it as it is and explain it when you tap the word, so as not to decide for the reader more than the text says.
YHWH Tsevaot: YHWH of armies
Tsevaot is the plural of a word that means “army, host.” The first time the title appears is in 1 Samuel 1:3: “to sacrifice to YHWH Tsevaot in Shiloh.” It speaks of God as the one who stands at the head of all the hosts of heaven.
Elyon and Illaya: the Most High
Elyon means “Most High,” the one who is above everything. In the chapters of Daniel written in Aramaic a sister word is used, which we transliterate Illaya: “I blessed Illaya, and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever” (Daniel 4:34). It is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who says it, when he acknowledges the God of Israel.
And in the New Testament?
The New Testament was written in Greek. There God is Theos (God) and Kyrios (Lord). When the apostles quote passages of the Old Testament where it says YHWH, we normally read Kyrios in the Greek, as the Greek translation of the Old Testament used in their time already did.
Why it matters
The names are not ornaments. When the text says YHWH, it is speaking of the God who made a covenant with his people and gave them his name; when it says Elohim, of the Creator of everything; when it says Adonai, of the Lord who is obeyed. Reading them as they are lets you hear those nuances, as their first readers heard them.