elohim · Elohim, God, gods

What it means

elohim (אֱלֹהִים) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Elohim, God, gods”.

The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The one true God, the Creator; the word is plural but means one.
2. The gods of other peoples.
3. Heavenly beings, higher than humans.
4. Judges who judged in God's name.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

The Hebrew word for “God”. It has a plural form, but when it refers to the God of Israel the verb is singular (“Elohim created”, not “they created”). BDB explains that this plural is used, especially with the article, of the supreme God; the same word is also the common noun for the “gods” of other peoples.

• The one God, Creator and God of Israel Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:26Ruth 1:16
• The gods of the nations, which the text calls idols Exodus 20:3Psalms 96:5
• A particular god of another people Judges 11:24
• In some laws, “before Elohim” Exodus 21:6

Historical and cultural background

BDB notes that the word is sometimes applied, by way of deference, to magistrates. That is why in the laws of Exodus 21–22 “before Elohim” has a note: it can be understood as “before the judges”.

How we translate it

“Elohim” 2349 times, “gods” 209, “god” 41. This edition keeps the names of God as they stand in the original, transliterated, instead of replacing them with a title; so it writes “Elohim” when the word refers to the God of Israel, whether or not it has the article in Hebrew. When it names the gods of the nations, it writes “gods” or “god”. So where the two uses come together they look different: “Elohim of gods” (Deuteronomy 10:17). The Bible itself marks the difference: “all the gods of the peoples {are} idols, but YHWH made the heavens” (Psalm 96:5).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• Elohim ×2349
• gods ×209
• god ×41

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×219
• Exodus×139
• Leviticus×53
• Numbers×27
• Deuteronomy×374
• Joshua×76
• Judges×73
• Ruth×4
• 1 Samuel×100
• 2 Samuel×54
• 1 Kings×107
• 2 Kings×98
• 1 Chronicles×118
• 2 Chronicles×203
• Ezra×55
• Nehemiah×70
• Job×17
• Psalms×362
• Proverbs×5
• Ecclesiastes×40
• Isaiah×94
• Jeremiah×145
• Ezekiel×36
• Daniel×22
• Hosea×26
• Joel×11
• Amos×14
• Jonah×16
• Micah×11
• Nahum×1
• Habakkuk×3
• Zephaniah×5
• Haggai×3
• Zechariah×11
• Malachi×7

• Genesis 1:1

  In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.

• Genesis 1:2

  Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of Elohim was hovering over the surface of the waters.

• Genesis 1:3

  And Elohim said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

• Genesis 1:4

  And Elohim saw the light, that it was good; and Elohim separated the light from the darkness.

• Genesis 1:5

  And Elohim called the light “Day,” and the darkness he called “Night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

• Genesis 1:6

  And Elohim said, “Let there be a vault in the middle of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

• Genesis 1:7

  And Elohim made the vault and separated the waters that were under the vault from the waters that were above the vault. And it was so.

• Genesis 1:8

  And Elohim called the vault “Heavens.” And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

• Genesis 1:9

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.

• Genesis 1:10

  And Elohim called the dry ground “Earth,” and the gathering of the waters he called “Seas.” And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:11

  And Elohim said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to its kind, that has its seed in it, on the earth.” And it was so.

• Genesis 1:12

  And the earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit that has its seed in it, according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:14

  And Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for appointed times and for days and years;

• Genesis 1:16

  And Elohim made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.

• Genesis 1:17

  And Elohim set them in the vault of the heavens to give light on the earth,

• Genesis 1:18

  and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:20

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living beings, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the vault of the heavens.”

• Genesis 1:21

  And Elohim created the great sea monsters and every living being that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:22

  And Elohim blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

• Genesis 1:24

  And Elohim said, “Let the earth bring forth living beings according to their kind: livestock and creeping things and animals of the earth according to their kind.” And it was so.

• Genesis 1:25

  And Elohim made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:26

  And Elohim said, “Let us make the human being in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

• Genesis 1:27

  And Elohim created the human being in his image; in the image of Elohim he created him; male and female he created them.

• Genesis 1:28

  And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every animal that creeps on the earth.”

• Genesis 1:29

  And Elohim said, “Look, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; it will be food for you.

• Genesis 1:31

  And Elohim saw everything that he had made, and look, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

• Genesis 2:2

  And on the seventh day Elohim finished his work that he had done, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work that he had done.

• Genesis 2:3

  And Elohim blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he ceased from all his work that Elohim had created to make.

• Genesis 2:4

  These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that YHWH Elohim made earth and heavens.

• Genesis 2:5

  Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for YHWH Elohim had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no human being to work the ground;

• Genesis 2:7

  And YHWH Elohim formed the man from dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

• Genesis 2:8

  And YHWH Elohim planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

• Genesis 2:9

  And YHWH Elohim made every tree sprout from the ground that is pleasing to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

• Genesis 2:15

  And YHWH Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

• Genesis 2:16

  And YHWH Elohim commanded the man, saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

• Genesis 2:18

  And YHWH Elohim said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make for him a helper corresponding to him.”

• Genesis 2:19

  And YHWH Elohim formed from the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called it, as a living being, that was its name.

• Genesis 2:21

  And YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his sides and closed up the flesh in its place.

• Genesis 2:22

  And YHWH Elohim built the side that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

• Genesis 3:1

  Now the serpent was more shrewd than any animal of the field that YHWH Elohim had made. And it said to the woman, “Did Elohim really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

And 2559 more times.