Elohim #31

Elohim is the word for “God” in the first verse of the Bible and one of the most frequent nouns in the Old Testament. Grammatically it is plural, formed like the Hebrew plural “-im” ending, yet when it refers to the one God it is regularly paired with singular verbs and adjectives. It can also mean “gods” in the ordinary sense, so the context has to decide.

Biblical Usage

In Genesis 1:1 elohim is the subject of a singular verb, “created,” and it carries the account of creation through the first chapter. In the Ten Commandments the same word appears for the rival deities Israel is told not to put before the LORD (Exodus 20:3). Deuteronomy 6:4 joins it to the personal name: YHWH is “our Elohim,” and that statement of oneness is the center of Israel’s confession.

Elohim is also used of other beings. Psalm 82:1 shows God standing in an assembly and judging “among the gods,” and in verse 6 the same word is addressed to human beings who have been unjust. Elsewhere it can refer to a pagan deity by name, and in a few passages it is applied to a figure standing in for God, as when Moses is made “a god” to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1).

Theological Significance

The plural form has drawn several explanations. Many Hebrew grammarians describe it as a plural of majesty or intensity, expressing fullness of divine nature rather than a number of gods. Some Christian writers have also read it, together with “Let us make man” in Genesis 1:26, as an early hint of the plurality that later Trinitarian doctrine describes, while Jewish interpreters and many scholars do not read the plural that way. Where elohim is applied to non-divine or lesser beings, as in Psalm 82, interpreters divide over whether the passage describes a heavenly council, human judges, or rival gods being judged. Across all these readings the Old Testament’s consistent claim is that the LORD alone is God in the full sense.