Elohim

==Grammar and etymology==
{{Further|El (deity)|Ilah|Allah}}
The word ''elohim'' or'' 'elohiym'' (''ʼĕlôhîym'') is a [[grammatical number|grammatically plural]] [[noun]] for "[[gods]]" or "deities" or various other words in [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref name="Strong 1890">{{cite book |last=Strong |first=James |author-link=James Strong (theologian) |chapter=H430 - 'elohiym |chapter-url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H430 |title=[[Strong's Concordance]] |date=1890 |publisher=[[Blue Letter Bible]] |access-date=1 August 2020 |quote={{lang|he|'''אֱלֹהִים'''}} '''ʼĕlôhîym''', el-o-heem; plural of H433 ({{lang|he|אֱלוֹהַּ}} ĕlôah); gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:—angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.}}</ref><ref name="Biblehub">{{cite web |url=https://biblehub.com/str/hebrew/430.htm |title=Strong's Hebrew: 430. '''אֱלֹהִים''' (elohim) -- God (Strong's Concordance; Englishman's Concordance; NAS Exhaustive Concordance; Brown-Driver-Briggs definition; Strong's Exhaustive Concordance definition; Forms and Transliterations) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2020 |website=Biblehub.com |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Britannica 1998">{{cite encyclopedia |author=<!--Not stated--> |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Elohim - Hebrew god |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elohim |date=20 July 1998 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |access-date=1 August 2020 |quote='''Elohim''', singular '''Eloah''', (Hebrew: God), the God of Israel in the Old Testament. The term Elohim—though sometimes used for other deities, such as the [[Moab]]ite god [[Chemosh]], the [[Phoenicia|Sidonian]] goddess [[Astarte]], and also for other majestic beings such as angels, kings, judges (the Old Testament ''[[Shophet|shofeṭim]]''), and the [[Jewish Messiah|Messiah]]—is usually employed in the Old Testament for the one and only God of Israel, whose personal name was revealed to [[Moses]] as [[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]], or [[Yahweh]] (q.v.). When referring to Yahweh, ''elohim'' very often is accompanied by the article ''ha-'', to mean, in combination, “the God,” and sometimes with a further identification ''Elohim ḥayyim'', meaning “the living God.”<br/> Though Elohim is plural in form, it is understood in the singular sense. Thus, in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] the words, “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth,” Elohim is monotheistic in connotation, though its grammatical structure seems polytheistic. The Israelites probably borrowed the Canaanite plural noun Elohim and made it singular in meaning in their cultic practices and theological reflections.}}</ref><ref name="BibleStudyTools">{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/elohiym.html |title='elohiym Meaning in Bible - Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon - New American Standard |website=Bible Study Tools |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Biblica 1902">{{cite encyclopedia |author=E. K. |title=DIVINE NAMES - 114. "Elōhīm" |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabib03cheyuoft/page/n343/mode/2up |year=1902 |editor1-last=Black |editor1-first=John S. |editor1-link=John Sutherland Black |editor2-last=Cheyne |editor2-first=Thomas K. |editor2-link=Thomas Kelly Cheyne |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Biblica]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Company]] |volume=3 |location=[[Toronto]] |pages=343–344 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Elohim NIE">{{Cite NIE |wstitle=Elohim |year=1905}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Outline of Biblical Usage |url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H430&t=NASB |access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref>

In Hebrew, the ending ''[[Suffixes in Hebrew#Gender and number|-im]]'' normally indicates a masculine plural. However, when referring to the Jewish God, ''Elohim'' is usually understood to be grammatically singular (i.e., it governs a singular verb or adjective).{{sfn|McLaughlin|2000|pages=401-402}}{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|page=353}} In [[Modern Hebrew]], it is often referred to in the singular despite the ''-im'' ending that denotes plural masculine nouns in Hebrew.<ref>Glinert, ''Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar'', Routledge, p. 14, section 13 "(b) ''[[Agreement (linguistics)|Agreement]]''".</ref><ref>Gesenius, ''A Grammar of the Hebrew Language''.</ref>

It is generally thought that ''Elohim'' is derived from ''eloah'',<ref name="Strong 1890"/><ref name="Biblehub"/><ref name="Britannica 1998"/><ref name="BibleStudyTools"/><ref name="Biblica 1902"/><ref name="Elohim NIE"/> the latter being an expanded form of the [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]] noun '''il''.{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285-288}}<ref name="DDD">{{cite book |last=Herrmann |first=W. |title=El |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=274–280, 352–353 |year=1999 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA274 |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_El |isbn=90-04-11119-0}}</ref> The related nouns ''eloah'' ({{lang|he|אלוה}}) and ''el'' ({{lang|he|אֵל}}) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with ''elohim''.<ref name="DDD" /> The term contains an added ''[[He (letter)|heh]]'' as [[Triconsonantal|third radical]] to the [[Semitic root|biconsonantal root]]. Discussions of the [[etymology]] of ''elohim'' essentially concern this expansion. An exact cognate outside of Hebrew is found in Ugaritic ''ʾlhm'',{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285-288}} the family of El, the [[Creator deity|creator god]] and chief deity of the [[Canaanite pantheon]], in [[Biblical Aramaic]] ''ʼĔlāhā'' and later [[Syriac language|Syriac]] ''Alaha'' ("God"), and in Arabic ''[[ʾilāh]]'' ("god, deity") (or ''[[Allah]]'' as "The [single] God").{{sfn|Pardee|1999|pages=285–288}} "El" (the basis for the extended root ''ʾlh'') is usually derived from a root meaning "to be strong" and/or "to be in front".<ref name="DDD" />