The Dallas Area Christadelphians

THE CHRISTADELPHIANS

THE NAMES OF GOD

                                                      HEBREW (Old Testament)

    Word              Pronounced           Meaning             KJV                Occurences
                                                                                        Appearance

    EL                    Ail                         Might or Power        God or god                      250

     ELOAH            Ail-ower                 Mighty One             God                                  60

     ELOHIM          Ail-oh-heem           Mightiness or          God or gods (idols)        2500
                                                           Mighty ones

     EL SHADDAI   Ail-shad-eye          God Almighty          Almighty God                   57

     ADONAI          Add-oh-nigh           Lord                        Lord                                40

     YAHWEH        Yah-vay                  He who is to be        LORD                          7000

     YAHWEH        Yah-vay                  Lord of multitudes LORD of Hosts               244
     TZVAOTH        Tus-vow-th             or armies

                                                     GREEK (New Testament
                              and the Greek Septuagint Translation of O. T.)

    THEOS            Thi-os                 God                          God                             1400

     KURIOS          Koo-ree-oss           Lord or ruler            Lord                              780

     PATER            Pat-air                   Father, male             Father                           380
                                                         ancestor                                        (not all refer to God)

                                                       NOTES

         1. Yahweh is the memorial name of God revealed to Moses in Exo. 3:14, 15 and 6:3.
               Moses is understood to have written the first 5 books Genesis - Deuteronomy. Hence
               the use of Yahweh before it was actually made known.

          2.   Jehovah is a corrupt form of Yahweh resulting from a misunderstanding of the way
               the Jews reverenced the name of God. They would not speak it aloud so when the
               scriptures were read they would substitute "Adonai" for "Yahweh". To make this apparent
               to a Jewish reader, the vowel points were either left out (YHVH) or replaced by the
               vowels for Adonai. So when the letters YHVH were read, they became JaHoVah not
               YaHVeH.

          3.   In New Testament quotations from the Old Testament, Theos and Kurios are used
                interchangeably in place of Yahweh, Elohim and Adonai. E.g.
                    * Kurios replaces Yahweh in Matt 3:3 (a quote from Isa 40:3)
                    * Theos replaces Yahweh in Matt 4:4 (a quote from Deut 8:3)
                    * Kurios and Theos replace Yahweh and Elohim respectively in Matt 4:7
                        (a quote from Deut 6:16 "the LORD your God")
                    * Kurios and Kurios replace Yahweh and Adonai respectively in Matt 22:44
                        (a quote from Psa 110:1 :the LORD said to my Lord")

     This suggests that there is nothing reverential in the Hebrew word itself.

          4.   Elohim is also used in reference to angels in Psa 8:5 cp Heb 2:7. It is also used in
                in reference to men e.g. Exo 7:1 where it is referring to Moses.

          5.   Father is a New Testament title for God - literally, as related to his Son Jesus, and
                figuratively to those called out from the world (the saints).