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In Hebrew, the ending -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). [11] [12] In Modern Hebrew, it is often referred to in the singular despite the -im ending that denotes plural masculine nouns in ...
The Hebrew word for 'god' is El, which also as a proper noun referred to the chief deity in ancient Semitic religions. In the Hebrew Bible, God is also given a personal name, Yahweh, in contrast to the genetic name, and in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity who was adopted into ancient Israelite religion. [11]
El (/ ɛ l / EL; also ' Il, Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎍 ʾīlu; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤋 ʾīl; [7] Hebrew: אֵל ʾēl; Syriac: ܐܺܝܠ ʾīyl; Arabic: إل ʾil or إله ʾilāh [clarification needed]; cognate to Akkadian: 𒀭, romanized: ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning 'god' or 'deity', or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities.
God entered English when the language still had a system of grammatical gender.The word and its cognates were initially neutral but underwent transition when their speakers converted to Christianity, "as a means of distinguishing the personal God of the Christians from the impersonal divine powers acknowledged by pagans."
Also abbreviated Jah, the most common name of God in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton, יהוה, which is usually transliterated as YHWH. The Hebrew script is an abjad, and thus vowels are often omitted in writing. YHWH is usually expanded to Yahweh in English. [11] Modern Rabbinical Jewish culture judges it forbidden to pronounce this name.
The first words of the Old Testament are B'reshit bara Elohim—"In the beginning God created." [1] The verb bara (created) agrees with a masculine singular subject.[citation needed] Elohim is used to refer to both genders and is plural; it has been used to refer to both Goddess (in 1 Kings 11:33), and God (1 Kings 11:31; [2]).
The manuscripts of the Septuagint and other Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible that are pre-Christian or contemporary to the Apostolic Age present the tetragrammaton in Hebrew within the Greek text [153] [172] or use the Greek transliteration ΙΑΩ , which, according to Wilkinson, may have been the original practice before a Hebraicizing ...
A Hebrew tetractys in a similar way has the letters of the Tetragrammaton (the four lettered name of God in Hebrew scripture) inscribed on the ten positions of the tetractys, from right to left. It has been argued that the Kabbalistic Tree of Life , with its ten spheres of emanation, is in some way connected to the tetractys, but its form is ...