# H0430 - elohim **Strong's:** [H0430](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h430/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** el-o-heem' **Part of speech:** masculine **plural** noun (functioning syntactically as singular when of the one true God) **Root:** plural of *H0433 - eloah* (אֱלוֹהַּ, "God / a god"), itself related to [H0410 - el](/codex/h0410-el/) (אֵל, "mighty one / God") ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) 1. **The one true God of Israel**, the dominant biblical use; takes singular verbs and adjectives despite plural form. 2. **Pagan gods, idols, false deities**, used in plural sense for foreign worship. 3. **Divine beings, angels, heavenly host**, supernatural created beings ([Job 1:6](/codex/job-1-6/) "sons of God" = *bnei elohim*). 4. **Rulers, judges, magistrates**, human authorities exercising divinely-delegated judgment ([Psalm 82:1](/codex/psalms-82-1/), [6](/codex/psalms-82-6/); [Exodus 21:6](/codex/exodus-21-6/), [22](/codex/exodus-21-22/):8). ## Theological force, the plural form The grammatical phenomenon: *elohim* is morphologically **plural** (the *-im* suffix) but routinely takes **singular** verbs, pronouns, and adjectives when referring to the God of Israel. *Bereshit barāʾ elohim* in [Genesis 1.1](/codex/genesis-1-1/) uses singular verb *bara* with plural noun *elohim*, "In the beginning God created", signaling the one true God. Three classical readings of the plural: 1. **Plural of majesty / intensity** (rabbinic, modern Jewish, much Christian scholarship), Hebrew uses plural forms to indicate fullness, supremacy, or honor (cf. *adonim* for a single master). The plural form does not by itself imply plurality of persons. 2. **Trinitarian foreshadowing** (patristic and traditional Christian), read alongside the plural verbs in [Genesis 1:26](/codex/genesis-1-26/) ("Let *us* make man in *our* image") and [Genesis 11:7](/codex/genesis-11-7/) ("let *us* go down"), and the Trinitarian unfolding of the NT. Augustine (*De Trinitate* 1) and Aquinas (*ST* I, q.31) argue the plural form does not *prove* the Trinity but is *consistent* with later revelation. 3. **Polytheistic residue** (modern liberal-critical), vestige of Canaanite or Mesopotamian polytheism repurposed monotheistically. Conservative scholarship rejects this reading as insufficient given the rigorously monotheistic singular-verb usage. ## Notable verses ### One true God (singular usage) - **[Genesis 1.1](/codex/genesis-1-1/)**, *בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים*, singular verb, the foundational use - **[Genesis 1:26](/codex/genesis-1-26/)**, "Let *us* make man in *our* image", plural verb, plural pronouns - **[Deuteronomy 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/)**, *Shema Yisrael, YHWH eloheinu, YHWH echad*, "the LORD is our God, the LORD is one" - **[Exodus 3.14](/codex/exodus-3-14/)**, *Elohim* speaks the *ehyeh asher ehyeh* - **[Isaiah 9.6](/codex/isaiah-9-6/)**, *El Gibbor*, "Mighty God" - **[Psalm 82:1](/codex/psalms-82-1/)**, *Elohim* presides in the divine assembly ### Pagan or false gods - **[Exodus 20:3](/codex/exodus-20-3/)**, "you shall have no other *elohim* before me" - **[1 Kings 11:33](/codex/1-kings-11-33/)**, Chemosh, *elohim* of Moab - **[Genesis 35:2](/codex/genesis-35-2/)**, Jacob commands his household to put away "the foreign *elohim*" ### Divine beings / angels - **[Job 1:6](/codex/job-1-6/)**, *bnei elohim* present themselves before YHWH - **[Job 38:7](/codex/job-38-7/)**, *bnei elohim* shouting for joy at creation ### Human judges / rulers - **[Psalm 82:6](/codex/psalms-82-6/)**, "you are *elohim*", quoted by Jesus in [John 10.34](/codex/john-10-34/) - **[Exodus 21:6](/codex/exodus-21-6/)**, slave brought "before *elohim*" (the judges) - **[Exodus 22:8-9](/codex/exodus-22-8-9/)**, both parties come "before *elohim*" ## Patristic / scholarly note Patristic exegesis universally treats the plural in [Genesis 1:26](/codex/genesis-1-26/) ("Let us make") as compatible with, though not deductive of, Trinitarian theology. [Justin Martyr](/codex/justin-martyr/) (*Dialogue with Trypho* 62, c. AD 160) reads it as the Father speaking to the Son. Tertullian (*Against Praxeas* 12, c. AD 213) appeals to it against modalism. Modern scholarship (Bruce Waltke; Wenham, *WBC Genesis*) generally treats it as a "plural of self-deliberation" or "majestic plural," holding that the verse does not by itself prove plurality of persons but is hospitable to that reading once the rest of the canonical witness is in view. The LXX renders *elohim* as θεός (G2316, [G2316 - theos](/codex/g2316-theos/)), masculine singular, collapsing the morphological plural into ordinary monotheistic Greek. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ ## See also - [H0410 - el](/codex/h0410-el/), singular "God / mighty one" - *H0433 - eloah*, singular form of *elohim* - [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), the Tetragrammaton, the proper personal name of God - [H1254 - bara](/codex/h1254-bara/), "to create" (paired with *elohim* in [Gen 1:1](/codex/genesis-1-1/)) - [G2316 - theos](/codex/g2316-theos/), LXX/NT rendering