Lexicon

H7706 - shaddai

Strong's: H7706 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: shad-dah'-ee Part of speech: masculine noun (proper-name use) OT occurrences: ~48 (almost all in Pentateuch + Job; rare elsewhere) Greek equivalent (LXX): pantokratōr (G3841, "Almighty"); occasionally theos / kyrios

Semantic range / etymology

The etymology of Shaddai is contested:

From shadad (to deal violently / be powerful), yields "Almighty" / "Powerful One" (the traditional rendering since the Vulgate's omnipotens)
From shad (breast), yields "the Sufficient One" / "the Nurturing One"; some rabbinic / mystical traditions
From Akkadian shadu (mountain), yields "the Mountain God" (some critical scholarship)
From a related root meaning self-sufficient yields "the All-Sufficient" (jewish-pious tradition: she-dai, "He who is enough")

The traditional Almighty rendering (LXX pantokratōr; Vulgate omnipotens) has dominated Christian translation, supported by usage-context: Shaddai is consistently associated with God's overwhelming power and sufficiency.

Theological force

El Shaddai, patriarchal divine name

Shaddai is most famously paired with H0410 - el in the compound El Shaddai, "Almighty God" / "God All-Sufficient." This is the principal name by which God revealed Himself to the Patriarchs:

Genesis 17:1, God to Abraham: "I am El Shaddai; walk before Me, and be blameless"
Genesis 28:3, Isaac to Jacob: "may El Shaddai bless you"
Genesis 35:11, God to Jacob at Bethel: "I am El Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply"
Genesis 43:14; 48:3; 49:25, Patriarchal blessings invoking El Shaddai
Exodus 6:3, God to Moses: "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by My name YHWH I did not make Myself known to them"

The Exodus 6:3 statement is theologically pivotal: God reveals progressively. El Shaddai is the patriarchal-relational name; YHWH is the Mosaic-covenant name. Both are the same God; the revelation deepens.

Shaddai in Job

The book of Job uses Shaddai extensively (~31 times), more than any other OT book. In Job's discussions of suffering, divine sovereignty, and the wisdom-of-God-versus-man, Shaddai anchors the awesome-power-and-mystery dimension of God:

Job 5:17, "the discipline of Shaddai"
Job 6:4, "the arrows of Shaddai"
Job 8:5, "make supplication to Shaddai"
Job 11:7, "can you discover the depths of Shaddai?"
Job 13:3, "I would speak to Shaddai"
Job 27:13, "the heritage of the wicked from Shaddai"
Job 31:35, "the answer of Shaddai"

Job's Shaddai is the God of overwhelming sovereignty whose ways exceed human comprehension.

Theological themes connected to Shaddai

The pattern of Shaddai-occurrences associates the name with:

Covenant blessing and multiplication, fertility, posterity, land (patriarchal blessings)
Overwhelming power, divine omnipotence (Job emphasizing)
Sovereignty in suffering, God's right to permit and use difficulty (Job)
The pre-Mosaic / patriarchal-period revelation, God known by this name before the YHWH-covenant became central

Shaddai in NT, Pantokratōr

The NT does not use Shaddai directly (Hebrew not retained), but pantokratōr (the LXX equivalent) appears 10 times:

2 Corinthians 6:18, "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord pantokratōr"
Revelation 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22, pantokratōr as title for God

The Apocalypse especially emphasizes God as the Pantokratōr, sovereign over history, judgment, and the eschatological consummation.

Christological connection

While Shaddai itself is not directly applied to Christ, the pantokratōr / Almighty title in Revelation is closely associated with the Lamb / Christ:

Revelation 1:8, pantokratōr identified as "the Alpha and the Omega… who is and who was and who is to come"
Revelation 22:13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega" applied to Christ
This convergence supports divine-identity Christology, the Almighty God of OT / Apocalypse is one with the risen Christ

Notable verses

Genesis 17:1, God reveals Himself as El Shaddai to Abraham at the covenant moment
Genesis 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:25, patriarchal blessings
Exodus 6:3, pivotal revelation-progression statement
Numbers 24:4, 16, Balaam's oracles
Ruth 1:20-21, Naomi: "Shaddai has dealt very bitterly with me"
Job 5:17, 6:4, 8:5, 11:7, 13:3, 22:3, 22:23, 22:25, 27:13, 31:2, 31:35, 32:8, 33:4, 34:10, 34:12, 35:13, 37:23, 40:2, pervasive in Job
Psalm 68:14; 91:1, Shaddai in poetic-prayer context
Isaiah 13:6; Joel 1:15, Day-of-the-LORD prophetic
Ezekiel 1:24; 10:5, divine glory / theophany

Patristic / scholarly note

Patristic engagement: through the LXX pantokratōr. Christian theological tradition uniformly affirms El Shaddai as Almighty God.

Modern conservative scholarship:

Bruce Waltke, Old Testament Theology (2007)
Walter Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (1961-67)
John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative (1992)
Allen Ross, Creation and Blessing (1988)

The El Shaddai / YHWH progression in Exodus 6:3 has been extensively engaged in OT theology, particularly regarding progressive revelation.

Notes

Lexical workspace for Shaddai.