Elohim, Words Are Important, Their Meanings Matter

The next two chapters focus on the Hebrew words “Elohim” and “echad” both as they stand alone and as they are used in the Shema. These words are pillars of support used by Trinitarians, but the support is a smoke screen when the words and the Bible is understood.

The Shema is Deuteronomy 6:4 and receives its name from the first word “Shema” translated “Hear.” “Hear, O Israel: The lord our God is one lord” (KJV). Replacing the Tetragrammaton (YHWH= lord) with the pronunciation of God’s personal name as my research has led me to accept, the Shema reads: Hear, O Israel: Y^ehovah’ our God (Elohim) is one Y^ehovah’. Other translations interpret the Shema as:

NIV: Hear, O Israel: The lord our God, the lord is one.
NASB: “Hear, O Israel! The lord is our God, the lord is one!”
NLT: “Listen, O Israel! The lord is our God, the lord alone.”
TEV: “Israel, remember this! The lord — and the lord alone — is our God.

A Jewish explanation of the Shema:

“Initial word of the verse, or chapter, recited as the confession of the Jewish faith. Originally, the “Shema” consisted only of the one verse, Deut. 6:4 (see Suk. 42a; Ber. 13b); the regular “Shema'” in the liturgy, however, consists of three portions: Deut. 6:4-9, 11:13-21, and Num.15:37-41. The first verse, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord,” has ever been regarded as the confession of belief in the One God (emphasis mine). The first of the three portions of the “Shema'” contains the command to love God with heart, soul, and might; to remember all commandments and instruct the children therein; to recite the words of God when retiring or rising; to bind those words on the arm and the head, and to inscribe them on the door-posts and on the city gates. The second portion contains the promise of reward for the fulfilment of the laws, and the threat of punishment for their transgression, with a repetition of the contents of the first portion. The third portion contains the law concerning the ẓiẓit, as a reminder that all the laws of God are to be obeyed, as a warning against following the evil inclinations of the heart, and, finally, in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. The commandment to read the “Shema'”, twice daily is ascribed by Josephus to Moses (“Ant.” iv. 8), and it has always been regarded as a divine commandment (see, however, Sifre, Deut. 31 [ed. Friedmann. p. 72b. note 17]).” [1]

This source establishes the fact that Deuteronomy 6:4 has “ever been regarded as the confession of belief in the One God.” I have already established the fact in the first pages that mankind received the Old Testament from Judaism. Hebrew is the language of the Jews. Yehovah’ personally dictated the Torah (first five books) to Moses on Mount Sinai and wrote the first set of Ten Commandments on stone tablets before Moses threw them down at the Israelites worshiping the golden calf. Jewish tradition is that Yehovah’ taught Moses the meaning of the Torah during his forty days on Mount Sinai with God. We must never forget.

The following source is a Jewish commentary on the Torah:

“The six words of the Shema (6:4) have become the best-known words in Judaism’s liturgy, the “watchword”[2] of Israel’s faith, and this despite the fact that their precise meaning is not clear at all. In the Hebrew text, after the opening call “Hear, O Israel,” the affirmation itself states tersely: “Lord our God Lord echad.” The uncertainty of the meaning arises from the absence of punctuation and the nature of juxtaposing these Hebrew words without an explicative verb, as well as from the various emphases that can be ascribed to the word echad: one, alone, unique.” [3]

I have taken some liberties in quoting the next five lines of this quoted text. The author used Hebrew script for the Tetragrammaton:  hwˆ`hy+. I replaced the Hebrew script with Y^ehovah’, consistent with past practices of this book. I hope the reader understands the author of the quoted text would never consider printing out the name of yhwh. I made these adjustments only for the sake of better understanding the text for any non-Hebrew reader and mean no disrespect to the author’s beliefs.

“Thus, the text can be understood to say (italics represent my adjustment for the Tetragrammaton):

Y^ehovah’ is our God, and Y^ehovah’ alone;
Y^ehovah’ is our God, one indivisible Y^ehovah’;
Y^ehovah’ is our God is a unique Y^ehovah’;
Y^ehovah’ is our God, Y^ehovah’ is unique (in His extraordinariness).

Despite these variant meanings—or perhaps because of them!—the words assumed a position of centrality in Jewish thinking and liturgical practice, and this position became assured and hallowed through Rabbi Akiba’s martyrdom. Since that time Jews have repeated the Shema on countless other occasions as they sanctified God’s name through their death; and they continue to speak the six words (usually with the words that follow and other selections) at prayer services throughout the year, affix them to their doorposts, and inscribe them on their phylacteries.

While in earliest days the existence of other gods was accepted by Israel, the uniqueness of the Lord became an article of faith ast time when on:’hwˆ`hy+  (Y^ehovah) not only was Israel’s personal guardian, He was also superior to all other deities—if in fact these could be said to exist at all (an idea that had been discarded by the time Deuteronomy was codified). God was acknowledged as singular or unique or extraordinary, who in His wisdom had bound himself to the people of Israel.[4]

We see from these references that the Jews did not have the slightest suspicion, concern, or hesitation about Elohim and echad implying any plurality in God’s nature.

Elohim (Strong’s OT:430) is the Hebrew word from which God is translated. While not the most frequently occurring word for the Deity, it occurs 2,596 times according to the Englishman’s Concordance. The one which occurs most frequently is the word in the King James Ver­sion translated Lord [lord], and in the American Standard Version, Jehovah” [5] (See earlier chapter “A Great Deception). 

The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the Old Testament explanation of the meaning of Elohim:

OT:430

 “A masculine plural noun meaning God, gods, judges, angels. Occurring more than 2,600 times in the Old Testament, this word commonly designates the one true God (Gen 1:1) and is often paired with God’s unique name yahowah (3068) (Gen 2:4; Ps 100:3). When the word is used as the generic designation of God, it conveys in Scripture that God is the Creator (Gen 5:1); the King (Ps 47:7[:8]); the Judge (Ps 50:6); the Lord (Ps 86:12); and the Savior (Hos 13:4). His character is compassionate (Deut 4:31); gracious (Ps 116:5); and faithful to His covenant (Deut 7:9). In fewer instances, this word refers to foreign gods, such as Dagon (1 Sam 5:7) or Baal (1 Kings 18:24). It also might refer to judges (Ex 22:8[:7], 22:9[:8]) or angels as gods (Ps 97:7). Although the form of this word is plural, it is frequently used as if it were singular—that is, with a singular verb (Gen 1; Ex 2:24). The plural form of this word may be regarded (1) as intensive to indicate God’s fullness of power; (2) as majestic to indicate God’s kingly rule; or (3) as an allusion to the Trinity (Gen 1:26)” (emphasis mine). The singular form of this word elôah (433) occurs only in poetry (Ps 50:22; Isa 44:8). The shortened form of the word is el (410).[6]

The previous author holds a less dogmatic position when concluding whether “Elohim” describes God as singular or plural. Please note in the footnote that this text was written in 2003. Times have changed, the attitude of tolerance is threatened as seen in this next reference.

Deuteronomy 6:4, The Nature of God: Elohim, by John W. Ritenbaugh
The word “God” here is Elohim. It says, “The LORD our Elohim is one LORD.” This phrase is not normally grammatically correct—a plural noun [Elohim] with a singular verb, “is.” Elohim is the plural of both El and Eloah. El and Eloah mean “mighty One,” “strong One,” or “powerful One” according to Brown, Driver, and Briggs. Elohim, being either of these two words in the plural, therefore means “strong Ones,” “mighty Ones,” or “powerful Ones.”

Just from these definitions, Elohim consists of at least two powerful beings. But, as the New Testament shows, Elohim is not limited to two. It can actually signify an unlimited number, so Elohim is a group or assembly of powerful beings.

It is jarring to the ear to say “Gods is,” because there is a plural noun and a singular verb, but it is not incorrect (emphasis mine). Consider “United States of America.” States is plural, but one does not say, “The United States are going to war.” One says, “The United States is going to war.” One uses a singular verb with a plural noun. Gramatically, we are speaking of collective nouns.

Elohim is plurality in one, and because the sense is singular, it calls for a singular verb. However, everyone using it knows that it is plural and represents many in unity. Our culture forces us to look for a singular being, but Elohim is not singular (emphasis mine).

In the New Testament, it becomes very clear that Elohim is a kingdom, consisting of many! Elohim always acts in a singular way. There is never any divisiveness, only agreement.

We have no problem at all saying or hearing, “The United States is bordered on the north by Canada,” or, “The United States is in the northern hemisphere,” or “The United States delivered a sharp memo to the Japanese today.” We always speak of the United States in the singular. We speak of it as a composite of many rather than a singular entity.

When Moses wrote this verse, it was no more discordant to a Hebrew-speaking person, no more grammatically wrong, than it is for us to say, “The United States is. . . .” Elohim, “the powerful Ones,” is a Family of at least two divine beings, and many sons and daughters coming into it. A family, whether human or divine, is a unit of many individuals joined as one.

The Bible reveals that a nation is nothing more than a family grown great. This is why we have the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, which shows the forebears of the nations after the Flood. They began with one man and one woman, and they grew great. So it is that Elohim is one institution—a Family—growing ever larger and more complex until it becomes a nation, the Kingdom of God. We see, then, that this is what Elohim is developing.[7]

I could not confirm in the Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon the definition referred to the article, but I was successful to find “Plural intensive” examples where they showed the use of singular references to god or goddess using Elohim. They also documented the use of Elohim to refer to singular pagan gods/goddesses such as Ashtoreth, Chemosh along with other uses of the Elohim being translated as a singular noun. I came away feeling the article took an aggressive posture for the Trinitarian interpretation that is only supported by the author’s statements. See the bold text.

El is the sin­gular form of the word God; the suffix “-im” makes it plural. Elohim is a uniplural noun which can be used to indicate an object in the singular or plural sense. Exam­ple: The word sheep can be used to describe one sheep or many sheep. Example: Deer. One deer was at the lake. Many deer are in the woods. Since elohim describes more than one god when translated in the plural form and is used so fre­quently as a name for God, Trinitarians use it to promote the concept of plurality in refer­ence to God Almighty. Some Trini­tarians inter­pret the word GOD (Elohim) to mean a group of individu­als in one unit, specifi­cally, three persons:  God the Fa­ther, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, as one God. They believe that the very word elo­him sends messages of plu­rality within the God­head. The doctrine of the Trinity uses the word Elohim to give support to its argument that three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, can exist as one God. This uniplu­ral interpretation of the word elo­him is used to sup­port the Trinitarian dogma in texts of the Bible where the solitary nature of God is disputed.

If elohim is to indicate any plurality, it would indicate a plurality of gods (emphasis mine). If elo­him expressed plurality of Almighty God, it would not de­scribe God’s nature being “one in three” or “triune;” it would describe that there were three gods. The Trinitarian view of elo­him not only con­tradicts the general truth of the Bible but it contradicts the very meaning of the word; elo­him would have to be translated gods to indicate any plurality. Any hint of “plurality in unity” being found within the meaning of the word elohim has been placed there by Trini­tarians attempting to vali­date and per­petuate their doctrine. A danger­ous and incorrect as­sumption is made about the word elohim because some post-apostolic fathers could not understand or explain how God could be a father, Jesus could be God’s son, be divine, and yet God be a soli­tary one(emphasis mine). [8]

Manipulating the meaning of elohim to establish or defend the plurality of the doctrine for a triune God is not only unBiblical, it distorts the meaning of the word, and is dishonest. All the commentary references, word studies, theological explanations, and examples of Bible texts refuting the Trinitarian explanation of Elohim pale in comparison to the significance of this last reference from Robert Sabin. An earlier paragraph described Elohim to be a uniplural noun like sheep and deer, but there is a difference. When two sheep cross the road, the noun remains sheep. When the word “deer” is meant to be plural, the word remains deer. But when the word Elohim is meant to describe plurality, the word must be changed to gods.

When writers instill plurality within the word Elohim it must be translated “gods.” What would happen to the message of the Bible when Genesis 1:1 read In the beginning Gods created the heaven and the earth.  They may be happy with Genesis 1:26: And Gods said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness but it would cause more problems than it solved in when they got to verse 27: So Gods created man in his own image, in the image of Gods created he him. If elohim reveals plurality, it reveals a plurality of gods. It would destroy the monotheism of the Bible.

That ends our practical and wise application of grammar rules, now back to commentaries, word studies and Bible texts.

 The following quote is a taken from Adam Clarke’s Com­mentary discussing Genesis 1:1, specifically the word Elohim being used to refer to Almighty God in the char­acteristic Trinitarian sense.

The original word Elohim, God, is certainly the plu­ral form of El, or Eloah, and has long been sup­posed, by the most eminently learned and pi­ous men, to imply a plural­ity of Persons in the Divine nature. As this plu­rality ap­pears in so many parts of the sa­cred writings to be confined to three Persons, hence the doctrine of the TRIN­ITY, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who have been deemed sound in the faith, from the earliest ages of Christianity. He must be strangely prejudiced indeed who cannot see that the doctrine of a Trinity, and of a Trinity in unity, is ex­pressed in the above words. The verb bara, he created, being joined in the singular number with this plural noun, has been considered as pointing out, and not ob­scurely, the unity of the Divine Per­sons in this work of creation. In the ever-blessed Trinity, from the infinite and indi­visible unity of the per­sons, there can be but one will, one purpose, and one infinite and uncontrol­lable energy.[9]

God is consistent. We must return to our princi­ples and inter­pret the difficult verses or words in the light of those more easily under­stood. We must remember that one text cannot contradict the general truth of the Bible. The four texts using “us” must be weighed in balance with the texts, which exceed ten thousand indicating God’s solitary nature.

If God had partners during creation or compan­ionship during His reign, would He have said, “I was alone”? Would He say, “there is no other God beside me”? Would He have said, “my glory will I not give to another,” or ” I, even I, am the lord; and beside me there is no saviour” (Isaiah 42:8, 43:11, 44:24, 45:5-6)? The message of the Bible is clear that there is one solitary God. Trinitarians deny this truth by saying God is triune in His nature but there is only one Godhead. They believe the entire Trinity is speaking in unison, therefore they claim that sin­gular pronouns are appropriate.

Unlike English, the Hebrew language possesses verbs, adjectives and pronouns in either a singular or plural form.  This knowledge as­sists us in understanding the true meaning of the word Elohim in ref­erence to Almighty God. “The plural ending is usually de­scribed as a plural of majesty and not intended as a true plural when used of God.  This is seen in the fact that the noun elohim is con­sistently used with verb forms and with ad­jectives and pro­nouns in the singular.[10] (emphasis mine). This is a more signifi­cant statement than may be real­ized at first glance. Singular verbs, ad­jectives and pronouns are used when describing a singular noun.  If Elohim was intended to portray a plurality of persons within God’s nature, one would expect to see plural verbs, adjectives and pronouns. 

The publication of one Trinitarian organization states: 

The Hebrew word for God (Elohim) is plural, but is al­ways [emphasis mine] used with a sin­gular verb when speaking of God.  If plural gods were meant lit­erally the verb would also be plural. [11]

Zodhiates states in his definition of Elohim:

It usually takes a singular verb, so no implication of any plurality in the di­vine nature can be inferred from the fact that the word is plural.[12]

These statements are supported in the following com­mentary on Genesis 1:1. 

Elohim is a plural form, which is often used in He­brew to denote plenitude of might. Here it indicates that God com­prehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity. Created. The Hebrew word is singular, thus pre­cluding any idea that its subject, Elo­him, is to be understood in a plural sense. The term is used exclusively of divine activity. [13] 

These last three quotes support Robert Sabin’s statements that if there is any plurality in Elohim it would be a plurality of gods, only these three authors add the rules of grammar to support their position. Singular verbs require singular nouns to make a proper sentence in Hebrew. Trinitarians ignore this fact to promote their doctrine. Commentaries and word stud­ies are produced by men, who regardless of their de­gree of sin­cerity, infuse their doctrinal beliefs into their publications. God’s Word must be the ultimate source of information in determining one’s beliefs.

  Hypothetical Statement:  IF God were to choose a word to identify and describe Himself as a Trin­ity in one text of the Bible, THEN that word would be used to identify and describe His triune nature wherever it would be used in reference to Him.

When applying the Trinitarian explanation of the word Elohim, we find that God’s presentation of His nature is incompatible with Trinitar­ian thought. Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God (El-singular); Genesis 17:3 And Abram fell on his face: and God (Elohim-plural) talked with him. God (El-singular) appeared to Abram.  Only one individual ap­peared in Genesis 17:1, but in 17:3, that same in­dividual, God (Elohim-plural), appeared to Abram. Was God alone one moment and accompanied by the other two members of the Trinity in the next, while Abram continu­ally saw only one lord?  The method of explanation implemented by Trinitarians to avoid this potential contradiction in their doctrine is to be­lieve that the triune nature of God was appearing to Abram and talking to him. If Trinitarians do not interpret El to be the entire God­head, then one member of the Godhead is claiming to be “Almighty” over the other two mem­bers. Does this man­ner of interpretation remain con­sistent with the basic truths of the Bible? It is not consistent with the Bible, nor with common sense!

Psalm 71:22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. God (El-singular) is called the Holy One of Israel. When God (El- singular) is given the assignment to be the Holy One of Israel, there is no indication or connotation of the triune nature. It would ap­pear that God is disclaiming association with anyone else. Trinitarians escape this in the same way as above, by concluding that every time “God” (El or Elohim, sin­gular or uniplural) is mentioned, the entire tri­une Godhead is being described. When Trinitarians conclude that God is referring to one of the three persons of the Trinity, they destroy the De­ity of the other two members in the partner­ship.

Psalm 78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. It says they tempted God (Elohim-plural) the Holy One of Israel. This verse reinforces the re­quirement for Trinitari­ans to understand God as the entire triune God­head each time God is mentioned in order to maintain a Trinitarian consistency throughout the Bible.  To deny this is to separate one member of the Trinity to be the Holy One when God is referred to in the singular sense (El). This practice of interpretation causes even a more severe incon­sistency in Isa­iah 45:21, 22.

Isaiah 45:21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Yehovah’? and there is no God (Elohim- plural) else be­side me; a just God (El-singular) and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Verse 22:  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God (El-singular) and there is none else. In this text, God (Elohim-plural) says there is no God beside Him and then God (El-singular) states that there is none else. There is no confu­sion from this verse if it is inter­preted in the light of those verses more easily under­stood. God is GOD. Whether He is called El or Elohim, He is GOD and He is alone. But if God (El-singular) is inter­preted to be one member of the Trinity, that member, whichever one you choose, is separating himself from the other mem­bers and claiming Deity only to himself, thus stripping the other mem­bers of the Trinity of their Deity and destroying any thread of consis­tency in their doctrine. To evade this problem some Trinitarians ex­plain the scripture by concluding that the entire Godhead is speaking in both the singular and plural references to God (El or Elohim). The Trinitar­ian method of explaining Bible texts is inconsistent. If they were to use ac­ceptable methods of interpreta­tion and take the general truth of the Bible into con­sideration, the doctrine of the Trinity would cease to exist as a standard doctrine of churches. 

I have been taught and have found it to be true that the best commentary of the Bible is the Bible. With that in mind I have one more scriptural argument against the Trinitarian position to share. Upon doing a word search for verses containing both “lord” and “Elohim” I found over 1,136 verses filling 71 pages. I see no benefit from including all the verses in this text; therefore, I will show all the references as a footnote[14] and include only a select few in this chapter. The Hebrew Tetragrammaton will be written as “Yehovah’,” the personal name of God and every instance of “God” is the translation of the Hebrew “Elohim.”

I observed that the first tweny-one verses of this collection through Genesis 9:26 reflected on Yehovah’ Elohim as creator and overseer of creation:

Gen 2:4These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yehovah’ God made the earth and the heavens.

Gen 2:8And Yehovah’ God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Gen 2:18And Yehovah’ God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Seeing lord printed as Yehovah’ causes a shift in my perception when identifying the creator of the heavens and the earth. The architect and initiator of creation has not changed but the identification of the creator has been refined by using His name, Yehovah’. God does not seem so distant, unapproachable. Maybe I am the only one that is impacted in this way but I feel it worth mentioning. Furthermore, Yehovah’ is identified as “I,” a singular pronoun. Any consideration of plurality in God’s nature should be further nullified when the creator of the world lets it be known that His name is Yehovah’ and He is an “I.”

After Genesis 9:26, a change occurs in how Yehovah’ is addressed:

Gen 14:22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto Yehovah’, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.

Gen 17:1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Yehovah’ appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Gen 21:33And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Yehovah’, the everlasting God.

Gen 24:42And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Yehovah’ God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go;

Gen 26:24And Yehovah’ appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

These verses seem to focus on Yehovah’ in His relationship with Abram (Abraham). Yehovah’, not the word “Elohim” is the central theme if not the subject of every sentence. Elohim continues to be descriptive of Yehovah’s position, role, or relationship with those who acknowledge Him as the most high God, the Almighty God, the everlasting God. Through it all Yehovah’ retains his solitary nature identified as “I” in Genesis 26:24.

After Genesis 26:24, most of the verses describe Yehovah’ in his relationship with previous patriarchs, leaders, and his people in general.

Gen 28:13And, behold, Yehovah’ stood above it, and said, I am Yehovah’ God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.

Exo 3:15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Yehovah’ God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Exo 3:18And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, Yehovah’ God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yehovah’ our God.

Exo 6:7And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am Yehovah’ your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Exo 20:2-3I am Yehovah’ thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods (elohim) before me.

The word God (Elohim) seems to be used more as the title selected to identify the deity that Israel chose to call their own. Yehovah’ clearly states in Exodus 3:15 that Yehovah’ is Elohim of their fathers, Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Yehovah’ is His name forever. Yehovah’ is consistently identified as “I” throughout the remaining collection of texts dispelling any fallacious attempt to infer plurality in God’s nature. I call your attention to Exodus 20:2-3, the first commandment, shown above. Yehovah’ reminds Israel “I brought you out of Egypt…have no other gods beside me. I cannot resist repeating myself, Trinitarians pride themselves on being monotheists, but how can the Son and Spirit be with the Father and not be beside him. We must not forget: “If Elohim is plural of anything, it is plural of gods.” These expressions of personal relationships with individuals and multitudes continue throughout the over 1,136 texts where Yehovah’ and Elohim are used in the same verse.

The final point is found in the examples below where God puts to rest any confusion about associate deities with him. I believe the scriptures speak for themselves without any further explanation:

De 4:39Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that Yehovah’ he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

1 Ch 17:20O Yehovah’, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Isa 37:16O Yehovah’ of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.

Isa 43:3For I am Yehovah’ thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

Isa 43:10Ye are my witnesses, saith Yehovah’, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isa 44:6Thus saith Yehovah’ the King of Israel, and his redeemer Yehovah’ of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Isa 45:5I am Yehovah’, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.

Isa 45:18For thus saith Yehovah’ that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am Yehovah’; and there is none else.

Isa 45:21Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I Yehovah’? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

One may ask the question: “Is the existence of the doctrine of the Trinity really that important? If it doesn’t make Biblical or common sense, why is it not discarded as false doctrine?” I asked myself that question, and then I asked the same question to a staunch Trinitarian. Trinitari­ans that are well versed in their doctrine take it as an insult against God to question His plural nature. “God is infi­nite, man is fi­nite.  How can you, a finite man, ques­tion the infi­nite God? You must accept his plurality by faith. You risk your very soul if you question or deny the triune God.”  I am able to repeat those words from memory as a result of hearing them expressed to me from a Trinitarian with his jugular veins popped out of his  neck and eyes bulged wildly.  The Athanasian Creed states:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is nec­essary that he hold the catholic [true Christian] faith.  Which faith except every one do keep whole and unde­filed, without doubt he shall perish everlast­ingly.  And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity…[15] 

(The Athanasian Creed is duplicated in its entirety on page 191.)

According to this statement, anyone that even questions the doctrine of the Trinity is challenging God and risks their eternity. That is why one does not hear many dis­cussions of this doctrine. Even though it is not under­stood, it is a tabu to question it, and doing so is an offense punishable by separa­tion from God and man.

When Trinitarians make the conclusion that all three members of the Trinity are speaking simultane­ously in both the singular and plural refer­ences, those who believe that Jesus is Yehovah’ in the flesh are justified to make this state­ment:  IF Elohim is to be inter­preted as a uniplural noun describing  the plurality of God,  THEN whenever the word elohim is used to de­scribe any “god” (translated “god,” not “gods”) we could ex­pect that deity to pos­sess  plurality also. 

Again, God is found to be consistent and un­changing concerning His solitary nature. Scriptures do not substantiate the Trinitarian theory describing God as three in one by the use of the word elo­him.  It would be inconsistent to use the word elo­him to describe singular pa­gan gods (without plurality) if that same word (Elohim) were to indicate plu­rality in Yehovah’s nature. Yet this is exactly what He does in at least 18 instances.  1. Judges 6:31 Will ye plead for Baal?…if he be a god (elohim) let him plead for himself. 2. Judges 8:33 As soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel…made Baal-berith their god. (elohim). 3a. Judges 9:27 And they went out into the fields…and made merry, and went into the house of their god (elohim), and did eat and drink.[16] 3b. Judges 9:46And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god (elohim) Berith. 4. Judges 11:24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god (elohim) giveth thee to possess? 5 and 6.  Judges 16:23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god (elohim), and to rejoice for they said, Our god (elohim) hath deliv­ered Samson our enemy into our hand. 7.  Judges  16:24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god (elohim). 8. 1 Samuel  5:7 And when the men of Ash­dod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God (Elohim) of Israel shall not abide with us:  for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god (elohim). 9. 1 Kings  11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god­dess (elohim) of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomina­tion of the Ammonites. 10, 11, & 12. 1 Kings 11:33Because that they have forsaken  me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess (elohim) of the Zido­nians, Chemosh the god (elohim) of the Moabites, and Milcom the god (elohim) of the chil­dren  of  Ammon.  13.  1 Kings 18:27:  Cry aloud: for he is a god (elohim); either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a jour­ney, or perad­venture he sleep­eth, and must be awaked. 14. 2 Kings 1:2 Go, en­quire of Baal-zebub the god (elohim) of Ekron whether I shall re­cover of this disease.  15. 2 Kings 1:3 Is it not because there is not a God  in Israel, that ye go to en­quire of Baal-zebub the god (elohim) of Ekron? 16. 2 Kings 1:6 Thus saith the lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Is­rael, that thou sendest to enquire of Baal-zebub the god (elohim) of Ekron?17.  2 Kings 1:16 Thus saith Yehovah’, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god (elohim) of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? 18. 2 Kings 19:37And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god (elohim). These verses are only one facet of Bibli­cal proof that Elohim cannot be un­derstood to indicate plurality when used in refer­ence to God.

Concerning the texts using elo­him to describe a singular pagan god, the word elohim continues to be used to relate the deity to an individual or to an entire peo­ple in a possessive manner. The word their is used four times to show pos­session. Thy, our, and his are also used to show personal possession. Not that an individual owned a particu­lar deity of choice but that a choice was made either by the indi­vidual or by an entire people to serve a particular god. The nation as a whole or the indi­vidual chose the god that they elevated to the posi­tion of supreme deity.  We also choose, as did the Jews and pa­gans, who will be our GOD of gods, our Elohim; and we also choose whether he will be one or three.

Elohim is not the only word in the Old Testa­ment that is in plural form but translated into a sin­gular word. Strong’s Concordance shows that the word face, #6440 is used in a ma­jority of times when face is listed. The opposite page contains the listing of the word faces and word #6440 again is shown to denote this plural form of the word in the majority of usages. The Hebrew dictionary shows #6440 which is translated into both face and faces is from theword paniym  (paw-neem’) . A sim­ilar occurrence is found with the words wa­ter and wa­ters which are listed as #4325, mayim (mah’-yim).[17]

The culture and thought that produced the He­brew cul­ture differed sig­nificantly from our Indo-Eu­ropean and present technical English-Eu­ropean precise and punctilious approach to words. In Hebrew thought one word held a great breadth and depth of meaning, e.g. qadosh = holy, hesed = love. 

There are words in Hebrew with a plural end­ing but a singular transla­tion. The reason panim/face has a plural suffix is because the face is con­sidered to be fluent/non-static; therefore, the face is many faces in one. The same thought is ex­pressed in mayim/water and hayim/life. It is very charac­teristic of this lan­guage:  that their generic word for God would be very pregnant with mean­ing – – so much so that a plural form would be de­manded to express the vol­umes of meaning, God being so vast! WE CAN­NOT DENY THE PLURAL FORMS. BUT, WE MUST COR­RECTLY UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE USED! 

It is critical to be careful that we do not distort the He­brew thought to please one idea and thereby miss a more accurate, deep one. The Semitic style contains not one scintilla of multiplicity of person­ality by using a plural suffix for the generic word for God. The thought behind this form points to the idea that God is non-static and im­mense; that He is not con­tained in simple forms of expres­sion because of His vastness and eternality. To make the leap to a doctrine that tri-personality is being expressed by plu­ral forms is totally unsubstanti­ated and goes be­yond the realm of philol­ogy and etymology and enters the sphere of theory or speculation.

The Bible’s intention and thesis is to unfold to us the Person of God by the means we best under­stand and relate to it: the humanity of God. Jesus is not the personality of God the Son, but more sublimely, God in Per­son.[18]

Two points should be made as a re­sult of the dis­cussion on elohim. First, when God is men­tioned in the Bible, Old Tes­tament or New, it refers to all Deity and cannot be understood to be one individual member of a Divine corporation. Elo­him is used to refer to God in the Old Testament as the supreme deity of individuals, of all Israel, and of all creation; in the New Testament, the word for God is theos. There is no speculation about theos being uniplural or singular. It means God, all Deity. When Trinitarians attempt to con­vince the world that Jesus proclaimed himself to be the great I AM (John 8:58, Be­fore Abraham was, I AM) because the eternal son of God or the eternal Word (Logos) of God was speaking to Moses in Exodus 3:14, the error of their rea­soning becomes more obvious. In Exodus 3:14, the word used for God is Elohim. Trinitarians must interpret this to mean that the entire triune nature of God is speak­ing. They can­not separate one of its members out to be the speaker. God spoke to Moses and it was God in Christ al­lowing Jesus the man to declare him­self to be the I AM.

Second, when the New Testament is read, it will be easily seen how inconsistent and ultimately false the doc­trine of the Trinity is. When the word God is seen in the New Testament the reader will know that it means the fulness of God, or all Deity, not one member within the total member­ship. Trinitarians would have us (in most cases) interpret the word God in the New Tes­tament to mean God the Fa­ther, the first per­son of the Trinity. There is no such dif­ferentiation in the Bible. The words “God the Son” or “God the Holy Spirit” will never be found in the Bible, the concept is not there either. When the phrases “God the Fa­ther” or “God our Father” appear, they are used to de­scribe God as the Father of Jesus or as our Father, not to differ­entiate His position in the triune corporation. The fact that Trini­tarians must in­terpret the word God (Elohim) to be the en­tire three members of their Trinity in an attempt to avoid prob­lems in the Old Testament has been established. The Trinitarian concept of God must con­tinue in the New Testament. That topic will be discussed.

Why elohim does not describe plurality in the nature of Yehovah’ God: 

1. Assigning plurality within the nature of God is contradictory to monotheism, a general truth of the Bible. Trinitarian theologians pride themselves on being monotheists but how can Yehovah’, the creator of the world, say in the Word of God so many times “there is no God beside me,” or “I am Yehovah’, and there is none else” (Isa 45:5); or “before me there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Yehovah’, that I am God” (Isa 43:12). Three in one does not equal monotheism; it does not align with “Thus saith Yehovah’, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Yehovah’ that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself (Isa 44:24).
2. Interpreting elohim, echad, and the Shema to describe plurality in the nature of Yehovah’ denies the foundational, ancestral insight of Judaism. Hebrew is the language of the Jews. It was the nation of Israel that gave us the Bible yet we Gentiles disregard their interpretation in favor of formulating a Biblically foreign doctrine. This strategy not only deviates from the truth of the Bible, it also prevents Jews from accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
3. Accepting the notion that elohim and echad describe a triune relationship in Yehovah’s nature opposes or ignores the rules of language. To state if elohim is plural it must be translated “gods” is not a heretical belief, it is a necessity of language rules. To ignore it does not change the truth. Ignoring the FACT that elohim is ALWAYS accompanied with a singular verb does not change the FACT that the singular verb eliminates the possibility of plurality.
4. Understanding that the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is the name of God and inserting Yehovah’ in place of it changes the relevance of elohim. Elohim takes more of a role of title and descriptor. Whereas Yehovah’ speaks of Himself as I, me, alone, none other, none beside me which destroys the possibility of plurality.
5. When the concept of plurality of elohim is applied the Bible ceases to be consistent. The understanding of elohim does not fit the singular pagan deities that it is used to describe. It cannot be. If elo­himis a uniplural noun de­scribing the plurality of God in one text,  THEN it must describe the plurality of God in every text in which it is used.  It just does not work.

And finally, the lesson from Robert Sabin declaring: If elohim is to indicate any plurality, it would indicate a plurality of gods. If elo­him expressed plurality of Almighty God, it would not de­scribe God’s nature being “one in three” or “triune;” it would describe that there were three gods.

[1] Jewish Encyclopedia, The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. By: Kaufmann Kohler, Judah David Eisenstein.

[2] Watchword (Merriam-Webster) 1 : a word or phrase used as a sign of recognition among members of the same society, class, or group. 2a : a word or motto that embodies a principle or guide to action of an individual or group : slogan “safety” is our watchword. b : a guiding principle change is the watchword for both parties.

[3] The Torah, A Modern Commentary, Edited by W. Gunther Plaut, © 1981 by the

Union of American Hebrew Congregations, p.1369-1370.

[4] ibid

[5] Nathan Stone, Names of God,  (Moody Press,1944), p.10.  

[6] The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament Copyright © 2003 by AMG Publishers.

[7] What the Bible says about Uniplural Noun (From Forerunner Commentary)

https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/676/ Uniplural-Noun.htm © 1992-2021, Church of the Great God.

[8] Robert A. Sabin. I know I was taught this principle by Robert Sabin, either during a sermon, a seminar, a debate, or during a conversation. There was no purposeful intent or selfish motivation that caused me to fail to credit him in the first edition. I feel as though I only came to really understand it’s significance since re-writing the book. I wrote here from memory as accurately as possible which is why there are no quotation marks.

[9] Adam Clarke, Genesis 1:1, p. 27. 

[10] Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., Bruce K. Waltke,  Volume 1, p. 44.

[11] Newsletter publication of MacGregor Ministries, Box 591, Pt. Roberts, WA, 98281-0591, U.S. A..

[12] Zodhiates, Lexical  Aids to the  Old Testament, (Baker Book House © 1984) p. 1578, #430.

[13] Dr. J. H. Herte, editor, Pentateuch and Haftorahs, (Soncino Press, second edition), p. 2.

[14] Genesis 2:4, 2:5, 2:7, 2:8, 2:9, 2:15, 2:16, 2:18, 2:19, 2:21, 2:22, 3:1, 3:8, 3:9, 3:13, 3:14, 3:21, 3:22, 3:23, 7:16, 9:26, 14:22, 16:13, 17:1, 21:33, 24:3, 24:7, 24:12, 24:27, 24:42, 24:48, 26:24, 27:20, 28:13, 28:21, 32:9. Exodus 3:4, 3:15, 3:16,  3:18, 4:5, 4:27, 5:1, 5:3, 6:2, 6:7, 7:16, 8:10, 8:19, 8:26, 8:27, 8:28, 9:1, 9:13, 9:30, 10:3, 10:7, 10:8, 10:8, 10:16, 10:17, 10:25, 10:26, 15:2, 15:26, 16:3, 16:12, 18:1, 19:3, 20:2, 20:5, 20:7, 20:10, 20:12, 23:19, 23:25, 29:46, 32:11, 32:27, 34:6, 34:14, 34:24, 34:26. Leviticus 4:22, 10:17, 11:44, 11:45, 18:2, 18:4, 18:21, 18:30, 19:2, 19:3, 19:4, 19:10, 19:12, 19:14, 19:25, 19:31, 19:32, 19:34, 19:36, 20:7, 20:24, 21:6, 21:8, 21:12, 21:21, 22:33, 23:22, 23:28, 23:40, 23:43, 24:22, 25:17, 25:38,  25:55, 26:1, 26:13, 26:44, 26:45.  N umbers 10:9, 10:10, 11:29, 12:13, 15:41, 16:9, 20:3, 22:18, 23:8, 23:21, 27:16.  Deuteronomy 1:6, 1:10, 1:11, 1:19, 1:20, 1:21, 1:25, 1:26, 1:30, 1:31, 1:32, 1:41, 2:7, 2:29, 2:30, 2:33, 2:36, 2:37,  3:3, 3:18, 3:20, 3:21, 3:22, 4:1, 4:2, 4:3, 4:4, 4:5, 4:7, 4:10, 4:19, 4:21, 4:23, 4:24, 4:25, 4:29, 4:30, 4:31, 4:34, 4:35, 4:39, 4:40, 5:2, 5:6, 5:9, 5:11, 5:12, 5:14, 5:15, 5:16, 5:24, 5:25, 5:27, 5:32, 5:33, 6:1, 6:2, 6:3, 6:4, 6:5, 6:10, 6:13, 6:15, 6:16, 6:17, 6:20, 6:24, 6:25, 7:1, 7:2, 7:6, 7:9, 7:12, 7:16, 7:18, 7:19, 7:20, 7:21, 7:22, 7:23, 7:25, 8:2, 8:5, 8:6, 8:7, 8:10, 8:11, 8:14, 8:18, 8:19, 8:20, 9:3, 9:4, 9:5, 9:6, 9:7, 9:16, 9:23, 10:9, 10:12, 10:17, 10:20, 10:22, 11:1, 11:2, 11:12, 11:13, 11:22, 11:25, 11:27, 11:28, 11:29, 11:31, 12:1, 12:4, 12:5, 12:7, 12:9, 12:10, 12:11, 12:12, 12:15, 12:18, 12:20, 12:21, 12:27, 12:28, 12:29, 12:31, 13:3, 13:4, 13:5, 13:10, 13:12, 13:16, 13:18, 14:1, 14:2, 14:21, 14:23, 14:24, 14:25, 14:26, 14:29, 15:5, 15:6, 15:7, 15:10, 15:14, 15:15, 15:18, 15:19, 15:20,  15:21, 16:1, 16:2, 16:5, 16:6, 16:7, 16:8, 16:10, 16:11, 16:15, 16:16, 16:17, 16:18, 16:20, 16:21, 16:22, 17:1, 17:2, 17:8, 17:12, 17:14, 17:15, 17:19, 18:5, 18:7, 18:9, 18:12, 18:13, 18:14, 18:15, 18:16, 19:1, 19:2, 19:3, 19:8, 19:9, 19:10, 19:14, 20:1, 20:4, 20:13, 20:14, 20:16, 20:17, 20:18, 21:1, 21:5, 21:10, 21:23, 22:5, 23:5, 23:14, 23:18, 23:20, 23:21, 23:23, 24:4, 24:9, 24:13, 24:18, 24:19, 25:15, 25:16, 25:19, 26:1, 26:2, 26:3, 26:4, 26:5, 26:7, 26:10, 26:11,  26:13, 26:14, 26:16, 26:17, 26:19, 27:2, 27:3, 27:5, 27:6, 27:7, 27:9, 27:10, 28:1, 28:2, 28:8, 28:9, 28:13, 28:15, 28:45, 28:47, 28:52, 28:53, 28:62, 29:6, 29:10, 29:12, 29:15, 29:18, 29:25, 29:29, 30:1, 30:2, 30:3, 30:4, 30:5, 30:6, 30:7, 30:9, 30:10, 30:16, 30:20, 31:3, 31:6, 31:11, 31:12 31:13, 31:26, 32:3. Joshua 1:9, 1:11, , 1:13, 1:15, 1:17, 2:11, 3:3, 3:9, 4:5, 4:23, 4:24, 7:13, 7:19, 7:20, 8:7, 8:30, 9:9, 9:18, 9:19, 9:24, 10:19, 10:40, 10:42, 13:14, 13:33, 14:8, 14:9, 14:14, 18:3, 18:6, 22:3, 22:4, 22:5, 22:16, 22:19, 22:22, 22:24, 22:29, 22:34, 23:3, 23:5, 23:8, 23:10, 23:11, 23:13, 23:14, 23:15, 23:16, 24:2, 24:16, 24:17, 24:18, 24:19, 24:23, 24:24, 24:26, 24:27. Judges 2:12, 3:7, 4:6, 5:3, 5:5, 6:8, 6:10, 6:26, 8:34, 10:10, 11:21, 11:23, 11:24, 13:8, 16:28, 20:18, 20:26, 20:27, 21:3. Ruth 2:12. 1 Samuel  2:2, 2:3, 2:27, 2:30, 3:3, 3:17, 4:4, 6:20, 7:8, 10:18, 10:19, 10:24, 12:9, 12:12, 12:14, 12:19, 12:23, 13:13, 14:41, 14:45, 15:15, 15:21, 15:30, 17:45, 17:46, 20:12, 23:10, 23:11, 25:29, 25:32, 25:34, 30:6. 2 Samuel 3:9, 5:10, 6:2, 6:7, 6:12, 7:22, 7:24, 7:25, 7:26, 7:27, 10:12, 12:7, 14:11, 14:17, 15:25, 18:28, 22:7, 22:22, 22:31, 22:32, 22:47, 24:3, 24:24. 1 Kings 1:17, 1:30, 1:30, 1:36, 1:48, 2:3, 3:5, 3:7, 5:3, 5:4, 5:5, 8:15, 8:17, 8:20, 8:23, 8:25, 8:28, 8:57, 8:59, 8:60, 8:61, 8:65, 9:9, 10:9, 11:4, 11:9, 11:31, 13:1, 13:5, 13:6, 13:21, 13:26, 14:7, 14:13, 15:3, 15:4, 15:30, 16:13, 16:26, 16:33, 17:1, 17:12, 17:14, 17:20, 17:21, 17:24, 18:10, 18:21, 18:24, 18:36, 18:37, 18:39, 19:10, 19:14, 20:28, 22:53. 2 Kings 1:3, 1:6, 1:16, 2:14, 4:27, 5:11, 5:20, 7:2, 7:19, 8:8, 9:6, 10:31, 14:25, 16:2, 17:7, 17:9, 17:14, 17:16,  17:19, 17:39, 18:5, 18:12, 18:22, 19:4, 19:15, 19:16, 19:19, 19:20, 20:5, 21:12, 21:22, 22:15, 22:18, 23:16, 23:21. 1 Chronicles 11:2, 13:2, 13:14, 14:10, 15:2, 15:12, 15:13, 15:14, 15:15, 15:26, 16:4, 16:14, 16:36, 17:16, 17:17, 17:20, 17:22, 17:24, 17:26, 19:13, 21:15, 21:17, 21:30, 22:1, 22:6, 22:7, 22:11, 22:12, 22:18, 22:19, 23:25, 23:28, 24:19, 25:6, 28:2, 28:4, 28:8, 28:9, 28:12, 28:20, 29:1, 29:10, 29:16, 29:18, 29:20. 2 Chronicles 1:1, 1:3, 1:9, 2:4, 2:12, 5:1, 5:14, 6:4, 6:7, 6:10, 6:14, 6:16, 6:17, 6:19, 6:41, 6:42, 7:22, 9:8, 10:15, 11:2,  11:16, 13:5, 13:10, 13:11, 13:12, 13:18, 14:2, 14:4, 14:7, 14:11, 15:4, 15:9, 15:12, 15:13, 16:7, 17:4, 18:13, 18:31,  19:4, 19:7, 20:6, 20:19, 20:20, 21:10, 21:12, 24:18, 24:20, 24:24, 26:16, 27:6, 28:5, 28:6, 28:9, 28:10, 28:24, 28:25, 29:5, 29:6, 29:10, 30:1, 30:5, 30:6, 30:7, 30:8, 30:9, 30:12, 30:19, 30:22, 31:6, 31:14, 31:20, 32:8,  32:11, 32:16, 32:17, 33:12, 33:13, 33:16, 33:17, 33:18, 34:8, 34:23, 34:26, 34:33, 35:3, 36:5, 36:12, 36:13, 36:15, 36:16, 36:18, 36:23. Ezra 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, 2:68, 3:8, 4:1, 4:3, 6:21, 6:22, 7:6, 7:27, 7:28, 8:28, 8:35, 9:5, 9:8, 9:15, 10:11. Nehemiah 1:5, 5:13, 8:6, 8:9, 9:3, 9:4, 9:5, 9:7, 10:29, 10:34.  Job 1:6, 1:8, 1:9, 2:1, 2:3,  Psalms 3:7, 7:3, 10:12, 13:3, 14:2, 18:2, 18:6, 18:21, 18:28, 18:30, 18:31, 18:46, 20:1, 20:5, 20:7, 24:5, 29:3, 30:2,  30:12, 31:5, 31:14, 33:12, 35:24, 38:15, 38:21, 40:3, 40:5, 41:13, 42:8, 46:7, 46:11, 47:5, 48:1, 48:8, 50:1, 55:16, 56:10, 58:6, 59:5, 68:16, 68:18, 69:13, 70:1, 70:5, 72:18, 76:11, 80:4, 80:19, 81:10, 84:2, 84:3, 84:8, 84:11, 85:8, 88:1, 89:8, 90:17, 91:2, 92:13, 94:1, 94:22, 94:23, 95:3, 99:5, 99:8, 99:9, 100:3, 104:1, 104:33, 105:7, 106:47, 106:48, 109:26, 113:5, 116:5, 118:27, 122:9, 123:2, 132:2, 132:5, 135:2, 140:6, 144:15, 146:2, 146:5, 146:10, 147:1, 147:7, 147:12, 150:1. Proverbs 2:5, 30:9. Isaiah 1:10, 2:3, 5:16, 7:11, 12:2, 17:6, 21:10, 21:17, 24:15, 25:1, 25:9, 26:13, 30:18, 31:3, 35:2, 36:7, 37:4, 37:16, 37:17, 37:20, 37:21, 38:5, 40:3, 40:27, 40:28, 41:13, 41:17, 42:5, 43:3, 43:10, 43:12, 44:6, 45:3, 45:5, 45:14, 45:18, 45:21, 48:1, , 48:2, 48:17, 49:4, 49:5, 50:10, 51:15, 51:20, 51:22, 52:10, 52:12, 54:5, 54:6, 55:5, 55:7, 59:13, 60:9, 60:19, 61:2, 61:6, 61:10, 62:3, 66:9.

Jeremiah 2:17, 2:19, 3:13, 3:21, 3:22, 3:23, 3:25, 5:4, 5:5, 5:14, 5:19, 5:24, 7:3, 7:21, 7:28, 8:14, 9:15, 10:10, 11:3, 13:12, 13:16, 14:22, 15:16, 16:9, 16:10, 19:3, 19:15, 21:4, 22:9, 23:2, 23:23, 23:36, 24:5, 24:7, 25:15, 25:27, 26:13, 26:16, 27:4, 27:21, 28:2, 28:14, 29:4, 29:8, 29:21, 29:25, 30:2, 30:9, 31:1, 31:6, 31:18, 31:23, 31:33, 32:14, 32:15, 32:18, 32:27, 32:36, 33:4, 34:2, 34:13, 35:13, 35:17, 35:18, 35:19, 37:3, 37:7, 38:17, 39:16, 40:2, 42:2, 42:3, 42:4, 42:5, 42:6, 42:9, 42:13, 42:15, 42:18, 42:20, 42:21, 43:1, 43:2, 43:10, 44:2, 44:7, 44:11, 44:25, 45:2, 46:25, 48:1, 50:4, 50:18, 50:28, 51:5, 51:10, 51:33, 51:56. Ezekiel 20:5, 20:7, 20:19, 20:20, 28:26, 34:24, 34:30, 39:22, 39:28, 44:2. Daniel 5:23, 9:4, 9:10, 9:13, 9:14, 9:20. Hosea 1:7, 3:5, 4:1, 5:4, 7:10, 12:5, 12:9, 13:4, 14:1.  Joel 1:14, 2:13, 2:14, 2:17, 2:23, 2:26, 2:27, 3:17. Amos 4:11, 4:13, 5:14, 5:15, 5:16, 5:27, 6:8, 6:14, 9:15.  Jonah 1:9, 2:1, 2:6, 4:2, 4:6. Micah 4:2, 4:5, 5:4, 6:6, 6:8, 7:7, 7:10, 7:17. Nahum 1:2 Habakuk 1:12, 3:18, 3:19. Zephaniah 2:7, 2:9, 3:2, 3:17. Haggai 1:12, 1:14. Zechariah 6:15, 6:15, 7:2, 8:23, 9:16, 10:6, 11:4, 12:5, 12:8, 13:9, 14:5. Malachi 1:9, 2:16, 2:17, 3:14, 3:14.

[15]            Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church,  (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. © 1910,  Reprinted February 1985),  Volume III, p. 690.

[16] In this text, the word god is translated from the singular word el. Both Judges 9:27 and 9:46  are referring to the same god.

[17] Strongs, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary.

[18] Bernard Gillespie, personal letter, 1987.