tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 18 11:37:23 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KBTP: "Tetragrammaton"
On Tue, 18 Apr 1995, Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
> An oddity is that "'adonay" actually means "my lords", in plural, though
> it's treated as singular. 'elohim is similarly plural in form, and for
> that matter is also used in the Bible to mean "gods" in the plural with a
> small "g" (i.e. other gods). As a quirk, since names of God are considered
> too holy for everyday vernacular, the name "'elohim" is often spoken and
> spelled "'elokim" in informal speech when it refers to God, to avoid
> speaking a name of God, but it's okay to say "'elohim" when you mean other
> gods. Go figya.
The reason why "adonay" and "elohim" are plural is because Jews believe
in one God that has different "personalities" (much like the Trinity in
Christianity). That is why in the book of Genesis they use plural
pronouns (ie. we, us) to translate from Hebrew to English when God is
talking about himself.
This is just a comment.
Kevin Doerr
[email protected]