Why so many names for God in the Bible? Because God and his glory are too magnificent for us to grasp in one word. The Lord reveals various aspects of his glory through his many names. Remember the Old Testament was mainly written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. So how can we know in English which name is being used for God in a particular verse?

The good news is that for the most part our English bibles follow a format that changes the spelling for each Hebrew name for God. Here are some examples.

God is Elohim. It is the name used in Genesis for, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It depicts the great power of God, who can by his words bring the universe into existence.

LORD in all caps is YHWH (with vowels it is Yahweh). This name is considered the proper name of God and is translated as the ‘existing one’. The first occurrence is in Genesis 2:4, “ . . . in the day that the LORD God made the heaven and the earth.” This name is used throughout Genesis 2 and 3. It switches to just LORD in chapter 4. It is the name Moses was told to use when he addressed Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Exodus 3:14 defines it best – “I AM has sent me to you.” It reveals to us that God does and always has existed. 

Lord without all caps is Adonai. This is the name the Jewish people would use to replace YHWH so as to avoid pronouncing the glorious name of God out reverence for him. 

There are many combinations of these names with other variables to reveal the attributes of God. It is important to realize that since God himself inspired the Bible, each name we are given is critical to his revelation of himself. We cannot decide to delete one or to focus only on one name. For example, if one were to say Elohim  (God) is not truly a name for him, then we lose the name for ‘God’ in the creation story. In fact, Elohim is used in the Bible as a name for God over two thousand times.