The Bible's God has more than one name
Did you know the name of God changes as you move through the Bible, and the changes follow a pattern?
In some passages God is Elohim, a word so old it is plural in form. In others, a personal name: YHWH, four consonants that Israel eventually stopped pronouncing aloud. English Bibles mark the difference quietly: "God" for one, "the LORD" in small capitals for the other. It is on the page of nearly every translation.
Scholars noticed over two centuries ago that the names cluster: whole passages prefer one, whole passages the other, and the clusters line up with different vocabularies, different concerns, different centuries. The names are seams — and following them is how scholars first unbraided the sources the Bible is woven from.
Where to see it: open almost any Old Testament page and look for "the LORD" in small capitals. That typography is the translators quietly marking YHWH. Then compare Genesis 1, where God is "God" throughout, with Genesis 2:4 onward, where "the LORD God" appears. The seam runs from the very first pages.
Sources
- The documentary hypothesisdivine-name variation was the original clue, followed since the nineteenth century
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