Bible word study

Elohim (Strong’s H430): Meaning in the Bible

Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) is the Hebrew word numbered H430 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative. In the King James Bible it is translated angels, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), judges.

אֱלֹהִים
ʼĕlôhîym · Hebrew
Strong’s H430 · el-o-heem'

The full Strong’s definition

gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative

Derivation. plural of H433;

How the King James Bible translates it

angels, × exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), × (very) great, judges, × mighty. (The × marks places where the word shapes the phrasing rather than being rendered by a single English word.)

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Elohim in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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