In this podcast I translate a few verses in the Book of Genesis (1:1, 26-27) in a way that many Trinitarians read or understand the text.

I address the question if the word for “God” in Hebrew Elohim, which is a grammatical plural, is a hint or means that God is more than one.

1. No, this grammatically plural form does not mean more than one numerically.

2. Hebrew grammarians call this the “plural of majesty”. It is used in an honorific way with titles like “God”, “master”, even “Baal” to refer to one individual.

3. No Hebrew scholar makes the claim that the grammatical plural Elohim hints or suggests that the God of Israel is more than one individual. The claim is a popular “man/pastor” on the street claim that ignores what Hebrew grammarians say.

4. If the word means a plural, it would be translated as “gods”, more than one god. It does not mean more than one person in a god.

5. Other Hebrew words that are grammatically plural but singular in meaning are mentioned.

6. Trinitarians are inconsistent since sometimes they claim Elohim means more than one person, but other times it means only one person. Sometimes the contradiction is in one verse right next to another.

7. Many times the God of Israel is referred to in the singular form El. The God of Israel is also referred to tens of thousands of times with singular masculine verbs, pronouns and adjectives. We ask which member of the Triune god is being referred to in the hundreds, thousands, of place, like here in Psalm 86:10:

 כִּי-גָדוֹל אַתָּה וְעֹשֵׂה נִפְלָאוֹת אַתָּה אֱלֹהִים לְבַדֶּךָ

8. We challenge those who make the claim that Elohim means a multi-personal god to explain why the Hebrew word for “master/sir/lord” also occurs in grammatical plural forms to refer to one individual person.

Additional resources:

“An Introduction to the Plural of Majesty in the Hebrew Bible” Podcast by Dustin Smith