Names of God and their meanings
God's personal name in the Bible is the LORD (Yahweh, from "I AM"), which speaks of His eternal, self-existent and faithful nature. Other names such as Elohim, God Almighty and Lord each show another side of who He is.
In the Bible a name is more than a label. It says who someone is, and when God makes His name known, He is showing us His character. That is why Scripture uses several names for God, and each one opens another side of Him.
The name above all names: the LORD
When God sent Moses to free Israel from Egypt, Moses asked what he should say if the people asked who sent him.
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Exod 3:14–15 · King James Version (1769)
Matthew Henry explains that “I AM THAT I AM” speaks of what God is in Himself. He is self-existent, depending on no one, eternal and unchanging, beyond our full understanding and faithful to His promises. Albert Barnes reads the words as describing absolute, eternal Being, a name old in its link with earlier revelations and new in its full meaning for the covenant of which Moses was the mediator.
In the Hebrew text this name is written with four consonants, YHWH, often pronounced Yahweh. The New Geneva Study Bible explains that out of reverence Jews did not say it aloud and read “Adonai” (“my Lord”) instead. That is why most English translations print “the LORD” in capital letters. John MacArthur adds that “Jehovah” came from putting the vowels of Adonai on the consonants of YHWH, and that the best reading of the name is “I am, who always was and always will be.”
The Bible stresses that this name belongs to God alone.
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
Ps 83:18 · King James Version (1769)
Barnes comments that this name is the one by which God chose to make Himself known, and that only He may rightly bear it. According to MacArthur, the psalmist wants even pagan nations to learn that the God of the Bible is the only God.
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Isa 42:8 · King James Version (1769)
The New Geneva Study Bible notes that nobody except the one Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, may be called God or receive the worship of men.
Other names that show other sides of God
The first name of God in the Bible is Elohim (Genesis 1:1). MacArthur explains that it is a general word for deity and one of the names of the true God, although the Bible sometimes uses it of false gods, angels or judges. The New Geneva Study Bible notes that it is plural in form while its verb is singular, and some interpreters see in it a hint of the Trinity; Jewish tradition reads it as a title of the Source of all power.
When Abram was ninety-nine, God appeared to him with a new name (Genesis 17:1). El Shaddai, “God Almighty,” tells of power that nothing can stop. Barnes explains the first part as the eternal, absolute God and the second as the irresistible and unchanging One. The New Geneva Study Bible stresses that here it is not Abram who names God: God Almighty Himself tells Abram of His power.
“Lord” (Adonai) is the name that speaks of God’s authority over those who belong to Him. In the New Testament the same title “Lord” is given to Jesus (for example in Romans 10:13).