word for God
(see Hebrew words for God
for some history of this and other words). It appears to be the plural
form of "Eloha
", which could be a variant
form of "El
", or God. Hence the oft-repeated claim that it means "Gods" -- it probably does. However, the Bible
uses the word
as if it were singular
: the word "created" is singular in "In the beginning
, God created the Heavens and the Earth".
So it would appear that this settles the matter: It's an old word, used in the plural form out of respect (European languages pluralise the second person for respect; in modern English "you" is the only form left for it!), or because of an even earlier pagan word. It acquired its current unambiguous meaning well before they started writing the Bible.
But things are not that simple. First, only portions of the Bible use the word to refer to God (YHWH is used in most of the Bible). And Job 38 (which probably has a very ancient origin, and is peculiar even by the standards of the book of Job) contains what could be interpreted as references to more than one god!