Names of G-d in Judaism: Hashem, YHWH and Why "G-d"

On a Jewish website, in a prayer book or in a message from an observant friend, you may have read “G-d” (in French, “D.ieu” or “D'”) or “Hashem” where you expected a simple word. Elsewhere, you have come across “YHWH”, “the Eternal”, “Adonai” or “Elohim”. Are these several deities, and why so much care around a name? Here is a complete answer: the Torah, the Talmud, the halakhic authorities, history and the meaning of this respect.

In short: Judaism believes in one single G-d, but the Hebrew Bible refers to Him by several names, each expressing a way in which He reveals Himself to the world. The holiest is the four-letter name, yud-hei-vav-hei, called the Tetragrammaton; since antiquity, Jews have never pronounced it as it is written: in prayer one reads “Adonai” (Talmud, Pesachim 50a), and in conversation one says “Hashem” (“the Name”). The Torah forbids erasing the name of G-d (Devarim [Deuteronomy] 12:3-4) and taking it in vain (Shemot [Exodus] 20:7). This is the origin of the custom of writing “D.ieu” or “D'” in French, and “G-d” in English, out of respect. Finally, “l’Éternel”, “the Eternal”, is the traditional French translation of the Tetragrammaton.

One G-d, many names

The multiplicity of names never calls His oneness into question. The central verse of the Jewish faith, the Shema, proclaims it: “Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One” (Devarim 6:4). And the prophet announces: “On that day the L-rd will be One and His Name will be One” (Zekharia [Zechariah] 14:9).

Why, then, several names? Because in Hebrew a name is not a label; it designates a way of being in relationship. The Rambam (Maimonides) explains that all the names of G-d in the Bible are derived from His actions, from the way He acts in the world. Only one name is an exception, the Tetragrammaton, which describes no action but designates G-d Himself, in His essence; that is why it is called the shem ha-meforash, the “explicit Name” or “distinct Name” (Moreh Nevukhim [Guide for the Perplexed] I:61).

The Talmud lists the names that have a holiness of their own and must never be erased (Shevuot 35a). The Rambam counts seven of them (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 6:2):

the Tetragrammaton, yud-hei-vav-hei;
Adonai, written alef-dalet-nun-yud;
El;
Eloha;
Elokim (with its possessive forms, such as “my G-d”);
Shaddai;
Tzevaot.

The Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish law, repeats this list and adds that some also include “Ehyeh asher ehyeh”, the name revealed to Moshe at the burning bush (Yoreh De’ah 276:9). Other appellations, such as “the Merciful One”, “the Gracious One” or “the Great One”, are epithets: they are treated with respect, but they do not have the same holiness (Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 6:5).

The Tetragrammaton: the name that is not pronounced

The four-letter name, yud-hei-vav-hei, appears more than six thousand times in the Hebrew Bible. It is G-d’s proper name, the name of the covenant with Israel. Its letters evoke the verb “to be” in Hebrew (hayah, “He was”; hoveh, “He is”; yihyeh, “He will be”). That is why the Shulchan Aruch asks that, when one encounters it in prayer, one should have two ideas in mind: according to the way it is read, Adonai, that He is the Master of all; according to the way it is written, that He was, is and will be (Orach Chaim 5:1). G-d is beyond time: He is the source of all existence.

How is it read?

The Talmud states it clearly: “I am not read as I am written. I am written with yud-hei, and I am read with alef-dalet” (Pesachim 50a); in other words, one writes the Tetragrammaton but pronounces Adonai, “my L-rd”. In printed books, it often carries the vowels of Adonai, to guide the reader.

When G-d reveals His name to Moshe, He says: “This is My name forever, le’olam” (Shemot 3:15). Now the word le’olam is written there without the letter vav, which allows it to be read le’alem, “to conceal”. The name must remain hidden (Pesachim 50a; Kiddushin 71a).

A pronunciation reserved for the Temple

In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Tetragrammaton was still pronounced, in specific circumstances. The priests, the Kohanim, used it when blessing the people: “In the Temple, the Name is said as it is written; outside it, its substitute is said” (Mishna Sotah 7:6; Talmud, Sotah 38a). And once a year, on Yom Kippur, the High Priest pronounced it during the service of atonement. The Mishna describes that moment: “The priests and the people standing in the courtyard, when they heard the explicit Name come out of the mouth of the High Priest, would kneel, bow down, fall on their faces and say: ‘Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever'” (Mishna Yoma 6:2). This is the sentence, “Baruch shem kevod malchuto le’olam va’ed”, that is recited every day after the first verse of the Shema.

The Talmud relates that already after the death of Shimon HaTzaddik, a High Priest of the Second Temple period, the priests stopped blessing with the Name (Yoma 39b). The transmission of its pronunciation became more and more discreet: the Sages entrusted it to their disciples only once every seven years (Kiddushin 71a). After the destruction of the Temple, in 70 CE, there was no longer any place where it could be said; its exact pronunciation is no longer known with certainty, and tradition does not seek to recover it.

The Mishna is severe: Abba Shaul counts among those who have no share in the World to Come “one who pronounces the Name according to its letters” (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1).

Elokim, Shaddai, Ehyeh: the other names and their meaning

Elokim: justice and nature

The first name of G-d in the Torah is not the Tetragrammaton but Elokim: “In the beginning, Elokim created the heavens and the earth” (Bereshit [Genesis] 1:1). The Shulchan Aruch asks that, when saying it, one think that He is “all-powerful, the Master of all forces” (Orach Chaim 5:1). The same word, incidentally, also designates judges (Shemot 22:7-8).

The Midrash lays down a rule that has become classic: “Wherever it says Elokim, it refers to the attribute of justice; wherever it says the Tetragrammaton, it refers to the attribute of mercy” (Bereshit Rabba 33:3). Rashi applies it to the first verse of the Torah: the text says “Elokim created” because at first G-d intended to create the world according to strict justice; seeing that the world could not endure that way, He joined mercy to it, and that is why the following account speaks of “the L-rd Elokim” (Rashi on Bereshit 1:1; Bereshit 2:4).

Outside of prayer and study, many Jews say “Elokim” instead of “Elohim”, and “Kel” instead of “El”, so as not to pronounce the holy name in vain.

Shaddai: “He who said to the world: enough”

The name Shaddai, often paired with El (“El Shaddai”), is the one under which G-d revealed Himself to the Patriarchs: “I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov as El Shaddai, but by My name, the L-rd, I did not make Myself known to them” (Shemot 6:3). The Talmud reads this name as “she-dai”, “who is sufficient”: “I am He who said to His world: enough!” (Chagigah 12a). G-d set a limit to the expansion of creation.

This is the name seen on mezuzot, the small scrolls affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes: Shaddai is written on the back of the parchment (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 288:15), and this name, or its initial letter, shin, often appears on the case. It is also read as the initials of “Shomer Daltot Yisrael”, “Guardian of the doors of Israel”.

Ehyeh asher ehyeh: “I will be what I will be”

At the burning bush, Moshe asks: if the children of Israel ask me what Your name is, what shall I tell them? G-d answers: “Ehyeh asher ehyeh”, often translated “I am that I am”, but which literally means “I will be what I will be” (Shemot 3:13-14). The Talmud explains: “I was with them in this exile, and I will be with them in their subjugation to other kingdoms” (Berakhot 9b). It is less a definition than a promise of presence.

Tzevaot, HaMakom, Shalom

Tzevaot, “of hosts” (the L-rd of Hosts), designates G-d as the Master of all the hosts of heaven and earth. Other appellations were added in the language of the Sages. HaMakom, “the Place”: according to the Midrash, G-d is the place of the world, and the world is not His place (Bereshit Rabba 68:9). HaKadosh Baruch Hu, “the Holy One, blessed be He”, is the most common expression in the Talmud. Ribono shel olam, “Master of the world”, is the form used in personal prayer. And even Shalom, “peace”, is a name of G-d, based on the verse in which Gideon calls the altar he builds “the L-rd Shalom” (Shoftim [Judges] 6:24); that is why the Talmud forbids greeting someone with “shalom” in an unclean place such as a bathhouse (Shabbat 10b).

Why do Jews say “Hashem”?

In conversation, observant Jews do not say “Adonai”, which is reserved for prayer and the reading of the Torah, but Hashem, “the Name”. “Baruch Hashem”, “blessed be the Name”, is the equivalent of “thank G-d”. “Be’ezrat Hashem”, “with the help of G-d”, accompanies plans. “Im yirtzeh Hashem”, “if G-d wills”, is said when speaking about the future.

The expression comes from the Torah itself. In the episode of the blasphemer, the text does not repeat the divine name he reviled: it simply says that he cursed “the Name”, ha-shem (Vayikra [Leviticus] 24:11). And Moshe urges the people to fear “this glorious and awesome Name, the L-rd your G-d” (Devarim 28:58).

The Sages also used the word Shamayim, “Heaven”: yirat shamayim, “fear of Heaven”, is the fear of G-d; “le-shem shamayim”, “for the sake of Heaven”, means “with a selfless intention” (Pirkei Avot 2:12).

Not taking the name of G-d in vain

The third of the Ten Commandments says: “You shall not take the name of the L-rd your G-d in vain, for the L-rd will not hold guiltless one who takes His name in vain” (Shemot 20:7). The plain meaning of the verse concerns false oaths and needless oaths, but the Sages extended its spirit.

The Rambam writes that the prohibition extends to any needless mention of the name of G-d, since the Torah commands us to “fear this glorious and awesome Name”. Someone from whom the name slips out by mistake must immediately praise it, saying for example “blessed be He forever”, so that it will not have been pronounced entirely in vain (Hilkhot Shevuot 12:11; see Temurah 4a).

The Talmud applies this principle to prayer: reciting an unnecessary blessing amounts to transgressing “you shall not take in vain” (Berakhot 33a). Conversely, a blessing without the name of G-d is not a blessing (Berakhot 40b). The Name, then, is not forbidden: it is reserved. One says it with intention in blessings, in prayer and in the reading of the Torah, never as an interjection.

That is why observant Jews avoid exclamations like “my G-d!” and swearing. Rav Raphaël Benizri, for his part, reads the Ten Commandments as facing pairs: the prohibition on taking the name of G-d in vain stands opposite the prohibition on stealing, because duties toward G-d and duties toward one’s fellow man are inseparable (Sukkot: From Kippur to the Sukkah of Peace).

Writings bearing the name of G-d are not thrown away: they are placed in a genizah, then buried with respect.

Why do Jews write “G-d”?

The prohibition on erasing the Name

The Torah commands the destruction of the altars and the names of idols, and then immediately adds: “You shall not do so to the L-rd your G-d” (Devarim 12:3-4). The Sages deduce from this that it is forbidden to erase or destroy the name of G-d. The Rambam puts it this way: anyone who erases one of the holy names transgresses a Torah prohibition (Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 6:1-2), and the rule is repeated by the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 276:9).

In practice, a sheet of paper on which the name of G-d is written in Hebrew cannot be thrown in the trash. It must be placed in a genizah, a storage place for sacred writings, and then buried with respect. Holy objects and texts that are no longer in use are set aside and preserved (Megillah 26b). That is why synagogues have boxes where old prayer books and damaged pages are deposited.

A historical precedent: the 3rd of Tishrei

Under Greek rule, in the 2nd century BCE, Jews had been forbidden to mention the name of Heaven. When the Hasmonean kingdom grew stronger, it was decided, in reaction, to inscribe the name of G-d even in contracts and promissory notes. But once the debt was paid, these documents ended up in the garbage along with the divine name: the Sages therefore abolished the practice, and the day on which they did so, the 3rd of Tishrei, was declared a festive day (Rosh Hashana 18b, quoting Megillat Taanit). Better not to write the Name than to expose it to contempt.

And in French?

Does the French word for G-d have the same holiness as the Hebrew names? Many halakhic authorities hold that it does not: in the strict sense, only the Hebrew names listed above fall under the prohibition on erasing. Others are more cautious, and all agree on the spirit of the law: a name that designates G-d deserves respect.

From this arose the custom, very widespread among French-speaking Jews, of writing “D.ieu”, “D'” or “D-ieu”, just as English speakers write “G-d”. The word remains legible, but it is no longer the name in full. It is a discreet gesture of reverence.

On Pensées Juives, we write “G-d” or “Hashem” in the text, and “the L-rd” in quotations of verses.

“The Eternal”, “Jehovah”, “Yahweh”: the history of translations

From the Tetragrammaton to “the Eternal”

The Jews of Alexandria who translated the Torah into Greek in the 3rd century BCE (the Septuagint) rendered it as Kyrios, “the Lord”, since Adonai was what was read. Latin says Dominus, and many French Bibles say “le Seigneur”, “the Lord”.

Others wanted to convey the idea of eternity contained in the Name. In French, “l’Éternel”, “the Eternal”, is found as early as the Olivétan Bible of 1535. Moses Mendelssohn, in the 18th century, wrote “der Ewige”, “the Eternal”, in German. And the French Rabbinate Bible, produced under the direction of Chief Rabbi Zadoc Kahn at the turn of the 20th century, established this usage among French-speaking Jews, as did most bilingual prayer books.

Why not “Jehovah”?

The form “Jehovah” is a misreading. In Hebrew manuscripts, the Tetragrammaton bore the vowels of the word Adonai, to tell the reader what to pronounce. Christian readers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, unaware of this practice, combined the consonants of the Name with the vowels of Adonai and arrived at “Iehoua”, popularized at the beginning of the 16th century. This word never existed in Jewish tradition.

And “Yahweh”?

“Yahweh” is a reconstruction proposed by modern scholars on the basis of linguistic clues and ancient transcriptions. It remains a hypothesis. For Jewish tradition, the pronunciation of the Name was lost deliberately: reconstructing it and saying it aloud would be precisely what the Mishna sought to prevent. That is why Jews do not say “Yahweh”. Scholars who wish to remain neutral simply write “YHWH”.

What archaeology tells us

The stele of Mesha, king of Moab, engraved around 840 BCE and kept in the Louvre Museum, mentions the “vessels of YHWH” taken from Israel. Two tiny silver amulets discovered in 1979 at Ketef Hinnom, in Jerusalem, dated to the end of the First Temple period, bear a version of the Priestly Blessing containing the divine Name. And in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, copied in square Hebrew script, the scribes wrote the Tetragrammaton in old paleo-Hebrew characters, as if to set it apart from the rest of the text. This respect is therefore very ancient.

What Rav Raphaël Benizri teaches

To name is to bring to light

In his lecture Shemot: Naming — the Meaning of Names, the Rav recalls that the first task entrusted to man was to give names. A name is not a convenient label: it expresses the essence of a being. Yet what is sought is not only the identity of the world but that of G-d, whose reality is hidden in the world, as if in the night, and must be brought to light. In the generation of Enosh, people began to call upon Him by a name, but that name remained so vague that it gave birth to idolatry; then came Avraham, who “proclaimed the name of the L-rd”, that is, cried it out across the universe. The Rav also points out that the name Moshe, read backwards, gives “Hashem”, the Name.

Elokim and the Tetragrammaton: justice and love

In Noach: Discovering Elokim, the Rav explains that Noach, a man pleasant to everyone, remained at the level of Elokim, an attribute of justice and not of kindness: the text says that he “walked with Elokim” (Bereshit 6:9). The Tetragrammaton appears only afterwards, when the L-rd commits Himself never again to bring a flood (Bereshit 8:21).

In Sukkot: From Kippur to the Sukkah of Peace, he adds that the name Elokim appears thirty-two times in the account of Creation, the numerical value of the word lev, the heart. It is the name of the laws of nature, of cause and effect, which lead toward death; the Tetragrammaton is the name of love. That is why Yom Kippur ends with “Hashem Hu HaElokim”, “the L-rd, He is Elokim” (Melakhim I [I Kings] 18:39): bringing what belongs to nature into the sphere of love, which alone can triumph over justice and death. And the Rav quotes the words of the prayer “Atah echad veShimcha echad”, “You are One and Your name is One”, adding: “but Your people, too, is one”.

El Shaddai, the name on our doors

In Vaera: The Why of Suffering, the Rav comments on the verse “I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov as El Shaddai” (Shemot 6:3). The Patriarchs had a faith of adherence, one that asked no questions; yet the ideal remains knowledge. But this knowledge has a built-in limit: “a G-d you master through your knowledge is no longer G-d”. The name we place on our doors, on the mezuzah, is not the Tetragrammaton but Shaddai, the One who imposed limits on the expansion of His creation; knowledge through the other name will be inward rather than outward.

The deeper meaning: a respect that educates

Why so much attention paid to a few letters? First, because speech creates: G-d created the world through speech (Bereshit 1:3), and man, created in His image, received this power. To treat His name lightly is to accustom one’s mouth to respecting nothing anymore.

Next, because these rules educate. Holding back a curse, writing “G-d”, not throwing away a sacred page: these small gestures, repeated thousands of times, shape a sensitivity, the awareness that there exists something greater than oneself, something one does not manipulate. This is exactly what the Talmud calls yirat shamayim, the fear of Heaven.

Finally, the silence surrounding the Tetragrammaton says something about G-d Himself. Judaism refuses to confine Him in an image, just as it refuses to confine Him in an ordinary word: the holiest Name is written but not spoken; it remains present and hidden. The Talmud promises that this will change: “In the World to Come, it will be written and read the same way” (Pesachim 50a), and on that day, “the L-rd will be One and His Name will be One” (Zekharia 14:9).

Frequently asked questions about the names of G-d

What does “Hashem” mean?

Hashem means “the Name” in Hebrew. It is the way Jews refer to G-d in conversation, so as not to pronounce His holy names outside of prayer.

What does YHWH mean?

YHWH is the transcription in Latin letters of the Tetragrammaton, yud-hei-vav-hei, G-d’s proper name in the Bible. Jews do not pronounce it as it is written and read Adonai in its place.

Why do Jews write G-d?

So as not to write the name of G-d in full on something that might be thrown away. The Torah forbids erasing the divine name (Devarim 12:3-4); even though many rabbis hold that the French word (like the English one) does not have the holiness of the Hebrew names, the custom has taken hold out of respect.

Can you throw away a sheet of paper with the name of G-d on it?

If the name is written in Hebrew (one of the seven holy names), no: it is placed in a genizah, where sacred writings are gathered and then buried. In other cases, for example a text in French, consult a rabbi; many prefer, as a precaution, not to throw such pages out with the household garbage.

What is the difference between Adonai and Hashem?

Adonai, “my L-rd”, is the way the Tetragrammaton is read: it is said in prayer, in blessings and in the reading of the Torah. Hashem, “the Name”, is the everyday term, used when speaking about G-d outside of prayer.

Sources and references

Torah: Bereshit (Genesis) 1:1; 1:3; 2:4; 6:9; 8:21 — Shemot (Exodus) 3:13-15; 6:2-3; 20:7; 22:7-8 — Vayikra (Leviticus) 24:10-16 — Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4; 12:3-4; 28:58
Prophets: Shoftim (Judges) 6:24; Melakhim I (I Kings) 18:39; Zekharia (Zechariah) 14:9
Mishna: Yoma 6:2; Sotah 7:6; Sanhedrin 10:1; Pirkei Avot 2:12
Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot 9b, 33a, 40b; Shabbat 10b; Pesachim 50a; Yoma 39b; Rosh Hashana 18b (quoting Megillat Taanit); Megillah 26b; Chagigah 12a; Sotah 38a; Kiddushin 71a; Shevuot 35a; Temurah 4a
Midrash: Bereshit Rabba 33:3 and 68:9; Rashi on Bereshit 1:1
Rambam: Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed) I:61; Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 6:1-2 and 6:5; Hilkhot Shevuot 12:11
Shulchan Aruch: Orach Chaim 5:1; Yoreh De’ah 276:9; Yoreh De’ah 288:15
History: Olivétan Bible (1535); French Rabbinate Bible, ed. Zadoc Kahn; Mesha Stele (c. 840 BCE, Louvre Museum); Ketef Hinnom amulets (discovered in 1979, Jerusalem)
Rav Raphaël Benizri, Shemot: Naming — the Meaning of Names
Rav Raphaël Benizri, Noach: Discovering Elokim
Rav Raphaël Benizri, Vaera: The Why of Suffering
Rav Raphaël Benizri, Sukkot: From Kippur to the Sukkah of Peace

Article by the Pensées Juives editorial team. Passages attributed to Rav Raphaël Benizri are taken from his lectures published on this site.

What Are the Names of G-d in Judaism? Hashem, YHWH and “G-d”