Guides · From Genesis to Revelation

Names of God and their meanings

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

— Proverbs 18:10 (BSB)

In the Bible a name often says who someone is: Mary’s son was to be called Jesus “because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). God’s names work the same way. Several were given in a moment of need: Hagar named the LORD in the desert, Abraham named a mountain, Moses and Gideon each named an altar. Each name is a testimony of what someone found God to be, and each is still true of Him.

Names of God and their meanings: the chart

Why is LORD in capital letters in the Bible?

God’s personal name is four Hebrew letters, YHWH, usually spelled Yahweh. Where the Hebrew has it, the BSB, like most English Bibles, prints the LORD in capitals. The custom goes back to Jewish readers who, out of reverence, said Adonai (‘Lord’) aloud instead. So in the Old Testament the LORD is Yahweh, the Lord is usually Adonai, and Lord GOD is the two together (Genesis 15:2). Psalm 8:1 has both: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Jehovah is an older English form of YHWH.

What does El Shaddai mean?

El is a short Hebrew word for God; Shaddai is translated Almighty, though its exact origin is debated. God gave Abram this name at ninety-nine, still waiting for the son He had promised: “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.” Then He renamed him Abraham, father of many nations, before Isaac was even conceived. El Shaddai is the God whose power keeps His promises when every human possibility has run out.

Two more El names come from Abraham’s life: Melchizedek blessed him by “God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth” (El Elyon, Genesis 14:19), and Abraham worshiped “the LORD, the Eternal God” (El Olam, Genesis 21:33).

What does El Roi mean?

El Roi means the God who sees. Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian servant, was treated so harshly that she ran away into the desert, pregnant and alone (Genesis 16:1-6). The angel of the LORD found her by a spring, called her by name and told her to name her son Ishmael, “for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.” Abraham, Moses and Gideon named a place or an altar; Hagar named God Himself. If you feel unseen or forgotten, this is the name to pray.

So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

— Genesis 16:13 (BSB)

What does Yahweh mean? “I AM WHO I AM”

At the burning bush God sent Moses back to Egypt. Moses asked what name to give the Israelites, and God answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” Then He called Himself the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: “This is My name forever.” No one gave God this name or made Him; He simply is, and He keeps His word in every generation. Jesus took the same words on His lips, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58), and His hearers picked up stones.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

— Exodus 3:14 (BSB)

What does Jehovah Jireh mean?

Jehovah Jireh (Yahweh Yireh) means The LORD Will Provide. On the way to the mountain where Abraham was to offer him, Isaac asked, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” The angel of the LORD stopped Abraham, and he offered a ram “in place of his son,” then named the place (Genesis 22:14). The Hebrew verb is the ordinary word for ‘see’, as in El Roi: God sees ahead, and sees to it.

Christians have long seen the cross in this story: God provided His own Son, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The name is not a promise to give whatever we ask for, but confidence that He sees what we truly need.

What does Jehovah Rapha mean?

At Marah, three days past the Red Sea, the water was bitter and the people grumbled. The LORD showed Moses a log, the water turned sweet, and God said, “For I am the LORD who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26). He heals bodies, and deeper things: He “forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3). Praying this name is not a formula for a cure. It is bringing your sickness to the One who heals and trusting His wisdom, and it never means refusing a doctor’s care.

What does Jehovah Nissi mean?

When the Amalekites attacked, Israel prevailed only while Moses held up his hands with the staff of God; when his arms grew heavy, Aaron and Hur held them up until sunset (Exodus 17:8-13). Then Moses built an altar and named it “The LORD Is My Banner.” A banner is the flag an army rallies to. The battle was the LORD’s. When you face a fight bigger than you, lift up this name.

What does Jehovah Shalom mean?

Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites when the angel of the LORD greeted him: “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” Later, terrified because he had seen the angel face to face, he heard the LORD say, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.” He built an altar there and called it “The LORD Is Peace.” Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, and through Jesus it is ours (Romans 5:1).

What does Jehovah Raah mean?

Yahweh Rohi, often written Jehovah Raah, opens Psalm 23: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” David, who wrote it, had kept sheep himself (1 Samuel 16:11). The psalm shows the LORD leading, feeding and protecting, right through “the valley of the shadow of death.” Jesus claimed the title: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). Pray it with this Psalm 23 prayer.

What do Immanuel and Abba mean?

Isaiah promised a son who would be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), and Matthew applies the name to Jesus and translates it: “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). The older names tell us what God is like; in Jesus, God came to live among us. Abba is the Aramaic word for father. Jesus prayed it in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36), and Paul says the Spirit gives every believer the same cry.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

— Romans 8:15 (BSB)

How to pray using the names of God

God’s names are not passwords: you don’t need Hebrew to be heard, and no name unlocks a result. But the names give your prayers something to hold. Pick the one that fits your day, read its story, praise God for who it says He is, then bring your need to Him. “Those who know Your name trust in You” (Psalm 9:10).

Keep going

• A prayer from Proverbs 18:10: the name of the LORD is a strong tower
• Through the Valley of the Shadow: a Psalm 23 prayer
• I Am the Good Shepherd: a prayer from John 10
• The A.C.T.S. prayer model, which begins with praising God
• The fruit of the Spirit, explained
• The armor of God, piece by piece

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