ReligionThink

After watching a video by the YouTube user below, I decided to do a search on the use of the word האלהים in biblical literature.  The word is used about 130 times in the Tanach.  Below are a few examples of the text with the word consistently translated as would be translated in Gen 6:4 . I was wondering if the word would be correctly translated as such, apart from theological beliefs associated with the literature. The examples below in English are from the Jewish Publication Society Translation 1985, with the words “the divine beings ” inserted into the text by the author of this essay. The rest of the references of its use are posted below.

Genesis 6:4 HOT הנפלים היו בארץ בימים ההם וגם אחרי־כן אשׁר יבאו בני האלהים אל־בנות האדם וילדו להם המה הגברים אשׁר מעולם אנשׁי השׁם׃

It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth — when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.

Genesis 6:11 HOT ותשׁחת הארץ לפני האלהים ותמלא הארץ חמס׃

The earth became corrupt before the divine beings; the earth was filled with lawlessness.

Genesis 20:6 HOT ויאמר אליו האלהים בחלם גם אנכי ידעתי כי בתם־לבבך עשׂית זאת ואחשׂך גם־אנכי אותך מחטו־לי על־כן לא־נתתיך לנגע אליה׃

And the divine beings said to him in the dream, “I knew that you did this with a blameless heart, and so I kept you from sinning against Me. That was why I did not let you touch her.

Genesis 22:9 HOT ויבאו אל־המקום אשׁר אמר־לו האלהים ויבן שׁם אברהם את־המזבח ויערך את־העצים ויעקד את־יצחק בנו וישׂם אתו על־המזבח ממעל לעצים׃

They arrived at the place of which the divine beings had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Genesis 27:28 HOT ויתן־לך האלהים מטל השׁמים ומשׁמני הארץ ורב דגן ותירשׁ׃

“May the divine beings give you Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, Abundance of new grain and wine.

Genesis 31:11 HOT ויאמר אלי מלאך האלהים בחלום יעקב ואמר הנני׃

And in the dream an angel of the divine beings said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here,’ I answered.

Genesis 44:16 HOT ויאמר יהודה מה־נאמר לאדני מה־נדבר ומה־נצטדק האלהים מצא את־עון עבדיך הננו עבדים לאדני גם־אנחנו גם אשׁר־נמצא הגביע בידו׃

Judah replied, “What can we say to my lord? How can we plead, how can we prove our innocence? The divine beings have uncovered the crime of your servants. Here we are, then, slaves of my lord, the rest of us as much as he in whose possession the goblet was found.”

Genesis 45:8 HOT ועתה לא־אתם שׁלחתם אתי הנה כי האלהים וישׂימני לאב לפרעה ולאדון לכל־ביתו ומשׁל בכל־ארץ מצרים׃

So, it was not you who sent me here, but of the divine beings; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.

Genesis 48:15 HOT ויברך את־יוסף ויאמר האלהים אשׁר התהלכו אבתי לפניו אברהם ויצחק האלהים הרעה אתי מעודי עד־היום הזה׃

And he blessed Joseph, saying, ” of the divine beings in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, of the divine beings who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day —

The rest of the references where the word is used:

Exo_14:19; Exo_19:17; Deu_4:39; Deu_7:9; Deu_10:17; Deu_33:1; Jdg_6:20; Jdg_13:6; Jdg_13:8; Jdg_13:9; 1Sa_4:8; 1Sa_4:18; 1Sa_5:1; 1Sa_5:2; 1Sa_5:10; 1Sa_10:5; 1Sa_14:18; 2Sa_2:27; 2Sa_6:3; 2Sa_6:7; 2Sa_7:28; 2Sa_14:17; 2Sa_15:24; 2Sa_15:25; 1Ki_12:22; 1Ki_13:6; 1Ki_13:7; 1Ki_13:14; 1Ki_13:21; 1Ki_13:26; 1Ki_17:18; 1Ki_18:24; 1Ki_20:28; 2Ki_1:12; 2Ki_4:7; 2Ki_4:25; 2Ki_4:27; 2Ki_4:42; 2Ki_5:7; 2Ki_5:14; 2Ki_5:15; 2Ki_6:9; 2Ki_6:15; 2Ki_7:2; 2Ki_7:18; 2Ki_7:19; 2Ki_8:2; 2Ki_13:19; 1Ch_13:7; 1Ch_13:8; 1Ch_13:14; 1Ch_14:11; 1Ch_14:14; 1Ch_14:16; 1Ch_15:2; 1Ch_15:15; 1Ch_15:26; 1Ch_16:1; 1Ch_17:21; 1Ch_17:26; 1Ch_21:7; 1Ch_21:15; 1Ch_22:1; 1Ch_22:19; 1Ch_23:14; 1Ch_25:5; 1Ch_28:21; 2Ch_1:4; 2Ch_3:3; 2Ch_4:19; 2Ch_10:15; 2Ch_13:12; 2Ch_22:12; 2Ch_23:3; 2Ch_24:7; 2Ch_24:20; 2Ch_24:27; 2Ch_25:7; 2Ch_25:8; 2Ch_25:9; 2Ch_26:5; 2Ch_26:7; 2Ch_30:12; 2Ch_30:19; 2Ch_33:7; 2Ch_36:16; 2Ch_36:18; 2Ch_36:19; Ezr_3:8; Ezr_10:1; Ezr_10:6; Neh_4:15; Neh_5:13; Neh_8:6; Neh_8:8; Neh_8:18; Neh_9:7; Neh_10:29; Neh_12:40; Neh_12:43; Job_1:6; Job_2:1; Psa_136:2; Ecc_3:14; Ecc_5:1; Ecc_5:2; Ecc_5:19; Ecc_6:2; Ecc_7:13; Ecc_7:29; Ecc_8:17; Ecc_12:14; Isa_37:16; Isa_45:18; Jer_35:4; Dan_1:9; Dan_1:17; Dan_9:3; Jon_3:9; Jon_3:10; Jon_4:7;

A link to the video mentioned: