God: A Human History

by Reza Aslan

However, the primary difference between the Yahwist and Elohist sources in the Pentateuch is that God is called by a different name in each. The god of the Elohist is El or Elohim (the plural form of El), which is rendered in most English translations of the Bible as God, with a capital G: “After these things, God [Elohim] tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). In contrast, the god of the Yahwist tradition is known as Yahweh, usually rendered in English Bibles as the Lord, spelled with all capital letters: “The LORD [Yahweh] said, ‘Surely I have seen the misery of my people who are in Egypt’” (Exodus 3:7). The much later Priestly source tends to go back and forth between using the names Yahweh and Elohim in an obvious attempt to merge these two different gods into one.