Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Comments on Why does the text in B'reishit refer to God in the plural?

Post

Why does the text in B'reishit refer to God in the plural?

+3
−0

Throughout Parshat B'reishit, Hashem (God) is referred to in the plural multiple times. This includes in B'reishit 1:26:

ויאמר אל-קים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו...

And God said: We will make a man in our form and our likeness...

Or in 3:22:

ויאמר ה' אל-קים הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע ועתה פן ישלח ידו ולקח גם מעץ החיים ואכל וחי לעלם

And God said: Now the man is like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he cast his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and live forever.
(both translations my own)

There's also the fact that "Elokim" (in its non-censored form) is in itself plural; in other contexts, it means "gods" plural, and the -ים suffix is... plural.

So why does the text repeatedly refer to God in the plural throughout especially Parshat B'reishit (and less so in other parts of the Torah)?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

1 comment thread

General comments (2 comments)
General comments
rosends‭ wrote about 4 years ago

You have 2 separate questions here -- one is why the creation narrative says "let us" (https://www.etzion.org.il/en/let-us-make-man) and whether the word "Elokim" is actually a plural (https://outreachjudaism.org/elohim-plural/)

Dr. Shmuel‭ wrote about 4 years ago · edited about 4 years ago

See Rabeinu Bechaya on first verse