StrongerBible

shadday

שַׁדַּי

HebrewH7706Proper NounAlmighty

Appears 48 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 17:1Gen 28:3Gen 35:11Gen 43:14Gen 48:3Gen 49:25Exo 6:3Num 24:4Num 24:16Rut 1:20Rut 1:21Job 5:17Job 6:4Job 24:1Job 27:13Isa 13:6
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyshah-DAInoun

What shadday means

the Almighty: a name for God that points to his overwhelming might and power.

TranslatabilityUntranslatableCertaintyStrong

Shaddai is one of the great names for God in the Hebrew Bible, traditionally rendered "the Almighty." It almost always names God in his sheer power, the kind of power that can promise a childless couple a nation of descendants, and the kind that can feel crushing when it falls on a sufferer. The same name carries both sides.

In the early stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob it appears joined to the ordinary word for God, as "God Almighty," and it is tied to promises of children, growth, and blessing. Later, in the book of Job above all, it becomes the favorite poetic name for God, used by every speaker in the book. There it leans toward God as the one whose power is beyond questioning and sometimes beyond understanding, the strong one who wounds and heals, blesses and afflicts.

What does NOT change is who is meant: it is always the one God, and always God seen from the angle of his might. So this is a single name with two settings, the covenant God who promises increase and the all-powerful God whose strength a person meets in both blessing and hardship, rather than two different words.

The origin of the name is genuinely uncertain, and the old translations themselves reached for "the Almighty" without being sure of its roots. That history is laid out in the scholarship below; the safe thing to say in plain terms is that Shaddai presents God as overpoweringly strong.

Nuances

1aGod Almighty, the name by which God revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, joined to promises of descendants, growth, and blessing.
Gen 17:1Gen 28:3Gen 35:11Gen 43:14Gen 48:3Gen 49:25Exo 6:3
1bthe Almighty, God named for his overwhelming might, the favored poetic name for God especially in Job and the prophets, whose power a person meets in both blessing and hardship.
Num 24:4Num 24:16Rut 1:20Rut 1:21Job 5:17Job 6:4Job 8:3Job 11:7Job 13:3Job 21:15Job 22:23Job 27:2

What scholars say about shadday

Shaddai occurs 48 times, 31 of them in Job, where it is the dominant poetic divine name and stands in parallel with El and Eloah. In the patriarchal narratives and Exodus 6:3 it appears in the compound El Shaddai and is presented as the name by which God revealed himself to the patriarchs in covenant promises of fertility and increase; the source-critical tradition assigns this self-revelation formula to the Priestly source. The etymology is unresolved and several proposals compete. A widely cited derivation connects it to Akkadian shadu, "mountain," yielding "the One of the mountain" (Albright; Cross, who reads it within the El cult). Others derive it from the root meaning "to deal violently, overpower," supporting the traditional "Almighty" reflected already in the Septuagint's pantokrator and the Vulgate's omnipotens. A further proposal links it to a word for the open country or steppe ("the One of the field"), and a minority associates it by wordplay with shad, "breast," fitting the fertility-blessing contexts though not accepted as the actual origin. The standard lexica (HALOT, BDB) and the theological dictionaries (TDOT, NIDOTTE) treat the meaning as established by usage, the overpowering God, while leaving the etymology open. The ancient versions already rendered it by general terms for power rather than by a literal equivalent, which is itself evidence that its root sense was no longer transparent.

Where scholars disagree about shadday

Where the name Shaddai comes from and what it originally meant; the traditional rendering "the Almighty" rests on usage, not on a secure etymology.

  • majorityThe origin is uncertain and several derivations remain live; the established meaning rests on how the word is used, namely God in his overpowering might, which is why the ancient versions rendered it "Almighty."; HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. שׁדי; Ernst Axel Knauf, "Shadday," in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD), 2nd ed. (1999)
  • minorityIt derives from a Semitic word for "mountain" (Akkadian shadu), giving "the One of the mountain," a title fitting an ancient high-god cult.; William F. Albright, "The Names Shaddai and Abram," Journal of Biblical Literature 54 (1935); Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (1973)
  • minorityIt derives from a root meaning "to deal violently" or "overpower," directly supporting the traditional sense "the Almighty."; BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. שׁדי

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. שׁדיlexicon
  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. שׁדיlexicon
  • DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. שׁדיlexicon
  • Helmer Ringgren and others, "שׁדי," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT)dictionary
  • Eugene H. Merrill, "שׁדי," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE)dictionary
  • William F. Albright, "The Names Shaddai and Abram," Journal of Biblical Literature 54 (1935)article
  • Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (1973)monograph
  • Ernst Axel Knauf, "Shadday," in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD), 2nd ed. (1999)dictionary
  • David Noel Freedman, "The Original Name of Jacob," Israel Exploration Journal 13 (1963)article

All attested forms of שַׁדַּי

noun

שַׁדַּי, שַּׁדַּי, שַׁדָּי

Gen 17:1, Gen 28:3, Gen 35:11, Gen 43:14, Gen 48:3, Gen 49:25, Num 24:4, Num 24:16