Last Wednesday we explored the history of biblical translation as it began in Greek-occupied Alexandria, Egypt. One of the more confounding aspects of translating the Torah is the fact that there are numerous names for Judaism's one God. In the early days of translation and interpretation, this caused no small amount of confusion. Some of those names refer to aspects of God, like strength or healing, while others are poetic metaphors, like father or king. There are too many names of God in the Torah to simply list them here, but we will be looking at some of the more commonly used variations, as well as some of the unusual or unique names.
The simplest and likely the oldest Hebrew name for God is El. This term can be traced to the Northwest regions of Semitic-language use near the dawn of civilization. Cultures pre-dating Judaism used the term in reference to their own gods, specifically in reference to divine might and power. When Arabic-speaking people adopted Islam they also adopted a cognate of El, the very well-known Allah.
In order to distinguish their El from the gods of other peoples, Hebrew-speakers developed the term Elohim. This is by far one of the most popular names for God, especially in the Tanakh where it appears over 2500 times. Linguistically, Elohim is an emphatic plural of El. Instead of meaning "many gods" it refers to the entirety of God's power. Essentially, "God of everything who can do anything and is everywhere".
In speaking terms, however, the most common name for God is Adonai. This is a first-person possessive version of Adon, which itself means "Lord or Master" in the holy sense. There is another Hebrew word that means "master" in a more earthly sense. That is Ba'al. This term should be familiar to anyone who has studied ancient Near-Eastern culture as meaning the chief god of a region. In Hebrew, Ba'al usually refers to a master of slaves or property, or in the more archaic sense a man as a master of his wife. Modern Hebrew-speakers tend not to use Ba'al to refer to a husband anymore, preferring instead to simply say Ish'i, "my man".
Adonai isn't very commonly written in the phonetic. It is instead a vocal placeholder for certain spellings of the name of God that are not meant to be pronounced, the most common being the Tetragrammaton. Here it is in Paleo-Hebrew, Aramaic, and Modern Hebrew:
This collection of letters is never supposed to be pronounced phonetically. The reason for this is that there are aspects of God that are simply unknowable, so at least one iteration of the name of God must have some permanent mystery to it. When this spelling of the name appears in any text, it is supposed to be pronounced Adonai.
In other places, especially in the biblical poetry of Psalms, God is referred to obliquely through metaphor. One common term is Ra'ah, meaning "shepherd", referring to God as a caring guide. Melech is another often-used term for God. It means "king". This isn't just a reference to God as a ruler, it's also a strong political statement. While the ancient nation of Israel did eventually adopt a monarchical government, the Torah explicitly states that Israelites should be a nation of priests (Kohanim) subject to the law of judges with God as their king.
This is just an introduction to the many names of God as they are found in the Torah. This demonstrates just how poetic and lush those texts really are. It also shows how important it is to be able to approach the texts with the Hebrew context in mind.