El Shaddai: the Almighty God

El Shaddai is the Hebrew name the King James Bible translates "Almighty God." God first spoke it to Abram when Abram was ninety-nine years old and still waiting on a son God had promised him decades earlier. The El Shaddai meaning, in the simplest words, is "God who has all power," and it shows up in the Bible again and again when people face something they cannot fix on their own.

Thirteen quiet years, then a new name

To feel the weight of this name, you have to count the years. Abram was eighty-six when his servant Hagar gave birth to Ishmael (Genesis 16:16). The next chapter opens when he is ninety-nine. In between, the Bible records no conversation between God and Abram at all.

During that silence, the promise looked further away than ever. God had promised Abram a son of his own, and his wife Sarai was close to ninety, long past the age for children. Abram already had a teenage boy through Hagar, and he may well have decided that Ishmael was the answer and the case was closed.

Then God showed up and spoke first.

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Genesis 17:1

In that same visit God made a covenant with him. A covenant is a binding agreement, like a promise sealed in writing. God changed Abram's name, which means "high father," to Abraham, explained as a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5). He changed Sarai's name to Sarah. And He said the son would come from Sarah herself, within a year.

The laugh that became a baby's name

Abraham's reaction is honest and very human. He fell on his face, and he laughed.

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Genesis 17:17

In the next chapter, Sarah overheard the same promise from inside the tent and laughed to herself too. God's answer to both of them is the question that sums up this whole name:

Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Genesis 18:14

It happened just as He said. Sarah gave birth at the set time of which God had spoken to him (Genesis 21:2). They named the boy Isaac, a Hebrew name that means laughter. Their laugh of doubt turned into a laugh of joy every time they called their son.

What does Shaddai actually mean?

The first half is easy. El is one of the oldest Hebrew words for God, short and strong. You find it in names such as El Elyon, the Most High God, and El Roi, the God who sees.

The second half, Shaddai, is harder, and it is fair to say so up front. The King James translates it "Almighty" every time it appears, and that is how it is understood in most English Bibles. But experts still disagree about where the word came from. Here are the main ideas, from most common to least:

• Mighty, overpowering. Strong's dictionary, the standard word list for the King James, connects Shaddai to the root shadad, which has to do with great strength. This fits the translation "Almighty."
• The mountain God. Some scholars link Shaddai to an old word in a neighboring language that means mountain. That would picture God as huge, solid and impossible to move.
• The God who is enough. An old Jewish explanation reads the name as "the One who is sufficient," the God who needs nothing and supplies everything.
• The God who nourishes. You may hear preachers tie Shaddai to shad, the Hebrew word for a mother's breast, and picture God feeding His children. Genesis 49:25 does mention the Almighty along with blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. It is a tender thought, but most language experts do not think the word actually comes from there.

The Bible itself does not stop to define the word. Instead, it shows you. Almost every time El Shaddai appears in Genesis, it comes with a promise of children, growth or blessing in a situation that looks shut. The name is explained by what God does when He uses it.

One more word in Genesis 17:1 is worth a look. When God said be thou perfect, the Hebrew word is tamim. It means whole or complete, not flawless. God was asking Abraham for a whole heart, not a perfect record.

El Shaddai across the King James Bible

After Abraham, the name became a family treasure, handed from father to son.

And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

Genesis 28:3

This is Isaac blessing his son Jacob as Jacob leaves home with nothing but a staff. Years later God used the name again with Jacob himself, saying I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 35:11). And when old Jacob had to send his youngest son Benjamin down to Egypt, he prayed God Almighty give you mercy before the man (Genesis 43:14).

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

Exodus 6:3

Here God tells Moses which name the patriarchs, the founding fathers of Israel, had known Him by. It was El Shaddai.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

The psalm pairs Shaddai with the Most High and gives a picture of safety: staying close enough to the Almighty to be in His shadow. The word also appears more in the book of Job than anywhere else, on the lips of a man in terrible pain, and in Ruth, where grieving Naomi says the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. People used this name in their darkest moments, not just their happy ones.

Bringing your impossible to the Almighty

Everybody has something they have quietly filed under "too late." A broken relationship. A dream you gave up at twenty. A family member who seems too far gone. A body that is not healing. The El Shaddai story says the file is not closed just because the years have gone by.

Notice, though, that God did not hurry. Abraham and Sarah waited a very long time, and they made a mess trying to help the promise along through Hagar. God still kept His word. The Almighty is not limited by your age, your bank account or your mistakes.

Notice also that the name came with an instruction: walk before me. God did not tell Abraham to sit and wait. He told him to live his everyday life in God's sight, with a whole heart, while the promise was on its way.

• Write down the one thing you have decided is impossible, and pray over it by name, using the name El Shaddai.
• Read Genesis 17 and 18 and mark every promise God makes.
• Ask yourself where you are trying to force an answer instead of walking with God toward it.

El Shaddai is name 8 of the 70 in the book. Right before it comes El Roi, the God who sees, and next is El Olam, the Everlasting God, the name Abraham called on after Isaac was born. You can also browse all the Hebrew names of God.