Does El Shaddai mean "Almighty"?

God introduces himself to Abram in Genesis 17:1 with two words: El Shaddai. The English translations nearly all render this "God Almighty." But the word Shaddai (H7706) has puzzled scholars for centuries, and the oldest Greek translation of the Bible makes a striking choice that complicates the "Almighty" reading.

What the lexicons say

The Hebrew word Shaddai appears 48 times in the Old Testament — 31 of them in the book of Job, which uses it as its primary name for God throughout the dialogue on suffering. It also appears 6 times in the patriarchal narratives (Genesis) and once in Ezekiel's vision of the divine chariot throne. The standard Hebrew-English lexicon acknowledges plainly that the etymology is disputed, listing three candidates: shadad (to overpower, to overwhelm), shad (mountain, or breast), and an Akkadian loan-word šadû (mountain). None of these has won the argument among scholars.

What the word does in the text is clearer than where it came from. In Job, it's the name for the God who overwhelms — experienced as trial, as raw power that exceeds human comprehension. In Genesis and Exodus, it's the name under which the patriarchs knew Yahweh before his personal name was disclosed. Exodus 6:3 is the hinge verse:

"And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them." — Exodus 6:3

That verse is the only place in the entire Old Testament where Shaddai (H7706) and the word for "name" (H8034, shem) appear in the same verse. The pattern is deliberate: El Shaddai is the patriarchal covenant name.

What the oldest Greek translation does

This is where it gets interesting. The Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made in the centuries before Christ — is the oldest sustained translation we have. When those translators reached the word Shaddai in Genesis, they consistently chose not to translate it as "Almighty."

At Genesis 17:1, instead of "I am El Shaddai," the Greek reads egō eimi ho theos sou — "I am your God." At Genesis 28:3, instead of "El Shaddai bless you," the Greek reads "My God bless you." At Genesis 35:11, "I am El Shaddai" becomes "I am your God." Every single occurrence in Genesis — the LXX substitutes a relational personal pronoun ("your God," "my God") for the divine name.

The word the Septuagint uses for "Almighty" elsewhere is pantokrator (G3841) — that's the word used for Yahweh of hosts and the word Revelation uses nine times for the Lord God Almighty. But in the patriarchal stories, the translators never deploy pantokrator for Shaddai. They reach for something covenantal instead.

The only exception is outside the patriarchal narrative entirely — Ezekiel 10:5, where Ezekiel hears "the voice of El Shaddai" in his throne-chariot vision. There, the Greek simply transliterates: theou Saddai, "God Saddai." This shows the translators knew the Hebrew perfectly well and could hear the name. They chose not to carry it into Genesis. That's not an inability to translate — it's an interpretive decision.

What this means

The Septuagint's consistent choice suggests the Greek translators read El Shaddai in the patriarchal context as the God who is covenantally sufficient for Abraham — the God who is yours — rather than simply a display of cosmic might over creation. In the context of Genesis 17, where God is establishing an everlasting covenant with one man and his household, "I am your God" may actually carry more covenantal weight than "I am the Almighty."

This doesn't mean "Almighty" is wrong. Job's usage pushes in that direction, and the word's usage in Naomi's lament (Rut 1:20–21, "the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me") points to overwhelming divine power. The Hebrew word carries both registers.

What the oldest Greek witness tells us is that "Almighty" isn't the only way — or even the primary way — to hear this name when God speaks it to Abraham in covenant.

The full study examines every occurrence of El Shaddai across the canon, shows the LXX suppression in detail with a translation-shift table, and sets the patriarchal covenant name in its context in El Shaddai and Circumcision.