The Names of God

Week 2 of 6 in The Nature of God · next: The Names of Jesus

New, published 18 October 2026. What else is new

Moses asked God His name, and the answer has filled the rest of the Bible. Almost every time God gave Himself a name, He gave it to someone in trouble, in the middle of what He was doing for them.

In one sentence: God names Himself by what He does: almost every name He gave was spoken to someone at the end of their own resources, each is a promise He has kept, and all of them meet in Jesus, whose name means "the LORD saves".

This study is the theology behind the Names of God word cards, which teach the same names as Hebrew vocabulary, one letter at a time. Its second half, The Names of Jesus, begins where this study ends, at the name of Jesus, and The Names of the Holy Spirit completes the three.

Key Takeaways

Types & Prophecy

• Type. On Mount Moriah Abraham told Isaac, "God will provide for himself the lamb" (Genesis 22:8, ESV), and named the place "The LORD will provide" (Genesis 22:14, ESV). John the Baptist pointed at Jesus: "Behold, the Lamb of God" (John 1:29, ESV).
• Type (this study's reading). The banner Moses named in Exodus 17:15 is a נֵס (nes), the same word as the pole that held up the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:8), which Jesus applied to His cross (John 3:14). No verse joins Exodus 17 to the cross; the type rests on the shared word and on what each nes did, and is set out in The LORD is my banner.
• Prophecy. Isaiah and Jeremiah gave the coming King divine names: Immanuel, "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14), "Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6) and "The LORD is our righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:6).

Lessons about Jesus

• Jesus bears the name He was given as its meaning: Yeshua, "the LORD saves", "for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21, ESV).
• Jesus spoke the burning bush's "I am" of Himself: "before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58, ESV).
• The apostles gave Jesus verses about the LORD's own name: the oath the LORD swore by Himself that every knee will bow to Him (Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10-11), and Joel's promise that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13).

Memory verses

✝️ Exodus 3:15 (ESV)

15 This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

✝️ Philippians 2:9-10 (ESV)

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth

Be Transformed

• Think. God's names are promises with His character behind them. When you read "the LORD", read the God of Exodus 34:6, who said what He is like and has kept His word.
• Attitude. Most of these names were given to someone with nothing left: a childless couple, a runaway slave, a frightened farmer, a people with bitter water. Your own empty place is where God has always made Himself known.
• Do. Learn one name this week with the word cards, read the passage where God gave it, and pray it back to Him by name, as Moses prayed Exodus 34:6-7 back to God when Israel had sinned again (Numbers 14:17-19).

Prayer

LORD, You told Moses Your name and kept every promise it carried. You saw Hagar, You provided the lamb, You healed the water and You gave Gideon peace. You have given Your name to Your Son Jesus, and every knee will bow to Him. I call on that name now: save me, see me, and be my righteousness. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Study outline

• "What is his name?" God answers Moses at the burning bush, and the answer is a promise to be with him: I will be · The LORD.
• The name explained and Known by name, known by deed. God's own commentary on His name in Exodus 34, and what Exodus 6:3 means when it says the patriarchs did not know it, with the contested reading set out on both sides.
• Names given in the hard places. Nine names from Genesis to 1 Samuel, each in the scene where it was given: God Almighty · Lord · God Most High · the God who sees and the LORD who will provide · the LORD your healer · the LORD is my banner · the LORD is peace · the LORD of hosts.
• Names the prophets gave the coming King. Immanuel · Mighty God · The LORD is our righteousness.
• The name above every name. How the New Testament gives the names to Jesus: Jesus: the LORD saves · The Son speaks the Father's names · Every knee, and everyone who calls · One name.

"What is his name?"

God called Moses from a burning bush and sent him back to Egypt, where Israel was enslaved and Moses was wanted for murder. Moses objected twice. The first objection was about himself:

✝️ Exodus 3:11-15 (ESV)

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" 12 He said, "But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." 13 Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

I will be

The answer to "Who am I?" is "I will be with you", and the Hebrew verb there is אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh, eh-YEH, H1961), "I will be" or "I am". Two verses later God gives His name with the same word in the same form: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh asher ehyeh), "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). So God's name first reaches Moses as an answer to his fear. Before it tells him what God is in Himself, it tells him God will go with him.

The Hebrew verb covers both "I am" and "I will be". The ESV prints "I AM WHO I AM"; the NLT footnotes "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE" and the CSB "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE"; the choice between them is open. The Greek translators of the Septuagint chose being: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν (egō eimi ho ōn), "I am the one who is" (Exodus 3:14, Brenton LXX). The two readings belong together. The God who simply is, owing His existence to no one, is the God who can promise to be with Moses in Egypt.

The LORD

Verse 15 turns the first person into a name: יְהוָה (YHWH, H3068), the four letters English Bibles print as "the LORD" in small capitals. It is God's personal name, used 6,513 times in the Hebrew Old Testament (WLC), and He says of it, "This is my name forever". God explains it with the verb to be in Exodus 3:14, and the LSB's footnote there says the name is derived from that verb, הָיָה (hayah, H1961). Pronunciation is a separate question: by the time of Jesus, Jews read it aloud as Adonai, "Lord", and How Hebrew Is Pronounced tells that story.

The word for God in general, אֱלֹהִים (elohim, H430), can be used of angels and of human judges; Those Called Gods shows that range and the two names God keeps to Himself. The LORD is one of them: "I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other" (Isaiah 42:8, ESV).

The name explained

After the golden calf, Moses asked to see God's glory. God answered, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD'" (Exodus 33:19, ESV). Then He did:

✝️ Exodus 34:5-7 (ESV)

5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

This is God's own commentary on His name. He is רַחוּם (rachum, H7349, "merciful") and חַנּוּן (chanun, H2587, "gracious"), and He abounds in חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617, "steadfast love") and אֱמֶת (emet, H571, "faithfulness"). Know the Truth traces emet through the Bible. He is also just: the same proclamation says He "will by no means clear the guilty".

He said it to a people who had just broken the covenant at the foot of the mountain. So when God proclaims His name, He describes His mercy to sinners, and He told it to the people who needed it most. Most of the later names in this study show one strand of Exodus 34:6-7 in a person's life: mercy to Hagar, grace to Gideon, faithfulness to Abraham.

Known by name, known by deed

Exodus 6 is the hard verse on God's name.

✝️ Exodus 6:2-3 (ESV)

2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.

Read at face value, the verse says the patriarchs never heard the name. But in Genesis God says to Abram, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans" (Genesis 15:7, ESV), and Abram swears by "the LORD, God Most High" (Genesis 14:22, ESV) and names a mountain "The LORD will provide" (Genesis 22:14). As early as Seth's son, "people began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4:26, ESV).

The verb answers it. "Make myself known" is נוֹדַעְתִּי (nodati), from יָדַע (yada, H3045, "to know"), the word for knowing by experience. What follows in Exodus 6:6-8 is seven things God will do, framed by "I am the LORD": bring out, deliver, redeem, take as His people, be their God, bring into the land, give it. Then "you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out" (Exodus 6:7, ESV). The patriarchs had the name and the promise. Israel in Egypt would see it kept. The ESV Study Bible reads the verse the same way.

So God's name is learned by what He does. Abraham knew it as a promise, and his descendants knew it as a rescue.

Contested: one story or separate sources

This reading is contested, and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible sets out four approaches (note on Exodus 6:3). Two take the name as new to Moses. Source critics assign the Genesis passages using the name to a different source that did not share Exodus 6's view. Others say Genesis uses the name to show that the patriarchs' God is Israel's God. Two take the name as known before Moses. One is the reading above, which that study Bible calls the traditional solution. The other is grammatical: it reads the verse as a question, "by my name the LORD was I not known to them?" The source-critical case depends on dividing Genesis into sources. Read as one story, Genesis and Exodus have the patriarchs using the name and Israel learning what it meant. This study takes the reading that keeps the two books together, and it is a judgement.

Names given in the hard places

The names below were given in a scene, and almost every scene is someone with nothing left. Some God spoke of Himself; some were spoken back to Him by the person He had just met. Each section gives the scene and what the name promised; the word cards teach each one in Hebrew.

God Almighty, to the childless

אֵל שַׁדַּי (El Shaddai, H7706) is the name of Exodus 6:3, the one the patriarchs knew. God first speaks it to Abram at ninety-nine, still without a son by Sarah: "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly" (Genesis 17:1-2, ESV). Genesis uses Shaddai six times, and five are about children: four come with being fruitful or multiplying (Genesis 17:1-2; 28:3; 35:11; 48:3-4), and the fifth promises "blessings of the breasts and of the womb" (Genesis 49:25, ESV).

What Shaddai means is contested. The Greek translators did not agree on it: "your God" at Genesis 17:1, "the Sufficient One" (ho hikanos) at Ruth 1:20 and "the Almighty" (pantokratōr) at Job 5:17 (Brenton LXX). The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT 2333) gives "sufficient". What Genesis shows is clearer than the etymology: El Shaddai is the name God gave to people who could not have children, as He promised them nations.

The same name is on the lips of the grieving. Naomi, widowed and childless, said, "the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me" (Ruth 1:20, ESV), and the book of Job uses it 31 times. Scripture lets them say it. The God who promised Abraham descendants is the one to whom the bereaved bring their complaint, and in Naomi's story He answers it with a grandson in the line of David (Ruth 4:17).

Lord, from a man with no heir

אֲדֹנָי (Adonai, H136), "Lord", is first spoken to God by Abram: "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless" (Genesis 15:2, ESV). It is the form of אָדוֹן (adon, H113), a servant's word for his master, that is kept for God, and the Old Testament uses it 438 times. It is also the word Jews say aloud for the name YHWH, so Abram's word for his Master became Israel's way of reading the name.

The two common words for God do different work. Elohim names Him as God, the Creator over all: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1, ESV). Adonai is how a servant speaks to his Master, and it is the word on the lips of Abram, Gideon (Judges 6:22) and Isaiah, who "saw the Lord sitting upon a throne" (Isaiah 6:1, ESV). When the name stands next to Adonai, as in Abram's "Lord GOD", אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה, the Masoretes gave the name the vowels of Elohim so that the reader says Adonai Elohim and avoids saying "Lord" twice. That is why the ESV prints "Lord GOD" there. How Hebrew Is Pronounced has the history of the custom.

God Most High, served by Melchizedek

אֵל עֶלְיוֹן (El Elyon, H5945), "God Most High", is the God Melchizedek served, "Possessor of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19, ESV). Abram identified Him with the LORD three verses later (Genesis 14:22). Jesus, Priest in the Order of Melchizedek treats the scene and what Hebrews makes of it.

The God who sees, and the LORD who will see to it

Hagar was Sarai's Egyptian slave, pregnant by Abram, and she ran from her mistress into the wilderness. The angel of the LORD found her by a spring and told her to name her son Ishmael, "God hears". Then she named God:

✝️ Genesis 16:13 (ESV)

13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."

אֵל רֳאִי (El Roi, H7210) comes from רָאָה (raah, H7200), "to see". A runaway slave, with no one to protect her, found that God had been watching her.

The same verb gives the name on Mount Moriah. Isaac asked, "where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" and Abraham answered, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son" (Genesis 22:7-8, ESV). The Hebrew of "will provide" is yireh, "will see": God will see to the lamb. When the ram was caught in the thicket, "Abraham called the name of that place, 'The LORD will provide'" (Genesis 22:14, ESV), יְהוָה יִרְאֶה (YHWH yireh).

So the God who sees your need is the God who sees to it. On Moriah He provided a ram in Isaac's place. Centuries later John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, ESV). The lamb Abraham promised is the one God provided in His Son.

The LORD your healer, at bitter water

Three days after the Red Sea, Israel came to Marah and "could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter" (Exodus 15:23, ESV). Moses cried to the LORD, the LORD showed him a log, and the water became sweet (Exodus 15:25). Then God named Himself:

✝️ Exodus 15:26 (ESV)

26 saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer."

יְהוָה רֹפְאֶךָ (YHWH rofekha, H7495), "the LORD your healer". Popular books spell it "Jehovah Rapha". God gave it to a thirsty, grumbling people, and He healed the water before He set them the statute and rule of Marah (Exodus 15:25).

The LORD is my banner, over the battle with Amalek

When Amalek attacked Israel at Rephidim, Israel prevailed whenever Moses held up his hand, and Amalek whenever he lowered it (Exodus 17:11). After the battle "Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner" (Exodus 17:15, ESV): יְהוָה נִסִּי (YHWH nissi), from נֵס (nes, H5251), a pole or standard raised where an army can see it.

The same word is the pole Moses set the bronze serpent on: "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8, ESV). Isaiah uses it of the coming King, "the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples" (Isaiah 11:10, ESV). As the Snake Was Lifted Up traces the word from the pole to the cross.

Reading the three together as one picture of Christ is this study's own reading. No verse cites another, and Jesus names only the serpent (John 3:14). The reading rests on the text. Each nes is raised where people in danger can see it: over a battle Israel could not win alone, over a camp dying of snakebite, and over the nations. Each time, what is lifted up saves those who look to it. In Exodus 17 the battle was fought by Joshua (Exodus 17:9), the first man in Scripture to bear the name Jesus was later given, while Moses stood on the hill with "the staff of God" (Exodus 17:9, ESV). Israel's banner over that battle was God Himself, and the pole God told Moses to raise in the camp foreshadowed His Son lifted up for all to see.

The LORD is peace, to Gideon

Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites when the angel of the LORD called him a mighty man of valour. When Gideon realised who had been speaking with him, he expected to die:

✝️ Judges 6:22-24 (ESV)

22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die." 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם (YHWH shalom, H7965). A frightened man who had seen God and expected to die was given peace, and he named the altar after what God had said.

The LORD of hosts, on Hannah's lips

יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (YHWH tsevaot, H6635), "the LORD of hosts", is the title of the God who commands the armies of heaven. The two words stand together 240 times in one Hebrew text (WLC), 261 counting "the LORD God of hosts". The first is 1 Samuel 1:3, where Elkanah goes up to worship the LORD of hosts at Shiloh. The second is the first time anyone speaks it to God, and it is a barren woman praying:

✝️ 1 Samuel 1:10-11 (ESV)

10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head."

Hannah, mocked for years by her husband's other wife, appealed to the Commander of heaven's armies for one son. He gave her Samuel. The seraphim cry the same name in Isaiah's vision: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 6:3, ESV).

Names the prophets gave the coming King

The prophets, writing as Judah's kings failed, gave the King God promised to send names that belong to God.

Immanuel

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14, ESV): עִמָּנוּ אֵל (immanu el, H6005), "with us is God". Matthew quotes it of Jesus' birth and translates it, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23, ESV). The promise of Exodus 3:12, "I will be with you", took flesh.

Mighty God

Isaiah gave the child born to the house of David four names: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6, ESV). "Mighty God" is אֵל גִּבּוֹר (El gibbor, H1368). Isaiah's next use of the phrase is about the LORD Himself: "A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God" (Isaiah 10:21, ESV). So Isaiah gave the child a title he uses for God, one chapter later.

The LORD is our righteousness

✝️ Jeremiah 23:5-6 (ESV)

5 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'

יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ (YHWH tsidkenu, H6664). The Branch from David's line bears the divine name. Ten chapters later Jeremiah gives the same name to the city: "this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness'" (Jeremiah 33:16, ESV). The King's righteousness becomes His people's. Paul says how: God "made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV), and Christ Jesus "became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30, ESV). This is justification, God counting His Son's righteousness as yours.

The name above every name

Jesus: the LORD saves

Moses renamed his assistant: "Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua" (Numbers 13:16, ESV). He added God's name to the front of it. הוֹשֵׁעַ (Hoshea, H1954), "salvation", became יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshua, H3091), "the LORD saves". After the exile the name was shortened to יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua, H3442; Nehemiah 8:17), and the Septuagint writes Joshua's name in Greek as Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous, G2424), the name the New Testament gives Jesus.

The angel told Joseph to give Mary's son that name and said what it meant: "you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21, ESV). Every name in this study is something God did for someone. This one says what the Son of God came to do for you.

The Son speaks the Father's names

On the cross Jesus prayed the first word on the word cards: "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46, ESV), the opening of Psalm 22. He took the psalm of the forsaken as His own prayer.

He also spoke the name of the burning bush of Himself: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58, ESV). The Greek is ἐγὼ εἰμί (egō eimi, G1510), the words the Septuagint used at Exodus 3:14, and His hearers picked up stones (John 8:59). The Woman at the Well traces the "I am" sayings through John. Jesus also says the Father has given Him the name: "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me" (John 17:11, ESV).

Every knee, and everyone who calls

Through Isaiah the LORD swore by Himself that every knee would bow to Him:

✝️ Isaiah 45:23 (ESV)

23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.'

Paul quotes those words of Jesus:

✝️ Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV)

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The confession is κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, "Jesus Christ is Lord", and kyrios (G2962) is the word the Septuagint uses for the name YHWH. The name above every name is the LORD's own, given to the Son who humbled Himself; In Humility studies that passage. Paul does the same with Joel: "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" (Joel 2:32, ESV) becomes "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13, ESV), and the Lord in Romans 10:9 is Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 8:6 he finds Jesus inside the Shema itself; Read Your First Verse shows how.

One name

Jesus sent the apostles out "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19, ESV). "Name" is singular, εἰς τὸ ὄνομα (eis to onoma, G3686): one name, shared by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The God who told Moses "This is my name forever" is the Trinity, and believers are baptised into His name.

So every name meets in Jesus. In Him God is with us (Immanuel), sees and provides the Lamb (El Roi, YHWH Yireh), heals, is lifted up as the banner, gives peace, is our righteousness, and saves. The names were promises, and He has kept them. Call on Him by name, and you will be saved. The Names of Jesus follows the names the rest of Scripture gives Him.

Discussion questions

1. The language. God answers "Who am I?" with ehyeh, "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12), and gives His name with the same word two verses later (Exodus 3:14). What does it tell you about God that His name first reaches Moses as an answer to his fear?
2. The text in its context. God proclaimed His name in Exodus 34:6-7 to a people who had just made the golden calf. Why do you think He chose that moment to say what He is like?
3. The hard part. Exodus 6:3 says the patriarchs did not know God "by my name the LORD", yet Genesis 15:7 has God saying "I am the LORD" to Abram. Which reading of Exodus 6:3 do you find stronger, and why?
4. Christ. Jeremiah gives the name "The LORD is our righteousness" to the King (Jeremiah 23:6) and then to His city (Jeremiah 33:16). How does 2 Corinthians 5:21 explain how one name can belong to both?
5. Christ. Paul applies Isaiah 45:23, where the LORD swears that every knee will bow to Him, to Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11). What does that tell you about who Paul believed Jesus is?
6. Be transformed. Hagar, Hannah and Gideon each met God at the point where they had nothing left. Which of His names speaks to the place you are in now, and how will you pray it this week?

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Group study · 40 minutes

The Names of God

Exodus 3:13-15

The point God names Himself by what He does: almost every name He gave was spoken to someone at the end of their own resources, each is a promise He has kept, and all of them meet in Jesus, whose name means "the LORD saves".

0–5min

Ask: what comes to mind when you hear The Names of God? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

5–12minRead it aloud BSB

Exodus 3:13-15 ¹³Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

12–25minLook closer

What does it say?

What did it mean to them?

What does it mean for us?

The Names of God

The study in brief

1. "What is his name?" God answers Moses at the burning bush, and the answer is a promise to be with him: I will be · The LORD.
2. The name explained and Known by name, known by deed. God's own commentary on His name in Exodus 34, and what Exodus 6:3 means when it says the patriarchs did not know it, with the contested reading set out on both sides.
3. Names given in the hard places. Nine names from Genesis to 1 Samuel, each in the scene where it was given: God Almighty · Lord · God Most High · the God who sees and the LORD who will provide · the LORD your healer · the LORD is my banner · the LORD is peace · the LORD of hosts.
4. Names the prophets gave the coming King. Immanuel · Mighty God · The LORD is our righteousness.
5. The name above every name. How the New Testament gives the names to Jesus: Jesus: the LORD saves · The Son speaks the Father's names · Every knee, and everyone who calls · One name.

The Names of God

12–17minStep 1 · "What is his name?"

1The language. God answers "Who am I?" with ehyeh, "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12), and gives His name with the same word two verses later (Exodus 3:14). What does it tell you about God that His name first reaches Moses as an answer to his fear?

17–26minStep 2 · The name explained

2The text in its context. God proclaimed His name in Exodus 34:6-7 to a people who had just made the golden calf. Why do you think He chose that moment to say what He is like?

3The hard part. Exodus 6:3 says the patriarchs did not know God "by my name the LORD", yet Genesis 15:7 has God saying "I am the LORD" to Abram. Which reading of Exodus 6:3 do you find stronger, and why?

Step 3 · Names given in the hard places

26–30minStep 4 · Names the prophets gave the coming King

4Christ. Jeremiah gives the name "The LORD is our righteousness" to the King (Jeremiah 23:6) and then to His city (Jeremiah 33:16). How does 2 Corinthians 5:21 explain how one name can belong to both?

30–35minStep 5 · The name above every name

5Christ. Paul applies Isaiah 45:23, where the LORD swears that every knee will bow to Him, to Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11). What does that tell you about who Paul believed Jesus is?

The Names of God

35–40minBe transformed

6Be transformed. Hagar, Hannah and Gideon each met God at the point where they had nothing left. Which of His names speaks to the place you are in now, and how will you pray it this week?

• Think. God's names are promises with His character behind them. When you read "the LORD", read the God of Exodus 34:6, who said what He is like and has kept His word.
• Attitude. Most of these names were given to someone with nothing left: a childless couple, a runaway slave, a frightened farmer, a people with bitter water. Your own empty place is where God has always made Himself known.
• Do. Learn one name this week with the word cards, read the passage where God gave it, and pray it back to Him by name, as Moses prayed Exodus 34:6-7 back to God when Israel had sinned again (Numbers 14:17-19).

Memory verse

This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Exodus 3:15 (ESV)

Pray together

LORD, You told Moses Your name and kept every promise it carried. You saw Hagar, You provided the lamb, You healed the water and You gave Gideon peace. You have given Your name to Your Son Jesus, and every knee will bow to Him. I call on that name now: save me, see me, and be my righteousness. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Notes

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/god/names-of-god/

Group study · step by step

The Names of God

Exodus 3:13-15

Open Ask: what comes to mind when you hear The Names of God? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

Read it aloud Exodus 3:13-15

Step 1"What is his name?" — God answers Moses at the burning bush, and the answer is a promise to be with him: I will be · The LORD.Key verses: Exodus 3:11-15

1The language. God answers "Who am I?" with ehyeh, "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12), and gives His name with the same word two verses later (Exodus 3:14). What does it tell you about God that His name first reaches Moses as an answer to his fear?

Step 2The name explained — and Known by name, known by deed. God's own commentary on His name in Exodus 34, and what Exodus 6:3 means when it says the patriarchs did not know it, with the contested reading set out on both sides.

2The text in its context. God proclaimed His name in Exodus 34:6-7 to a people who had just made the golden calf. Why do you think He chose that moment to say what He is like?

3The hard part. Exodus 6:3 says the patriarchs did not know God "by my name the LORD", yet Genesis 15:7 has God saying "I am the LORD" to Abram. Which reading of Exodus 6:3 do you find stronger, and why?

Step 3Names given in the hard places — Nine names from Genesis to 1 Samuel, each in the scene where it was given: God Almighty · Lord · God Most High · the God who sees and the LORD who will provide · the LORD your healer · the LORD is my banner · the LORD is peace · the LORD of hosts.Key verses: Genesis 16:13; Exodus 15:26; Judges 6:22-24

Step 4Names the prophets gave the coming King — Immanuel · Mighty God · The LORD is our righteousness.Key verses: Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 23:5-6

4Christ. Jeremiah gives the name "The LORD is our righteousness" to the King (Jeremiah 23:6) and then to His city (Jeremiah 33:16). How does 2 Corinthians 5:21 explain how one name can belong to both?

Step 5The name above every name — How the New Testament gives the names to Jesus: Jesus: the LORD saves · The Son speaks the Father's names · Every knee, and everyone who calls · One name.Key verses: Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:9-11; Isaiah 45:23

5Christ. Paul applies Isaiah 45:23, where the LORD swears that every knee will bow to Him, to Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11). What does that tell you about who Paul believed Jesus is?

Be transformed

6Be transformed. Hagar, Hannah and Gideon each met God at the point where they had nothing left. Which of His names speaks to the place you are in now, and how will you pray it this week?

• Think. God's names are promises with His character behind them. When you read "the LORD", read the God of Exodus 34:6, who said what He is like and has kept His word.
• Attitude. Most of these names were given to someone with nothing left: a childless couple, a runaway slave, a frightened farmer, a people with bitter water. Your own empty place is where God has always made Himself known.
• Do. Learn one name this week with the word cards, read the passage where God gave it, and pray it back to Him by name, as Moses prayed Exodus 34:6-7 back to God when Israel had sinned again (Numbers 14:17-19).

The Names of God

The point God names Himself by what He does: almost every name He gave was spoken to someone at the end of their own resources, each is a promise He has kept, and all of them meet in Jesus, whose name means "the LORD saves".

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/god/names-of-god/

References & Recommended Reading

• Hebrew text and counts. Westminster Leningrad Codex via MACULA Hebrew (Clear Bible), and STEPBible TAHOT (CC BY) for the pointed forms. Counts are for one Hebrew text (WLC): YHWH (H3068) 6,513; Adonai (H136) 438; Shaddai (H7706) 48; YHWH tsevaot 240 as adjacent words, 261 with "the LORD God of hosts".
• Greek. Brenton's Septuagint (Exodus 3:14; Numbers 13:16; Genesis 17:1; Ruth 1:20; Job 5:17; Isaiah 45:23; Joel 3:5); SBL Greek New Testament.
• Lexicons. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Moody), entry 2333 on Shaddai; Strong's numbers as tagged.
• Study Bibles consulted. ESV Study Bible (Crossway), notes on Exodus 3:13-15 and 6:2-8; footnotes in the CSB, LSB and NLT at Exodus 3:14.
• Translation. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible unless marked. Septuagint quotations are Brenton's.

On this site

• The Names of God word cards: the same names to learn in Hebrew.
• How Hebrew Is Pronounced: how the divine name is read aloud.
• Read Your First Verse: the Shema: Deuteronomy 6:4 word by word.
• Those Called Gods: the range of elohim.
• Know the Truth: emet, the faithfulness of Exodus 34:6.
• The Lord's Prayer: "Hallowed be your name".
• Jesus, Priest in the Order of Melchizedek: God Most High.
• As the Snake Was Lifted Up: the nes and the cross.
• The Woman at the Well: the first "I am" in John.
• In Humility: Philippians 2 and the name above every name.
• The Names of Jesus: the names the prophets, the apostles and Jesus Himself give the Son.
• The Names of the Holy Spirit: the names of the Spirit, by whom you call God "Abba! Father!"