As pointed out by Father Girolamo Menghi in a classic, excellent book, The Scourge of Demons, there are many names for God.

According to Saint Jerome, the first Name of God is El.

Translators interpret this as meaning “Strong God.”

There are also Elohim and Eloa.

Elohim in particular evokes power. And no wonder. It means “God Himself.”

During exorcisms, these names greatly agitate foul spirits.

Interesting is a fourth name: Sabaoth, which is rendered as “of virtues” or “of armies.”

Armies of the night.

The fifth name he lists is Elom, which means “Most High.”

The sixth name is Efe heie (see the Book of Exodus) and the seventh Adonai, generally translated as simply “Lord.”

There is Ya. There is Tetragrammaton, which the Hebrew give as Jehovah and believe to be a name which cannot be spoken.

Could that belief have originated in the literal difficulty in quickly recalling or pronouncing “Tetragrammaton”?

Just asking.

“The tenth Name is Shaddai, which the Hebrews use to indicate ‘the God of Heaven,’ according to the translation of Aquila of Sinope [who made a literal translation of the Old Testament into Greek during the Second Century],” noted Father Menghi, who himself lived a while back (1529-1609).

More on his fascinating book shortly.

But for now, an appreciation of how difficult it is to capture the omnipotence and omnipresence of good, the all-encompassing endless Light and Love, of God.

[resources: The Scourge of Demons]