Exodus 6:2-3 vs. “El Shaddai”

Amy Grant · checked 2026-09-06

What we checked

PassageExodus 6:2-3 chapter ↗

Translation shownWEB (public domain)

Presents itself asinspired-by

Categorynot a quote

AlbumAge to Age · 1982

Words addressed toGod, person unspecified

Teaching or experiencemixed

Graded against the standard

Quotation criteria not graded: this song never presents its words as scripture

Applies to every song the Name held holy · God shown holy · true of God · the standard

✓Reverent treatment

✓ What's good

The Hebrew titles are real Old Testament names for God, used as address and praise. God Almighty stands in Genesis 17:1 and Exodus 6:3. God Most High stands in Genesis 14
Nothing is presented as a quotation. No verse is put in God's mouth, and the song never says its Hebrew is a verse
The events the verses retell have addresses in the text: Abraham and Isaac, the rescue from Egypt, and the coming of the Messiah
The songwriter's own gloss of the Hebrew phrase is on the record, reported and examined by an Old Testament scholar, so it can be checked instead of guessed at

⚠ Cautions

One sung Hebrew phrase is an adapted spelling. An Old Testament professor shows it does not match the Hebrew of Psalm 18:1, which is the verse behind it
The same professor says the verb in Psalm 18:1 is first person, and that the right rendering is “I love you.” The gloss he reports from the songwriter is plural
The chorus stacks names scripture gives at different points. Exodus 6:3 says the patriarchs knew God as God Almighty and not by the name Yahweh
The scripture references you will see for this song are supplied by others. Hymnary lists Genesis 17:1-2 and 2 Corinthians 3:14-15. The song's own words point at no verse

Verse Proof

Exodus 6:2-3

The text in WEB (public domain)

“God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am Yahweh; and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.”

God speaks to Moses in Egypt, just after Moses' first approach to Pharaoh made things worse. Moses had asked God why He had not rescued anyone (Exodus 5:22-23). God answers by naming Himself. He says the patriarchs knew Him as God Almighty, and that He did not make Himself known to them by the name Yahweh. The speech then promises the rescue from Egypt and the land (Exodus 6:4-8).

What the song says, described not quoted

The chorus is built out of Hebrew titles for God. El Shaddai, El Elyon and Adonai carry it, with a short Hebrew phrase of love set among them. English lines sit around the Hebrew. The verses walk through Israel's story. They touch God's dealings with Abraham and Isaac, the parting of the sea in the exodus from Egypt, and the coming of the Messiah. The refrain says God does not change from one age to the next, and Grant's album took its name from the song's words. The song's own words name no chapter and verse. The scripture references you will see attached to it, such as Hymnary's, are supplied by hymnal editors and reviewers.

Nothing here is offered as a quotation, so nothing is misquoted. What moves is the packaging. Scripture gives these names at points in a story, each with a setting around it. The song gathers them into one line, in Hebrew, without those settings. And one of the Hebrew phrases is an adapted form rather than the wording of the verse behind it.

· Not a quote: The song never presents its words as scripture. It names God by Hebrew titles the Old Testament uses, and the events it retells are ones the text records. One sung Hebrew phrase is an adapted form of Psalm 18:1, not the wording of that verse.

▸ Official upload. Now listen with the proof in mind.

Sung Hebrew is not decoration. Somebody chose those letters, and you can look them up.

Why it matters

Most people who sing this song do not read Hebrew. The names go in as sound, and whatever they mean has to be learned somewhere else. That matters because these are God's own titles. The Bible is careful about them. Exodus 6:3 goes out of its way to say which name the patriarchs knew and which one they did not. Looking up the names is a small job, and it changes what the song is doing in you.

Is it safe to dwell on?

Sung on repeat, this song fixes your attention on God.

The dwelling tag is God, and the count is why. The words are almost all about God or spoken to Him: His names, His dealings with Abraham, the rescue at the sea, the Messiah's coming. What repetition plants here is a set of titles. Sung without their meanings, they plant a sound and a feeling. Sung with the meanings in hand, they plant true sentences about God: Almighty, Most High, Lord. One note about the deposit, and it is not about the music. One of the Hebrew phrases you repeat here is an adapted form. If you want the psalm's own words in you, read Psalm 18:1 alongside the song.

Helpful comparison

A handful of Hebrew words carries most of this song. Here is what each one is.

El Shaddai is usually rendered God Almighty. The derivation is debated. Proposals include mighty, the overpowerer, all-sufficient, and a link to an Akkadian word for mountain. It first appears at Genesis 17:1, when God speaks to Abram. The same pairing stands at Genesis 28:3, 35:11, 43:14 and 48:3, at Exodus 6:3, and at Ezekiel 10:5. Shaddai on its own, without El, runs all through Job.

El Elyon is God Most High. Genesis 14 has Melchizedek blessing Abram by God Most High. That is three chapters before God names Himself God Almighty to Abram in Genesis 17.

Adonai is my Lord, built on adon, the word for master. Jewish readers have long said Adonai aloud where the written text has the divine name. Many English Bibles keep the difference in print: LORD in small capitals where the Hebrew has that name, Lord where it has Adonai.

Na is a small word of entreaty. It can be rendered please, I pray, or now.

The love phrase is the one worth checking. It is an adapted form of Psalm 18:1. Dr. Claude Mariottini, an Old Testament professor, sets the song's spelling beside the Hebrew and names two problems with it. The Hebrew letter ח should come across as an h, not a k. A half vowel after the m is missing. He also notes the root, rāḥam, is the root of the Hebrew word for womb, and carries mercy and compassion. And he reports the gloss the songwriter gave when asked for the meaning, which makes the verb plural. The verb in Psalm 18:1 is first person. He also notes that the small word of entreaty in the sung phrase is not in Psalm 18:1 at all.

One more thing, which the passage above shows on its own. This site's three translations render the divine name here three different ways: Yahweh in the WEB, JEHOVAH in the King James, and the LORD in the BSB. Exodus 6:3 is a verse about a name. Which English word your Bible prints changes how plainly it reads.

Sources

Amy Grant — El Shaddai (Audio) · (the recording checked for this proof; oEmbed author_name "AmyGrantVEVO", title "Amy Grant - El Shaddai (Audio)")
Wikipedia — "El Shaddai" (song) · (written by Michael Card and John Thompson; recorded by Card on Legacy, 1981; Grant's version on Age to Age, 1982, Myrrh; Song of the Year and Card as Songwriter of the Year at the 1983 GMA Dove Awards; the album took its name from the song. The article's "Lyrics" section is flagged as unreferenced, so its Hebrew notes are not relied on here)
Hymnary.org — El Shaddai · (Michael Card and John Thompson, 1981; © 1981 Mole End Music; listed in hymnals; scripture references listed by Hymnary as Genesis 17:1-2 and 2 Corinthians 3:14-15)
UMC Discipleship Ministries — History of Hymns: "El Shaddai" · (quotes J. Hampton Keathley III on El Shaddai as "God Almighty" with an uncertain derivation, and El Elyon as "The Most High God"; describes the stanzas covering Abraham and Isaac, the parting of the waters in the deliverance from Egypt, and the Messiah)
Claude Mariottini — "Erkamka na Adonai" · (the phrase traced to Psalm 18:1; the root rāḥam and its link to the word for womb; the ח rendered as k rather than h; the missing half vowel; the verb as first person; na as a particle of entreaty; the gloss reported from Michael Card)
Bible Study Tools — What is the meaning of "El Shaddai"? · (the debated derivations: mighty, the overpowerer, all-sufficient, and the Akkadian shaddu for mountain; the name at Genesis 17:1, 28:3 and 35:11)
Blue Letter Bible — The Names of God: Adonai · (Adonai built on adon; used as a spoken substitute for the divine name)
The Berean Test — Michael Card, "El Shaddai" · (a review site's own scripture list for the song, including Genesis 17:1, Genesis 22:1-19, Exodus 14, Psalm 18:1 and Malachi 3:6)

Corrections

No corrections to this proof yet.

Think we got something wrong? Tell us what and where, and we will check it against the text. Real errors get fixed here, dated, in public. Every correction on the site →