Elohiym
The following is an excerpt from the book The Living Words.
If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods.Exodus 22:8 (KJV)
A judge is one who possesses great "power" and "authority." The Hebrew word behind the word "judges" in the passage above is אל הים elohiym [H:430], the plural form of the word אל וה elo’ah [H:433]. You may notice the first two letters of this word is the word אל el [H:410], meaning "mighty one," which we discussed in the last section. Because the word elo’ah is derived from el, they are very similar in meaning.
The word elo’ah, "one of power and authority," can also be applied to God or any other god.
Oh that I might have my request; and that God (elo’ah) would grant me the thing that I long for! Job 6:8 (KJV)
Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god (elo’ah). Habakkuk 1:11 (ASV)
The word אל הים elohiym [H:430], the plural form of אל וה elo’ah [H:433], is frequently used as a proper name for Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth.
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth in their filling, in the day that Yahweh Elohiym made the earth and the heavens.Genesis 2:4
The "power and authority" of Yahweh can be, and is, passed on to others as we see in the following verse.
And Yahweh said unto Moses, "See, I have given you Elohiym for Pharaoh: and Aaron your brother will be your prophet." Exodus 7:1
What does Yahweh mean by "See I have given you"? Is there something physical about Moses that Yahweh gave to him which could have been "seen" showing his "power and authority"? In our discussion of the word אל el [H:410], we learned this word represented horns of power and the staff of authority. Did Moses also have these symbols?
And Yahweh said to [Moses], "What is this in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." And he said, "Cast it down to the ground" and he cast it down to the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it. Exodus 4:2,3
Yahweh took an ordinary staff of a shepherd, turned it into an instrument of power and authority and gave it to Moses to do great miracles. We do know Moses did carry a staff representing his authority, but what about the horns?
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw
Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.Exodus 34:29,30 (ASV)
In this verse, we find there was a physical change in Moses which created fear in the people. Was it just a light coming off him that generated this fear? No—as we shall see, the above translation "skin of his face shone," is a poor translation of the Hebrew. The Hebrew word translated as "shone" is קרן qaran [7160], which literally means "to have horns."
Interestingly, many paintings and sculptures of Moses depict him with horns such as in Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses.
It has been speculated the "horns" on Moses’ face are "rays" of light that shone from his face, hence the translation we read in all English Bibles. However, there are other Hebrew words meaning "to shine" and if that was what the author had intended, he would have used one of those. Instead, he deliberately chose to use the word qaran to show Moses was indeed one of power and authority. This is an example of my reasons for desiring a "mechanical" and "literal" translation of the Hebrew Bible, so the reader can read the text without the translators’ bias being interjected into the text.
In my book His Name is One I go into detail about the different names of God. In the next section, I am taking an excerpt from that book.
The following is an excerpt from the book Ancient Hebrew Dictionary.
The plural form of elo'ah, meaning power, is elohiym and is often translated as Elohiym. While English plurals only identify quantity, as in more than one, the Hebrew plural can identify quantity as well as quality. Something that is of great size or stature can be written in the plural form. Elohiym is the one of great strength and authority.
http://www.mechanical-translation.org/mt/articles_names.html#5527