“Great and awesome God” is one of several descriptive names of God that speak of His might and power.
The Hebrew word gadol refers to greatness in size and importance and relates to magnify which is also used of God, a call to increase His status (Ps. 40:16).
The Hebrew word for “awesome” is related to the word for fear (yare’). While that word certainly stands for the emotional reaction to or intellectual anticipation of evil, it can also mean reverence or awe. A healthy relationship with God does not require cowering in terror, but taking Him at His word. We should live to please Him, not simply to avoid punishment.
Great and awesome God in the Hebrew text of Deuteronomy 7:21.
Great and Awesome God in Hebrew:
Ha’El haggadol wehannora’
Strong’s Concordance numbers: 410, 1419, 3372a
Bible references: Deut. 7:21; Neh. 1:5; Dan. 9:4
There are a number of variations in the English versions that reflect the broad meaning of the words “great” and “awesome.”
You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. (Deuteronomy 7:21)
Similar names for God are the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, the Great and mighty God, and simply the great God.
