Job 8:3

3. God… the Almighty אל , el, and שׁדי , shaddai. Though differing in form, the root idea of both is that of power. These, perhaps, were world-wide titles of God, while the name Jehovah was confined to the chosen people. Balaam (as well as the Gentile Job and his friends) uses the terms el and shaddai, (Numbers 24:4; Numbers 24:16,) and in a juxtaposition similar to that of our text. The latter name rarely appears in the later books of the Bible. it occurs nine times in the Pentateuch, twice in Ruth, thirty-one times in Job, and six times in all the other poets. The word shaddai is a plural of pre-eminence, probably from shadhadh, “to be strong.” Shaddai is the God who makes good his covenants, (Genesis 17:1, see note,) who everywhere enforces his will, punishes the wicked, and protects the just. Here for the first time appears the favourite thought of Job’s co-reasoners, that an almighty being cannot do wrong. Bildad, the apostle of inexorable law, contemplated God only through the attribute of his almightiness, from which justice is inseparable.