Wikipedia's first sentence called it “traditionally rendered in samaritan hebrew as illiyyon”. Today it says “epithet that appears in the hebrew bible and in other ancient writings”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Name of God in Judaism”. It now reads “Honorific title of Jewish God”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Elyon : The name or epithet or word ‘Elyôn ( Masoretic pronunciation of Hebrew עליון ), is traditionally rendered in Samaritan Hebrew as illiyyon , and means something like 'higher, upper'. It derives from the Hebrew root ‘lh , Semitic root ‘ly 'go up, ascend'. ‘Elyôn when is means God or is applied to God is often translated 'Most High'. The Septuagint renders it as ὕψιστος ( hýpsistos 'most high').1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16584612.
The opening as it stood in 2010 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Elyon ( Biblical Hebrew עליון' ; Masoretic ʿElyōn ; traditionally rendered in Samaritan as illiyyon ) is an epithet of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible . ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered as English "God Most High".The Septuagint translation is ὕψιστος "highest".It derives from the Hebrew root ʿly "go up, ascend".The term also has mundane uses, referring simply to the position of objects, e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40.17, or to a chamber in Ezekiel 42.5.The critical scholar and Reform rabbi Abraham Geiger asserted that Elyōn was a word of late origin, dating it to the time of the Maccabees .However, its use in the Ras Shamra tablets has proven it to be pre-Mosaic (Hertz 1936) Elyon is also used by Christian fiction writer Ted Dekker to refer to God in Thomas Hunter's dreams in the Circle books: Black, White, Red, and Green; as well as other books that connect to this saga.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370946709.
The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Elyon ( Biblical Hebrew עליון ; Masoretic ʿElyōn ; traditionally rendered in Samaritan as illiyyon ) is an epithet of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible . ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as "Ο ΘΕΟΣ Ο ΥΨΙΣΤΟΣ" ("God the highest"). The critical scholar and Reform rabbi Abraham Geiger asserted that Elyōn was a word of late origin, dating it to the time of the Maccabees . However, its use in the Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria ) tablets has proven it to be pre-Mosaic (Hertz 1936).The term also has mundane uses, such as " upper " (where the ending in both roots is a locative , not superlative or comparative ), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40.17 or to a chamber in Ezekiel 42.5).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665571759.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Name of God in Judaism Elyon ( Biblical Hebrew ; Masoretic ʿElyōn ) is an epithet of the God of the Israelites in the Hebrew Bible . ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as ὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος ("God the highest"). The term also has mundane uses, such as " upper " (where the ending in both roots is a locative , not superlative or comparative ), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40.17 or to a chamber in Ezekiel 42.5).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 938691937.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Name of God in Judaism "Most High" redirects here. Elyon ( ʿElyōn ) is an epithet of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible . ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as ὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος ("God the highest"). The term also has mundane uses, such as " upper " (where the ending in both roots is a locative , not superlative or comparative ), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40:17 or to a chamber in Ezekiel 42:5). This is also spelled as ' Elliyoun' and spelled in Arabic and Farsi as علیون
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177393249.
The opening as it stood in 2025 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Honorific title of Jewish God "Most High" redirects here.Elyon or El Elyon ( Hebrew : אֵל עֶלְיוֹן ʼĒl ʻElyōn ), is an epithet that appears in the Hebrew Bible . ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as ὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος ("God the highest").The title ʿElyōn is a common topic of scholarly debate, sometimes interpreted as equal to the Abrahamic God , and otherwise theorized as a reference to a separate deity of its own kind, potentially above that of Yahweh . Outside of biblical context, the term also has mundane uses, such as " upper " (where the ending in both roots is a locative , not superlative or comparative ), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40:17 or to a chamber in Ezekiel 42:5).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1289041262. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “traditionally rendered in samaritan hebrew as illiyyon”. Today it says “epithet that appears in the hebrew bible and in other ancient writings”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Name of God in Judaism”. It now reads “Honorific title of Jewish God”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
traditionally rendered in samaritan hebrew as illiyyon
Now
epithet that appears in the hebrew bible and in other ancient writings
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
