Acts17apologetics looking for plurals; Does elohim indicate Trinity?

In answer to the video "Mohammed Hijab Goes to Hebrew School"

Jews often used fatherly and godly names to describe all sort of things: in 2Corin4:4,Exod7:1 Satan, Moses are called god (theos, elohim). When Moses was made "elohim to Pharaoh", his nature was not reconfigured into 3 entities in 1. Similarly, in the beginning elohim created the universes Gen1:1. 

The plural elohim does not denote a plurality of God's nature. If the meaning of this word were to be plural, then the verbs would agree, also being in the plural. The word for "created" is "barah" in the singular. And although Elohim is followed by the plural k'doshim, the very next word after it is the singular "he" pronoun, referring to God. The use of the plural simply is a literary device to evoke grandeur and majesty, and is often used in the Tanakh and the Quranic language as well.
The "im" at the end of Eloh-im is an intensive construct of the singular Eloah ps18:32,114:7 as is used at the end of many words that are not plural Gen19:11(blindnesses), Lev19:24(praises), Ps45:15(gladnesses), Ezek25:17(vengences). 

To know if elohim is singular or plural it must be in a sentence where it either receives a plural suffix, a plural verb, a plural adjective. The only times where Elohim is followed by plural verbs is when referring to heathen deities Exod20:3, which ironically could be seen as a little hint to those who use that literary construct to defend a concept seen by many as pagan. The other times where elohim is followed by plural is when the addressee is a heathen as in Gen20:13, where Abraham speaks to Abimelech. Everywhere else in the surrounding text the singular verb form is used with elohim. The same is the case with the plural adjective hayyim connected to the majestic plural elohim in Sam17:26,36,Jer10:10,23:36 while all surrounding verbs with Elohim are in the singular. It is to be noted that the singular form of "hayyim" is used elsewhere with Elohim 2Kings19:4,16,Isa37:4,17. Elohim, when referring to God in the Greek of the NT is always the singular "theos". 

YHWH speaks of Himself as “I” and “Me” and is referred to as “You” (singular) and “He” and “Him” thousands of times. Elohim simply doesnt hint to 2,3, or a million godhead within one, so it offers no support for the trinity.

When it is translated in the plural for example Ps8:5,82:1,Exod18:11,21:6,22:8,9,Gen35:2,and in all these cases nobody will think elohim constitutes a plurality of persons within one. When elohim is translated in the singular Ex22:20,1Sam28:12-13 again no trinitarian will say the english translation of the word constitutes a plurality of persons within one.

For a comparison, let us now see how the Quran makes use of that same literary device.

4:64,21:25,67:17-18,70:40-1,31:10-11,25:45"Have you not considered (the work of) your Lord, how He extends the shade? And if He had pleased He would certainly have made it stationary; then We have made the sun an indication of it"

As so often in the Quran, the sudden change, within one and the same sentence, from the pronoun We or I to He, or from We to God, breaks the monotony of the speech and thus keeps the reader/audience's attention alert. Besides that literary purpose, its higher, spiritual meaning is to impress upon the listener or reader the notion that God is not a person but an all-embracing Power that cannot be precisely defined or even adequately referred to within the limited range of any human language 

16:51"And Allah has said: Take not two gods, He is only one Allah; so of Me alone should you be afraid". 

This is a typical example of the well known and established pre-islamic style of iltifat. A dim resemblence of that ancient mode of expression can even be found in the Hebrew Bible, for example 

Zech10:12"And I will strengthen them by the Lord, and by His Name they shall walk, says the Lord". 

See also Ps50:22-23,81:17. Here again the text shifts midsentence between God and the prophet, sometimes overlapping in a way that makes unclear who the speaker is Isa10:12,Jer8:17-9:1,11:17,Amos3:1-7.

Iltifat means transition, but the Quran makes its former use by the masters of poetry of the time pale in comparison. Here is another example 

15:95-99"Surely We will suffice you against the scoffers. Those who set up another god with Allah, so they shall soon know. And surely, We know that your breast straitens at what they say. Therefore celebrate the praise of your Lord, and be of those who make obedience". 

God is here mentioned more than once and through different pronouns, so that we have a multiplicity of viewpoints:
- the 1st person plural of majesty to assure the Prophet "We will suffice you". It is an established style in classical Arabic to refer to a powerful, authoritative entity in the plural 23:99. God of course does not need to convey His royalty through such words; it is the people who need it. Semitic languages used the plural to convey the sense of majesty since before the Torah or the Quran. God communicates with the people in the language they understand, and so He chose to convey the notion of majesty in those terms as well, but with higher eloquence. Something interesting is that the Quran, a Book that uniquivocally stresses divine unity, protects the concept so as to avoid any ambiguity whenever the 1st person plural (never the 2nd or 3rd persons plural) WE/NAHNU is used. The direct context immidiately states that God is One, either through the use of the singular Allah/Rabb, or through, elaboration or switch in pronouns, as in 

17:2"And WE gave Musa the Book and made it a guidance to the Children of Israel, saying; do not take a protector besides ME (not US)". 

Something else to keep in mind is that, the prophets who conveyed these revelations in which God uses the royal plural in reference to Himself, never spoke of God indirectly with a 3rd person plural pronoun "they" or "them". The Quran took the concept of royal plural, which was well known in semitic languages (see for example the HB in Mal1:6,Gen3:22,Gen24:9,Ex7:1) to a different, sophisticated literary level.  

- the second viewpoint that the style of iltifat offers in that passage 15:95-99 is that of the mockers. They serve another God beside Allah "Those who set up another god with Allah". God is here distancing Himself from them. This style is called tabaaid in Arabic, or distancing, meant at expressing the speaker's discust towards the addressees who arent worthy of being directly spoken to. 

- and the 3rd viewpoint that the style of iltifat offers in that verse is that of the Prophet, he should serve his caring, reassuring Lord and Sustainer "We know that your breast straitens at what they say".

A longer statement would have been needed to convey these implicit meanings had "normal" grammatical rules been followed. 

There is a reason why the masters of eloquence of the time could not but call the Quran magic and sorcery. Just as was done above with a few examples, a close examination of all instances where these shifts occur in person/numbers/addressees/verb tenses/case marker/noun instead of pronoun, etc, shows that they follow similar patterns, and are not haphazardly injected in the flow of the text. 

Another sub category of iltifat is the use of nouns instead of pronouns. The aim is to create a sense of exclusivity. For example in 2:115 where Allah's name is repeated 3 times instead of using a pronoun. Stating the name of Allah, moreover, in the 3 successive statements makes each statement absolute, independent and quotable.

The entire Quran is a discourse from Allah alone, transmitted to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. It isnt God's autobiography for it to be cast wholly in the form of 'I' and 'me'. It quotes many different speakers, past, contemporaries to it, or future, like prophets, angels, regular believers or close companions of Muhammad, jinn, Iblis and more. It even sometimes quotes inanimate entities made to speak for a specific purpose. 

All this is achieved while actively interracting with the reader or audience, sometimes involving it in the flow of the discourse. It remains in all cases God's word, whoever it quotes, whoever it "commands to proclaim" as denoted with the recurrent "qul".

 When Allah speaks through the prophet starting with "qul", the words spoken afterwards do not become the words of the speaker, for example 

39:10"Qul (Say/Proclaim/Declare/State/Mention), “O My servants who have believed, fear your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good, and the earth of Allah is spacious. Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account."

 In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ezekiel is full of verses addressing the prophet beginning with "say".
By its nature as a flowing speech, it would be contrary to eloquence for the Quran to constantly cut its flow whenever it is about to quote a character, especially while relating a dialogue. That is why the text is highly elliptical, with eloquent and appropriate omissions that never disturb its flow and precision.  This dramatic style of the Quran puts the audience in a position where they seem to hear the words directly from the speakers — not through a narrator.

Many times the revelation quotes Allah directly, or another entity without starting with the "qul" formula or without "x person said or replied". The style and contextual indicators are therefore enough to determine who the speaker is, whether it is during an exchange between several interlocutors, or when it is reporting the statement of a single entity. That person is then either directly quoted, paraphrased, or instructed on what to say in a given situation, context or ritual. Among the examples concerning the believers specifically, the Quran instructs them how to start certain endeavors or suras of the book with the "bismilla", or teaches them either within a larger sura or in a complete sura, like sura fatiha, how to verbally seek Allah's guidance.

 In the HB God says to Moses 

Ex33:19"I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you"

 ie I will teach you how to worship Me. In the book of Jeremiah, after a long admonishment, the prophet begins quoting, without any transition, a prayer of repentance to be uttered by the believers Jer3:22-5. 

Iltifat is a device also used for other than God, and similarily for specific eloquent purposes such as the switches from 2nd to 3rd persons to create an effect of distancing of displeasure 16:72,47:23, distancing of honouring 30:38 or helplesness 10:22. The shift in addressees as in 17:63 with them/you creates a powerful effect: anyone that follows Satan at any time or place is thus addressed directly by God with this strong warning, rather than merely being informed that any one of 'them' will meet with such a reward. 

A further note on the concept of plural in reference to God in the HB. 

The HB describes God with singular pronouns over 11000 times. Singular pronouns tell us that God is a single Individual. The expression "let us" of Gen1:26 is isolated and doesnt indicate duality, trinity or a hundred members of the godhead. Again, the pluralization of words for intensification of the meaning is common in semitic languages. Many examples have already been given, and in different contexts, another one being Ezra 4:18. Just as Isa44:24 says it is Myself not Ourselves "who spread out the earth" Jesus says in Matt19:4,Mk10:6,13:19 etc that HE or God, not WE, created all things alone. And again in In Heb4:4 God not Jesus or the holy spirit rested from the work of creation. Similarly in 

Job38:4"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?"

 not We.

  
The Midrash Rabbah cited in Rashi’s commentary on 

Gen1:26"Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonathan: At the time when Moses was engaged in writing the Torah, he had to set down what happened on each (of the six) days of creation. When he got to the verse "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness' " (Gen. 1:26), Moses said before Him: "Master of the universe, why do You give heretics an excuse? (they will say that there are numerous deities!)" He replied: "You write! and whoever wishes to err, let him err.""