Even in modern Hebrew the ending "-him" indicates plural. Same as "-s" in English. I find it strange that ancient Hebrew would use a plural word form for a singular entity. Even the whole quote (which I had read of course) doesn't explain why this should be so. My guess is still that it was blasphemy to change the noun used in the original script but it was necessary to change the verb once the political situation demanded a single god. Can you provide an alternative explanation? Are there any other words in Hebrew that have the plural form but are treated gramatically as singular?