Hebrew/English Words: Meanings

[Christina]

Amen (אמן amen, Strong's #543): World wide this is the most famous of all Hebrew words. But, do we know what it means? This word comes from the root aman [str:539], pronounced ah-mahn, and means to be firmly planted in place such as can be seen Isaiah 22:23 which speaks of a "nail fastened to a secure place." The noun form, amen, pronounced ah-mehn, is used in the Biblical text by persons who are affirming a statement. In other words, they are saying I am firmly agreeing with what has been said. The next time we say amen, let's think about what we are agreeing to.

 

[Christina]

Tree (עץ eyts, Strong's # 6086: When we think of a tree an image comes to mind but, when the Hebrews who wrote the Bible think of a tree an action comes to mind. This is one of the foundational differences between Ancient Hebrew and Modern Western thought. The Hebrew word eyts represents a tree but more the action of lifting up with support, the function of the trunk and branches of the tree. Other words related to this one also have this same active meaning. The word atseh [str:6096] is the spine, eytsah [str:6098] is a council and etsem [str:6106] is the word for bones.

 

[Christina]

Wind (רוח ru'ahh, Strong's #7307): In Hebrew thought the wind can be many things. It is the wind that blows in the sky, it can be the breath of man or animals and it is also the breath of God. In Hebrew thought your breath is your character or essence it is what makes you, you. The breath, or wind of God is his character or essence. In the same way that our breath is like a wind, God is like a wind. God is not an individual person that exists as we do, he is everywhere just like the wind is everywhere. Many times the Hebrew word ru'ahh is translated as spirit

 

[cedarhart]

In my studies, I have also been taught that "Amen" is indicative of stating, "That's that", which supports Strong's. It is stating that things are finished and done. Very precious. Love the post, thank you.

 

[Christina]

Ear (אוזן ozen, Strong's #241): This is the Hebrew word for the 'ear' (see Exodus 21:6). A Hebrew's speech is often strange to us so the translators 'fix' the text so that it can be more 'modern' but in some cases the original Hebrew is much more interesting. For instance, in Numbers 11:1 the KJV says "And when the people complained it displeased the LORD." The Hebrew literally reads "And the people were murmuring and it was bad in the ear of Yahweh." The verb related to this is azan [str:238] meaning 'to give an ear' or 'to hear.' Interestingly, the Hebrew word for a balance is mozen [str:3976], derived from ozen. Why would a balance be related to the Hebrew word for an 'ear?' Could the ancients have understood that a person's inner 'ear' included a mechanism for determining balance?

 

[Christina]

Proverb (משל mashal, Strong's #4912): A ruler is someone or something that defines a standard of measure. This can be a stick with incremental lines on it for measuring or a person who defines the standard by which people live by. The Hebrew verb meaning 'to rule' is mashal and when used in the participle form it means a ruler, or one who rules. (Possibly the origin of our word marshal?) The noun form, also pronounced mashal is a parable, or proverb. The function of a parable or proverb is to define a standard of measure that one is to live by. For example, In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:6).

 

[Christina]

Shadow of Death (צלמות tsalmavet, Strong's #6757): The Hebrew language rarely includes compound words (two words put together to form one word). One of those few compound words in Hebrew is tsalmavet which is the word tsal [str:6738] meaning "shadow" and mavet [str:4194] meaning "death." The "shadow of death" is despair, danger or tragedy which is understood as a deep impenetrable darkness.

 

[Christina]

Fear (ירא yarey, Strong's #3372): The concrete Hebraic meaning of this verb is "to flow." It is related to the word yorehh [str:3138] meaning "first rain" and ye'or [str:2975] meaning "stream." When you are seriously afraid of something, you can feel your insides "flowing." This is the meaning of this word but is usually translated simply as "fear

 

[Christina]

Psalm 1:6כי יודע יהוה דרך צדיקים ודרך רשעים תאבד For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (RSV )This translation is filled with abstract words which require mental understanding alone. The ancient Hebrews on the other hand used physical images of action to express ideas. It is our goal here to discover these physical images in order to reveal the true meaning behind the translation. כי (kiy)This word means "because" and is used to explain what came previously. יודע (yo-dey-ah)This is the verb yada meaning "to know" but written in the participle form meaning "knowing" a present action. In Hebrew the verb yada means much more than to know. It means to have an intimate and interactive relationship with its subject. יהוה (yhwh)This is the name of God. There are many theories as to the origin and meaning of this name but most likely comes from the verb HWH (hawah) meaning to exist. The yud added to the beginning identifies the object of the verb as first person, masculine, singular, imperfect tense or "he exists". דרך (de-rekh)While this word is often translated as "way" implying a course of action it is more literally a "road" which is traveled to a destination. צדיקים (tsa-diy-qiym)This is the word we discussed in the "Word of the Month" meaning "one who walks the straight path". The "iym" is the masculine plural suffix. ודרך (ve-de-rekh)The previx "ve" means "and" and the again we have the word meaning a road. רשעים (re-shah-iym)The base word is "rasha" and was also mentioned in the "Word of the Month" above. It means one who has strayed from the path and become lost. The "iym" is the masculine plural suffix. תאבד (to-ved)The base word is the verb avad. This word is usually translated as perish or destroyed but literally means to be lost in the sense of wandering around in bewilderment or despair out of sight of others. The prefix "to" identifies the object of the verb as third person, feminine, singular, imperfect tense or "she is lost" or "she will be lost". The object of the verb is the "derek" (a feminine word) of the "rasha". Below is a translation of this verse from a Hebraic perspective.Psalm 1:6Because the one who exists is intimately familiar with the road of the ones who remain on the path and the road of the ones who stray from the path is lost from his sight. Psalm 1:6For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (RSV )

 

[Lookin4wardtoHeaven]

(((Christina)))Thank you.This so fascinating to me. I can see how it all comes together

and as always you did a wonderful job at explaining it.

 

[Jordan]

QUOTE (Lookin'4wardtoHeaven @ Mar 24 2009, 01:09 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=71245
(((Christina)))Thank you.This so fascinating to me. I can see how it all comes together

and as always you did a wonderful job at explaining it.
Lookin'4ward, I'm glad we can help you as much possible we can. Yes God's Words is truly awe inspiring.