The Bible
Glossary
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Introduction:
Ancient Hebrew is known mainly from the Bible, whose manuscripts are thought to
represent some 80% of all known source material for the ancient Hebrew language.
The occurence of the word `Lord' in the Bible in modern Bibles is a cause for shame in
that Jehovah's name has been wrongfully removed from these Bibles. Jehovah's name had great
significance in the history of God's people, and to treat this sacred name as if it could
be viewed lightly or even removed from the text altogether is ...... (you fill in the blank).
``And he proceeded to save them
for the sake of his name.'' (Psalm 106:8)
Numbers have symbolic significance in the Bible, and a glossary of numbers is given at the end of the word listing.
Bible Words:
Abram: Father is High [or Exalted], from the Hebrew.
Adam: A Hebrew word meaning earthling man.
Age: Period of time in man's history, from the Greek word `aion'.
Apocrypha: Greek, meaning things carefully concealed.
Arabah: Hebrew, meaning desert plain.
Beth-Arabah: Hebrew, House of the Desert Plain.
Bethel: In Hebrew, House of God.
Bethlehem: House of Bread, Hebrew.
Bible: Derived from the Greek word `biblia', meaning little books.
Blood: Sometimes used to mean bloodguilt, Hebrew dam, Greek `haima'.
Breath: In Hebrew ruach, the same as the Hebrew for spirit. It is noteworthy that breath, spirit, and wind are the same in Hebrew.
Christ: Hebrew messiah; anointed one.
Cross: the Greek word `stauros', incorrectly rendered cross, actually means stake or pale (i.e. without crossbeam).
Day: Hebrew ohm; a term meaning a period of time, of unspecified length.
Eden: From the Hebrew, pleasure.
Eve: Ancient Hebrew, mother of all living [mankind].
Garden: Garden or paradise, in Hebrew gan, Greek `kepos' or `paradeisos'.
God: The plural of excellence, Hebrew 'elohim or 'elim; also 'el, perhaps meaning mighty one.
Hate: To love less, Greek root `mis'.
Hell: The grave, from the Hebrew sheol.
Hypocrite: Greek, `hypokrites', meaning one who answers, or a stage actor.
Jehovah: God's name, meaning He Causes To Become.
Although the consonants survived,
the vowel points were replaced by those of the word 'Adhonai, meaning Sovereign Lord.
The loss of the vowel points resulted from a Jewish superstition which forbade the actual
pronouncing of the divine name.
Jesus: The Greek word for Joshua, or Jehovah Is Salvation.
Joshua: From Jehoshua, meaning Jehovah Is Salvation, the Hebrew equivalent of Jesus.
Moses: Meaning drawn out of water in Hebrew.
Mystery: Something which God will reveal in his own due time, in Greek `mysterion'.
Naked: Lightly clad, in Greek `gymnos'.
Paradise: In Hebrew pardes; Greek, `paradeisos'.
Prophecy: The word of Jehovah, spoken or written by inspired men, which may have direct bearing on the future (but prediction is not the primary meaning), in Hebrew `nava`', in Greek `propheteuo'.
Sin: Miss or fall short, Hebrew chatta'th, Greek `harmartia'.
Sleep: A state of drowsiness, or a figurative term for death in the case of faithful ones (i.e. acknowledging the resurrection hope).
Soul: A word meaning life; in Hebrew nephesh.
The word nephesh may also be used to denote the person or animal possessing the life.
The Bible reader should be wary of confusing soul with spirit, the
latter being the force of life, and not the life itself.
Spirit: The life-force; Hebrew ruach, meaning wind.
Spiritists: From the Greek `pharmakoi', in other words druggers.
Torment: In first-century Greek, the `condition of being in jail'. Also, to `test metals with a touchstone'.
Week: Hebrew, shavua' (Note the similarity to English Sabbath, Hebrew shabbath.
Well: Hebrew, be'er.
Wind: In Hebrew ruach, the same as the Hebrew for spirit.
Wisdom: Hebrew chokhmah, Greek `sophia'.
Woman: The Hebrew word for woman is literally female man.
World: An arrangement, an order, in Greek `kosmos'.
Confusingly, the King James version
renders three other Greek words as "world" in some places. (e.g. Greek `aion' is
perhaps better translated "eon" or "age").
Yahweh: Another way of writing God's name. The vowel pointing from the original texts have been lost because of a Jewish superstition, and different languages transliterate the consonants differently.
Numbers:
1: The number `one' signifies uniqueness.
2: The number `two' signifies confirmation.
3: The number `three' signifies emphasis.
4: The number `four' signifies four-squareness
6: The number `six' signifies the things of man.
7: The number `seven' signifies divine origin.
10: The number `ten' signifies earthly completeness.
12: The number `twelve' signifies organizational completeness.
Bible Dates:
Since many have undertaken to use a system of dates reckoned from Jesus' birth year,
it is more correct to use the convention B.C.E. (before Common Era) and C.E. (of the
Common Era) to refer to dates, rather the less accurate A.D. (Anno Domini, of the
Christian Era) and B.C. (Before Christ). Neither is used in the Bible, but they are
frequently used by historians and are essentially equivalent, the difference being
only one of correctness of speech resulting from the fact that Jesus was born in
the year 2 B.C.E. according to the most reliable evidence, and of course there was
no zero year.
Use of Uppercase Letters
In scriptural quotes appearing on this website, verbs which belong to plural subjects
may appear in uppercase to denote them as being distinct from verbs which belong to
singular subjects. (eg `YOU people', whereas `you, child')
Punctuation
Anyone wishing to understand the sense of the Bible text should be aware that
the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts did not have any punctuation. This
means that any commas, hyphens, semi-colons and the like are added by the
translators, and therefore can't be relied upon as conveying the sense
of the text as originally intended. Punctuation did not exist until about
800CE (that is, eight hundred years after Christ). A classic example of the
confusion this can cause is the verse at Luke 23:43, which may be translated:
``Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in Paradise.'' Other translators
have, however, by putting the comma after the fourth word (you),
invoked an entirely different meaning.