TV | DANNY BEN-GIGI WITH SARAH WEINER
Hebrewmatters
We all need to be beter students of the Bible, so it only makes sense to study the Scriptures in their original language, Hebrew.
Hebrew is the language of God, spoken among the angels first. Ten it is the language in which He com- municated with His people, both Jew and Gentile.
People use Hebrew all the time—every time you say “hallelujah” or “amen” you are using Hebrew words. Hebrew is the language of intimacy with God. You can pray in other languages and God will hear it, but saying it in His intimate language has a certain extra spiritual aspect. Tis is why so many people are drawn to learn Hebrew. Tis is why there is a demand from pastors and rabbis to know Hebrew.
Hebrew is not only a language for preachers and rabbis, it is the layman’s language as well. It is not a mistake that God wrote the Old Testament in Hebrew. Hebrew expresses God’s intent precisely. However, there are sig- nificant departures between the English translation and the original Hebrew when one reads the Old Testament in English—some may be small and innocent, but there are at least five per page in the English translation.
Hebrew expresses God's intent precisely.
Reading Genesis Correctly
Tere are many examples in Scripture. Let’s look at one from Genesis 22, a very common one in the dramatic narrative where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. In any Bible that I have seen, in English it will say, “Now take your son.” Tis almost sounds harsh. God promises Abraham throughout Genesis that his son is going to be a great nation, and then when Abraham comes to realize this promise, God tells him, “Now take your son, the only one, the one that you love, and sacrifice him to Me on one of the mountains that I will show you.”
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JewishVoiceToday.org | May/June 2011
If you don’t know that this is a God of mercy and love, you might think this is a harsh statement: “Now take your son!” It’s a mistake. Hebrew does not say now. In the Hebrew it says `p-dw, kah-nah. Te word nah was translated to “now” or “only.” However, the word nah actually means “please.” So God is saying, “Please take your son, the only one that you love, take Isaac.” In the original Hebrew, there was a soothing, almost comforting tone that is completely missed in the English.
`p nah
WHY
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