This week Prince Edward Island has enjoyed some lovely, sunny, snowy days. It's a good time to revisit where and why snow (sheleg in Hebrew) shows up in the Bible. We don't tend to think of the Holy Land as a snowy place, but it did grace the mountains in the North. Today Mount Hermon… Continue reading Sheleg: Revisiting SNOW
Author: hebrewwordlessons
Sarah Fisher is an admirer of old books, and old languages, old stone carvings, old photos and pretty much everything old. She is the administrator of the website www.booklives.ca and is a library technician at the University of Prince Edward Island. Sarah has a Master of Arts degree in Early Medieval Studies from the University of York in England, and is currently an online doctoral student in Biblical Studies at the Colorado Theological Seminary. Sarah's passion for Biblical Hebrew and history has led her to create this blog.
Mashal: Telling Stories through PARABLES & PROVERBS
PARABLE/PROVERB: mashal, verb (Strong’s 4911); mashal, masculine noun (Strong’s 4912); m’shol, masculine noun (Strong’s 4914). Root: מָשָׁל Sounds like: m'SHAL (rhymes with hall) According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a PARABLE is a short, simple story that teaches or explains an idea, especially a moral or religious idea. According to the same dictionary, a PROVERB is… Continue reading Mashal: Telling Stories through PARABLES & PROVERBS
Batsa: GREEDY For Gain
GAIN/PROFIT/GREED: batsa, verb (Strong’s 1214); betsa, masculine noun (Strong’s 1215) Root: בָּצַע Sounds like: bah’tsa/beh’tsa Greed: More, More, More Greed is the overwhelming desire to obtain MORE… more money, more possessions, more desirable life experiences, more food, more success. Many lament that the modern world seems very greed oriented, but greed is not a modern problem,… Continue reading Batsa: GREEDY For Gain
P’lish’tim: The Formidable PHILISTINES.
Peleshet, the place known as Philistia (Strong’s 6429) and P’lish’tim, the Philistines people (Strong’s 6430) Peleshet Root: פְלֶשֶׁת P'lish'tim Root: פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים Etymology of Philistines/Palestinians Egypt: Peleset (name of this particular group of Sea Peoples found in Egyptian inscriptions) Hebrew: Peleshet/P’lish’tim Assyrian: Pilistu/Palashtu Greek: Phylistieim Roman: Palaestina/Palestine With what’s going on in Israel these days there’s… Continue reading P’lish’tim: The Formidable PHILISTINES.
Naval, Eveel, Sakal, Kesil: So Many FOOLS
FOOL: naval, eveel, sakal, kesil Today we’ll look at a few root words commonly translated as “fool”, “foolish”, or “folly” Why are there a few words for the concept of a fool? Well, Hebrew is not a basic language. Like most languages, there are many synonyms for many words. In the English language we have… Continue reading Naval, Eveel, Sakal, Kesil: So Many FOOLS
Era’eh: APPEARing Before God
To Appear (or, to be seen) comes from the root verb, to see, ra'ah (Strong’s 7200). The root meaning of this word shows up over 1300 times in the Tanakh (Old Testament). To narrow things down, we're going to explore what it means to appear before YHWH. This is our final week exploring words from… Continue reading Era’eh: APPEARing Before God
Elohim Khayim: Dwelling with the LIVING GOD
Elohim Khayim: אֱלֹהִ֥ים חַיִּ֖ים El Khai: אֵ֥ל חַ֖י We've looked into the word LIFE a lot on this blog. One of the earliest postings was on LIFE (khai) and we revisited life four years later. We've looked at numerous LIFE phrases, including the Tree of Life (ets khayim), the Path of Life (orakh khayim), the… Continue reading Elohim Khayim: Dwelling with the LIVING GOD
Tsame: The THIRSTY Soul
Thirst: Tsame, verb (Strong’s 6770); Tsame, adjective (Strong’s 6771); Tsama, masculine noun (Strong’s 6772); Tsima, feminine noun (Strong’s 6773); Tsimmaon (thirsty ground), masculine mount (Strong’s 6774). Root: צָמֵא Sounds like: tsaw-meh Psalm 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, God. My soul thirsts [tsam’ah צָמְאָ֬ה] for God,… Continue reading Tsame: The THIRSTY Soul
Revisiting WAR. Praying for Peace.
This week I had planned to look into the word thirst, and we will look at that word next week, but considering what is happening in Israel, I think the time you would normally take to read this blog would better be spent in prayer. We should take some time to pray for civilians on… Continue reading Revisiting WAR. Praying for Peace.
TODAH: Revisiting Thanks!
This weekend, in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving... a beautiful, food-filled, celebration of gratitude. At my place of employment I'm responsible for producing our weekly internal newsletter. This week I wrote on the etymology of the English word THANKS which I thought I'd share with you. Although this blog is all about Hebrew words, it's also… Continue reading TODAH: Revisiting Thanks!
Hebrew Word Lessons 