The purpose of this website is to ultimately give the reader a deeper glimpse into the original Hebrew and Greek languages in order to reveal the depth of the messages and the amazing design that can be found within the word of God. This website also considers the subject of Biblical Numerology and how this subject relates to the original languages. The Hebrew 101 portion of this website shows how the languages developed and all the influences affecting their development it also expresses the things that need to be considered when translating the original Hebrew writings.
The Bible we have today was originally written in two languages. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew; the New Testament was written in Greek. It is important to realize that these languages developed over centuries from one single very early language that was based on pictures and symbols. (Note: the Aramaic language was also used in parts of the book of Daniel and in Ezra.)
Unlike the English language, the Hebrew language reads from right to left and it is interesting to note that Zeph. 3:9 states, “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord.” The Hebrew word here translated in the English as "restore" is the Hebrew word which literally means “flip”. The Hebrew then suggests that when God restores the language in order for us to serve Him in one accord we will most likely all speak Hebrew and will once again read from right to left. The depth of the meaning of this prophecy only becomes more interesting when we consider the fact that it follows the only verse in the entire bible (Zeph. 3:8) that contains all 22 letters and the 5 sofits of the Hebrew alphabet. Is this just a coincidence? I will leave that up to you to decide.
(Note: Sofits are alternate letter forms that are used when the letter is used at the end of a word.) (As an aside it is also interesting to note the reference to a "pure language", as there are not any swear words in the Hebrew language. Profanities used by those speaking Hebrew all come from other languages.)
To begin we must first look at the earliest forms of language that developed into the Hebrew of the Old Testament and continued to develop into both the Greek of the New Testament and in fact the English used today in the modern world.
As mentioned, language was first expressed through a series of pictures and symbols. Each of these early Pictures and Symbols holds meaning that is related to the word or phrase that is being expressed. As language continued to develop over many centuries these pictures and symbols became letters. Now these letters also originally had numeric values assigned to them and these numeric values can also at times be related in some aspect to what is being expressed. As an example of numerical values being assigned to letters: we are all familiar with Roman numerals to some extent which are written using letters. In Hebrew the numerical system assigned to letters and phrases is called the Gematria.
In Hebrew the word for "letter" is "ot" (אות), which can also mean "sign" or "wonder". Each letter of the Hebrew Aleph-bet, then, may contain signs and wonders that point to wonderful truths about God and this creation.
To begin to practically understand all this, lets take a quick look at the first two letters of the Modern Hebrew alphabet and consider how they developed from the original pictorial language through to the Greek and English languages.
The first Hebrew letter is called "Aleph" (pronounced with a soft vowel "a", a soft "e" and the "ph" as an f. — "alef"). The Greek language came from the Hebrew language which then developed into the Latin and the English we have today. Thus the first letter in the Greek Alphabet is the letter "alpha" (Hebrew "Aleph" = Greek "Alpha" = English "A").
This is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
On the left is the printed version, called "Square Script".
On the right is the hand written cursive version of the letter.
Let us now look at the development of this first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet:
The Hebrew letter Aleph originally began as a picture of an oxen's head. It symbolically was used to express the idea of "Strength" and being the first letter it also expressed "Leadership". This symbol was also assigned the numerical value of 1 as it was the first letter. The number one expresses the idea of "unity" or "oneness". With all this symbolism attached to this letters expression, it is no surprise that this letter came to represent God. For God is to be first, He is the leader of all things and the strength behind all things. Hebrew religion is monotheistic which was very different then the religious origins of many other cultures. One of the most highly regarded Scriptural references to the Jews is Deut. 6:4 which reads, (NIV) "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." If you were to spell out the letter "aleph" in Hebrew it would be spelled using three letters, (aleph, lamed, pe) or אלפ the numerical value of these three letters is 111 (Aleph = 1, Lamed = 30 & pey = 80 for a total of 111) and incidentally aleph spelled backwards in Hebrew forms the Hebrew word for "wonder". Also with regards to the spelling of the letter aleph, the first two Hebrew letters "aleph" and "lamed" spell the word "el" meaning "might" or "strength" and "el" is one of the Hebrew names for God; also, the symbol for the third letter "pey" is of a mouth. So the spelling of the word aleph teaches us that God is might expressed. It is also believed that the form (or shape) of the letter "aleph" is made up using two other Hebrew letters. To form the Hebrew letter "aleph" you use the Hebrew letter "vav" down the middle on an angle (which has a numerical value of 6) and two "yod"s one above and one below the vav (which each have a numeric value of 10). The interesting things is the numerical value of two yods and a vav is 26 which is the same numerical value for the letters in God's name, "YHWH" - yod, hey, vav, hey; as it also equals 26.
Note: In the Hebrew there are no vowels. Hebrew uses what is called the Niqqud which is a system of diacritical signs to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters. Thus "Aleph" is considered a silent letter or placeholder (this will make more sense as we continue). But isn't it interesting to ponder that many times God too appears to be silent to us, considering this letter represents God.
The Proto-Sinaitic symbol of the ox head is what was in use at the time of Moses which then developed into the simple letter symbol of an above view of an ox head which was still in use at the time of Christ. The simple V shape represents the nose and head of the ox and the line going through the V shape makes for the back of the head and the ears.
This early letter symbol is what developed into the form of the Greek letter "Alpha" and the English letter "A". For the English it was just turned to point upward and what represented the ears of the Ox Head was removed.
Paleo Hebrew Aleph
English letter A
Okay now let's take a look at the second Modern Hebrew letter and consider it's development.
The second Hebrew letter is called "Bet" (sometimes pronounced "bate" with a long "a", other times with a soft "e" sound). Once again the Greek language came from the Hebrew language which then developed into the Latin and the English we have today. Thus the second letter in the Greek Alphabet is the letter "beta" (Hebrew "Bet" = Greek "Beta" = English "B").
This is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
On the left is the printed version, called "Square Script".
On the right is the hand written cursive version of the letter.
Let us now look at the development of this letter:
The Hebrew letter Bet originally began as a drawing of an above view of a floor plan of a tent with an open door. It symbolically was used to express the idea of a "House" and further represented the "inside" or what is on our inside thus the "heart". In Biblical Hebrew culture the heart was seen as the seed of our thoughts and the kidneys or stomach was the seed of mankind's emotions. Today we now connect the heart to our emotions and the head or mind to where our thoughts come from. "Bet" is not only a letter, but it is also a Hebrew word. In Hebrew the word "Bet" (no surprise) means "House". For example, "Bethlehem" which means "House of Bread". It is not a coincidence that Jesus who is called "the bread of life" was born in the "House of Bread". The modern Hebrew Square Script letter also represents a house: there is a roof on top, a wall on the right side of the letter, a floor on the bottom, and an entrance or door on the left side of the letter. When this letter is added to the beginning of another Hebrew word it is then translated as the word "in"; for example the first Hebrew word of the Bible is "Bereshit" (pronounced: "Bear-e-sheet" with the middle "e" sounding like a soft vowel). This word is translated as "in the beginning", but more literally, it means "in summit". "Summit" in reference to first and foremost, thus it was translated with our Western influence on time as "beginning".
The letter "Bet" being the second letter or symbol was assigned the numerical value of 2.
In Hebrew this letter represents two different sounds with the Niqqud (dot) added in the middle of the letter, it makes the sound of a "B" without the dot (Niquud) it makes the sound of a "V". One great difficulty in learning Hebrew is that many times the Niqqud is just dropped as it is assumed the reader knows the Hebrew language well enough to surmise the Niqqud sounds that apply. The issue in such assumption is it makes it very difficult for someone who is just learning the language and is not necessarily familiar with all the Hebrew words, grammar and context. When a dot is added as in this case to the belly of a letter this vowel form is called a "dagesh".
Once again take note how the symbol of the Hebrew letter "Bet" during the Paleo Hebrew time period developed into the Greek letter "Beta" (in name and form) and then further developed into the English letter "B" we used today. In fact if you rotate the Paleo Hebrew symbol 180 degrees and then straighten out the back line we have our lower case "b" and if you flip the Greek beta symbol you get the uppercase English letter "B".
Now consider this. When you learn the Hebrew letters you learn what is called the "Aleph-bet". In English when we learn our letters we learn the Alpha-bet; which is a word that is formed from a combination of the Greek and Hebrew first two letters. Alpha being the Greek pronunciation of the first letter and Bet being the Hebrew pronunciation of the second letter.
Now let's consider briefly how Hebrew words work. Without knowing it We have already spelt our our first Hebrew word...the first two letters of the Hebrew Aleph-bet when combined spell the word "Av" meaning "Father". The symbolic meaning behind the word "Father" expresses to the reader that the "Strength" (Aleph) of the "House" (Bet) is the "Father".
The small "T" under the aleph is part of the niqqud (Hebrew vowel system) which gives the aleph the "A" sound. This little symbol is called a "Qamets" (pronounced "comets").
Meaning : House Strength
Numerically the Hebrew word for "Father" equals a value of 3 (Aleph = 1 + Bet = 2) (1 + 2 = 3). Okay to show you why this matters we need to consider two other Hebrew words. The Hebrew word "Alef, Mem" pronounced "aim" means "Mother" and the Hebrew word "Yeled" which means "Offspring" or "Child".
Note:
The Hebrew word "Aim" symbolically means "Strong Water" ("Aleph" = Strong; and the second letter in the word which is "Mem" = Water) Symbolically this word tells us that it is the Mother who is the glue of the Family and holds everything together. A Mother's focus is on the relationship of each family member and how each member relates to one another.
Now the word "Am" in Hebrew numerically equals 41 (Mem = 40, and Aleph = 1).
Meaning : Water Strength
Finally The Hebrew word for Child or Offspring is "Yeled". It is spelt with three Hebrew letters ("Yod" which = 10, Lamed which = 30 and Dalet which = 4)
The numerical value of this word = 44. So why is that significance? The answer is quite simple: the Father which equals the value of 3, plus the Mother which equals 41, together the sum or these two Hebrew words when added together equals 44 which is the value of the word "child". A child comes from a mother (41) and a father (3) thus the value of a child is 44.
The value of the Hebrew word for Blood "dem" is also 44. More about this numerical coincidence later in the website!
Okay we have learned above that the Mighty Father "Av" who is "the Strength of the House" is God and God is reflected in the first letter of the alphabet. So what about Jesus, the son?
The word "son" in Hebrew is the word "Bar" as in "bar-Jonah" which means "son of Jonah". This Hebrew word is made up of 2 letters (and the Niqqud forms the "a" sound). The two Hebrew letters that form the word "Bar" are "Bet" which = "B" (which we have already considered) and another Hebrew letter named "Resh" which = "R". So the word is spelled "br" although it is pronounced "bar".
Here is the development of the Hebrew letter Resh:
This Hebrew letter is similar to our modern lowercase "r" in form.
The Hebrew word Bar then symbolically expresses that the "Head" or "Leader of the House" is Jesus, the "Son" of God.
Interestingly these are also the first two letters of the Bible. So the Alphabet begins with God and the Bible begins with Jesus. (More on this later when we consider Gen. 1:1).
Note: The Hebrew word "bar" is from the early Aramaic Hebrew meaning "son". The more modern Hebrew word for "son" is "ben".
If you have worked your way through the information above you should now have a basic understanding of how symbology and numerology are applied to letters and words within the Hebrew Alephbet. The second Website menu item above offers a complete Hebrew letter chart showing each letters development, numerical value and symbolic meaning. I have also included a chart showing the cursive and print forms along with the letter pronunciation and vowel sounds broken down. The three final menu items of this website reveal examples of the depth of meaning that can be found in both the Hebrew Language and the Biblical Hebrew. I also offer some cultural references for your consideration in connection to Biblical passages and events. The Biblical Applications menu is a drop down menu which offers you even more goodies: Specific Hebrew Words, Biblical Names, The Meanings behind the Numbers etc.
Another important aspect in understanding Hebrew comes through the appreciation of the relationship of Hebrew word families. The vast majority of Hebrew words are made up of a parent root word consisting of 2 letters and/or a child root word which contains 3 letters. These root words contain the essence of each word's meaning. Understanding this word structure is key to understanding word families and this is at the heart of truly coming to an appreciation of the depth of each Hebrew word.
For example another way to say "son in Hebrew is "ben" as it is spelled with two Hebrew letters (bet, nun - בן) it is a parent root word and other related words are created by adding letters to this parent root. As mentioned above the letter "bet" symbolically stands for a "house"; as each letter has a symbolic meaning the Hebrew letter "nun" relates to activity, prosperity, seed, life. Okay so now here is where the relationship of words and root words comes in. The word for "build" in Hebrew is "benah", which is spelled bet, nun, hey - בנה . We can see that one letter, the letter "hey" is added to the word "son" to create the word "build". So the "son" in Hebrew can not only be seen as the "Head of the house" as explained previously, but through it's relationship to it's family words the son can be seen as the one who builds the household. It was therefore imperative for an ancient Near Easterner to produce sons for the building up of the household.
Meaning: The son is the
seed of the house.
The letter "hey" is added to the end of the word "son" to get the word build.
This thought of producing sons in order to build the family is communicated in a couple of places in the book of Genesis. The first is displayed in the scene where Sarai is tired of waiting for the son that God had promised to Abram so she comes up with her own plan of action. In Genesis 16: 1-2 we read, "Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children (had not borne to him). And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children (I will build-בנה) by her.” The literal translation of "perhaps I shall obtain children by her" above should read "perhaps I will build from her". Sarah understood that producing a son would be her honorable participation in building the family.
This is also displayed again in a scene with Jacob and Rachel. After her sister Leah had borne four sons to Jacob she desperately and competitively devises another construction plan. In Genesis 30:1-3 we read, "Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children (she had not borne to Jacob), Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children (literally sons), or else I die!” And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her (I will build-בנה, also I, from her” Again the literal translation of "that I also may have children by her" literally reads "I will build, also I, from her" and shows us the ancient connection between building and sons.
These letters both symbolically and based on root/family relationship shows us that Jesus the Son of God was sent to build a kingdom, a household, and a family. — Mark 6:3 "After all, is this not the carpenter...?"
— Galatians 3:26 In receiving God's Son we become His sons with the very same purpose. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
— I Peter 2:5 "...you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
This thought of producing sons in order to build the family is communicated in a couple of places in the book of Genesis. The first is displayed in the scene where Sarai is tired of waiting for the son that God had promised to Abram so she comes up with her own plan of action. In Genesis 16: 1-2 we read, "Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children (had not borne to him). And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children (I will build-בנה) by her.” The literal translation of "perhaps I shall obtain children by her" above should read "perhaps I will build from her". Sarah understood that producing a son would be her honorable participation in building the family.
This is also displayed again in a scene with Jacob and Rachel. After her sister Leah had borne four sons to Jacob she desperately and competitively devises another construction plan. In Genesis 30:1-3 we read, "Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children (she had not borne to Jacob), Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children (literally sons), or else I die!” And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her (I will build-בנה, also I, from her” Again the literal translation of "that I also may have children by her" literally reads "I will build, also I, from her" and shows us the ancient connection between building and sons.
These letters both symbolically and based on root/family relationship shows us that Jesus the Son of God was sent to build a kingdom, a household, and a family. — Mark 6:3 "After all, is this not the carpenter...?"
— Galatians 3:26 In receiving God's Son we become His sons with the very same purpose. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
— I Peter 2:5 "...you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."