Glossary

A glossary of Biblical and Hebraic words and phrases.

a

Abaddon
The king and/or angel of the Bottomless Pit (abyss). From the Hebrew root a-b-d, "lose, destroy." The Greek translation of the name is Apollyon, which means "Destroyer". See Revelation 9:11

Abba
An affectionate way to say "father". Hence, "Dear father", "Dad", or even "Daddy".

Though originally Aramaic, the word was incorporated into ancient Hebrew. Israeli children call their fathers, "Abba". (See Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, and Galatians 4:6)

acharit-hayamim
Literally, "the end of the days". The End times of "latter days" when the 'olam hazeh is coming to a close and the 'olam haba is about to begin. (See 1 Corinthians 10:11)

Adam
The first man; the word means "man" or "human" generically. It is from the Hebrew root a-d-m (red) from which also comes the word a-da-mah (earth). See Luke 3:38.

Adar
12th month of the biblical year, 6th month of the modern Jewish year (in February - March).

Adonai
Literally, "my Lord". A word the Hebrew Bible uses to refer to God. When in large and small capital letters, it represents the tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name of God, consisting of the four letters; Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh which is sometimes rendered in English as Jehovah or Yahweh, but usually as LORD.

Aharon/Aaron
Moshe's (Moses') brother; traditionally the first cohen gadol (high priest). Luke 1:5

Adonai Elohei-Tzva'ot
Lord God of Hosts

Adonai Eloheinu
Lord our God (see elohim). Mark 12:29

Adonai Elohim
The Lord God

Adonai Elohim Elohei-tzva'ot
The Lord God, God of Hosts

Adonai Elohim-Tzva'ot
The Lord God of Hosts

Adonai Nissi
The Lord my Banner/Miracle

Adonai Shalom
The Lord of Peace

Adonai Shamah
The Lord is there.

Adonai Tzidkenu
The Lord our Righteousness

Adonai-Tzva'ot
The Lord of Sabaoth -- Lord of (heaven's) armies, Lord of Hosts. Romans 9:29

Adonai Yir'eh
The Lord will see [to it]

Alef/Aleph
1st letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

amah
Cubit

Amein/Amen
The proper way of pronouncing the Hebrew phrase for "so be it; truly" (not pronounced amen). Related to the words emet and emunah; likely meaning a "declaration to support the truth."

Most translators take Yeshua's "Amen" as referring forward to what he was about to say:"Truly, I say to you..." But there is no other instance of "Amen" pointing forward in early Jewish literature, and the context does not require it. Yeshua uses "Amen" to refer back, either seriously or ironically, to what he or someone else has said; or to what has just happened.

Occasionally, the term indicates to the congregation to say "Amen" at the end of a prayer. See Matthew 6:13.

amha'aretz
Literally, "people of the land" - that is, ordinary, unlearned people. The term was used perjoratively in the first century: "boors". May be used as a singular noun to describe an individual: "He's just an am-ha'aretz." Examples: John 7:49 and Acts 4:13.

Amma'us/Emmaus
Town of uncertain location about seven miles from Jerusalem. Luke 24:13

Amora (Gomorrah, Gomorrha)
A wicked city near the Dead Sea that was destroyed by God in the days of Avraham (Abraham) and Lot (Genesis 19), therefore a symbol of unrepentance. Matthew 10:15

Anan (Annas)
Cohen Gadol when Yochanan and Yeshua (John and Jesus) were young. Later, a behind-the-scenes power. Luke 3:2

Aram
Syria

Aram-Naharayim (Aram-naharim)
Mesopotamia

Aram-Tzovah (Aram-zobah)
Syrians of Zoba

Aramaic
An ancient Near Eastern language from the Arameans (northwest NE); flourished in Mesopotamia and Babylon. Eventually became the religious and political language of the ancient Near East.

Aramaic Hebrew
Hebrew using Aramaic letters derived from Babylonian exile. Modern Hebrew is a deviation of Hebrew using the Aramaic lettering system.

Aramim
Syrians

Aravah
Desert plain south of the Dead Sea.

ari'el
Lion of God, fireplace on God's altar.

Ashdod (Azotus)
One of the five Philistine cities, located on the Mediterranean cost of Israel, 20 miles south of modern Tal Aviv. Acts 8:40

Asher (Aser)

Ashkenazi
Diaspora Jews from Europe, specifically Germany, Poland, etc. Not of Spanish/Hispanic European Jewry.

Ashur (Asshur)
Assyria

Ashuri -rim (Ashurite, -s)
Assyrian, -s

atzbi
My pain.

avinu
our father -- Luke 1:73

Aviv (Abib)
1st month of the biblical year, corresponding to the modern Jewish month of Nisan (see glossary entry there).

Aviyah, -yahu (Abijah, Abia)
1) King of Y'hudah (Judah) and ancestor of King David; in Messianic geneology. Matthew 1:7

2) One of the twenty-four divisions of the Levitical priesthood. Luke 1:5

Avraham Avinu
Abraham our father. Luke 1:73
One of the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 2:36, Revelation 7:6

b
Bamidbar
Hebrew name for the 4th book of Torah (English: Numbers).

Baruch HaShem
Literally, Bless the Name [of G-d]

Beit/Beis
House (usually as a place of study).

Bereshit/Beresheis
Hebrew for the 1st book of Torah (English: Genesis).

Boethusians
A sect of 2nd Temple Judaism who were much like the Sadducees. Likely a sect who followed the Zadokite priest Simon, son of Boethus from Alexandria. Could possibly have been the priestly elite of the Sadducees?

c
Chesed/Hesed
mercy

d
Daas
knowledge

Dayanim
judge

Debarim/Devorim
Hebrew for the 5th book of Torah (English: Deuteronomy).

Diaspora
A term for the communities & places of Jews living outside of Israel; scatterings.

e
Ebionites
Early Jewish believers of Jesus and John the Baptist who believed he was the messiah (according to Pharisaic standards). Denied the divinity of Jesus, the divine & immaculate conception, the trinity, that Jesus’ death gives atonement, and rejected all Pauline theology. Later Ebionites may have rejected Jesus as the messiah and considered him a prophet or their rabbi (that is, they accept his teachings over the Masoretic tradition) after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. May have influenced how Mohammed viewed Christianity. Some continued to await him as the Messiah, as they were killed by Emperor Constantine as Sabbath-day worshippers and Jewish Christians (the ones to whom Messianics say were Torah obedient Jewish believers in Jesus up until the 4th century CE).

Echad
One, unity.

Eichah
Lamentations

Eliyahu HaNavi
Elijah the prophet

Emet
Truth.

Emunah
Faith; obedience; the active support of something (action in the direction of).

Essenes
A sect of 2nd temple Jews who excluded themselves from the mainstream (ascetics). Used a solar calendar, never celebrated any High Holy Days on Shabbats, rejected non-Zadokite priests and the Hasmonean rulership in Judea. Several sub-groups existed, likely as mystical egalitarian Diaspora Jews who shared determinism, a certain type of eschatology (accepted the Teacher of Righteousness who apparently was crucified, believed they were partakers of the "renewed covenant (see Jer 31:31), awaited a holy war, the messianic priesthood, angelology, etc.), and views of personal salvation. They likely were influenced by Hellenistic Utopian concepts, Pythagoreanism, and Zoroastrianism.

Exegesis
Critical interpretation of texts. An understanding of how to apply Hermeneutics to hopefully derive the true meaning from the text translated and adapted to fit the cultural-linguistic worldview of the exegete.

Eyov/Iyyob
Job

g
Galileans
A community of Jews who at the time of Jesus had been Jews for less than a century (forcibly, but willingly accepted mass conversion to Judaism under the Hasmoneans). Emphasized faith over due diligence and sacrificial rites. Many Galileans were also Zealots, brigands, and revolutionaries. Fiercely opposed Judean centrism, the sacrificial system, non-Zadokite priests, and Jerusalem sects (Pharisees and Sadducees).

Galilee
Parts of the northern districts of Israel. Many Gentiles, Hellenistic Jews, Samaritans, Zealots, and Galilean Jews lived there. Called "Galilee of the Gentiles (nations)" (Isaiah 9:1).

Gehenna/Gehinnom
A place of burning refuse where children were sacrificed to Moloch; also understand as a place of torture or a war zone.

Gematria
Numeric values for Hebrew letters. Also used rabbinically to interpret Scripture based on numerology.

Ger
Sojourner (see sojourner). Rabbinically understood as a righteous gentile (Ger Toshav in rabbinic terms is a resident alien).

Goy
Gentiles (also: nation).

Goyyim
"The nations."

h
Halakha
"How to walk." Used by rabbis as a "law." It is often how the commandments (mitzvoth) are interpreted and the Oral Torah explanation of it.

HaShem
Literally, the Name. Used because we no longer know how to pronounce the name of G-d (YHVH).

Hasidim
2nd temple Judaism - separatists who fought against certain forms of Hellenization. The larger grouping from which Pharisees, Essenes, and Hasmoneans derived from. Modern - ultra-orthodox Jews who accept various forms of mysticism and Kabbalah/Zohar.

Hasmoneans
The ruling party of the Judeans after the Maccabean revolt. Hellenistic Jews who fiercely opposed Hellenistic rulership over the land of Israel. An imperialistic dynasty who used politics and warfare against their own people. Created the belief in a messianic priest-king as they thought themselves to be. Employed foreign mercenaries, consistent with Hellenic rulers. Mixed the beliefs for an independent Jewish state (i.e., they opposed the Hellenistic political philosophy of the polis and of external subjugation to taxation), though they used Greek names and were not opposed to certain forms of Greek culture.

Haverim
"Comrades; associates." A stricter, more elite sect of Pharisaical teachers focused highly on purity. Ate only amongst themselves, ate only food if they absolutely knew it was properly tithed, mikvah practices were highly impractical.

Hazzan
Cantor. Ancient: the executioner and punisher. Modern: the clergy-man who sings, chants, and reads the Hebrew texts according to Masora.

Hellenic
Of or relating to the Hellenes (Greeks) and their language, culture, and religion.

Hellenistic Age
4th century BCE to 1st century CE. During the 5th and 4th century BCE it was a struggling movement for Greek superiority (c.f. Alexander the Great).

Hellenization
The spread and acceptance of the Greek worldview. A syncretistic phenomenon between Greece, Rome, and the ancient Near East; a basis of modern Western thought. Played a significant role in 2nd Temple Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Rome.

Hellenized Jews
Greek speaking Jews who accepted various levels of Greek culture, religion, philosophy, and lifestyles. Often lived in the Diaspora and had Greek or Roman citizenship. Those who lived in Israel fought against the Hasidim.

j
Jesus
Today's English translation of Yeshua. Jesus' Aramaic name would probably be transliterated into English letters as "Yeshu", which is a shorter form of the common Hebrew/Aramaic name "Yeshua" or "Yoshua". This name has come down to us in the present day as "Joshua", except when we are referring to Jesus Christ.

The Greeks commonly Hellenized foreign names, in order to make them easier for Greeks to pronounce, and to enable them to spell them using the Greek alphabet. The Hellenization of Jesus' Aramaic name was "Iesou", which was pronounced approximately "yesoo" by the Greeks.

When the Romans, who spoke Latin, Romanized Jesus' name, they spelled it "IESVS", giving it the normal ending for a Latin male name. The Romans would have pronounced this "Yesus". This spelling was later changed to "JESUS", as the Latin language changed its pronunciation and orthography in the early Middle Ages.

When English speakers who had no Latin encountered the spelling J-E-S-U-S, they pronounced it according to the rules of English spelling and pronunciation, giving us the common pronunciation we use today.

Joshua
Today's English translation of Y'hoshua, which means Yaweh saves/delivers.

k
Karaite
Modern Jews who do not accept the divinity of the Oral Torah (Talmud) and who rely on careful exegesis of the Written Torah only. May be the descendants of the Sadducees, Ananites, Boethusians, Pharisees, or Rabbinic Jews (who did not accept the Masoretic tradition, but instead assumed their own). They, for the most part, do not accept any higher criticism as a means to historical-cultural inquiry of the ancient Israelites, but rely on linguistic traditions and lower criticism (akin to Evangelicals who look at the form, content, grammar, etymologies, and structure of the exact words of Scripture as all divinely inspired).

l
LXX
Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew possibly of the Jerusalem Tanakh. The LXX we have now is not the original Greek translation, but many redactions later.

m
Maccabees
Literally, "hammer". The family that lead the revolt against Antiochus IV removing the "abomination of desolation" (idols) from the Holy of Holies (in the Temple); aligned with the Hasmoneans.

Masoretic Text (MT)
The Hebrew text of the Tanakh compiled by Rabbinic Judaism (most believe it to be the Babylonian version and not the Jerusalem).

Mikvah
Ritual bath for purification.

Mitzvah
Good deed.

Mitzvoth
Good deeds; commandments.

Mizrahi
A Diaspora Jew who has lived in the Middle East.

Moschiach
Messiah, anointed one (prophet, priest, or king). Used even to describe Cyrus, King of Persia. Various ideas of a Messiah were established during 2nd Temple Judaism. Essenes, Pharisees, Hasmoneans, Zealots, Haverim, Ebionites, and notably Nazarenes all had different views of the Messiah. The Sadducees rejected the messianic notion, but may have believed in a Messianic Age where the nation of Israel would be the bringer of the Messianic Age, not solely a priest, prophet or king.

n
Nazarene
Jews who follow(ed) Jesus. Also, a sect of Gentile Christianity using allegory as a primary mode of exegesis.

Nekar
A foreigner and/or pagan.

o
Oral Torah
The rabbinic and Pharisaic belief in the divine inspiration of their traditions and interpretations of the Written Torah.

p
Paleo-Hebrew
Hebrew using Phoenician letters. 10th century to 9th century.

Pesach
Passover

Pharisees
A political party, social structure, and religious school of thought in 2nd Temple Judaism. Likely had many sub-divisions. Most are agreed to believe in the "traditions of the fathers," an Oral Torah, the resurrection of the dead. Viewed Hellenistic pagan-syncretism with contempt, however did not necessarily view Greek literature, language or culture with disdain. In fact, Hellenistic influence can still be found within their sect. Had opposed the Hasmoneans in most cases. Engaged in missionary activities.

Proto-Sinaitic Hebrew
Ancient Hebrew, similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

r
Rabbi
Litterally, great one; master; cognate. Modern: teacher, Jewish clergy.

Rabbinic Judaism
Modern day Judaism based off an understanding of Written and Oral Torah. Branched off into Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Chasidic schools of thought (there are many more sub-divisions). Likely a derivative of Pharisaical customs/doctrines and likely survived due to being Roman collaborators, despite their zeal for purity and separation.

Redaction
Editing and compiling of texts for popular use and distribution.

Roman Imperial Period
31 BCE to 14th century.

s
Sadducee
A sect in 2nd temple Judaism that rejected the Oral Torah and all non-Scriptural doctrines. Also from the priestly class of Zadokites. May also have been a Zadokite reformation of Pharisaical teachings? May also have been a pro-Hasmonean sect that rebelled against Rome? Little is known about them and much was written by their enemies. Modern Karaites believe their origin is in the Sadducees, though many Karaites believe in the resurrection of the dead (which Sadducees apparently did not).

Sages
Usually Hellenized Jews who taught philosophical wisdom theology from a uniquely syncretistic form of Jewish and Greek thought.

Samaritans
A group of Israelites from the north who were left after the Assyrian exile. Reports of intermarriage and pagan syncretism are given by their enemies. They originally sought to help rebuild Jerusalem’s Temple according to Ezra-Nehemiah, but after their genealogic purity was questioned splintering effects started. They accept only their version of Torah (Samaitan Pentateuch) that many believe is based off of the Jerusalem Torah; it agrees with the LXX over the Masoretic text in most places. Currently, cannot intermarry (men can intermarry Jewish women, but this is not common) and are a dying religion with less than 700 practitioners. They worship on Mt. Gezerim and claim to be the true practitioners of the ancient Israelite tradition. In Jesus’ day they were seen as enemies and likely Jesus thought the same (Matthew 10:5), despite some of his good dealings in the Gospel of John with them.

Scribe
A sect of 2nd temple Judaism, made up of Levite and non-Levite scribes who interpreted Torah (akin to lawyers or modern day rabbis).

Second Temple Judaism
During the period (roughly 500 BCE to exactly 70 CE) of the second temple, many different (at least 17) sects arose. Runs parallel to Hellenistic Age.

Sephardic
Diaspora Jews who lived in Spain, Africa, Hispanic countries, Portugal, Latin countries, and sometimes loosely as "all non-Ashkenazi" Jews.

Shofet
Judge

Shofetim
Judges

Sicarii
A group of Zealots during the 2nd temple period who resorted to murder and assassinations, mostly of Jewish collaborators with Rome. Also waged rebellions against Rome herself. It is possible Judas, who was a Zealot, was also a sicarii.

Sojourner (Hebrew: Ger)
A resident foreigner of Israel who willingly takes on more than just the civil laws of Israel, but also the religious rites of Torah. Not fully Israelite, not yet a convert, but as soon as a sojourner who sojourns is circumcised and takes part in Pesach, they are considered converts (i.e., citizens of the assembly of Israel). Rabbinically, a "ger" is a convert (not to be confused with Ger Toshav in rabbinic terms).

t
Torah
Instruction, Teaching (where to aim); sometimes rendered Law.

Toshav
Resident alien.

y
Yehudim
From the tribe of Judah; Jews.

Yerushalayim
Jerusalem

Yeshiva
A school or place of learning for Torah and Mishnah Talmud. Originally a syncretistic school in the Hellenistic age, combining Greek methodology with Torah studies, as well as Greek language and culture.

z
Zealots
A sect of the 2nd temple period made up of Galileans and revolutionary Zadokite Hasidim. Valued liberty and fought against Rome. Two of the apostles were Zealots. Wanted a Davidic king, expected a messiah, and wanted a theocracy outside of most of the main (4) sects of Judaism at the time.