Hebrew Roots

Throughout this website you will find snippets of intrigue that we easily miss in our translated Bibles because we misunderstand the language and culture of the original. Below are a few words with their wider application for edification.

Faith - Amanah

AMANAH literally means to take firm action—faith to act. Taking faith into the community through service, fellowship, engaging, and connecting.

James 2:17 : “Thus also faith by itself,

if it does not have works, is dead.”

Following God is not an intellectual decision. AMANAH is a bit like climbing a staircase. We intellectually know the steps go up, but until you actually climb them, you don’t experience the next level. You don’t see what there is to see. You don’t get to where you are headed. What you DO is as important as what you KNOW. Don’t just believe in the stairs….climb them!

Love - Hesed

HESED is not just a feeling—it’s an action. It intervenes on behalf of loved ones and comes to their rescue. It also is much more descriptive in that it includes grace, goodness, kindness, devotion, faithfulness and mercy.

He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the

LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,

abounding in love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:6

Love such as this lifts both the giver of this love and its receiver. Today we can rely on God’s HESED for us…no matter what we face.

Isaiah 54:10 states:

‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.”

Prayer - Tefilah

The English word for pray is “to ask or beg.” But TEFILAH means to self-evaluate. So, for Jews it was not a time when they asked God for things. It was a time when they examined themselves. They’d use prayer as a way to compare actions, behaviour, and attitudes against God’s holiness.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize Christ Jesus is in you-unless of course you fail the test?” It goes on to state, “I trust you know you have not failed.”

This can be a challenge to the way we pray. Do we measure up to His call on our lives?

Breath - Ruach

Associated with the Holy Spirit. Breathing is automatic so we tend not to think about it unless we are climbing high and the altitude affects, or an athlete requiring control over breathing or a singer who needs to develop their range.

Genesis 2:7: “The Lord God formed the man of the dust of

the ground and breathed life into his nostrils the breath

of life and the man became a living being.”

The Hebrew word RUACH means breath, but it also means spirit. So, we really become living beings when God gives His spirit. Without this divine component, breath is simply mechanical and a function of the human body.

The Psalms exhort

“everything that has life and breath praise the Lord.”

To be truly alive, we inhale God’s Spirit and exhale His praise. Inhale Spirit!

Soul - Nephesh

The word encompasses "Life"

Nephesh is also translated as: living being, life, creature, mind, desires, heart, appetite. It conveys that nephesh is the inner, living being or essence of a person.

Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

or in the Passion translation of the New Testament:

Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all

the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you. (Matthew 23:27, TPT)

This is a love that takes over everything! It is a love expressed with “the whole of the affections of the heart, with great fervency and ardour of spirit, in the sincerity of the soul, and with all the strength of grace a person has,

Peace - Shalom

SHALOM. This beautiful word means peace, but much more - wholeness, completeness, harmony. The word Jerusalem in Hebrew is YERUSHALAIM, a combination

of two words. YERU, which means “you shall see,” and SHALOM, “The peace of God.” Therefore, Jerusalem

means the place where you shall see God`s peace.

John 14:27 contains these beautifully comforting words:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give as the

world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”

He told His followers that the Kingdom of God is within you, which means the peace of God is within us. Can you spot those who exude peace, love, acceptance? - they are an example to live out.

Blessing - Berakah

On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah,

where they praised the LORD. 2 Chronicles 20:26

One way to think of or use this word is in offering

a benediction or blessing at the end of a service.

When someone bestows this prayer or blessing

they are demonstrating this word in action.

“to bless” is to confer or invoke divine favour or, it is asking God to look favourably upon. God blessed people all the time in the Old Testament, but the first blessing did not actually go to humans:

God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill

the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

Genesis 1:22

Holy - Qadosh

This has all the meaning of being set apart, as special, sacred, sanctified. It is used of God, exalted on His throne. It also includes those people and things that are consecrated and dedicated like the tabernacle or high priest.

Surely it is you who love the people; all the holy ones are in your hand.

At your feet they all bow down, and from you receive instruction, Deuteronomy 33:3

Perhaps the most famous passage regarding the Hebrew word Holy is found in Isaiah when in a vision he came face to face with YHWH:

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and

with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out

to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is YHWH of hosts, the whole earth

is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:1-3

It is sobering to remember that if we know the Lord, we too are called to be holy:

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have

set you apart from the nations to be my own. Leviticus 20:26

Known - Yada

"Yada" is found many times in scripture denoting the intimacy of being known particularly by God. The Hebrew word can indicate mental knowledge, that is, that a person “understands” or “has knowledge” of something, as when we say “I know that 2 + 2 is 4.” But the concept of “knowing” something or someone takes on a special meaning in the Semitic languages, and this has to do with relationship, and primarily a relationship that is based upon the making of a covenant.

In the following verse Yada has been translated as "chosen" :

For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children

and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD

by doing what is right and just,

Genesis 18:19

A Covenant is considered to be a relationship that could not be broken.

The Hebrew word yada‘ (יְדֲע) is found 6 times in Psalm 139:

1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts

from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar

with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my

anxious thoughts.

God wants us to personally experience His glory in our lives. He wants us to have a personal encounter with Himself.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14