Linguistic

Sefaria is home to 3,000 years of Jewish texts. We are a non-profit organization offering free access to texts, translations, and commentaries so that everyone can participate in the ongoing… Read More

New Perspectives Vol. 57 Strength in Weakness is a place to connect, a place to feel seen, heard and valued… we find strength in connection.   A WORD one word can make… Read More

Israeli official: Turkey agrees to return ancient Hebrew inscription to Jerusalem | The Times of Israelhttps://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-official-turkey-agrees-to-return-ancient-hebrew-inscription-to-jerusalem/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-official-turkey-agrees-to-return-ancient-hebrew-inscription-to-jerusalem/amp/

Troublesome Translations How ancient translators handled word play in the Bible  Jennifer Drummond  February 02, 2022 Works by the children’s author Dr. Seuss are famous for their use of wordplay,… Read More

Getting familiar with Bible languages can have huge benefits — and it may be easier than you think.   . Keep reading here.

In the jungles of Papua New Guinea, a Christian university student experiences the ministry of Pioneer Bible Translators. Continue reading here. Website: pioneerbible.org

by Greg Koukl | info@str.org As an ambassador for Christ, how can you be clear-thinking and confident if you’re not sure whether or not you’re misinterpreting a Bible passage? I want… Read More

Dear Friend, Summer is one of the most exciting times of the year for us at Tyndale House. This year’s busy season began in May with the arrival of scientists… Read More

Researchers in the field have uncovered related messages ranging from “Lasius is a pervert” to “Good luck in your resurrection.” Read more here.

Hear the story of the Tyndale House Greek New Testament from the academics who produced it.

 December 8, 2017 The Holy Bible: A Buyer’s Guide This free eBook guides you through 33 different Bible versions Walk through the religion section of any major bookstore, and you’ll… Read More

What do you think of when you hear the word “righteousness”? About a year ago I was challenged about my understanding of the nature of righteousness in the Bible and… Read More

An extraordinary collection of 68 New Testament and other Biblical manuscripts dating from the fourth to the twentieth centuries has been digitized and made available for study online. Continue reading… Read More

In the controversy of Acts 6, is the apostolic requirement that these leaders (the Seven) be full of the spirit, respected, and faithful still the rule for us today? And is this… Read More

I have a concern about the translation of John 1:1. Should the Greek text be translated “the word was God,” “the word was a god,” or “the word was divine”?… Read More

BibleSpeak | The Best Bible Name Pronunciation Tool Available

This linguistic study centers around the word adelphos, which is Greek for brother. The following memo was emailed to me. Please read it; my response follows. I wanted to ask… Read More

The Origin of the word Christmas The modern word Christmas comes from the Old English Cristes mæsse, or Christ’s mass. In Medieval Catholicism, this was the Mass. The word mass… Read More

The Greek ekklesia (ek-klay-SEE-ah) means an assembly. As in Acts 19:40, it is not necessarily a religious word at all. Often it is explained as meaning "the called out." While… Read More

Slippery Nomenclature, by Craig Springer. Outdoor Life, August 2003. A fish by any other name smells just as — well, never mind. The point is that one man’s largemouth is… Read More

At this website we have examined various words related to water and baptism. Today we take a look at Acts 2:38-41, which will set our study of New Testament baptism… Read More

Christos is the Greek word for "Anointed," which we will recognize from the familiar word "Christ." This perfect passive participle comes from the infinitive chriein, which means "to anoint." In… Read More

This is the word appearing in Titus 3:5, where we read, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His… Read More

The word for the week is agonidzomai, the N.T. Greek verb meaning struggle, fight, do one’s best, or compete (in an athletic contest). An “agon” is a contest, struggle, fight,… Read More

Physioo (or phusioo), accent on the third syllable (of four), means to cause conceit or arrogance. In the passive voice, it means to be conceited or arrogant. This word appears in… Read More

In this article I am replying to a memo emailed to me… I recently read an article on baptism and its purpose. I fully believe baptism is necessary, but some… Read More

I was reading Psalm 3 and the word selah came up a few times. In the footnote it said, "A word of uncertain meaning, occurring frequently in the Psalms; possibly… Read More

The following linguistic insight pertains to homosexuality. We will consider two terms, malakos and arsenokoites (plural malakoi and arsenokoitai). Malakos (the singular of malakoi) means “soft, fancy, luxurious,” when speaking… Read More

Let us consider a question emailed to me, the answer to which is illuminated through careful study of the original language. Acts 20:7 in the NIV states that Paul and… Read More

This short linguistic study focuses on the New Testament teaching about confession, and is in the Q&A format. (This has been excerpted from actual correspondence, with permission.)I have searched quite… Read More

Many Bible believers erroneously claim that the word Xmas is an attempt by unbelievers "to remove Christ from Christmas." This is simply not a legitimate claim! In the Greek language,… Read More

Let’s consider the sole Bible verse containing Maranatha, in three versions: * NIV 1 Corinthians 16:22 – If anyone does not love the Lord — a curse be on him. Come,… Read More

What does the word “amen” really mean? If you were like me, you learned to say it after “grace,” thanking God for the food before you ate a meal. Can… Read More

What does the common biblical term Hallelujah

The short Hebrew wuh (we), which must be prefixed to the word to which it applies, means “and.” But that is not all it means. It can mean many things:… Read More

Mathetria (pron. Mah-THEY-tree-ah) appears only one time in the N.T. This rare word is known as hapax — the Greek word for "once." (The word hapax itself appears 14 times… Read More

This unusual Greek word appears in Romans 8:37. The infinitive form, hypernikan (or hupernikan), could be rendered “to completely conquer, to be more than conquerors.”Many words in Koine Greek (the… Read More

Let’s take a look at the Greek verb meaning “to have power over; to overpower.” The pronunciation: kah-tah-kyoo-ree-EUW-oh. It is especially significant in the context of Christian leadership. The word first appears… Read More

Bara’ is the usual Hebrew word for create. It is found in the very first verse of the Bible. Some Bible believers insist on a complete instantaneous creation. But must… Read More

Apolutrosis (setting free, release, deliverance) appears 10 times in the N.T. (Luke 21:28; Romans 3:24, 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7, 1:14, 4:30; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:15, 11:35). It is… Read More

The following has been excerpted from my 1992 paper on the Lord’s Supper. There are five Greek terms employed in describing this sacred meal. As my paper argues, the early… Read More

Nomos (NO-mos) is the New Testament Greek word for law, though it occasionally means principle or reason. Nomos occurs nearly 200 times in the New Testament, and 400 times in… Read More

Rabbi is found in Matthew 23:7, 8, 25; 26:25, 49; Mark 9:5, 10:51, 11:21. 14:45; John 1:38, 49; 3:2, 26; 4:31, 6:25, 9:2, 11:8, 20:16. This honorific term of address… Read More

This common Greek word appears some 250 times in the New Testament. Logos can mean “word, saying, message, talk, teaching, conversation; account, reason’ matter, thing.” Rema, a similar word, means… Read More

Today we will have a little fun — and for most of us, learn a few words of Hebrew as well. Before the famous “Who’s on first” dialogue will make… Read More

Let us consider the Greek word teleios (TEL-lay-oss). The word means "complete, perfect, whole; full-grown, mature (when used of persons). Among the places it appears in the New Testament are… Read More

In his tirade against the false teachers, Jude employs the phrase asteres planetai (pronounced as-TER-es pla-NAY-tie), or "wandering stars" (NIV). This is interesting because the planets ("wanderers") of our solar… Read More

Epoptai is the Greek word for eyewitnesses, from epoptes (singular). It is a hapax. Hapax is the Greek word for “once.” That is, epoptai appears only once in the New… Read More

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions; 21and envy, drunkenness,… Read More

Personal interestI’ve had the privilege of examining a number of ancient biblical manuscripts (MSS) in the past twenty years or so. Some were written in (the original) Hebrew or Greek,… Read More

Today we examine two related words, both of which appear extremely often in the New Testament (about twice in every chapter, on average). They are pistis (PIS-tis) and pistos (pis-TOS)…. Read More

The Greek word haima (HI-mah) appears in various forms some 99 times in the Greek New Testament. Many English derivatives will be familiar: hematology (the study of blood), hemorrhage (a… Read More

Soteria (so-tay-REE-ah) is the Greek word for "salvation, deliverance, preservation, release." Obviously our salvation is not only an event that took place in the waters of baptism, or "on a… Read More

Basileus (pronounced bah-si-LAY-yus) is the New Testament Greek word for king. (Often Latin and Greek words are similar, but not in this case. The Latin is rex, similar to the… Read More

Let us condier the Greek word paroxusmos (or paroxysmos), which suggests irritation or provocation. In Hebrews 10, this is not a bad thing. The English derivative is paroxysm, which as a… Read More

There are a number of verses that contain the words "deliver" or "rescue," such as: * "Lead us not into temptation but DELIVER us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:13)*… Read More

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for'(Hebrews 11:1-2). Faith is one… Read More

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey… Read More

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his… Read More

"Grace and PEACE to you…" (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2). Ephesians 2:8 reveals an astounding truth that Christians have salvation by grace and therefore peace with God. There… Read More

What does it really mean "to fight the good fight?" To understand this idea (1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7), we first need to identify the "fight" to which… Read More