The use of the word but in the bible

Here’s something you probably never thought to count: The ESV uses the word “but” 4,205 times. That’s nearly once for every 7 verses. That’s a lot. (The NASB has “but” slightly more times, the NIV slightly fewer. But they’re all in the same range.)

So what are translators looking at in the Hebrew when they say “but” in English? To help my own work as a Bible translator, and hopefully the work of other translators, I did an exploratory study in the Hebrew of Genesis to find out. Here I present some of the results from that study.¹

Design

Since English translations differ as to where they use the word “but,” I narrowed my investigation to those verses in Genesis where the ESV, NIV, and REB all use the conjunction “but” in the same verse and in the same clause. This way I knew I would be looking at unambiguous instances: cases where English translators independently decided that “but” was just the right word.

In Logos, I searched for “but” in each translation, saved the results as passage lists, then merged the intersections of those lists, resulting in a list of 78 verses. I then worked through the final merged list and eliminated 8 verses that weren’t true matches² and another instance where “but” is used as a preposition rather than conjunction. In the end, I found 69 instances where the ESV, NIV, and REB all converge in using “but”—a considerably more manageable corpus of verses than the ESV’s 152 total uses of “but” in Genesis.³ In what follows, I will call these 69 examples my “corpus” or “the English Translations (ET’s) of Genesis.”

But it’s not enough to have an undifferentiated list, since English “but” performs a few different functions. You probably know this if you studied Spanish (pero versus sino) or German (aber versus sondern). So I then went through those 69 instances of “but” and categorized them according what kind of (English) “but” they were. I used three categories that linguists argue can be found in the languages of the world: adversative, contrastive, and corrective. Let me explain.

3 Kinds of English “but”

As I mentioned, both Spanish and German (along with many other languages) have two conjunctions corresponding to English’s “but.” Spanish sino and German sondern are used in a very special construction, what has sometimes been called correction, where a negated clause is followed by its correct alternative. Consider, for example, Gen. 45:8a (all citations are from the ESV, unless otherwise indicated):

So it was not you who sent me here, but God.

Here the corrective “but” introduces the alternative to what is denied in the previous clause: “not you … but God.” Sometimes a whole clause (rather than a single word or phrase) follows corrective “but,” as in Gen. 24:37b-38a:

You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; but you shall go to my father’s house …

After accounting for corrective “but’s,” there are still two more types (both types are covered by Spanish pero and German aber). This two-way distinction is a little trickier, and there’s some overlap, but it’s a distinction worth making, in particular because it roughly corresponds to distinctions we’ll find in Hebrew (and they show up in Greek, too).

First, adversative “but.” Adversative “but” is used when the text leading up to “but” raises an expectation, and what comes after the “but” denies or contradicts it. A few examples—with my intrusive comments—might help:

Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them [so you’d think he’d greet them as a brother], but [contrary to what you might think] he treated them like strangers (Gen. 42:7a).

Laban felt all about the tent [obviously expecting to find his idols], but [contrary to what he expected] did not find them (Gen. 31:34b).

As you see in Gen. 31:34b above, it might not be the reader’s expectations that are denied but the expectations of a character in the story. Sometimes it’s not so much an expectation as an intention or instruction that is contradicted with adversative “but”:

[The angels] said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But [contrary to the angels’ stated intention] [Lot] pressed them strongly (Gen. 19:2b-3a).

So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But [refusing his brother’s offer] [Jacob] said, “What need is there?” (Gen. 33:15a).

Finally, besides corrective “but” and adversative “but,” there’s contrastive “but.” With contrastive “but,” there’s not necessarily any denial or contradiction, but instead a comparison between two entities that are different in some way. The contrast might be between two time periods:

Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but [in contrast to the previous twelve years] in the thirteenth year they rebelled (Gen. 14:4).

Or it might be between two people (or groups of people):

And his brothers were jealous of him, but [in contrast to the jealousy of Joseph’s brothers] his father kept the saying in mind (Gen. 37:11).

Or the contrast could be between two of nearly any other sort of entity.

So that’s what we’re dealing with in English: corrective “but,” adversative “but,” and contrastive “but.”

Back to Methods

After getting my list of “but’s” in English translations of Genesis down to 69, I exported my passage list to Excel, where I could label each instance as either corrective, adversative, or contrastive (and use Excel’s COUNTIF function to tell me how many of each I had). Here’s a link to a spreadsheet where you can look at my verse list for yourself, complete with my categorization of each example by type of “but.”

I then went to the Hebrew of each instance to do what I set out to do in the beginning: figure out what Hebrew words or grammatical constructions stand behind the various sorts of “but” in English. Note that I say constructions: there is no word in Hebrew that is the direct equivalent of English “but.” As we go along, I’ll defend that claim (since we all learned “but” as a possible gloss of the Hebrew conjunction ו). But first, my results.

Hebrew Forms Corresponding to English “but”

The following table shows what Hebrew forms underly the 69 instances of “but” in my corpus of English translations of Genesis (“ET’s”). (Any Hebrew form with 2 or fewer hits is lumped into “misc.”)

Table 1: Hebrew Forms Underlying “but” in English Translations of Genesis

The Hebrew form underlying the largest number of “but’s” in ET’s—26 of them—is the wayyiqtol, which is the standard form used for narrating past time events in the Hebrew Bible. To put that number 26 in perspective, note that there are 2,108 instances of the wayyiqtol in Genesis (according to the morphological marking in the Lexham Hebrew Bible). In other words, the wayyiqtol is translated with “but” in my corpus of ET’s just 1.2% of the time. 

The Hebrew waw-disjunctive—in which a phrase (often noun or prepositional) intervenes between ו and the verb—accounts for another 22 instances of “but” in ET’s of Genesis. There are hundreds of waw-disjunctives in Genesis, so it’s clear that far fewer than 10% are translated with “but” in ET’s.⁴

The Hebrew form ולא (conjunction + negation) accounts for 5 instances of “but” among the 69 occurrences in my corpus, out of a total of 53 instances of ולא in Genesis. So about 10% of the ולא’s in Genesis are translated with “but” in the ET’s.

An additional 3 instances of “but” in the ET’s are translations of w-qatal in the Hebrew.⁵ There are a total of 218 w-qatal’s in Genesis (making no distinction for waw-sequential forms), so about 1.4% of all the w-qatal’s in Genesis are translated with “but” in the ET’s.

A final 3 differentiated instances of “but” are translations of כי־אם (complementizer + conditional; there are 9 total in Genesis⁶), plain כי (complementizer; there are 290 כי’s in Genesis⁷), or אם־לא (conditional + negator; there are 15 אם־לא’s in Genesis).

The remaining 7 instances of “but” in ET’s represent: וְעַתָּה ‘and/but now’ (1x), preverbal (fronted) noun without prefixed waw (2x), וָאַיִן ‘and/but neg-existential’ (1x), וְגַם ‘and/but also’ (1x), וְאַיֵּה ‘and/but where?’ (1x), and plain לָמָּה ‘for what, why?’ (1x). Of these, what I say below about ולא should apply to ואין (both are instances of waw + negation); and I will briefly address ועתה below (in a footnote).

But it’s not enough to have a list of forms that are occasionally translated with “but” in English. We want to know two things: (1) do any of these forms correspond closely to any of the three types of “but” meanings in English, and (2) why are these forms only sometimes translated as “but” in English?

Going Deeper: Forms and Meanings

The first question turns out to be pretty simple to answer: Yes! There’s an overwhelming—though by no means perfect—correspondence of particular Hebrew forms to particular meanings of English “but.” In what follows, I’ll look at the forms in Table 1 in relation to the three types of “but,” and I’ll also move outside my narrow corpus to provide some additional context. I’ll use the ESV to do this, since it is the most liberal of the three translations in its use of “but.”

Correction “but”: כי, כי־אם, and אם־לא

Let’s start with correction “but.” Recall that this sort of “but” requires a negation in the preceding clause, and that “but” introduces the (correct) alternative (e.g., “no longer Jacob, but Israel”). There are only 3 instances of correction “but” that overlap in the 3 ET’s of Genesis I looked at:

• Gen. 24:38, where “but” translates אם־לא;
• Gen. 32:28 [29], where it translates כי־אם;
• and Gen. 45:8, where it translates plain כי.

Let’s look at these one at a time. 

The first of these, אם־לא, is only rarely found with the meaning “but.” In the 130 instances where the two words occur together in the Hebrew Bible, they almost always mean ‘if not’ (which can also be translated ‘unless’). There are only two places where they introduce an alternative to a preceding negative: in Gen. 24:38 (“[do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites…] but to the house of my brother you shall go” [my translation]) and Ps. 131:2 (“[my heart is not lifted up …] but I have calmed and quieted my soul”).⁸ אם־לא is never translated by the ESV with an adversative or contrastive “but” in the Old Testament: only corrective.

Like אם־לא, the word כי־אם is translated as (corrective) “but” once in the Genesis corpus (32:28 [29], “your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel), but unlike אם־לא, the word כי־אם is frequently translated as “but” throughout the rest of the Old Testament, too: 76 total times in the ESV, out of a total of 119 occurrences.⁹ All of the 76 times that כי־אם is translated as “but” are instances of corrective “but,” never contrastive or adversative.

Finally, plain כי can also be translated as corrective “but.” Although it is translated as “but” only once in my Genesis corpus (Gen. 45:8, “it was not you who sent me here, but God”), it is translated as “but” throughout the entire OT (ESV) 115 times. Of these 115 instances, I find only 17 where it has a contrastive or adversative meaning.¹⁰ The remaining 98 instances are all corrective “but”, where כי introduces the correct alternative to a previous negation.

Students of Hebrew are no doubt familiar with these meanings for כי and כי־אם. But it would be easy to miss that fact that this so called “contrastive” meaning is almost exclusively reserved for a specific type of construction: one in which there is a previous denial, and כי or כי־אם introduces the asserted alternative. It would be better to talk about the “corrective” meaning of כי or כי־אם (as I’ve done here) rather than the “contrastive” meaning.

An important question remains: are there any other Hebrew words or constructions that are used for corrective “but”? Sort of. Consider Leviticus 19:18: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge [לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙] … [against] your own people, but you shall love [וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥] your neighbor as yourself.”¹¹ Here the second clause or phrase (the correct alternative), which is introduced in English with “but,” is a clause beginning with a w-qatal verb following a negated yiqtol (see, too, Lev. 19:14, 20b-21a): in other words, a simple waw-consecutive. Other standard clause-combining strategies are also available for the “correct alternative” clause (see Lev. 19:15, 17; see, too, Exod. 1:17 for a simple wayyiqtol), none of which is marked in any way: in other words, the correct alternative is simply conjoined or juxtaposed to the negative clause without any special construction. Thus, though these don’t show up much in Genesis, it appears to me that it is quite frequent for English translations to have corrective “but” where the Hebrew has simple waw-consecutive or clause juxtaposition. 

Contrastive “but”: The waw-disjunctive

Looking at the second row of Table 1, we see the waw-disjunctive, which accounts for 22 of the 69 instances of “but.” Of these 22 instances, 18 (about 80%) can be categorized as contrastive “but,” where two people or things are contrasted with each other (e.g., Gen. 40:21, 22: “He restored the chief cupbearer … but the chief baker he hanged [וְאֵ֛ת שַׂ֥ר הָאֹפִ֖ים תָּלָ֑ה],” my translation). This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because one of the functions of the waw-disjunctive is to contrast the topic of the second clause with the topic of the previous clause (see, e.g., Juöun-Muraoka §155.nb; what’s said there about subjects applies to other grammatical positions, too). There are two things to notice here:

First, contrast is not the only use of the waw-disjunctive. In particular, the waw-disjunctive can be used to introduce a new scene (Gen. 3:1); or it can interrupt a sequence of events, either to give background information (Gen. 37:3), or to discuss a roughly simultaneous event (Gen. 22:5). And there are (arguably) other uses, too.

Second—and please don’t miss this—when the waw-disjunctive is translated into English with a contrastive “but,” the “but” meaning does not come from ו. The ו is a simple coordinating conjunction. The contrast comes entirely from the construction. In other words, “but” is not a meaning of ו: the glosses we all learned in first-semester Hebrew are a crutch, not an analysis.

Another Hebrew construction that’s regularly translated into English with contrastive “but” is what I’ll call the alternative clause: a clause offering a hypothetical alternative to the previous clause. This will often consist of a preceding positive instruction, then a warning if the instruction is disobeyed. For example, Gen. 20:7: “[R]eturn the man’s wife […]. But if you do not return [וְאִם־אֵֽינְךָ֣ מֵשִׁ֗יב] her, know that you shall surely die.” In such cases two (possible) situations are contrasted, and the second is often presented with ואם, which introduces the alternative (contrasting) possibility. There are three such cases in my Genesis corpus (see the fifth line of Table 1). These alternative clauses are similar to waw-disjunctives in that two things are being contrasted, in this case, not entities but situations.

Are there other Hebrew constructions that are routinely translated with contrastive “but” in English translations besides the waw-disjunctive and (the occasional) ואם? The answer is: not as far as I know.¹² Take a look at Proverbs, the book of contrasts, and you’ll see the waw-disjunctive constantly. It’s not that Solomon loved chiasmus (though no doubt he did); but the waw-disjunctive is the ordinary way to contrast the topic of a clause with the topic of the previous clause.

Adversative “but”: the “but” that isn’t there!

The remaining lines in the Table—wayyiqtol, ולא, and w-qatal—look like a list of “unremarkable Hebrew constructions,” and that’s exactly what they are. When these forms are translated with “but,” what sort of “but” is it? All of them are adversative, every one of them.

We can take wayyiqtol and w-qatal together: these are simply cases of (typically sequential) ו-conjoined clauses. Usually translations use the additive (unmarked) conjunction ‘and’; sometimes they add ‘then’; occasionally they convert one of the clauses into a subordinate clause; and often they simply put a period and start a new sentence, with no conjunction at all. In a tiny handful of cases—say, when the second clause is particularly unexpected, or strongly contradictory to the previous clause—then the English translations use “but.” Nevertheless, the meaning of ו does not include adversity or contrast. It is not polysemous. There is no “but” meaning. The appearance of “but” in English translations is attributable only to the translator’s sense that in English the adversity or contradiction needs to be flagged with an adversative “but.” That’s a fine thing to do. Biblical Hebrew doesn’t have a conjunction like that,¹³ so it’s not surprising that Hebrew authors almost never overtly mark adversity. But we must remember that adversative “but’s” are a feature of the translation, not the original.

Alert readers might say, “Yes, but what about ולא. Surely that’s an overt way to mark contrast or adversity!” I wondered the same thing.¹⁴ So I looked at every instance of ולא in Genesis. There are 53 of them: 36 of those precede a suffix-form verb (qatal), 16 precede a prefix-form verb (yiqtol), and 1 stands between nouns (Gen. 27:12, “I shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing [קְלָלָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א בְרָכָֽה]”). This example, Gen. 27:12, is a good paradigm case: in the expression “a curse and not a blessing,” the ולא introduces a noun phrase that elaborates on (rather than contradicting) the previous phrase. This is the normal way that ולא is used: to introduce an elaboration. Gen. 30:40 (which I’ve picked at random) is a great example with clauses rather than two noun phrases: “He put [וַיָּֽשֶׁת] his own droves apart and did not put [וְלֹ֥א שָׁתָ֖ם] them with Laban’s flock.” There’s no adversity here: just a restatement of what it meant for Jacob to put his own animals apart. This also illustrates the most common grammatical context for ולא in Genesis: wayyiqtol … wlo qatal; if there were no negation, it would simply be wayyiqtol … wayyiqtol, but the negation has to precede the verb, so ו is prefixed to the negation, and the verbal form is the non-initial qatal. There are 24 of these in Genesis, and an additional 9 qatal … wlo qatal, which is nearly the same thing.

Of 53 instances of ולא in Genesis, only 18 are adversative or contrastive, and of those, the ESV uses an adversative “but” or ‘yet’ in only 8 cases (recall that the ESV is quite generous in its deployment of the word “but”). In most or all of these cases, the ולא precedes a verb communicating what would have been the next event in a sequence, except that the event didn’t happen—the dove did not find a resting place, Laban did not find his gods. In Hebrew, this is stated simply and directly, without any special marking (except the negation, which has to be there anyway). The case of ולא is thus no different from the wayyiqtol’s and w-qatal’s discussed above. Hebrew truly does not have an adversative conjunction, and it almost never uses a special construction to mark an adversative relationship between clauses.

Summary of Findings

So what have we seen? 

For negation + correction (not X but Y), Hebrew uses special vocabulary in a special construction:  negation (most often לֹא or אַל  or אַ֫יִן) followed, typically, by כִּי or כִּי־אִם, but sometimes by a simple ו-connected form (or simple juxtaposition).

For marked contrastive comparison of two entities, Hebrew normally fronts the phrase referring to the second contrasted entity, prefixed with ו, before the verb: the waw-disjunctive.

An adversative relation between clauses is almost never marked in Hebrew, though on rare occasions a waw-disjunctive or כִּי might be used (or אוּלָם, which shows up only 19 times in the Hebrew Old Testament). 

Translating “but”

I’ll conclude with a few reflections for students and translators.

For students: never forget that (as Daniel Stevens has memorably said) “Hebrew words do not mean English words, just as French words do not mean English words.” In particular, ו doesn’t mean “but,” just like it doesn’t mean ‘and’. English glosses for Hebrew words are placeholders on the way to deeper linguistic understanding. For function words like ו, what matters are the morphological and syntactic conditions that license the word’s appearance, and the semantics of the relation that holds between words or phrases or clauses conjoined by ו.

For Bible readers: it’s worth reflecting on the fact that the translations most routinely associated with formal equivalence (say, the NASB and ESV) use the word “but” rather more than less formal translations (like the NIV and REB). I suspect that this is because translations like the NIV and REB are more open to omitting conjunctions altogether, to using clause combining strategies other than simple coordination, and to varying the contrastive and adversative words used (such as ‘yet’ and ‘rather’ and ‘instead’). More formal translations do all of these things, too, but in smaller doses.

For translators (and here I’ll get personal, since I’m a translator): this study has highlighted two things to me. First, I’ve realized that flagging to readers that something is unexpected or oppositional is quite common in English writing—the adversative use of “but”—but it’s almost entirely absent from Biblical Hebrew. If my job as a translator is, as much as possible, to show readers of the translation how something is communicated in addition to what is communicated, I can achieve greater congruence with the Hebrew—and greater subtlety—by reducing the “but’s.”

Second, it’s become clear to me that even quite formal English translations sometimes come up short in fully capturing the contrasts that are highlighted in the Hebrew. To illustrate, consider the following two pairings in which the REB beats the ESV hands down for style, largely because the REB, the more dynamic translation, has paid attention to Hebrew word order (contrastive fronting), whereas the ESV has relied on “but” to do all the work, resulting in a bland rendering.

Gen. 3:2-3
מִפְּרִ֥י עֵֽץ־הַגָּ֖ן נֹאכֵֽל׃ …
וּמִפְּרִ֣י הָעֵץ֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּתוֹךְ־הַגָּן֒ אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֗ים לֹ֤א תֹֽאכְלוּ֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וְלֹ֥א תִגְּע֖וּ בּ֑וֹ פֶּן־תְּמֻתֽוּן

We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 
but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ (ESV)

We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except for the tree in the middle of the garden. God has forbidden us to eat the fruit of that tree or even to touch it; if we do, we shall die. (REB)¹⁵

Gen. 40:21-22
וַיָּ֛שֶׁב אֶת־שַׂ֥ר הַמַּשְׁקִ֖ים עַל־מַשְׁקֵ֑הוּ וַיִּתֵּ֥ן הַכּ֖וֹס עַל־כַּ֥ף פַּרְעֹֽה׃
וְאֵ֛ת שַׂ֥ר הָאֹפִ֖ים תָּלָ֑ה

He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.
But he hanged the chief baker. (ESV)

The cupbearer was restored to his position, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; 
but the baker was hanged. (REB)

These sorts of details—conjunctions and word order—may seem inconsequential, but even the smallest particulars matter. I don’t mean to say that conjunctions and word order will make one translation more faithful than another, but rather that the accumulation of small details can yield a translation that is a pleasure to read, or one that isn’t.

And that matters, because the Bible is a book for reading.

Suggested Reading

Andrej Malchukov’s 2004 article “Towards a Semantic Typology of Adversative and Contrast Marking” (Journal of Semantics 21.177–198) is a great place to start learning about the different kinds of “but” discussed in this article. You can download the article free here.

Aaron Hornkohl’s MA thesis on the pragmatics of X+verb structure is a good introduction to the linguistic analysis of the waw-disjunctive (though he never uses that term) and other fronting structures. Excerpts from that paper can be downloaded here.

Additional references can be found at the end of my talk handout here.

1. This article summarizes and extends work that I presented at the 2021 Bible Translation Conference. The handout for that talk is available at my Academia page here.
2. Sometimes different translations use “but” in the same verse but in different clauses in that verse. This was the case for the 8 verses that weren’t true matches.
3. I’m simplifying my process somewhat, giving the final, ideal way to replicate the research. 
4. I include under waw-disjunctive only those cases where the author had a choice as to the position of the intervening phrase. Because the negator לא (5 instances of “but”) and conditional אם (3 instances) must precede the verb, they are not included. I also don’t include the one instance of וְעַתָּה “and now” because עַתָּה is almost invariably pre-verbal in the Hebrew Bible.
5. All three are waw-sequentials; one of those is 1^st person and thus has the form w-qataltí; the other two are 3^rd person, so the accent isn’t helpful.
6. In LHB, run a search on כִּי־אִם (rather than searching for two separate lemmas in proximity).
7. The count of 290 כי’s is inclusive of the 9 instances of כי־אם.
8. In spite of the correction use of ki-im being so rare in Biblical Hebrew, this usage is standard for the Modern Hebrew contraction אֶלָּא, which Ernest Klein’s 1987 Etymological Dictionary notes is derived from im-lo (thanks to Daniel Kaufman for pointing this out to me).
9. These 119 occurrences are those places where כִּי־אִם is a compound unit. There are 15 additional instances where the two separate words כִּי אִם occur with the meaning “for if.” You can search for כִּי־אִם translated as “but” in the ESV using the INTERSECTS operator: using a search template to build the search will help avoid mistakes!
10. For example, in Ex. 33:3 we have adversative “but”: “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but [כי] I will not go up among you.” In Job 4:5 we have contrastive “but”: “[you have made firm the feeble knees], but [כי] now it has come to you.”
11. Thanks to Aaron Hornkohl for pointing this out to me.
12. Here we might mention וְעַתָּה ‘and now’, which is sometimes translated ‘but now’, indicating that there’s a contrast between a previous time and the present. But the majority of וְעַתָּה’s appear to me to be simple continuations, without contrast between the past and the present. So contrast is not part of the semantics of וְעַתָּה, but instead a function of the meaning of the preceding context together with the meaning of the clause containing וְעַתָּה.
13. Jochen Danneil has pointed out אוּלָם as a possible candidate. It undeniably has an adversative meaning, but its status as a conjunction seems suspect to me (I suspect it’s an adverb). But even if it is a conjunction, it is marginal: it occurs only 19 times in the entire Old Testament.
14. Thanks, in particular, to Michael Lyons for encouraging me to pay closer attention to ולא.
15. You might have noted that there’s a fronting in verse 2 that both REB and ESV have ignored, a fronting that creates a natural congruence with the serpent’s words. This fronting, along with the one in verse 3, is reflected—and to good effect—in the literary translation of Genesis 1-11 by Samuel Bray and John Hobbins, as well as the literary translation of the Jewish translator Everett Fox.

This lesson is part of Mel Lawrenz’ “How to Study the Bible” series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

It is amazing, when you think about it, that you can take a pencil and a piece of paper, write a single word on it, show it to someone else, and produce in that person’s mind the idea of the object, action, or concept in that single word. Whether you write lion, or moon, or wedding, or run, or war—a single written word connects your mind with another person’s mind in an instant. This is the power of words.

But it is not as simple as that. What if you write the word bar? The other person may imagine a long metal rod, or a piece of candy, or a room in a hotel where alcohol is served, or a court of law, or a musical notation. All are meanings of the word bar. And what if the other person comes from another country where the meaning of a word is entirely different, or even offensive?

Studying the Bible inevitably involves studying the meaning of individual words, but we must always remember that the meaning of the biblical author is found in complete thoughts represented in sentences or blocks of sentences. We find the meaning of words in their context. The word white can mean a color or quality, the word house can mean a home or a business establishment, but put them together—white house—and you have a specific idea. Or change it to White House and you know you’re talking about one particular building in Washington, D.C.

So let’s say you are studying John, chapter 1, a passage packed with amazing truths. We find words which we need to understand: beginning, Word, life, light, children of God, born of God, flesh, dwelling, grace, truth, Son. We may assume some of these words have obvious meanings, but we will benefit by learning all that we can even about them.

Most words have a range of possible meanings, what linguists call a “semantic range.” The word flesh, for instance, in a biblical passage may refer to the physical body, or it can mean humanity, or it can point to limited human nature, or it can refer to the sinfulness of human nature. The same is true of word in John 1. The Greek term logos can mean expression or rationality or a single word. Logos was also used at the time by certain philosophical schools for the idea of a universal power that holds the universe together. By calling Jesus “the Word” John may have been saying that in Jesus we find the fulfillment and personification of “the word of the Lord” in the Old Testament, or a better alternative to the cosmic Logos of the philosophers, or both. So much is at stake in the meaning of a word—even the word word!

So how do we study the meaning of the words of Scripture? Here is where we rely on the expertise of linguists whose job it is to take the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words of the Bible and compare their use within the Bible and with outside sources. Linguists produce lexicons or dictionaries—tools that summarize the findings of these extensive comparisons. As we have said before, one of the most useful Bible study tools is a good Bible dictionary or encyclopedia. These tools will summarize the meaning of names, geography, theology, and every other kind of word. From Caesarea to coin, remnant to resurrection, Baal to Bethel, heaven to heart, Judas to justification. Bible dictionaries are immensely valuable (see this list of Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias).

When you look up a word in such a tool, use it as an opportunity to learn about the whole range of meaning of a word throughout the Bible. This you can file away in the back of your mind for future reference. But do not make the mistake of thinking that any one use of a word in any one passage includes the full semantic range of meaning of a word. When someone uses the word bar you do not think he or she is using every possible meaning of the word. The context of the comment tells you specifically what the person means. So it is in Bible study. The word world can mean the earth, or humanity, or the sinfulness of humanity. You can tell from the context. The word judge may be God’s act of justice, or God as judge, or one of the leaders in the book of Judges, or the act of harshly criticizing others. You can tell from the context.

And then there is the issue of synonyms. The English word love in the New Testament is often used in translations for three of the four Greek words for love: agape, philia, and eros.

The other tool that helps us know what a specific word means in a specific context is the commentary. The commentator has looked at the full semantic range of all of the words in a passage, and will focus on the meaning that applies. And if the deeper meaning of a word is important, a good commentator will unpack that. (More about commentaries later.)

We should not be surprised that getting at the meaning of the words of Scripture involves some work. The basic meaning of a biblical text is typically obvious with simple reading. We have to work at times in the same way that we work at any relationship worth having. Words are gifts, and they lead ultimately to God himself.

Mel Lawrenz trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s minister at large. He has a Ph.D. in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel is the author of 18 books, the latest, How to Understand the Bible—A Simple Guide and Spiritual Influence: the Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.

Learning the Hebrew language is of great value to Christians in their study of the Bible.  It helps us to better understand the Old Testament (and some New Testament) scriptures which can ultimately lead to a deeper relationship with the God of the Bible Himself!

When studying Biblical Hebrew, students often concentrate on learning the words most commonly used in the Bible to aid in interpretation of the texts.  Familiarizing yourself with these 20 words will get your Hebrew reading skills off to a great start!  

Note when you see Hebrew words below that Hebrew is read from right to left.  I included pronunciation in parentheses for all Hebrew words to help sound them out.  

1. The: הַ (pronounced ha)

It’s not surprising that “the” is the most commonly used word in Biblical Hebrew, as it is the most commonly used in the English language as well.  What’s interesting about “the” in Hebrew though is its placement.  It does not stand alone but is a prefix to the noun it’s attached to. 

Example: “The heavens” in Genesis 1:1 is הַשָּׁמַיִם (ha-shuh-mah-yeem), with “ha” or “the” being a prefix to the word “heavens”.

Side note: A common use of this word is in the name of our Savior himself! In Hebrew, it’s Yeshua Hamashiach, where “Yeshua” means Jesus and “Hamashiach” means “the Messiah” or, more literally, “the anointed one”.

2. And: וְ (vuh)

Like “the”, the Hebrew word for “and” doesn’t stand alone.  It’s attached to the word it precedes but otherwise functions just like “and” in English. 

For example: In Genesis 1:2, “And darkness” is וְהֹשֶׁךְ (vuh-ho-shekh), just one word.  

In Genesis 1:2 we also find the phrase “and the earth” which shows us another neat thing about the Hebrew language.  We can combine prefixes to make a single word from this phrase.  The Hebrew word replacing “and the earth” is וְהָאָרֶץ (vuh-ha-ah-retz), where “ah-retz” means earth.

3. Yahweh: יהוה (Yahweh)

These 4 letters together are known as the Tetragrammaton or the Tetragram.  

Example:  This is the word used as the name of God in Exodus 3:15 when God tells Moses to tell the Israelites who sent him (Moses).  It’s the 3rd person version of “I AM” (Ex. 3:14), so it’s more literally “He is”.  

God giving Moses the 3rd person version of His name eliminated the confusion the Israelites would have had when Moses said who sent him.  On the other hand, can you picture the conversation that would have been if God hadn’t given Moses the 3rd person alternative?  The “He is” instead of just the “I AM”?  Israelites: “So, Moses.  Who sent you?”  Moses: “I am”.  Israelites: “Wait, what?  You are what?  I said who sent you?” And so on.  That always makes me laugh.  But don’t you love how God equips Moses with exactly what he needs for the job?  You need a name?  Here it is.  You need a name to tell others?  Here’s that too.

4. God or gods: אֱלֹהִים (e-lo-heem)

Also another word for God, Elohim, could also mean gods in general.  It’s a lot like the word “god” in that way since it could mean just any god or THE God.  

Example: From Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God (אֱלֹהִים Elohim) created the the heavens and the earth”.  

5. King: מֶלֶךְ (meh-lekh)

One thing that’s both unique and interesting that greatly helps in understand Hebrew is the concept of root words.  A root, usually consisting of three Hebrew letters, gives you a clue into the meaning of the word. Related words usually have the same root.

For example: While מֶלֶךְ (meh-lekh) means “king”, מָלַךְ (ma-lock) means “to reign” or “he reigns”.  And from that same root, the letters מ and ל, and כ (which becomes ך when at the end of a word) also make up מַלְכָּה (mall-kah), which means “queen” and מַּלְכוּ (mal-khootoe), meaning “kingdom”.

“Then the king (מֶלֶךְ meh-lekh) said to her, “What is troubling you, Esther, the queen (מַלְכָּה mall-kah)? And what is your request?  Even to half of the kingdom (מַּלְכוּ mal-khootoe) it shall be given to you.”  Esther 5:3

6. Israel:  יִשְׂרָאֵל  (Yis-ray-el)

This one’s pretty straight forward, but important since it’s used a lot in the Hebrew Bible.   

Example: “Hear, O Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל  Yis-ray-el)…” Deut. 6:4

7. To, for, or in regard to: לְ (luh)

Like the Hebrew words for “the” and “and”, this word is also a prefix attached to the word it precedes.  Note in the below verse that the vowel pointing (tiny dots or marks) under the letter in this word changes when attached to certain words. 

Note: אֶל (el) can also be used as “to” or “toward”.  While it’s sometimes interchangeable with the prefix לְ (luh), this word appears by itself rather than as a prefix.

Examples: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes (לָעֵינַיִם luh-ae-nuh-eem)…” Gen. 3:6

8. From:  מִן  (meen)

This word can stand alone or be used as a prefix.  It’s מִן when by itself but when attached to another word, the letter ן (noon) drops off and appears as a a dot (dagesh) in the word it attaches to.   A third way this word can appear is as a prefix with different vowel pointing – מֵ.

Example: “So Abram went up from Egypt (מִמִּצְרַיִם mee-meets-rah-yeem) to the Negev…”.  Gen. 13:1

9. Which or that: אֲשֶׁר (ah-share)

While certainly not one of the more exciting words in the Bible, this one sure is used quite often.  Whether it’s translated as “which” or “that” depends on the translation and context. 

Example: “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that (אֲשֶׁר ah-share) he had done in creation”  Gen. 2:3

10. All or whole: כֹּל (coal)

Here’s another word that you’ll find frequently in the Hebrew Bible and its meaning is pretty straightforward.   It’s usually attached to the word it precedes with a hyphen and the vowel markings change when it’s attached to a word.   

Example: “And the whole congregation (כָּל־עֲדַת coal adat) of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness…”  Ex. 16:2

11. Direct object marker: אֵת (ate or et)

Isn’t translatable in that its only purpose is to indicate that the word following it is the direct object of the verb that precedes it.  I know that may be confusing since we don’t use this in English but this is frequently used in the Hebrew Bible.

For example: “You shall love the Lord your God (אֶתיְהוָה et-Yahweh) with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  Deut. 6:5

12. Day: יוֹם  (yōm)

In addition to being used often in the Hebrew Bible, yom is also used in the names of the days of the week in Hebrew.  Yom Shabbat is Saturday, Yom Rishon is Sunday, etc.

Example: In this verse, the prefix for “the” is attached to the word for sabbath (shabbat).  “Remember the sabbath day (אֶת־יוֹםהַשָּׁבַּת et-yom-ha-shabbat), to keep it holy.” Ex. 20:8

13. Man or husband: אִישׁ (eesh)

 אִישׁ (eesh) is the word for “man” and word for “woman” or “wife” is very similar – אִשָּׁה (ee-shah).  

Example: “So Haman answered the king, “For a man (אִישׁ eesh) the king wants to honor…” Esther 6:7

14.   House: בַּיִת (ba-yeet)

This word can be pronounced “ba-yeet” but is ofter pronounced “beth” as well.  It’s the first part of a word you already know, Bethlehem – בֵּית לָחֶם, which means “house of bread”.

Example: “By wisdom a house (בַּיִת ba-yeet) is built, And by understanding it is established;” Prov. 24:3

15. People: עַם (ahm)

This can mean the plural for “person” or can also mean “a people” as in a nation or people group.  

Example: “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people (הָעָם ha-ahm) go.” Ex. 7:14

16. He said: אָמַר (ah-mar)

Verbs in Hebrew are conjugated depending on the gender and number of people doing the action, just like in Spanish, Arabic, or any grammatically gendered languages.  The vowel pointing in אָמַר is the most common form for a verb and is 3rd-person masculine singular meaning “he” performed the action. So אָמַר means literally “he said”.

When changing who’s doing the action, both the letters and vowel pointing change.  With this verb “to say”, we change it to “she said” like this אָמְרָה (ahm-rah) and to “they said” like this אָמְרוּ (ahm-roo).   

In the Old Testament, “he said” often appears as “and he said” or “then he said”, which is וַיֹּאמֶר (vie-oh-mehr).

Example: “The king said (וַיֹּאמֶר vie-oh-mehr, literally “and said the king”)…” Esther 6:3

17. Word or thing: דָּבָר (dah-var)

This word can be translated a few different ways in addition to “word” and “thing”.  It can also mean “speech”, “matter”, “anything”, “saying”, “utterance”, and other similar words or concepts.

Like other nouns, דָּבָר (dah-var) can be conjugated depending on whether it’s plural.  דְּבָרִים (duh-var-eem) is the plural form “words”.

Example: “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word (דָּבָר dah-var) spoken in right circumstances” Prov. 25:11

18. He or it: הוּא (who)

My children always laugh about this one.  “He” is pronounced “who” while “she” (הִיא) is pronounced  “he”.  

Example: “He (הוּא who) shall build a house for My name…” 2 Sam. 7:1319.

19. To walk or he walked: הָלַךְ (hah-lock)

The word הָלַךְ (hah-lock) can mean “to walk” but also “go”, “come”, “enter”, and is even used as the verb when Noah’s ark is floating on the water.

This is another verb so it may appear differently, depending on who’s doing the walking.  “She walked” is הָלְכָה (hall-khah) and “they walked” is הָלְכוּ (hall-khoo).

Example: “…And the Lord helped David wherever he went (הָלַךְ hah-lock).” 2 Sam. 8:6

20. Son: בֵּן (beyn)

The plural form of בֵּן (beyn) is בָּנִים (ba-neem).  On the other hand, daughter is similar – בַּת (bot) and it’s plural form is בָּנוֹת (ba-note).

Example: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son (בֵּן beyn)…” Isaiah 7:14

If you’re interested in learning Hebrew, visit my resources page for various ways to learn.  If you’d like to use the method of studying frequently used Biblical vocabulary words, Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary: Learning Words by Frequency and Cognate is a book by George Landes that is great for that.  There are also numerous apps (both iOS and Android) that can be very helpful for this as well.  

Biblical Hebrew words can have multiple meanings and nuances. Each shade of color adds to the full picture.

Multiple meanings for practically every single Biblical Hebrew word is the first key to get your head around. This is something impossible to see in your native language. Red is ONE word, but it comes in umpteen shades. Likewise, a Biblical Hebrew word can, and generally does, have various nuances, multiple meanings.
(Bible Course Unlock Bible Meaning with the 7 Keys to Master Biblical Hebrew, Key 1)

Straight away we see the limits of Bible translations. They are very helpful, but they are incomplete for one excellent reason.

The original words of the Bible, mainly in Hebrew and Greek, have more meaning than what we can render in any word-for-word translation. It is red, but what shade of red?

How can I affirm this? Take any translation, let’s say in Hebrew, you’ll see that a SINGLE original word translates into MULTIPLE foreign language words.

If word-for-word translation were so simple, every single Hebrew word would have only ONE and always the SAME translated counterpart. In the Old Testament of the Bible, there are about 8700 unique Hebrew words. In theory, we should be able to translate them with 8700 words in another language. Well, not only can you not do that, but it is impossible to do that.

We do have such mechanical or simple translations but, even there, they have appendices to expand on these single words. The fact is, each word has more than one simple meaning. Some Biblical Hebrew words have fifty different translations. Yes, you read that correctly, fifty different renderings as we’ll see. That’s multiple meanings.

You need to ask the fundamental question:

How can ONE Hebrew word have FIFTY varying translations? And beyond that, the much deeper question, why does ONE word have multiple meanings? We’re not just talking about words, these words signify actions, emotions, descriptions, feelings. They represent real-life reality. Biblically, they include everything spiritual, all the way to eternal life.

This is a serious matter. We’ve got to get it right and not let misunderstandings around words get in our way.

Before we answer that question, we need to clarify a point regarding translations. In the last post, I quoted my Biblical Hebrew professor, “All translations are interpretations.” This statement is correct, but does that mean we have to call into question either the scholarship or the sincerity of these translators? Absolutely not, on both accounts. The King James translation, as with most versions, is the work of accomplished language and Bible scholars. With each translated word, they are doing their utmost to stay faithful to their understanding of the meaning of the original text. In no way, am I contesting their erudition or their probity. In fact, the multiple translations testify to their comprehension that single Biblical Hebrew words have multiple meanings.

That said, the answer to that question “how can ONE Hebrew word have FIFTY varying translations?” is the reason I wrote this course, Unlock Bible Meaning with 7 Keys to Master Biblical Hebrew.

This course is just a concise answer to the above fundamental question. It really is a preview to The Explanation book series, where you’ll discover myriad examples of these seven unspoken, even unrecognized, characteristics of Biblical Hebrew. The Explanation will expand this course to include many more examples related to each of the 7 Keys.

You may not be aware of some examples I evoke here. All the more reason to read this document and increase your general knowledge. A friend of mine told me recently that he was playing a quiz game with some of his buddies. A Bible-related question came up, and he answered it, to the surprise of everyone there! He told me he knew the answer because of a conversation we’d had. You never know when this information will come in handy. Not that that’s your chief motivation.

I’ll even say that most people with some knowledge and interest in the Bible are not aware of these seven keys and definitely not of this study method to unlock Bible meaning. Not convinced? Ask a spiritual individual if they know that a single Hebrew word can have up to 50 translations. Ask them if they know why and especially what the implication of this has for Bible understanding.

I designed this course as a workbook filled with authentic examples that you can look up and study online as we progress. You need not do the practical exercises, but you will appropriate this Bible study method and learn faster if you do.

The goal of this course is not just to teach you the 7 Keys, but to help you be proficient in their use. You need them for your lifetime Bible study. When a Bible passage is unclear to you, you need a method to verify its meaning. Studying the multiple meanings of the original word can help you solve seeming discrepancies. It’s not the only method, but it will help.

Let’s dive into the first key, One Biblical Hebrew word can have multiple meanings. And, immediately, you can use the Bible study tools that are available to see this for yourself.

Davar = 50 translations in English

The first example of multiple translations for one Biblical Hebrew word is davar. You’ll find it in Exodus 34:28. Go over to https://UnlockBibleMeaning.com and search for ten commandments.

• Switch the display from the King James Bible to the Strong’s Concordance view.

• Click on the Strong’s number (H1697) to the right of commandments to see Strong’s information in the right column.

Frequently, throughout this book, we will look at this presentation of Biblical Hebrew words. On the right side of the screen the first paragraph, after the H1697 you’ll always find a commentary by Strong. We will refer to this often. This is a resume of the Biblical Hebrew word and its usage in scripture. I shall explain its value and relevance in more detail later.

Here you can see dabar summarized by word, a matter or a thing and cause.

Following the KJV (King James Version of the Bible), after Strong’s commentary, we see all the translations of this one word, used by the translators. For dabar, you can count about 50 translations. Notice the variety of translated words. We shall discuss this extensively.

There are words preceded by an ^x and a ⁺. These words are additional translations in the Revised Standard Version, and the American Revised Standard Version. We will not refer to these translations, although they can add a note of modernity to the 1611 A.D. original work.

Below each Strong’s entry notice << Prev(ious) 5 | Next 5 >>.

By clicking on Next 5 you’ll display the next five Strong’s entries. For the time being, just notice that basically every single Biblical Hebrew word has at least a couple and often many more translations into English. Verify this first key regarding multiple meanings by clicking on these previous and next links. Check words before and after H1697. Most words have multiple translations. Understanding this is the first key to mastering Biblical Hebrew.

You need not learn any Hebrew at all with these tools. The translations suffice to understand the meaning of each word.

• First, you’ll be getting used to the idea that each Biblical Hebrew word has multiple meanings and translations; this is a new concept.
• Second, you’ll learn why this is so.
• Third, and most importantly, you’ll determine how to conciliate all these translations for just one word.

There are excellent reasons for this multiplicity of translated words. The translators were right in the choice of multiple foreign-language words for one Biblical Hebrew word. Consider each translated word as a piece of the word-puzzle to assemble.

When you connect all the pieces together you see the bigger picture of each word; that’s when deeper and fuller meaning of the Bible comes into focus.

That’s our goal in this course. The Biblical Hebrew vocabulary and grammar are not our focus (although we’ll get a little of that). We’re on a thrilling journey to harvest profound comprehension of the Bible.

Back to our example of dabar, which everyone is aware of because of The Ten Commandments. The Hebrew word used in this context for commandment (Ex. 34:28) is davar. (the b and v are interchangeable depending on how it’s written. That’s the grammar and rules of pronunciation that you can learn elsewhere if you wish). The Bible uses dabar about 1400 times.

Here is the list of over 50 words and phrases used as translations in the King James Bible:

act, advice, affair, answer, because of, book, business, care, case, cause, certain rate, commandment, counsel, decree, deed, due, duty, effect, errand, evil favored, hurt, language, manner, matter, message, thing, oracle, portion, promise, provision, purpose, question, rate, reason, report, request, sake, saying, sentence, some (uncleanness), somewhat to say, speech, talk, task, thing (concerning), thought, tidings, what(-soever), which, word, work.

Why can one simple word have multiple meanings? What is the implication of this?

Nimrod’s devar(im)—Nimrod’s cause(s)

Let’s look at the first verse in the Bible that uses H1697, dabar.

We read and see the word speech (davar) as a synonym of language and quickly move on from there. These words are not synonyms, by any means. This is a limitation of translation.

When you go over to www.UnlockBibleMeaning.com and switch to the Interlinear Bible or Strong’s Concordance view, you see that there are two different numbers and words. For its first usage in the Bible this word, dabar, is associated with the tyrant Nimrod and his worldwide kingdom.

Other translations of H1697 dabar suggest a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially a cause.

This is a course about unlocking Bible meaning by mastering the keys of Biblical Hebrew. In follow-up books of The Explanation series, I will go deeper into the details of Nimrod’s rebellion against God and how he enticed and swayed his followers to follow his CAUSE. Yes, at the time of the Tower of Babel, they all spoke one language, but that Tower was the focal point of their cause and their worship. I will expand this when we reach Genesis 10-11. Suffice to say, the concept of one cause (movement, goal, plan) reveals much more than one speech.

If you checked the Interlinear Bible, you’ll have noticed something in particular. The Biblical Hebrew states, “devarim echadim,” difficult to translate, because both words speech and one are in the plural. The word one is an adjective, so it has to agree in gender and number with the noun devarim, hence it’s plural but still translated one or unique. Consider this, when you compare Nimrod’s cause(s) (devarim plural) to God’s causes, His Ten Commandments (devarim plural). God has His Ten Commandments and Nimrod has his commandments, plural. God has His cause and Nimrod has his cause, singular.

The translation one speech occults the entire comprehension of this context. In English, it completely loses the plurality. In the French Segond Bible version renders the plurality, les memes mots—the same words. The French stays with the concept of speech with no sign of a singular cause or movement.  In both cases, the translations provide only partial understanding. Poking into the Biblical Hebrew throws open a whole new vista of this important first usage of H1697, davar.

The Lord’s devarim—His words

A little further on, in Genesis 15, we find debar again, used in a context with Abraham immediately following his encounter with Melchizedek. Otherwise known as the King of Righteousness,

Here is the verse where devarim refers to God’s commandments:

And the final context we’ll discover with H1697, used twice, is in the Psalms where it confirms God’s speaking the heavens into their present existence, in Genesis 1. It is God’s Word that starts this momentous creation.

Let’s conclude this short elaboration of the Biblical Hebrew word dabar with a concept that might be new to you. You know that in the New Testament, in John 1, The Word refers to Jesus Christ (verses 1, 3, 14), “Who made all things.” I realize that the Word in John is in Greek and we’re studying Hebrew. We know there’s an intricate relationship between the Old and New Testaments. When we see debar translated word of Lord (Psa. 33:6), the instrument that spoke into Creation, we cannot but consider the relationship of this Word to Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Word. I leave you with this food for thought, which you can read about at this link.

We’ve dealt with ONE word, debar, with multiple meanings, how the Bible uses the same word in SO MANY CONTEXTS. Debar reveals some of its story. The multiple translations reveal the number of different nuances we can attribute to this Biblical Hebrew word. It adds both depth and additional impact to the passages where we find this word.

Whether it is two or twenty-five translations, they ALL come from ONE base and there IS a relationship between these words, even if it’s not clear at first sight.

Important

As you do this course, you’re seeing Biblical information you’ve maybe never seen or heard before. I do not intend to add to your confusion. It is necessary to see the pieces before we can construct or reconstruct them. Sometimes it is necessary to DEconstruct, and see the pieces before we can REconstruct. Our goal is ‘unlock Bible meaning,’ the 7 Keys are solely to help us see the pieces, the words more clearly. Please keep the following points in mind.

1. Each word is part of a gigantic puzzle. Like a puzzle piece, the sides curve into unusual shapes. This is what’s happening with dabar with multiple meanings; commandments, speech, cause…
2. All the puzzle pieces assemble into ONE magnificent picture. The Explanation calls this coherent completeness. All the pieces, with their variegated sides, fit together perfectly. They present God’s plan for humankind. The book Inventory of the Universe cataloged the pieces from a human observation point of view. This course gives us the study method to identify the pieces from a Biblical point of view.
3. Assembling a giant puzzle takes time. Relax, meditate on the observable and Bible pieces you have. Don’t force the pieces into awkward explanations. Wait till you find other pieces that fit properly, just like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. True theology means assembling God’s Words, not our own, to produce His picture. It’s all the pieces in their respective places that will answer all the big questions in life from a Godly point of view.

Further Study

Light and Darkness

In the presentation of this course, I told you we’d see a much deeper meaning of the common English words like day and night, evening and morning, light and darkness. Let’s do it. Or rather, you can do it.

Go to UnlockBibleMeaning.com. Genesis 1 automatically displays. Switch to Strong’s Concordance and read Gen. 1:4. Click on H2822 for darkness and H216 for light. Read the translations, BEYOND just the physical meaning of shades of visibility or colors that light and dark describe.

With the multiple meanings of these words, you will understand the deeper meaning.

Do the same with night and day, evening and morning. You will see a pattern forming regarding deeper, more spiritual comprehension. The multiple meanings of these words unlock deeper spiritual insight.

Do the exercise, meditate on your findings. This meditation is vital for putting the puzzle together. Just like you don’t find the placement for pieces instantly. It’s the same with the relationship between the words of God’s plan. Take time.

Please realize there’s no lost or mysterious code. It’s understanding and meditating God’s Word, Word-for-Word, more deeply, more fully. This is true meditation. Psalm 119:148, “My eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in your word.” King David preferred meditating God’s Word than sleeping. We’re looking upward, above to God’s solution, not inward, below to a human solution.

Then, when you’re ready, when you see a deeper meaning, and ONLY when you reach that point, I encourage you to click on this link. Here you can compare your point of view to The Explanation‘s point of view.

Add your comments below to tell me how you did. Add anything you feel would help you make the meaning clearer. We shall use darkness and light, day and night, morning and evening as an exercise to illustrate most of these 7 keys. Each key adds a layer of depth of comprehension.

The next lesson is on Key 2. Contradictory Meanings. One of the least seen, and even lesser understood keys. Yet, it is essential, as you’ll find out.

This blog post is an excerpt from Key 1 of the Bible Course Unlock Bible Meaning with the 7 Keys to Master Biblical Hebrew.

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