The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hebrew Letters, Words and Roots Defined Within Their Ancient Cultural Context Jeff A. Benner The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible Cover design by Jeff A. Benner. Ancient Inscription photo taken at the University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archeology and Anthropology by the author. The inscription reads "Sh'ma" meaning hear (see Duet 6.4) and is inscribed on a piece of broken pottery dated 586 to 450 BCE. Copyright 2005 Jeff A. Benner Any part of this book may be copied for non-profit educational purposes only, without prior permission. 3 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible Acknowledgments I would first like to thank my wife Denise for her patience and encouragement. I am extremely blessed to have been privileged with her as a gift from above and the one who has been my continual companion and confidant. She has always supported me in this endeavor and allowed me the space and time for research and writing. Without her devotion and inspiration this work would never have come to fruition. I am also grateful to Dr. Larry S. Hirsch. Without his initial introduction into Hebrew thought and language and his instruction in Biblical studies I would never have started this journey into the Ancient Hebrew thought, culture and language. Also my friend Michael Calpino who continually supported my studies in the Hebrew language, listened to my discoveries and assisted me by working out many word and root origins and meanings. I would also like to thank the hundreds of people who have supported my work at the Ancient Hebrew Research Center Website with their suggestions, corrections and encouragement. There are also many great Hebrew scholars who, with their research and work, have laid the foundations for me and others interested in the Hebrew culture and language who are much deserving of our thanks. 4 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 9 PURPOSE OF THE LEXICON ....................................................................................... 9 The written word ................................................................................................. 9 The word meaning ............................................................................................... 9 Where is the Hebrew? ......................................................................................... 9 The original Hebrew ........................................................................................... 9 PERSPECTIVE OF THE LEXICON ............................................................................... 10 WEBSITE ............................................................................................................... 11 ANCIENT HEBREW THOUGHT ......................................................................... 12 ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE .................................................................................... 12 APPEARANCE AND FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTIONS ...................................................... 13 STATIC AND DYNAMIC ........................................................................................... 14 THE ANCIENT HEBREW ALPHABET............................................................... 15 EVOLUTION OF THE HEBREW ALPHABET ................................................................ 15 THE AYIN AND GHAH ............................................................................................ 17 One Word - Two Meanings ................................................................................ 17 Greek Transliterations of the Ghah .................................................................... 18 Impact on Ancient Hebrew Studies ..................................................................... 18 THE SAMECH, SHIN AND SIN .................................................................................. 19 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL HEBREW ALPHABET ....................................... 19 Letter Characteristics ........................................................................................ 20 THE RECONSTRUCTED ALPHABET ................................................................ 21 AL ........................................................................................................................ 21 BET ....................................................................................................................... 22 GAM ..................................................................................................................... 23 DAL ...................................................................................................................... 23 HEY ...................................................................................................................... 24 WAW .................................................................................................................... 24 ZAN ...................................................................................................................... 25 HHETS ................................................................................................................... 26 THET ..................................................................................................................... 26 YAD ...................................................................................................................... 27 KAPH .................................................................................................................... 27 LAM ...................................................................................................................... 28 5 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible MAH ..................................................................................................................... 28 NUN ...................................................................................................................... 29 SIN ........................................................................................................................ 29 AYIN ..................................................................................................................... 30 PEY ....................................................................................................................... 30 TSAD..................................................................................................................... 31 QUPH .................................................................................................................... 31 RESH ..................................................................................................................... 32 SHIN ..................................................................................................................... 32 TAW...................................................................................................................... 33 GHAH .................................................................................................................... 33 HEBREW ALPHABET CHART ................................................................................... 34 THE HEBREW ROOT SYSTEM .......................................................................... 35 PARENT ROOTS...................................................................................................... 35 CHILD ROOTS ........................................................................................................ 35 ADOPTED ROOTS ................................................................................................... 36 RECONSTRUCTION OF ROOTS ................................................................................. 37 THE HEBREW LANGUAGE ................................................................................ 38 VERBS ................................................................................................................... 38 Person .............................................................................................................. 38 Number ............................................................................................................. 38 Gender .............................................................................................................. 38 Tense ................................................................................................................ 38 Voice................................................................................................................. 39 Mood ................................................................................................................ 39 Verb Conjugations ............................................................................................ 39 NOUNS .................................................................................................................. 40 Noun Derivatives............................................................................................... 40 Feminine Derivatives ........................................................................................ 40 Combination Derivatives ................................................................................... 40 Plural Nouns ..................................................................................................... 40 Grammatical Tools ............................................................................................ 41 DETERMINING THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF HEBREW WORDS .................................... 41 LETTER EVOLUTION .............................................................................................. 42 ANCIENT HEBREW PRONUNCIATION ....................................................................... 43 Spirants and Stops ............................................................................................. 43 Vowels .............................................................................................................. 43 Syllables............................................................................................................ 43 Masoretic Vowels .............................................................................................. 44 Transliterations ................................................................................................. 45 LEXICON FORMAT ............................................................................................. 46 PARENT AND ADOPTED ROOT FORMAT ................................................................... 46 CHILD ROOT FORMAT ............................................................................................ 47 6 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible WORD FORMAT ..................................................................................................... 48 THE LEXICON ...................................................................................................... 50 PARENT AND CHILD ROOTS .................................................................................... 51 Al ...................................................................................................................... 51 Bet .................................................................................................................... 63 Gam .................................................................................................................. 78 Dal.................................................................................................................... 89 Hey ................................................................................................................. 101 Waw ................................................................................................................ 108 Zan ................................................................................................................. 110 Hhets .............................................................................................................. 118 Thet ................................................................................................................ 135 Yad ................................................................................................................. 141 Kaph ............................................................................................................... 145 Lam ................................................................................................................ 156 Mah ................................................................................................................ 166 Nun ................................................................................................................. 180 Sin .................................................................................................................. 194 Ayin ................................................................................................................ 207 Pey.................................................................................................................. 219 Tsad ................................................................................................................ 230 Quph ............................................................................................................... 242 Resh ................................................................................................................ 254 Shin ................................................................................................................ 272 Taw ................................................................................................................. 290 Ghah ............................................................................................................... 297 ADOPTED ROOTS (THREE LETTER) ....................................................................... 302 Al .................................................................................................................... 302 Bet .................................................................................................................. 304 Gam ................................................................................................................ 313 Dal.................................................................................................................. 321 Zan ................................................................................................................. 325 Hhets .............................................................................................................. 330 Thet ................................................................................................................ 349 Kaph ............................................................................................................... 352 Lam ................................................................................................................ 362 Mah ................................................................................................................ 367 Nun ................................................................................................................. 374 Sin .................................................................................................................. 389 Ayin ................................................................................................................ 400 Pey.................................................................................................................. 414 Tsad ................................................................................................................ 425 Quph ............................................................................................................... 432 Resh ................................................................................................................ 441 Shin ................................................................................................................ 452 7 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible Taw ................................................................................................................. 470 Ghah ............................................................................................................... 473 ADOPTED ROOTS (FOUR LETTER) ......................................................................... 475 FOREIGN WORDS ................................................................................................. 482 INDEXES .............................................................................................................. 484 ENGLISH DEFINITIONS ......................................................................................... 484 KING JAMES TRANSLATION .................................................................................. 506 STRONG'S NUMBER .............................................................................................. 556 ALTERNATIVE SPELLINGS .................................................................................... 578 NOTES .................................................................................................................. 613 8 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible Introduction Purpose of the Lexicon In order to demonstrate the need for an Ancient Hebrew lexicon let us examine the word  (halel), how it is written and what it means. The written word The Hebrew word , as it appears here, in Hebrew dictionaries and in Hebrew Bibles, is written with the Modern Hebrew script. But where did the Modern Hebrew script come from? Hebrew was originally written with a pictographic script similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphs but, when Israel was taken into captivity in Babylon they adopted the Aramaic script of the region and used it to write Hebrew. The Modern Hebrew script used today is in fact Aramaic in origin, not Hebrew. The word meaning According to Hebrew dictionaries and lexicons the word  is translated as "praise". The Ancient Hebrew language is a concrete oriented language meaning that the meaning of Hebrew words are rooted in something that can be sensed by the five senses such as a tree which can be seen, sweet which can be tasted and noise which can be heard. Abstract concepts such as "praise" have no foundation in the concrete and are a product of ancient Greek philosophy. Where is the Hebrew? If the word  is written with the Aramaic script and the definition "praise" is from the Greek, where is the Hebrew in this word? The purpose of the "Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible" is to restore the original Hebrew to the Hebrew language of the Bible. The original Hebrew The word  would have been written as  in the Early Hebrew script (over 3200 years ago) or as  in the Middle Hebrew script (between 3200 and 2500 years ago). The original pictographic letters of the parent root  is a man with his arms raised "looking" at something spectacular and a shepherd staff that is used to move the flock 9 The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible "toward" a place. When these are combined the idea of "looking toward" something is represented. The original meaning of  is the North Star, a bright light in the night sky that is "looked toward" to guide one on the journey. If we are going to read the Bible correctly it must be through the perspective of the Ancient Hebrews who wrote it, not from a Modern Aramaic or Greek perspective. The word  in its original concrete meaning is a bright light that guides the journey and we "praise" Yah by looking at him to guide us on our journey through life. Perspective of the Lexicon The first and foremost concept that a reader of the Biblical text must learn is that the ancient Hebrews were products of an eastern culture while you as the reader are the product of a western culture. These two cultures are as different as oil and vinegar, they do not mix very well. What may seem rational in our western minds would be considered irrational to an easterner of an ancient Near East culture. The same is true in the reverse, what may be rational to an ancient Easterner would be completely irrational in our western mind. The authors of the Biblical text are writing from within their culture to those of the same culture. In order to fully understand the text one needs to understand the culture and thought processes of the Hebrew people. All existing Hebrew Lexicons of the Bible convert the vocabulary of the ancient Hebrews into a vocabulary compatible to our modern western language. The greatest problem with this is that it promotes western thought when reading the Biblical text. In this Lexicon the mind of the reader is transformed into an eastern one in order to understand the text through the eyes of the ancient Hebrews who penned the words of the Bible. One of the greatest differences between this lexicon and others is the use of the ancient pictographic script which Hebrew was originally written in. Because the Ancient Hebrew language is based on these pictographs, they are used rather than the Modern Hebrew script. 10