Hebrew Word Enrichment
It's a great opportunity to learn God's precious words.
There are currently over 100 English translations of the complete Bible, and it still keeps increasing. Try looking up the word "love" in your English Bible and you'll find it mentioned 310 times in the KJV, 348 in the NASB, and 551 in NIV. You might wonder why this is the case. Well, translation may be a huge reason for it. A good student will admit there's not one English Bible version that perfectly translates the original text. A good translation is one that's closest to the original, and this can hardly be found in a single Bible version.
Part of the challenge is often the difficulty involved in finding a single English word that captures the nuances in meaning of the original language. Sometimes a single Hebrew word would require a phrase, a sentence, or even a paragraph to properly translate it! For this reason, many Bible words are lost in translation.
The LORD's words have intended meanings. Isaiah 55:11 declares it clearly: "So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it." It's our responsibility to dig deeper to find out God's intent for each word He used to convey His message.
While the Bible makes use of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, in this series, we'll explore Bible words as they are conceived and expressed in Hebrew. The Bible is a Jewish book written by Jewish people anyway, with the exception of only 1 author, Luke. In the first series of this page, we'll devote some time exploring the fruit of the Spirit enumerated by Rabbi Shaul of Tarsus in his letter to the Galatians in Galatians 5:22-23, and see how the English words love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are understood from a Hebrew perspective.
Hope this series will help add meaning, depth, and richness to your understanding as you meditate on God's Word each day.
