Ancient Hebrew Research Center

Biblical Hebrew E-Magazine

October, 2008
Issue #047

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E-Zine Home Page

Issue Index
Biblical Word of the Month – Tree
Modern Word of the Month – Miqveh
Name of the Month – Manasseh
Question of the Month – Typing in Hebrew?
Verse of the Month – Genesis 2:6
MT Excerpt – Genesis 5:21-32
AHRC Excerpt – Isaiah 53:11
Editorials
Corrections
Advertisement
Copyright

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Biblical Word of the Month - Tree

By: Jeff A. Benner

then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its
increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. (RSV, Leviticus
26:4)

The Hebrew word for a tree is ‫( עץ‬eyts, Strong's #6086). In the passage above, the
context clearly shows the word is used in a plural sense (trees). However, in the passage,
the word is written as ‫עץ‬, the singular form. In Biblical Hebrew, the word ‫ עץ‬can mean a
tree (singular) or trees (plural), while the plural form of this word, ‫( עצים‬eytsiym),
always means "wood," such as in the verse below.
 make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it
inside and out with pitch.. (RSV, Genesis 6:14)

This allows for an interpretation of the "tree of life" and the "tree of knowledge,"
different from how we have previously interpreted them. The Hebrew can just as easily
be translated as the "trees of life" and the "trees of knowledge."

The word ‫ עץ‬is a parent root (a two letter root) from which a couple of other words are
derived. The verb ‫( עצם‬Ah.Ts.M, Strong's #6105) means strong and mighty, as is a tree.
Derived from this verb is the noun ‫( עצם‬etsem, Strong's #6106), meaing bones, the
"strong tree" of the body. Also, the verb ‫( יעץ‬Y.Ah.Ts, Strong's #3289) means counsel, to
give support to another as the tree trunk supports the branches and leaves.
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Modern Word of the Month - Miqveh

By: Jeff A. Benner

Many will recognize this word as the ritual immersion, similar to baptism, as practiced in
Judaism. However, unlike in Christianity, the ritual of miqveh is performed many times,
such as before holy days. In Hebrew, this word is written as ‫( מקוה‬miq'veh) and does
appear in the Hebrew Bible, but not in the same context.

God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together
he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (RSV, Genesis 1:10)

In this verse, the phrase "gathered together," is the Hebrew noun ‫( מקוה‬miq'veh, Strong's
#4723). In the Bible, this word means a pool or collection of water and is also found in
the following verse.

And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, `Take your rod and stretch
out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and
their ponds, and all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and
there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of
wood and in vessels of stone.'". (RSV, Exodus 7:19)

While the word ‫( מקוה‬miqveh) means "pool" in Biblical Hebrew, the modern Hebrew
word for a pool is ‫( בריכה‬beriykhah), which comes from the verb ‫ ברך‬meaning "to
kneel," in the sense of kneeling down to a pool of water to get a drink.
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Name of the Month - Manasseh

By: Jeff A. Benner

In the last issue we completed the names of the twelve sons of Ya'acov (Jacob). In this
issue, and the next, we will look at the names of the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and
Ephraim.

Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me
forget all my hardship and all my father's house." (RSV, Genesis 41:51)

The name Manasseh is written as ‫( מנשה‬me'na'sheh, Strong's #4519). This name/word

comes from the root ‫( נשה‬N.Sh.H, Strong's #5382) meaning to "forget" and is used in
the above verse. The name/word me'na'sheh means "forgotten."

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Question of the Month – How can I type in Hebrew?

By: Jeff A. Benner

Q: How can I type in Hebrew?

A: There are a few methods to type in Hebrew. The first is to upload a Hebrew font onto
your computer. We have several Hebrew fonts available on the website at
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/14_ahrcfonts.html. Let me demonstrate how to use one of
these fonts. First download the "Semitic Modern" font at http://www.ancient-
hebrew.org/files/semmod.ttf (if you can see this word, , in Hebrew, you already have
the font installed). Place this file in your fonts folder (usually located at
C:\Windows\Fonts). Now open a document (Wordpad, MS Word, etc) and select the
"semitic modern" font. Now type in the letters "Yra" (one drawback to this method is that
you have to type the Hebrew backwards) and you will see  (you will only see these
letters here if you have correctly installed the semmod.ttf font). Another disadvantage to
this style of Hebrew typing is that if you share your document with others, or are
publishing it on the interent, only those who have this font installed on their computer
will be able to see the Hebrew text.

The second method of typing in Hebrew is to set up your computer to type in Hebrew.
Different operating systems do this in different ways, but for those who are using MS
Windows open your control panel. Select "Regional and Language Options." Click on the
"Keyboard" tab. Click "Change Keyboard." From here you can select "Hebrew." Once
this is completed, you should see a "EN" or "HE" in your Windows Taskbar (you can
click cntrl-shift to change from one to the other). If you have difficulty finding this in
your operating system, just Google the name of your operating system and "typing in
Hebrew." Once you have set up your computer to type in Hebrew, select "HE" in your
Taskbar. Now, in your document, type the letter "t" (for the aleph), then the letter "r" (for
the resh), then the "." (for the final tsade) and you will see ‫ארץ‬. Note that the keyboard for
Hebrew is very different than what you are used to. Below is the Hebrew letter
arrangement for your keyboard.

[]‫'פםןוטארק‬/
,‫ףךלחיעכגדש‬
.‫ץתצמנהבסז‬

You can also change the size and font of the Hebrew in the same way you always have.

‫ – ארץ‬times new roman

‫ – ארץ‬arial
‫ – ארץ‬david
If you do not have the "david" font you can download it at http://www.ancient-
hebrew.org/files/david.ttf.

The advantage to this style of typing is that most all computers recognize these
characters, so you can easily add them to documents and web pages to be viewable by
others without having to install any special fonts.

One other method for typing in Hebrew when using html (web page coding) is to use the
UTF codes. You can read more about this at http://www.ancient-
hebrew.org/14_htmlfonts.html.
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Verse of the Month – Genesis 2:6

By: Jeff A. Benner

ִ‫ו שִאאדֵ י יעַערלה המןִ קְׁהאָררץ ו שִהה ש‬

‫שקְׁקה‬
‫ראתֶ קְׁכל שִפאני קְׁהעַאקְׁדֵקְׁמה‬
but there went up a mist from the earth, and
watered the whole face of the ground. (ASV)
ֵ‫( ו שִאאד‬ve'eyd)
This word ֵ‫( אד‬eyd, a masculine noun) means a "mist" and the prefix ‫( ו‬ve) means "and" –
and a mist.

‫( י יעַערלה‬ya'a'leh)
The verb ‫( עלה‬Ah.L.H) means to "go up." The prefix ‫( י‬ya) identifies the subject of the
verb (which is the word ֵ‫ )אד‬as masculine singular (he), and the tense of the verb as
imperfect (will) – he will go up.

ִ‫( המן‬meen)
This word means "from."

‫( קְׁהאָררץ‬ha'a'rets)
This is the word ‫( ארץ‬erets) meaning land, with the prefix ‫( ה‬ha) meaning "the" – the
land.

ִ‫( ו שִהה ש‬ve'hish'qah)

‫שקְׁקה‬
This is the verb ‫( שקה‬Sh.Q.H) meaning to "drink." The prefix ‫( ה‬hi) identifies the verb
form as "causative" (to cause or make one drink). The written form of this verb identifies
the subject of the verb as masculine singular (he) and the tense of the verb as pefect (did).
The prefix ‫( ו‬ve) means "and," but also reverses the tense of the verb to imperfect (will) –
and he will cause to drink.

ֶ‫( ראת‬et)
This word precedes the direct object (the next three words) of the verb.

‫( קְׁכל‬kol)
This word means "all."

‫( שִפאני‬pe'ney)
This is the word ‫( פנה‬paneh) meaning "face," but is always written in the plural form –
‫( פנים‬paniym). This word is in the construct state (face of...) and a plural noun drops the
final mem (‫ )ם‬when in the construct state.

‫( קְׁהעַאקְׁדֵקְׁמה‬ha'a'da'mah)
This is the word ‫( אדֵמה‬adamah) meaning ground, with the prefix ‫( ה‬ha) meaning "the"
– the ground.
The following is a literal rendering of this verse from its Hebraic meaning.

and a mist is going up from the land, and he (the mist) caused all the face of the
ground to drink.

In following issues we will continue with this chapter.

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Mechanical Translation Excerpt - Genesis 5:21-32

5:21 and “Hhanokh [Dedicated]” lived sixty-five years and he caused to bring forth “Metushelahh [His
death sends]”, 5:22 and “Hhanokh [Dedicated]” walked himself with the “Elohiym [Powers]” after his
causing to bring forth “Metushelahh [His death sends]” three hundred years and he caused to bring forth
sons and daughters, 5:23 and all of the days of “Hhanokh [Dedicated]” existed three hundred and sixty-
five years, 5:24 and “Hhanokh [Dedicated]” walked himself with the “Elohiym [Powers]” and without
him given that “Elohiym [Powers]” took him, 5:25 and “Metushelahh [His death sends]” lived a hundred
and eighty-seven years and he caused to bring forth “Lamekh [Powerful]”, 5:26 and “Metushelahh [His
death sends]” lived after his causing to bring forth “Lamekh [Powerful]” seven hundred and eighty-two
years and he caused to bring forth sons and daughters, 5:27 and all of the days of “Metushelahh [His death
sends]” existed nine hundred and sixty-nine years and he died, 5:28 and “Lamekh [Powerful]” lived a
hundred and eighty-two years and he caused to bring forth a son, 5:29 and he called out his title “No'ahh
[Rest]” saying, this one will much comfort us from our work and from the hardship of our hands, from the
ground which “YHWH [He exists]” much cursed, 5:30 and “Lamekh [Powerful]” lived after causing to
bring forth “No'ahh [Rest]” five hundred and ninety five years and he caused to bring forth sons and
daughters, 5:31 and all of the days of “Lamekh [Powerful]” existed seven hundred and seventy-seven years
and he died, 5:32 and “No'ahh [Rest]” existed a son of five hundred years and “No'ahh [Rest]” caused to
bring forth “Shem [Character]”, “Hham [Hot]” and “Yaphet [Wonder]”,

For details on this new translation see the web site at

http://www.mechanical-translation.org

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AHRC Website Excerpt – Isaiah 53:11

The underlined phrase reads ‫( מעמל נפשוה יראה אור וישבע‬mey'amal naphshoh yireh or
vayis'ba). In the Masoretic text this phrase is written as ‫( מעמל נפשו יראה ישבע‬mey'amal
naphsho yireh yis'ba). Without even knowing Hebrew one can see that the Dead Sea
Scroll includes some information that is not in the Masoretic text. The Masoretic text
translates to "from the labor of his soul, he will see, he will be satisfied". The Dead Sea
Scroll text translates to "from the labor of his soul, he will see light and he will be
satisfied".
 The complete article is located on the web site at
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/31_selections.html

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Editorials

Do you have a comment or personal insight into the articles in this issue of the E-Zine? If
so, let us know.

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Corrections

Did you find any errors needing correction in the articles in this issue of the E-Zine? If
so, let us know.

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Copyright © 2008
Jeff A. Benner
Ancient Hebrew Research Center

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