Hebrew Names

Jesus saw Nathaniel (or Nathanael) and knew he had a righteous soul. His name means Gift of God in Hebrew. Here are some things to look for in Hebrew names. The syllable -el means God. When you see a name that ends in -iah or -ias, you are reading the Anglicized version of the Hebrew -yahu (YWVH), which is the name of God. Christians sometimes pronounce this as Jehovah. So the name Isaiah, for example, means Man of God. The Is- is “ish” which in Hebrew means “man.” There is no “J” sound in Hebrew, so when you see a J in a biblical name, it should be pronounced as a “Y.” Jesus’ Hebrew name is Y’shuah or Yeshuah (Joshua in English). Sometimes in the Bible, you will see double consonants and sometimes single consonants. A double B is pronounced as a hard B A single B is pronounced as V A double P is pronounced as a hard P A single P is pronounced as an F Here are some familiar biblical names and their pronunciation: Matthew — Mattityahu Jeremiah — Yirmiyahu Zedekiah — Zadikiyahu Jacob — Ya’akov Isaac — Yitzhak (guttural h) Abraham — Avraham Moses — Moshe Aaron — Aharon Simon — Shim’on Peter — Peter is a Greek name from Petros; when you see the name Cephas in the New Testament that is referring to Peter. It comes from Kefa, an Aramaic name meaning “stone.” James — Ya’akov John — Yohanan (guttural h) Thomas — Ta’om Judas, Judah — Yehudah Mary — Miryam Elizabeth — Elisheva Rebecca — Rivka Rachel — Rahel (guttural h) Naomi — Nahama Ruth — Rut (oo sound) Bathsheba — Batsheva Judith — Yehudit Deborah — Devorah