Bible Geek in Greek - Hope #6

Hope #6

 July 6, 2022

If you have been following along with us over the previous few posts, we have been looking at Bible words for “hope”. We profiled the four Hebrew words which translators render as “hope”, and we have just discussed one of two Greek words: ELPIZÓ (ἐλπίζω). Today, we look at the other word: HUPOMENÓ (ὑπομένω)

 

HUPOMENÓ is significantly less common in the New Testament text, generally. And in particular, it is never directly used to mean “hope”. It is most often translated as some form of “wait”, as in “stay behind”, “endure”, and “stand my ground”. 

 

In fact, in the famous love chapter we quoted twice in the previous post, St. Paul asserts that love “hopes all things, ENDURES all things”.

 

So, it is fair to ask: why are we talking about HUPOMENÓ when it really does not ever mean “hope”? Because one cannot “endure” unless one has “hope”. And just as the Hebrew words QAVAH and YACHAL can mean both wait and hope, depending on context (and translator preferences), we assert the same for HUPOMENÓ.

 

It is a compound word, derived from HUPO (ὑπό) and MENÓ (μένω). HUPO is a preposition often being translated as “by, under, about”. Etymologically, it is the origin of our common English prefix “hypo” and as such, it provides with many English words like hypodermic, hypoglycemic, hypochondria, and hypocritical.

 

MENÓ means “stay, abide, remain” (as the Coen Brothers’ famous Jeff Lebowski would say, “The Dude MENEI (μένει)"). In contrast to its comound child, MENÓ makes frequent appearances in the New Testament, occurring 118 times, including that previously cited love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13: “And now these three REMAIN…”

 

In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Jeiwhs Bible), HUPOMENÓ is found in both the Law and the Prophets. Psalm 69 gives us a fitting coda to this concept of “abide” and “endure” because of our hope in G-d. From verses 6 and 7: 

 

“Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who HOPE (υπομένοντές) in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. For I ENDURE (υπήνεγκα) scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.”

Bible Greek Word Nerd - Hope #5

Hope #5 - someone is speaking Greek

July 5, 2022

In the previous few posts, we have looked at the concept of “hope” in the Scriptures. Because we tip that way, we have focused on the Hebrew Bible and the four Hebrew words translated as “hope” in English: QAVAH (קָוָה), YACHAL (יָחַל), SABAR (שָׂבַר), and NABAT (נָבַט). Today we take a walk on the wild side into the Greek words that give us “hope” in the New Testament.

 

Generally, the Greek offers two verbs that translators take to mean hope: ELPIZÓ (ἐλπίζω) and HUPOMENÓ (ὑπομένω). ELPIZÓ is the more common of the two, so we will discuss it first.

 

ELIPIZÓ occurs 31 times in the New Testament. 

 

Matthew 12:21 says, “In his name the nations will put their HOPE.” Paul says to King Agrippa in Acts 26:, “This is the promise our twelve tribes ARE HOPING to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this HOPE that these Jews are accusing me.” St. Paul in the famous “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 writes that love “always protects, always trusts, always HOPES, always perseveres.” A final example, also from Paul, in 1 Timothy 4:10: “That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our HOPE in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.”

 

 

 

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures read by many diaspora Jews and by the Fathers of the early Church, ELPIZO makes frequent appearances in the Text.

At the conclusion of Genesis 4, the Text tells us that to Seth was born Enosh, who HOPED in the Lord G-d and began to call on His Name (ούτος ήλπισεν επικαλείσθαι το όνομα κυρίου του θεού). In 2 Kings 18, the Greek of the Septuagint announces that Hezekiah HOPED in the G-d of Israel (εν κυρίω θεώ Ισραήλ ήλπισε), in contrast to Israel’s kings and his own predecessors. In Job 17:15, despairs of finding hope (ωχετό μου η ελπίς ώσπερ πνεύμα και ώσπερ νέφος η σωτηρία μου). In Psalm 55 (which is Psalm 56 in the Hebrew text), David asserts that he will HOPE in the LORD (εγώ δε κύριε ελπιώ επί σε). And finally, Micah warns us not to HOPE in leaders (μη ελπίζετε επί ηγουμένοις), which is less an indictment of leaders than it is a reminder of where one should place one’s hope.

 

ELPIZÓ gives us the Greek noun ELPIS (ἐλπίς), which is variously translated as hope, expectation, trust, and confidence. It occurs 53 times in the New Testament, including in the previously mentioned “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13: “And now these three remain: faith, HOPE, and love.” We will end this post with words from Paul, who when speaking with Jewish leaders in Rome, he said, “It is because of the HOPE of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”

 

The Hope of Israel… τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ

 

Next, we will take up the other Greek word used for “hope”…

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Hope #4

Hope #4

July 2, 2022

“Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my HOPE in your laws.” Psalm 119:43

 

In the previous three posts, we looked at several Hebrew words that English translators render as “hope”..These four terms are YACHAL (יָחַל), SAVAR (שָׂבַר), and QAVAH (קָוָה), with a wildcard fourth word, NAVAT (נָבַט). In our previous two posts, we discussed QAVAH, SAVAR, and NAVAT. Today, we close this mini-series with a look at our favorite: YACHAL. (To be candid, it’s our favorite primarily because of its sound – classic guttural Hebrew because of the consonant “ח” – pronounced with that famous throat-clearing sound).

 

Like QAVAH, YACHAL has the primary meaning of “to wait” or “to await”. In the Hebrew Bible, YACHAL occurs 40 times.

 

In Genesis 8, Noah WAITED seven days before sending out the dove for the second time (WAITING seven days also occurs in 1 Samuel 10:8 and 1 Samuel 13:8). In Job 29:23 “They WAITED for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.”

 

YACHAL is translated as “hope” about 14 times in the Hebrew Bible (16 if you include “wait expectantly”, which feels an awful lot like “hope” to us). For instance, here is Psalm 33:18 and 33:22: “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose HOPE is in his unfailing love… May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” One of our favorite occurrences is in Job 13:15: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him…”

 

YACHAL’s noun form is THOCHELETH (תּוֹחֶלֶת). (Pro tip: the Hebrew consonant “תּ”, transliterated as “TH”, is not pronounced like the English “th”, at least not fully. It is pronounced like the “th” in the spice “thyme” with the semi-hard “t” sound.) Here it is in Psalm 39:7: “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My HOPE is in you.” In Proverbs 11:7, we are reminded of where we ought to place our expectant hope: “HOPES placed in mortals die with them; all the promise of their power comes to nothing.” And again in Proverbs, we have 13:12: “HOPE deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Let’s end this little Hebrew word miniseries on “hope” with Micah 7:7, which is not only an encouragement to those who follow the LORD and His Messiah, but an example of how challenging the Hebrew concept of “hope” is to render in English.

 

ואני ביהוה אצפה אוחילה לאלהי ישעי ישמעני אלהי

 

The YACHAL in question is “אוחילה”, the fourth word from the right.

 

The NLT has this verse as: “As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I WAIT CONFIDENTLY for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.”

In the NIV, it’s “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I WAIT for God my Saviour; my God will hear me.”

 

In the HCSB, Micah 7:7 says, “But I will look to the LORD; I WILL WAIT for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.”

 

The RSV renders it: “But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”

 

The Orthodox Jewish Bible (which I love, but seldom read) is “ Therefore I will look [in hope] for Hashem; I WILL WAIT for Elohei Yishi (the G-d of my Salvation); Elohai (my G-d) will hear me.”

 

The Jewish Publication Society’s new English translation is “Yet I will look to the LORD, I WILL WAIT for the G-d who saves me. My G-d will hear me.”

 

The Amplified Bible, which is a sort of “I give up trying to decide; here are all the ways the words can be translated” version: “But as for me, I will look expectantly for the LORD and with confidence in Him I will keep watch; I WILL WAIT [WITH CONFIDENT EXPECTATION] for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” But the version does the best job of catching the full sense of YACHAL.

 

In our next posts, we will dive down the Greek rabbit hole of “hope”.

 

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Hope: the waiting

Hope #3

July 1, 2022

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 

 

In the previous two posts, we have ruminated (now, there’s a word whose etymology is worth a post or two…and there’s even a Hebrew link to be found, but we digress) on the Biblical word HOPE in its various Hebrew forms.

 

There four terms which English translators render as “hope”: YACHAL (יָחַל), SABAR (שָׂבַר), and QAVAH (קָוָה), with a wildcard fourth word, NABAT (נָבַט). In our previous two posts, we discussed QAVAH and SABAR. Today, we are going to jump to the wildcard, NABAT.

 

NABAT occurs 69 times in the Hebrew Bible and it primarily and most often means “to look”.

 

 In Genesis 15:5, G-d has Avraham NABAT to the Heavens in order to count the stars. In Genesis 19, Lot and his family were told by the Angel to not NAVAT back toward Sodom, but Lot’s wife did NABAT. In Exodus 3, Moshe hides his face from G-d in the Burning Bush because he is afraid to NABAT upon Him. In Psalm 13, the Psalmist asks G-d to NABAT on him and to answer his plea.

 

How in the world, etymologically speaking, does “look” become “hope”? How does any word get re-purposed and re-defined? Just consider how a cockney English speaking man refers to his best friend as his china. Or how he complains of his slabs being sore after a long day walking on hard pavement. The journey of “look” to “hope” is not nearly so strange, especially when one looks in expectation.

 

The use of the verb NAVAT as a noun requires a modification to MABAT (מַבָּט) – so the N (נָ) gets swapped for an M (מַ). In that noun form, it is used twice in Isaiah and once in Zechariah:

 

• Isaiah 20:5-6: “Then they will be terrified and ashamed because of Cush their hope (MABAT) and Egypt their pride. So the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope (MABAT), where we fled for help to be saved from the king of Assyria; and how are we ourselves to escape?’” (NASB)
  

• Zechariah 9:5 “Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza too will writhe in great pain; also Ekron, because her hope (MABAT) has been ruined. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.”

 

Interestingly, the prophets have used this noun form of home to express a negative outcome. The “hope” is disappointed because it is misplaced (contra Paul’s observation in our Romans verse at the top). Looking with expectation for deliverance from a source who cannot deliver you will lead to that hope being ruined. Hope that does not disappoint derives from G-d alone.

 

Next, we look at my favorite word for hope: YACHAL.

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Keep Hoping

Hope #2

June 29, 2022

In our previous post, we explained that one of our favorite concepts in Scripture is the idea of “hope”. Hope is less certain, less convinced, than faith is. The old preacher Doug Wead used to say that hope is adolescent faith…faith that has not yet grown up. We see it in Paul’s writing:

 

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13.

 

We previously discussed the Hebrew term QAVAH (קָוָה), occurring 49 times in Jesus’ Bible and having the primary meaning of “to wait”. Today we are going to look at SAVAR (שָׂבַר), sometimes transliterated as SABAR.

 

SABAR only occurs eight times in the Hebrew Text and has the primary meaning of “inspect” or “examine”. For instance, Nehemiah 2:13: “By night I went out through the Valley Gate towards the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining (SAVAR) the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire.” 

 

But in Ruth 1, English translators render the word as “wait”, as Naomi encourages her daughters-in-law to return to their fathers' houses: “would you WAIT (SAVAR) until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!’” 

 

In Esther 9:1, it is often translated as “hope”: “…On this day the enemies of the Jews had HOPED (SAVAR) to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.”

 

In Psalm 119:166, it has been rendered as “hope”, “wait”, and even “long for”, depending on your version:

 

• NLT: “I LONG FOR your rescue, LORD, so I have obeyed your commands.”
• NIV: “I WAIT FOR your salvation, LORD, and I follow your commands.”
• NASB: “I HOPE FOR Your salvation, LORD, and do Your commandments.”

 

Translation is hard work. SAVAR is one word that can be rendered in multiple ways. As with English, context drives its meaning. But so do the translator’s preferences and a priori commitments. Do you long for, wait for, hope for, or look for G-d’s salvation? The answer, of course, is “yes”.

Bible Geek Word Nerd - the Hope of the Nations

 Hope, #1

 June 29, 2022

One of our favorite concepts in Scripture is the idea of “hope”. Hope is less certain, less convinced, than faith is. The old preacher Doug Wead used to say that hope is adolescent faith…faith that has not yet grown up. We see it in Paul’s writing:

 

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13.

 

The English word “hope” is from a Proto-Germanic word “hopon”, which in Old English became “hopa”. In the Old English, etymologists will tell us that it means “confidence in the future” or the “expectation of something desired”, even “wishful desire”.

 

In the language of Jesus’s Bible, there are three Hebrew words which the English translators render as “hope”: YACHAL (יָחַל), SAVAR (שָׂבַר), and QAVA (קָוָה), with a wildcard fourth word, NAVAT (נָבַט). The simple English “hope”, which seems so familiar conceptually, has rich precedents in the Hebrew.

 

Let’s take these one at a time, for the sake of keeping these posts manageable.

 First look at QAVA (because it’s the first one we learned in our study of Hebrew). For what it’s worth, QAVAH is unrelated (insofar as we know) to the fabulous Mediterranean culinary brand, CAVA, though everytime we think of CAVA, we hope for a chance to eat there.

 

Fundamentally, QAVA means “to wait for”. For instance, in Genesis 49:18: “I wait for Your salvation, Lord.” It occurs 49 times in the Hebrew Bible, the majority of those occurrences being translated as “wait” (which, as Tom Petty would tell you, is the hardest part).

But the origin of the word is very interesting (at least it is to us).

 

Hebrew scholars tell us that the word derives from an earlier root which means “twist” or “stretch”. QAVAH gives us TIQVAH and MIQVEH. It is a TIQVAH that Rahab uses to demonstrate her house is the one that gave refufe to the Hebrew spies in Jericho. (Joshua 2:18: “unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet CORD (TIQVAH) in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.”)

 

One can imagine Rahab and her family letting down the scarlet TIQVAH and then waiting (QAVAH) in anticipation of their deliverance from the destruction promised to Jericho.

 

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Comfort Ye, My People

Comfort

June 20, 2022

We’ve been away for too, too long. Working on some new stuff, but all the while working on some cool Hebrew and Greek words (we cannot read the Psalms without translating the terms – it’s like an addiction).

 

We’re going to take a break from Genesis 1 and beginnings and jump to a word that has been inspired by a friend’s great loss. Her son has become a widower, and she is grieving. Death stalks all of us, until our Lord comes again. And our friend has suffered a devastating, almost inexplicable loss. Parents should not gieve at the death of their children. That is disordered. But our friend lives that disorder and suffers greatly.

 

Our prayer for her is that the G-d of all comfort will comfort her. And the word we wish to look at is the Hebrew word for “comfort”: NACHAM (נָחַם) which means to be sorry or to console oneself.

 

NACHAM occurs over 100 times in the Hebrew Bible as a verb, most famously in Isaiah 40, which occurrence should ear worm us with Handel’s “Messiah”:

 

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”

 

The context of the verse of a powerful promise of forgiveness and restoration, not to mention a promise to the Coming One who puts an end to death itself. And at the end of the chapter comes the ultimate promise:

 

“but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

 

Our friend’s suffering does not magically end with the words from Isaiah. But the G-d of all comfort, who enjoins His people to be comforted, can bring TANCHUM (תַּנְחוּם), which is a noun form of “consolation” or “comfort”.

 

Death is a monster. But “be of good cheer”, the Master says. He has conquered death.