Transcription
A few days ago, I was driving, and in the car, I was listening to an audio Bible that I have. So, there now, and then, if I'm going on a long trip, I have an audio version of different translations of the Bible that I listen to. And it's really helpful because the Bible, actually, throughout most of human history, more people heard scripture rather than read scripture. All the way up until, you know, the printing press, practically. The way people learned their Bible is through hearing rather than reading. And so, if you don't ever listen to the Bible on audio, you're missing out because many of the books, most of the books, were meant to be heard rather than read.
But one of the frustrating things for me, for a Bible teacher, is that when I listen to audio Bibles, even good, high-quality, expensive, well-done, studio-produced audio Bibles, when I listen to them, the readers always butcher the pronunciation of the Old Testament names. And it's, it's not a big deal if you don't, you know, most people probably are sitting and listening and just kind of fast-forward through or zone out through lists of names or places or anything anyway. But for when you're reading the text, if you know Biblical Hebrew, hearing just the way the Old Testament names are pronounced, it's like there's no standardization across the board. And so people don't know, is it, is it Hagee eye or Haggai? You know, how do you pronounce names with all of the vowels in them? It just, it gets really confusing. And Hebrew is already such a different language than English anyway. The words aren't related. English is not a cognate or a derivative language of Hebrew. So, a lot of times, readers, especially like in Bible studies, they'll read, if it's your turn to read out loud, if you're in a small group that does Bible reading, and you come to a passage that's got these weird-looking names in it, and you kind of start sweating, you know, gosh, I'm going to sound like an idiot. Oh, my, how to pronounce these names?
Well, one, relax. Most people don't, even, even the really good, high-quality audio Bibles get it wrong all the time. So you're in good company. Three, if there's a few rules that if you just keep these in mind, it's really not that hard to pronounce and understand the Old Testament names and places and those words that just seem really weird. So I'm going to go over a few rules that will help you in your own reading. And if you, if you keep these in mind, you should be good to go.
The first thing is, let's talk about vowels in Hebrew. So in English, vowels are A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. But first, our six, A, E, I, O, U. If you end your text, if you're reading them all in the Bible, and you come to an A, and E, here, and I, they are never, almost never, and I'll say, when I say never, are always, there may be exceptions to these, but these are general rules. A, E, and I are never pronounced as long vowels. In other words, A is never pronounced A. It's pronounced either as at or ah. So, think of when you read an A in the Hebrew Bible, think of English words like bat, like the A in bat, or cat. The A sound. The A in Father, right? The long A sound, ah. But not the A in ace, or the A in pay, or any. When you see an A, don't ever pronounce it as A. It's either at or sometimes it's a shortened A, like a, like in the word above, or amuse. But usually, it's either at or ah. So when you say an A, just think bat, father, you'll be good to go.
When you see an E, it's never pronounced E, long E, like eel, or C. It's never pronounced that way. E's in the Bible are always pronounced as E's, as either like the E in pet, or bet, that a sound, or a long E, like the word they, T-H-E-Y, they. So that a sound. Again, sometimes easy to pronounce is a short E, like it, when we say the words up, not thee, but the, that, that short either. So when you see an A, think bad, father, or above. When you see an E, think pet, or they, that, or a.
And last one is, you see an I. I's are never pronounced as a long I. They're never pronounced like ice. They're pronounced short I, like it, like in the word hit, or bit, or pit, bitter, rid, that, that short I, that it sounds. Sometimes there'll be a long I, like, but it's not like a long I like I. It's like E, like the I in the word machine, right? Machine. That's a long I, E. So when you see an I, pronounce it either as a, like pig, or E, like machine.
Now for O and U, the two vowels, it's, it's the opposite. Those are almost always pronounced as long vowels. So when you see an O, it's almost always O, like rope. Sometimes it's pronounced ah, like a shorter, like in, like in our word not, but usually it's an O. It's a long O. And the same with U. U is almost always U, the long U sound, like ruler. So that's just for vowels. That helps you know A, E, I, don't pronounce the first three as long, and pronounce the second two as long. That will help you in your pronunciation. We'll look at some examples in a minute.
Let's talk about some consonants here. Consonant clusters. When you see a PH, right? Just like in English, PH is always the same as F. All right? So PH equals F. There's some letters because of how Hebrew works. Hebrew has letters that English doesn't, and vice versa. And some letters in Hebrew are really similar to the point where they're pronounced pretty much the same way when you read them in English. So if you see a C, it's all, it's never a long C, like in Cecilia. It's always a sound, a hard C, like cat. And underneath that C is usually the Hebrew letter that is either a K or a Q. So C, K, and Q are pretty much, it's you pronouncing the same, that cut sound. And sometimes you'll see a CH for a KH. That is always pronounced the same, either cup, or if you want to put a little guttural in it, sometimes it's huh. But when in doubt, just C, CH, K, KH, or Q, they're all pronounced the same, just that cut sound.
There's a KTS. Sometimes you'll see a TS together in a biblical name or a place. And that's sometimes, depending on the translations you read, another translation, and it's spelled with a Z. And you know, so TS + Z. Those two letters in Hebrew, Sade and Zion, are really similar. And so there's a little bit of go-between.
And then the last thing about these, these vowel, consonant things, there's, there's when you see, there's three words or three endings that words can have that always need to be stressed, put the accent on. So the ending IM. That's a plural ending. M, like when we make a word plural, we put an S on the end. Then Hebrew, if it's masculine, you put IM on the end of a word. So it's not mmm, it's always IM. And that's, that's usually, it's a plural word. Same thing with OTH. OTH, that's a feminine plural ending. So when you see OTH on the end of a name or end of a place, the word, it's, it's a plural word. And there's one more. Hebrew has it, what's called a dual ending. When there's two of something, and it's AIM, AI, M. And that's used for things that come in pairs, like your eyes, for instance, two eyes. Thing AIM. So that will help you when you see those, just pronounce those words, pronounce those endings, and put the stress on it.
When you see a word and there's two consonants back-to-back, like Habakkuk, there's two K's right there in the middle, two consonants together, just pronounce it as if there's one. Just pronounce it as if there's one. So when you see Haggai, all right, H-A-G-G-A-I, hag, mispronounced Haggai, just pretend there's one G there. Or the word Sukkoth, SU, and then some translations say S-U-K-K-O-T-H, some say S-U-K-K-O-T-H. Same thing, but the two consonants together, it's the same, just pronounce as one.
When you see two vowels together, if the opposite, pronounce all of the vowels. So when you see, there's, there's a word, we'll see when we look at this section in a minute, but, but H-A-H-A-H-A, all right? There's a place name. And, and it's pronounced Hot-ah. So pronounce the two consonants together, hot-ah. Put a little break there. And then ha-ha-ha-ha. The same thing with, there's a city in Israel and the Old Testament, A-I, and it's A-I. You pronounce them both, A-I, but you do it fast, so it comes out to I. I. All right, not A-I. Or, and it's just I. The city of I. Same thing with Sinai. The word Sinai.
Now, in English, because English has come down to us, the words have gone from Hebrew through the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and they became a Latinized and then Anglicized. So a lot of these Hebrew names and places that we read in our Bibles have been translated rather than transliterated. In other words, the names that we're reading aren't what they sounded like, even if we pronounce them according to these rules, because the names have been Anglicized. And they're so common that it's just, it's become accepted in English readings that you'll pronounce them wrong. Words like Sinai, the I in Sinai is not a long I. It's sin-a, or sin-i, is how you'd say it. It's sin-i. But Sinai is a modern term because it's come down to us through Judeo-Christian culture. The prophets' names, you know, prophets have endings like Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Moses, Ezekiel. Their names were not originally pronounced like that. You know, Ezekiel was a Yet-Hezekiah. You know, it's just that came into English through the Greek Septuagint as Ezekiel. But he wouldn't have recognized you if you called him Ezekiel. However, because it's such a widespread, it's become a modern English name, so we just use the translation. Same thing with Jeremiah. You know, Jeremiah's name was Yirmeyahu. Urim-Yahu. But Jeremiah has become the English equivalent. Joshua, you know, his name was Yahushua. But Y's in Hebrew became J in English. So Yirmeyah, originally in the Hebrew, that was a Y. And there are other examples. You know, some Hebrew names, you know, Samuel. Samuel's name in Hebrew is Shem-uel. But we don't, you know, Samuel is an English name for all intents and purposes. Same thing with Solomon. Solomon's name is in the Hebrew Shalom-oh. So, but Solomon came down to us through the Greco-Roman and then the English Latinized versions. So we just pronounce it that way.
So anyway, and then some of the names are flat-out translations. Like they're even trying to sound close to it. Cyrus, King Cyrus. That's a, that's a foreign Persian word, Persian ruler. In the Hebrew text, he, his name was Koh-rash. But Cyrus is how he's known to us through English. And the same thing with King Xerxes. Like you remember 300, the big weird creepy guy. And that's King Xerxes in the Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew text, his name is Aha-shoo-a-rosh. But we know that that Hebrew word Aha-shoo-a-rosh is the same person that the, that the Persians were calling Xerxes. So we just use the word Xerxes. So there, there's some leeway in some biblical names.
But with the main rules, those main rules upfront, it's important to remember, pronounce all the words, pronounce the A, E, and I, pronounce those as short. O and U, pronounce those long. Remember the consonant clusters. Put the stress on the endings if it's a more off or I am. And other than that, I mean, you should be, some may take some practice.
So let's look at Numbers 33. Numbers 33 is what I was listening to in the car the other day. And it was the CB audio version. Actually, it was this, it just came out recently, top-notch scholars. It's actually a good mainline version. It's like the New Living Translation, not a bad translation by any means. But whoever did the audio, they just destroyed the names. And you know, you think of, they're going to spend all this money, they could have gotten someone to come in and say, yeah, let's, let's reread that chapter because you pretty much butchered all of those name attempts. But it was Numbers 33. And as I was reading it, so this is how it would read as you listen. I'll put the verses, the words up, and so you can see how they're pronounced. But I'm going to start around, what started just in verse 3. It says, "The Israelites set out from Rameses." See that? That's an English word. As Rameses. So if you say Rameses, there, it's not technically correct, but it's in, it's in, it's become an English word. So you just say Rameses, and that's fine. "They set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out boldly in full view of the Egyptians, who were burying on their firstborn whom the Lord struck down among them. For the Lord had brought judgment on their gods."
Now, here's Israel's itinerary. Listen, these place names. "The Israelites left Rameses and they camped at Sukkoth. They left Sukkoth and camped at Etham, or Etham, if it's becoming whoa-sized, but it's Etham on the edge of the desert. They left Etham, turn back to Pi-hahiroth. It's not Pi-ha-hiroth or however they were saying it. All you were Pi-ha-hiroth to the east of Ba-al-zephon. Now, Ba'al is also a word that's so common because it's used so much in the Old Testament that we say Ba'al, and that's fine. If you say Ba'al-zephon, that, that's an acceptable pronunciation. But the word is Ba'al. You say Ba'al vowels to the east of Ba'al-zephon and camped near Migdol. They left Pi-ha-hiroth and passed through the sea into the desert. And when they traveled three days in the desert of Etham, they camped at Marah. They left Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seven palm trees, and they camped there. They left Elim and they came to the Red Sea. They left the Red Sea and camped in the desert of Sin. Desert of Sin. S-I-N. I in. They left it as we've seen in the camp at Dophkah. There's the PH sound like an F. Dophkah. They left Dophkah and camped at Alush. They left Alush and encamped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. They left Rephidim and they camped in the desert of. And here's the English word we're so familiar with, Sinai. But it's really Sin-i. They left it as a Sin-i and they camped at Kibroth-hattaavah. They left Kibroth-hat-tavah and camped at Hazeroth. They left Hazeroth, encamped at Rithmah. They left Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. They left Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah. They left Libnah, camped at Rissah. They left Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. See how you pronounce everything there? Ke-hel-ath-ah. They left Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. They left Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. They left Haradah, camped at Makheloth. You just read it slowly, pronounce everything there. Mak-hel-oth. They left Makheloth and camped at Tahath. They left Tahath and they camped at Tarah. They left Tarah and they camped at Mithkah. They left Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. They left Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth. That's their Mo-ser-oth. They left Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan. They left Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-hagidgad. You pronounce every consonant there. Hor-ha-gid-gad. They left Hor-ha-gidgad and camped at Jotbathah. Jot-bath-ah. They left Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. They left Abronah, camped at Ezion-geber. They left Ezion-geber and camped at Kadesh and the desert of Zin. They left Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor on the border of Edom. It's Edom, but Edom is again one of those common names. The Lord commanded Aaron, we know, Aaron the priest, went up on Mount Hor where he died. First day of the fifth month of the 40th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor. The Canaanite, where we know them as Canaanites, the Canaanite King Arad, who lived in the Negev of Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming."
It goes on and gets more names. But the point is that, just, it's not super hard. It's intimidating. But when you're reading Old Testament names, just pronounce it slowly, pronounce the letters, pronounce all the consonants. Remember those few short rules we showed at the beginning. A, E, and I, pronounce those as short in English. O and U, almost always pronounce those long. And you should be good to go. So practice. Read out loud. You know, this will be, if you're in church, sometimes churches have someone read the passage before the pastor preaches it. It's helpful to read up and to get these pronunciations fairly accurate. And nobody has to be perfect, but it's helpful. And it, and it de-weird-s some of this, especially when you start learning what some of these words mean.
If you're interested in more about not just how to pronounce these passages, these parts of the Bible, but also how to read, study, and interpret them, check out my DVD course, Bible for the Rest of Us. It's on the website. I'll put a link right here. And it's a three DVD. It's, I think there's like 12, 13 half-hour sessions. So it's a full course. It's only 50 bucks. And you've downloaded the workbook, and you can print out as many as you want. You can teach a class of 50 people, you can do a small group of two, you can do individual study. But it will help you understand, to demystify, to take the Bible down from the mountain and give it to God's people. Everyone, no matter who they are. The Bible, not just for preachers, not just for scholars, but for the rest of us normal people. And that's what we want to do here through the ministry of DiscipleGo Jeff.
So, if you on this video helpful, be sure to subscribe here on my YouTube channel. And I do a weekly Bible study going through the Old Testament. And it's every Tuesday. If you're here in Charlotte, come and check it out. But if you aren't here in Charlotte and you want to follow along, it's up on iTunes, SoundCloud. So you can subscribe. It's free. And it's, it's a weekly half-hour walk through the books of the Bible. So again, check the link, which put the link right here as well. But anyway, check that out. Thanks for watching and happy reading.