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covenant, alliance, circumcision

The source of this word is ceremonial and it has two explanations. The first is learned from the complete expression ‘to make a covenant.’ Actually, in Hebrew it is ‘to cut a covenant.’ The Hebrew root is ‘ba•ter’ (B.T.R) which means ‘to cut.’ That has to do with...

interest (in banking)

‘Ri•bit’ is the word for interest we use today in the banking and financial fields. Unlike its biblical counterpart, the modern word is ‘cleaned up’ of disparaging and offensive connotations. It simply comes from the root words ‘har•beh’ and ‘rav,’ which mean ‘much’...

the last days

There are many ‘last days’ prophecies in the Bible. The nature of the things to come vary from prophecy to prophecy. The non-specific references are prophecies of destruction and doom, while ‘a•cha•rit ha•ya•mim’ prophecies in the writings of the major prophets are of...

prophet

The word ‘na•vi’ is one of two used in the Bible for a prophet. The other is ‘cho•ze,’ which is translated as ‘seer.’ The word ‘na•vi’ is a derivative of the root verb ‘bo.’ (The English phonetic transliteration of ‘bo’ fails to show the connection to ‘na•vi,’ but the...

dreamer, visionary

This biblical expression has a touch of humor. Nowadays, we almost always use this phrase coupled with sympathy rather than with any other feelings. Biblically, it was coupled with a burning envy and murderous designs: “And they said one to another, Behold, this...

a virtuous woman

This expression has been translated in various ways in different Bible versions and even within the same version in separate instances. None of the common translations is really reaching the full meaning of this idiom. For example, in Proverbs 12:4 it is a ‘virtuous...