Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

''âmên - אָמֵן (Strong's #543)
Amen

אָמֵן 'âmên (Strong's #543, x30) is the adverb of אָמַן 'âman (Strong's #539) "to confirm, support, believe, be faithful" and means "affirmation, acceptance" or "adherence" of the certainty of a pronouncement. It properly signifies the acceptance of a covenant, more often than not, of the terms of a curse (e.g., Deuteronomy 27:15-26 of the "confirmation" of each of twelve curses). Hence a useful English equivalent would be "I confirm, concur, affirm", or "let it be to me", or "let it happen" (cf. Jeremiah 28:6), i.e., let God be "faithful" to what He has said. It is used in 1 Kings 1:36 of the affirmation of God to the accession of Solomon to David's throne.

The Greek Old Testament Septuagint translates some of these phrases by geðnoito genoito "so be it" from γίνομαι ginomai "to happen" (Strong's #1096). It is from this Greek usage that we probably get the English translations "so be it" and "let it happen" which, although understandable, lose something of the root verb's meaning. In other instances the Greek LXX preserves the Hebrew root idea through the use of ἀληθῶς͂alêthôs "truthfully" (Strong's #230).

Nehemiah 5:13 uses אָמֵן 'âmên of the affirmation of a curse-punishment pronouncement on all those who continued exploitation and usury. Nehemiah 8:6 uses the phrase of the people''s acceptance of the restored Torah. Isaiah 65:16 speaks of "swearing an oath" by the "God of Amen" and Jeremiah 11:5 has Jeremiah saying "Amen" to God's promise to fulfil his "oath of promise".

It is often used in the Psalms as part of a doxology of praise, אָמֵןוְאָמֵן 'âmên v^e'âmên "Amen and amen", or perhaps, "certain and true" (Psalms 41:13; 72:19; 89:52).

In its first Hebrew use, Numbers 5:22, of the curse on an unfaithful wife, the woman accepts her punishment with the repeated words אָמֵןאָמֵן 'âmên 'âmên, variously translated by "Amen amen" or "Amen, so be it" (as also in Nehemiah 8:6). This Hebrew word doubling typically emphasises or raises a word's meaning to an intense or perfect level thus a good translation following the word's root meaning would be "it is truly affirmed" or "let it assuredly be true".

The same usage occurs in the gospels, most frequently, some 25 times in John's gospel and depending on the context means "faithfully, I tell you in truth" or "in all faithfulness it will be so". The KJV translates the doubled phrase as "verily, verily" and the NKJV, "truly, truly". Thus, in the New Testament, it refers to the certainty or truth of something. It is most commonly found at the end of prayers. Various places in English New Testaments seem to imply a usage of the word at the beginning of statements, as in "Verily, verily, I say unto you", however, many of these verses could equally well begin "I say unto you" with the "Amen, amen" portion referring to what has gone before, perhaps Jesus affirming the truth of something someone or he himself had just said.

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