How to Learn the Hebrew of Genesis 1:3 Hebrew Word Walk Bible Study - Translate Hebrew to English
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How to Learn the Hebrew of Genesis 1:3 Hebrew Word Walk Bible Study - Translate Hebrew to English
Welcome to Bible Word
Well, today we're walking through Genesis 1:3. The Hebrew of Genesis 1:3 is
Vayomer Elohim y'hi or – vay'hi or. Let's walk through
that
our first word, vayomer – and just like before 'v' by itself is its own word, and
then 'omer' Okay so I just want to say we've got a short one today. You know
some Bible verses are really long some of them are very short and so each
of these text is going to vary in length. So today we've got a short one – really
it's only three words because we've already dealt with Elohim and we've got
'omer' 'y'hi' and 'or' Because y'hi and or are repeated in this verse, really
we've just got three words to go over so, lucky you! Our first word is vayomer
and here we start again with 'v' our friend 'v' - and, and then 'omer'
omer means speak so vayomer, and speak, and spoke, and said Elohim so vayomer
Elohim. Now in English our word order is different but I told you in the
Hebrew
beginning that Hebrew is very different from English so we're going to have to
adjust our English word order, but vayomer Elohim – and said Elohim. So, and
Elohim said. Now most – that's not exactly right – a vast majority – that's not right either.
More
than half of the English versions say, "And God said," but almost as many, it's not
quite an even split, say "Then God said," Then is fine. I like then. But I think
for the way we're telling this story, I think for the way this story is trying
to tell itself, 'and' works better. So we're going to stick with and. "And Elohim said,"
We've already covered Elohim so let's move on to our next word. Our next word
Bible Study
is y'hi or – actually y'hi. Y'hi. Now y'hi is a form of hayah which is
'to be' so y'hi is to be. So 'be' is really what y'hi means.
There's no 'let' like in the sense of allow – "let there be light"
let there be – it's fine I mean as I said earlier, we're trying to get the meaning
into English so sometimes we have to flesh things out a little more. In any
language going from one to another, sometimes you have one word in your
source language that really requires multiple words in your language in order
to get the meaning across, and it works the other way too. Sometimes multiple
words, a whole sentence in one language can be rendered in your language very
simply with one word or an expression, especially with slang. Well in this case
we have it like that. So "let there be light" that's fine and almost every
single English version says that, let there be light, and there was light.
Every single – almost every single English version says this. But this was one of
How to Learn
the most, first most exciting studies for me when I first began to look at Hebrew.
And why? Because the way it's presented "Vayomer Elohim, y'hi" it's like he's
just saying "Be!" Just be! Now imagine you overheard me, you can't see me, and you
overheard me saying, "Hey John!" What would you expect? You would expect that I'm
addressing someone who I know, but from my tone you could probably
gather that I know this person really well, so some high level of intimacy and
a friendliness too. I know this person and I like him,
"Hey John!" Now, if you overheard but also observed me and I was all by myself
sitting in a restaurant booth, I'm all by myself there's no one else across from me
and I say, "Hey John!" and the second I say it there's a person facing me who looks
like what you would have expected. Somebody who knows me and we're friends.
The very fact that the conceptualization of this person who I know so well, when I
spoke their name that whole idea was represented right across from me, came
into being right there. That's how I see this creation of light. I see it as
though God had the complete conception of what he wanted already in mind and
the very act of addressing it caused it to be there just like he thought. So
that's how I see this verse. It's like he's all alone, he's got nothing
he's got this tohu va bohu below him, he takes his breath and he says, it's
almost like he addresses the light, "Hey Light!" and then there's light just like
that. That's the way this verse really appears to me. Y'hi or, vay'hi or! It's
just like that. So that's how I see this verse it's like he's addressing an old
friend and the fact that he addressed it caused it to exist. So, y'hi, it's like
'be' I think that's much more powerful than, let there be, like, hey guys
what do you say, what do you think why don't we do this? No, for me it's more
like this intimate, direct expression of an idea and the expression of it causes
it to exist when it hadn't yet. Y'hi
And so that brings us to 'or' or is light. Or. Or means light. That's pretty
straightforward we can stop right there. But you know me,
we can't stop right there. Or means light. Now a lot of people complain about the
Bible and they say the Bible is stupid because here you've got the the Bible
saying that God created light – but there's not even any Sun! Not even any
stars! Come on! How dumb is this Bible? Well, it's not dumb. The Sun and the stars
aren't the only places light comes from. You say, but in this in this primordial
creation of the universe there would be no other source of light, in fact they're
called sources of light – luminaries. All right fine.
If you're a scientist – remember I said the Bible is not trying to be a
scientific paper. The Bible is truth poetically expressed. So God said, "Be
light" and if you're a scientist and you believe in the Big Bang then your
concept of this period of time, this state of things would be what you call a
singularity. Everything that has ever been, could ever be is in one
infinite, infinitely small point. So it has no form, well that's perfect, it's
it's empty of life, again that's perfect. The singularity has
everything that's going to be and so according to the Big Bang Theory it all
explodes at once. An instantaneous burst of pure energy.
Well light is pure energy so that's that's exactly perfect. If in the
creation account in our verse here the very first thing to be brought forth –
– he created everything – but if he created everything and it's this
singularity, has no form no life and the very first thing that he brings forth is
light, then that's perfect for you! If you're a scientist and you like the Big
Bang coming from a singularity, then the the poetic way of expressing it to say
that God said let there be light and light is the very first thing – well there
you go it's perfect for you!
Our last word, 'vay'hi' and 'or' again. Vay'hi or, and light!
And we close our verse off rapidly and nicely
Vay'hi or. He says y'hi or and what do you know y'hi or! So, it's hard for me it's
been very hard for me to figure out how to best render this into English because
in Hebrew it's the same word but in English it can't really be the same word
it'd be like saying be light and then light beed. You know it's it's hard for
me as a storyteller to think of the best way to put this together. But I think, I
think we'll we'll be able to pull it off. In the rest of the accounts this word
y'hi is used in in another combination. 'y'hi chen' and that is
after he's done this this this this this this this throughout a particular day it
always ends with y'hi chen – and it was like that. God said, be this do that do
that do this let there bla blah, and at the end of the day there it all was. So I think
that's the way we have to look at this second y'hi in our verse here. So God
said, and Elohim said y'hi or, vay'hi he or. So we've got so far there was
tohu va bohu, and now we have light, so this is a real the real beginning of
creation and God's hand is active and so that's where we're coming
we're getting things because of God's activity and so it's interesting that
this same language is found by Jeremiah when he laments the state of things as
if God had retreated from everything. And in Jeremiah 4:23 and on he says, and I
looked at the earth and it was tohu va bohu, and at the heavens
and their light was gone. The fruitful land was a waste.
Well he's looking back at this creation story and he's saying well God took
tohu va bohu and brought forth light, now I'm looking at the state of
things and the light is gone and it's all back to tohu va bohu again.
Well, that's very frightening from Jeremiah's perspective. Okay so how are
we going to render this verse? Let's get our running start. To begin with, Elohim
created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth came into being formless and
lifeless darkness and depth while over the waters Elohim drew breath. And Elohim
said, "Be light!" and light came to be.
Alright well, thanks for walking with me and stay tuned for just a brief little
additional bonus about this lake that we've been walking around. Alright
see you next time.
So I'm being told that by the local people here that these tiny little
springs that that I think are neat are the last remnants of what used to be
pretty nice geysers here. And what happened is not too far away there's
another crater, actually one of the largest craters in the world and they
have begun to use it for geothermal power. And somehow their excavations have
released pressure that used to come up through this part of the lake and
shoot up these big geysers and so they've actually completely removed the
tourist attraction that used to be here or the better said natural feature that
used to be here with many hot springs and geysers. It's just one little example
of how interconnected God's creation really is.
God bless you
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