The Hebrew Alefbet Through the Scriptures (HATS)

About the Study

The Hebrew Alefbet Through the Scriptures (HATS) is a study series that challenges believers to take a deeper look into Hebrew, the language of heaven. The first and oldest language known to creation will take you to deeper depths and higher heights in His word as you will both learn how to read and write Biblical Hebrew while meditating on the revelations of Yeshua our Messiah in the very language He spoke (cf. Acts 26:14). A new word is studied every session unless otherwise indicated where the study may involve two or more sessions.

Every letter of the Hebrew Alefbet has a meaning and is represented concretely and pictographically in its ancient form. For example, the concrete meaning of the letter א (alef) is “to yoke” and is represented by a picture of an ox head. “If not, listen to me, keep silent, and let me teach אלף (alef) you wisdom.” (cf. Job 33:33) In Biblical times, an older experienced ox was yoked to a younger inexperienced one in order to teach it how to pull a load.

Download the Hebrew Alefbet Chart with Vowels, Prefixes, and Suffixes

Why Hebrew and not Aramaic?

According to many scholars, Hebrew was a dead, non-spoken language during Yeshua’s days living in the first century. Zondervan, the world’s leading Bible publisher, wrote the following:

There is wide consensus among scholars that Aramaic was the primary language spoken by the Jews of first century Palestine. The vast majority of Jews spoke it. Jesus spoke it. This has been the commonly accepted view since 1845, when Abraham Geiger, a German rabbi, showed that even Jewish rabbis from the first century would have spoken Aramaic. He convincingly argued that the Hebrew from the first century (Mishnaic Hebrew) only functioned as a written language, not as a living, spoken language.

Several Aramaic words preserved in the Gospels (e.g., Talitha koum, Ephphatha, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani) confirm the use of a Galilean Aramaic dialect as the likely common spoken language of the first century. However, it’s clear that Hebrew was the liturgical, scholarly, and primary language spoken in religious or education contexts such as by the rabbis, in temple worship, in scripture reading and teaching within the temple and synagogue (cf. Luke 2:46-47; Luke 4:16-20; Luke 13:10). This is evidenced in the finding among the Dead Sea Scrolls (especially from Qumran, second century B.C. to first century A.D.) and the Mishnah (compiled early 3rd century A.D.) which preserve this Late and Mishnaic (Rabbinic) Hebrew.

However, whether Late or Mishnaic Hebrew or a Galilean Aramaic dialect was spoken during the time of Yeshua in the first century is not the main focus in learning Biblical Hebrew. It is clear that Hebrew is the language of creation and worth our time and study just as our forefather Abraham did for six new moons before he left Haran to visit the land of Canaan:

And the Lord Elohim said: “Open his mouth and his ears, that he may hear and speak with his mouth, with the language which hath been revealed”; for it had ceased from the mouths of all the children of men from the day of the overthrow of Babel. And I (the angel Michael) opened his mouth, and his ears and his lips, and I began to speak with him in Hebrew in the tongue of the creation. And he took the books of his fathers, and these were written in Hebrew and he transcribed them, and he began from henceforth to study them, and I made known to him that which he could not understand, and he studied them during the six rainy new moons. – Jubilees 12:25-27

It is our hope that the HATS study series will help you to better understand the meaning of each letter in the Hebrew Alefbet by Revealing the use of the Hebrew Alefbet Through the Scriptures.

1. Alef אלף (H502) – to learn, to teach, to associate with, cattle, oxen, a thousand – (Job 1:3, Job 15:5, Job 33:33, Job 35:11, Genesis 20:16, 1 Corinthians 10:8, Revelation 7:4) Psalms 119:1-8
2. Beit בּית (H1004) – House, household (Job 1:4, Job 8:14, Job 8:17, Genesis 6:14, Mark 11:17, 2 Corinthians 5:1, Ephesians 2:19) Psalms 119:9-16
3. Gimel גּמל (H1580) – to wean a child, to ripen, bear ripe, to deal fully with, recompense (Genesis 21:8, Genesis 50:15, Numbers 17:8 (17:23), Deuteronomy 32:6, Mark 4:29) Psalms 119:17-24
4. Dalet דּלת (H1817) – door, gate (Job 3:10; Job 31:32; Job 38:8; Job 38:10; Job 41:14; Genesis 19:6, Genesis 19:9, Psalms 78:23, Psalms 141:3, Matthew 6:6) Psalms 119:25-33
5. Heh הא (H1887) – behold!, lo!, see! (Genesis 47:23, Matthew 25:25) Psalms 119:33-40
6. Waw or Vav וו (H2053) – hook, peg, nail, pin (Exodus 26:32) Psalms 119:41-48
7. Zayin זוּן (H2109) – to feed, to be well fed, זנה  zanah (H2181) (highly-fed and therefore wanton) to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot, commit adultery, be unfaithful (Jeremiah 5:8, Genesis 34:31, Leviticus 17:7, Matthew 5:32, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 19:9, John 8:41, 1 Corinthians 10:8, 1 Corinthians 5:11, Hebrews 12:16) Psalms 119:49-56
8. Chet חת (H2865) – Terror, from root word חתת chathath – to be frightened, to be shattered, be dismayed, be broken, be abolished, be afraid (Job 7:14; Job 31:34; Job 32:15; Job 39:22; Genesis 10:15, Deuteronomy 1:21, Luke 24:37) Psalms 119:57-64
9. Tet טיט (H2916) – mud, clay, mire, damp dirt (Job 41:30, 2 Samuel 22:43, Psalms 40:2 (40:3)) Psalms 119:65-72
10. Yod יד (H3027) – hand, strength, power (Job 1:10, Job 1:12, Job 8:20, Genesis 3:22, Matthew 12:49, Mark 1:41, Luke 6:6, Luke 9:62, Acts 9:41, Acts 11:29, Acts 13:16, Luke 5:7, Acts 10:38, 1 Corinthians 12:15, Galatians 3:25, Galatians 4:2) Psalms 119:73-80
11. Kaph כּף (H3710) – rock, hollow of a rock, (H3721) to bend, bend down, bow down, be bent, be bowed – (H3709) palm, hand, sole, palm of the hand, hollow or flat of the hand (Job 30:6, John 1:42, Psalms 57:6 (57:7), Psalms 146:8, Luke 4:11, Genesis 8:9, Psalms 24:4, Acts 7:5) Psalms 119:81-88
12. Lamed למד (H3925) – Learn, Teach, Exercise (Job 21:22, Deuteronomy 4:1, Deuteronomy 5:1, Luke 4:15, Luke 11:1, John 7:17, Hebrews 5:8) Psalms 119:89-96
13. Mem מוּם (H3971) – blemish, spot, defect (Job 11:15; Job 31:7; Leviticus 21:17, 1 Peter 1:19, Philippians 2:15, Colossians 1:22, Titus 2:8, Hebrews 9:14) Psalms 119:97-104
14. Nun נוּן (H5125 & H5126) – continue, to increase, propagate, fish, posterity, נין niyn is from nun – seed, offspring, posterity (Exodus 33:11, Genesis 21:23, Psalms 72:17) Psalms 119:105-112
15. Samech סמך (H5564) – to sustain, to lean, lay, rest, support, put, uphold, lean upon (Genesis 27:37, Acts 6:6, Acts 8:17, Acts 13:3) Psalms 119:113-120
16. Ayin (ghayin) עין (H5869) – Eye, spring, fountain (Job 2:12, Job 22:29, Genesis 3:5, Genesis 16:7, Deuteronomy 8:7, Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:38, Mark 9:47, John 7:24, 1 Corinthians 12:16, 1 Corinthians 12:17, 1 Corinthians 15:52, Galatians 5:21) Psalms 119:121-128
17. Peh פּה (H6310) – mouth, from the root word פּאה pa’ah (H6284) – to cleave in pieces, break into pieces, shatter to puff, blow away, scatter into corner (Job 1:15, Job 3:1, Job 30:18, Job 39:27, Genesis 4:11, Deuteronomy 8:3, Deuteronomy 32:26, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 1:10, 2 Corinthians 3:12, Ephesians 3:12, Ephesians 5:4, 1Jn 4:17, 2 John 1:12, Revelation 13:5, Matthew 13:35, Matthew 22:34, Romans 8:23, Ephesians 6:19) Psalms 119:129-136
18. Tsadeh צד (H6654) – side, beside; צדה tsadah (H6658) – to lie in wait, to lay waste, hunt, desolate; צדיּה tsediyah (H6660) – design, ambush (Genesis 6:16, Psalms 91:7, Ephesians 6:2) Psalms 119:137-144
19. Qoph קף (H6971) – ape (1 Kings 10:22) Psalms 119:145-152
20. Resh ראשׁ (H7218) – head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning, רושׁ rosh is same as ראשׁ (H7219) – gall, venom, bitter, poisonous (Job 1:17, Job 1:20, Job 12:24, Job 22:12, Job 24:24, Job 20:16, Genesis 1:1, Genesis 2:10, Genesis 3:15, Deuteronomy 29:18, Psalms 69:21, Matthew 5:36, Luke 8:41, Luke 8:49, Luke 13:14, John 2:9, John 3:1, Acts 8:23, Acts 14:12, Acts 18:8, Acts 18:17, Acts 24:5, Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18, Colossians 2:10, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 12:2, Judges 1:12, Revelation 1:8) Psalms 119:153-160
21. Shin שׁן (H8127) – tooth, ivory, sharp pointed rock, (Job 4:10, Job 39:28, Genesis 49:12, Exodus 21:24, Matthew 5:38, Luke 13:28) from שׁנן shanan (H8150) – to sharpen, whet, teach (incisively) (Deuteronomy 6:7, Deuteronomy 32:41, Psalms 45:5, Psalms 64:3, Psalms 73:21, Psalms 120:4, Psalms 140:3, Proverbs 25:18, Isaiah 5:28) Psalms 119:161-168
22. Tav תּו (H8420) – desire, mark, from root word תּוה tavah (H8427) – to scrabble, limit, mark, make or set a mark (Job 31:35, Ezekiel 9:4, Ezekiel 9:6, Revelation 1:11, Revelation 13:16-17, Revelation 14:9, Revelation 14:11, Revelation 15:2, Revelation 16:2, Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:4) Psalms 119:169-176