Kuthamini Lugha za Biblia — Sehemu ya 4: Hazina za Maneno ya Kiebrania kutoka Mwanzo 1Language Appreciation — Unit 4: Hebrew Word Treasures from Genesis 1

Mwaka 1881, kijana Myahudi kutoka Lithuania aitwaye Eliezer Ben-Yehuda alihamia Yerusalemu akiwa na imani ya ajabu. Aliamini kwamba lugha ya Kiebrania — ambayo kwa karibu miaka elfu mbili ilikuwa lugha ya maandishi tu, iliyotumika katika maombi, katika Maandiko na katika masomo ya marabi, lakini kamwe si kama lugha ya kuzungumza kila siku — ingeweza kurudishwa uhai. Kiebrania kilikuwa kimeganda katika umbo lake la kibiblia tangu kuharibiwa kwa Hekalu la Pili mwaka 70 B.K. Akina mama hawakuwabembeleza watoto wao wachanga kwa Kiebrania. Watoto hawakubishana kwa Kiebrania viwanjani vya michezo. Ilikuwa lugha ya wafu.In 1881, a young Lithuanian Jew named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda moved to Jerusalem with a peculiar conviction. He believed that the Hebrew language — which had been a written language only for nearly two thousand years, used for prayer and Scripture and rabbinic study but never as a daily spoken tongue — could be brought back to life. Hebrew had been frozen in its biblical form since the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. Mothers did not coo to babies in Hebrew. Children did not argue in Hebrew on playgrounds. It was the language of the dead.

Ben-Yehuda alikataa kukubali hali hiyo. Alimwambia mke wake Devorah kwamba nyumbani wangezungumza Kiebrania peke yake. Mwana wao Ben-Zion alipozaliwa mwaka 1882, mvulana huyo akawa mtoto wa kwanza katika miaka elfu moja na mia tisa kukua akiwa na Kiebrania kama lugha yake ya mama. Ben-Yehuda alikataza nyimbo za kubembeleza za Kirusi. Aliwafukuza majirani waliozungumza Kiyidi. Msamiati wa Kiebrania wa mke wake ulipomwishia mezani wakati wa chakula, mama na mwana wakati mwingine waliketi kimya kuliko kuvunja kanuni hiyo.Ben-Yehuda refused to accept this. He told his wife Devorah that they would speak only Hebrew at home. When their son Ben-Zion was born in 1882, the boy became the first child in nineteen hundred years to grow up with Hebrew as his native tongue. Ben-Yehuda forbade Russian lullabies. He chased away Yiddish-speaking neighbors. When his wife's Hebrew vocabulary failed her at the dinner table, mother and son sometimes sat in silence rather than break the rule.

Ben-Yehuda pia alikuwa na tatizo kubwa kuliko msamiati: Kiebrania hakikuwa na neno la "gazeti." Hakuna neno la "simu." Hakuna neno la "aiskrimu." Hakuna neno la "baiskeli" wala "treni" wala "kiberiti" wala "kamusi." Kwa hiyo alianza tendo la ajabu zaidi la kufufua lugha katika historia ya wanadamu. Alirudi kwenye Biblia ya Kiebrania — Biblia ile ile tunayoisoma katika kozi hii — akawinda mizizi ya kale. Kwa "gazeti" alifufua neno la zamani iton, kutoka mzizi wa Kiebrania wa "wakati" au "majira," mzizi ule ule uliotumika katika Mwanzo 1:14 Mungu alipoziumba mianga ili iwe ishara ya "majira, na siku." Gazeti lingekuwa "habari za nyakati." Kwa "aiskrimu" alichukua kutoka Zaburi neno la kale la jalidi na kulifanya kuwa glidah. Ben-Yehuda alipofariki mwaka 1922, Kiebrania cha kisasa kilikuwa kikizungumzwa na makumi ya maelfu ya watoto. Kufikia mwaka 1948 kilikuwa lugha ya taifa ya nchi nzima. Lugha ya Musa ilikuwa imerudi uhai kwa sababu mtu mmoja alirudi kwenye Mwanzo na kukataa kuiacha ibaki imekufa.Ben-Yehuda also had a problem larger than vocabulary: Hebrew had no word for "newspaper." No word for "telephone." No word for "ice cream." No word for "bicycle" or "train" or "match" or "dictionary." So he began the most extraordinary act of philological resurrection in human history. He went back to the Hebrew Bible — the same Bible we are reading in this course — and he hunted ancient roots. For "newspaper" he resurrected the old word iton, from the Hebrew root for "time" or "season," the very root used in Genesis 1:14 when God made the lights to mark "seasons and days." A newspaper would be "the times." For "ice cream" he reached into the Psalms for an ancient word for frost and turned it into glidah. By the time Ben-Yehuda died in 1922, modern Hebrew was being spoken by tens of thousands of children. By 1948 it was the national language of an entire country. The language of Moses had come back to life because one man went back to Genesis and refused to let it stay dead.

Kwa nini hadithi hii inafungua Sehemu ya 4? Kwa sababu kile Ben-Yehuda alichofanya kwa lugha nzima, sehemu hii itakifanya kwa maneno sita. Tutarudi kwenye Mwanzo 1, tutaingia katika Kiebrania, na kuleta maneno sita ya kale yakiwa hai ndani ya akili yako. Bereshit, Bara, Elohim, Ruach, Or, Adam. Maneno sita. Mistari ya kwanza ya Biblia inazunguka juu yake. Utakapomaliza Sehemu ya 4, maneno haya sita yataishi kichwani mwako kama maneno ya lugha yako mwenyewe — si kama silabi za kigeni unazojikwaa nazo, bali kama marafiki unaowatambua mara unapowaona. Na kila moja lina namba yake ya Strong, ili uweze kulitafuta kwa chombo chochote, mahali popote, wakati wowote.Why does this open Unit 4? Because what Ben-Yehuda did with the whole language, this unit will do with six words. We will go back to Genesis 1, reach into Hebrew, and bring six ancient words back into your mind alive. Bereshit, Bara, Elohim, Ruach, Or, Adam. Six words. The first verses of the Bible turn on them. By the time you finish Unit 4, these six words will live in your head the way English words do — not as foreign syllables you stumble through, but as friends you can recognize at sight. And every one of them comes with its Strong's number, so you can look it up on any tool, anywhere, any time.

Tulipo sasaWhere we are

Ulimaliza Sehemu ya 3 ukiwa umesoma herufi zote ishirini na mbili na kutamka mstari wako wa kwanza wa Biblia. Kuanzia sehemu hii kuendelea, alfabeti inafanya kazi yake: inakupa njia ya kufikia maneno halisi. Tutatumia Sehemu ya 4 ndani ya Mwanzo 1, Sehemu ya 5 ndani ya Isaya 6, kisha tuvuke daraja kuelekea Kigiriki katika Sehemu ya 6. Maneno sita ya Kiebrania kwa wakati mmoja. Kufikia mwisho wa Sehemu ya 5, utakuwa na msamiati wa Kiebrania unaofanya kazi wa takriban maneno kumi na mawili kati ya istilahi muhimu zaidi za kitheolojia katika Agano la Kale. Hayo yanatosha kubadilisha milele jinsi unavyosoma Biblia yako katika lugha yako.You finished Unit 3 having read all twenty-two letters and having sounded out your first Bible verse. From this unit forward, the alphabet does its job: it gives you access to actual words. We will spend Unit 4 inside Genesis 1, Unit 5 inside Isaiah 6, then cross the bridge to Greek in Unit 6. Six Hebrew words at a time. By the end of Unit 5, you will have a working Hebrew vocabulary of about a dozen of the most important theological terms in the Old Testament. That is enough to change the way you read your English Bible forever.

Ulikutana na Bereshit katika Sehemu ya 3. Sasa tuingie ndani zaidi. Neno hili limejengwa kwa kiambishi awali be- (katika) pamoja na nomino reshit, yenye maana ya "mwanzo, wa kwanza, mkuu, sehemu bora." Na reshit imejengwa juu ya mzizi rosh — "kichwa." Reshit ni kitu kilicho kichwani mwa mfululizo. Mwana wa kwanza ni reshit ya nguvu za mtu (Mwanzo 49:3). "Malimbuko" ambayo Waisraeli waliyaleta Hekaluni yaliitwa reshit (Kutoka 23:19). Sulemani anapoandika "Kumcha BWANA ndio mwanzo wa hekima" katika Mithali 9:10, "mwanzo" ni neno hili hili reshit — kichwa, jambo kuu, jambo la kwanza kwa umuhimu.You met Bereshit in Unit 3. Now let us go deeper. The word is built from the prefix be- (in) plus the noun reshit, which means "beginning, first, chief, best part." And reshit is built on the root rosh — "head." A reshit is the head-thing of a series. The firstborn son is the reshit of a man's strength (Genesis 49:3). The "firstfruits" the Israelites brought to the Temple were called reshit (Exodus 23:19). When Solomon writes "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" in Proverbs 9:10, "beginning" is this same word reshit — the head, the chief thing, the first thing in importance.

Kwa hiyo Bereshit haimaanishi tu "hapo zamani za kale." Inamaanisha "katika kilele cha kichwa, wakati mkuu, jambo la kwanza la mambo yote." Hadithi nzima ya Biblia ina kichwa, na kichwa hicho ni kile Mungu alichofanya kabla kitu kingine chochote hakijakuwepo. Neno la Kiebrania linashikanisha pamoja wa-kwanza-kwa-wakati na wa-kwanza-kwa-umuhimu: huu ndio wakati unaopanga kila kitu kinachofuata.So Bereshit does not simply mean "once upon a time, long ago." It means "at the head-point, the chief moment, the first thing of all things." The whole story of the Bible has a head, and the head is what God did before anything else existed. The Hebrew word holds together time-first and importance-first: this is the moment that orders everything that follows.

Litafute kwa chombo chochote. Namba ya Strong H7225 inaonekana takriban mara hamsini katika Agano la Kale — katika Kumbukumbu la Torati likieleza malimbuko, katika Mithali likieleza hekima, katika Yeremia likieleza wito wa Israeli. Kila mara, ni kitu kilicho kichwani mwa orodha. Neno la kwanza la Biblia linatangaza kwamba uumbaji wenyewe ndio kichwa cha hadithi ya Mungu.Look it up on any tool. Strong's H7225 appears about fifty times in the Old Testament — in Deuteronomy describing the firstfruits, in Proverbs describing wisdom, in Jeremiah describing Israel's calling. Every time, it is something at the head of a list. The Bible's first word announces that creation itself is the head of God's story.

Na hapa kuna kitenzi kinachoshangaza mno. Bara ni mojawapo ya vitenzi kadhaa vya Kiebrania vya "kufanya" — lakini ndicho pekee ambacho kiima chake, katika Biblia nzima ya Kiebrania, daima ni Mungu. Kitenzi asah kinamaanisha "kufanya" kwa jumla; wanadamu na Mungu wote hufanya asah. Yatsar kinamaanisha "kufinyanga" au "kuunda," kama mfinyanzi kwenye gurudumu lake; wanadamu na Mungu wote hufanya yatsar. Banah kinamaanisha "kujenga"; wanadamu na Mungu wote hufanya banah. Lakini bara kimehifadhiwa. Katika kila mahali kinapotokea katika Agano la Kale, Mungu ndiye kiima. Mwanadamu hawezi kufanya bara. Mungu wa mataifa hawezi kufanya bara. Sarufi yenyewe ya Kiebrania inabeba fundisho kwamba kuumba kutoka utupu ni jambo ambalo Mungu wa kweli peke yake anaweza kulifanya.And here is the verb that drops the jaw. Bara is one of several Hebrew verbs for "make" — but it is the only one whose subject, in the entire Hebrew Bible, is always God. The verb asah means "to make" generally; humans and God both asah. Yatsar means "to form" or "to fashion," like a potter at a wheel; humans and God both yatsar. Banah means "to build"; humans and God both banah. But bara is reserved. In every single Old Testament occurrence, God is the subject. A man cannot bara. A god of the nations cannot bara. The very grammar of Hebrew encodes the doctrine that creation out of nothing is something only the true God can do.

Bara kinaonekana katika viungo vikuu vya muundo wa Agano la Kale. Mwanzo 1:1 — bara mbingu na nchi. Mwanzo 1:21 — bara nyangumi wakubwa (viumbe wakubwa wa baharini). Mwanzo 1:27 — bara mtu kwa mfano wake. Isaya 65:17 — "Maana, tazama, mimi bara mbingu mpya na nchi mpya." Uumbaji wa kwanza, kujazwa kwa bahari, kuumbwa kwa wanadamu, na ahadi ya uumbaji mpya vyote vinatumia kitenzi kimoja. Mungu yule yule aliyeuanzisha ulimwengu ndiye Mungu atakayeuumba upya.Bara appears at the great structural seams of the Old Testament. Genesis 1:1 — bara the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:21 — bara the great sea creatures. Genesis 1:27 — bara man in His own image. Isaiah 65:17 — "Behold, I bara new heavens and a new earth." The first creation, the populating of the seas, the making of mankind, and the promise of the new creation all use the same verb. The same God who set in motion the universe is the God who will remake it.

Ndiyo sababu watafsiri wa King James mwaka 1611 walichagua neno adimu la Kiingereza "created" (aliumba) badala ya "made" (alifanya) au "formed" (aliunda). Walitaka neno lililohifadhiwa kwa ajili ya tendo la Mungu, linalolingana na Kiebrania. Namba ya Strong H1254 inatokea takriban mara hamsini katika Agano la Kale. Litafute na uangalie mtindo wake: kila mara, Mungu ndiye kiima. Kitenzi cha Kiebrania chenyewe kinahubiri fundisho la uumbaji ex nihilo (kutoka utupu).This is why the King James translators in 1611 chose the rare English word "created" rather than "made" or "formed." They wanted a word reserved for the divine act, parallel to the Hebrew. Strong's H1254 occurs about fifty times in the Old Testament. Look it up and watch the pattern: every single time, God is the subject. The Hebrew verb itself preaches the doctrine of creation ex nihilo.

Elohim ndilo neno la Kiebrania linalotumika zaidi kwa ajili ya Mungu katika Agano la Kale. Linaonekana zaidi ya mara elfu mbili na mia tano. Soma Biblia yako na karibu kila mahali unapoona neno "Mungu" — si "BWANA," ambalo ni neno tofauti tutakalokutana nalo katika Sehemu ya 5, bali "Mungu" — unasoma Elohim.Elohim is the most common Hebrew word for God in the Old Testament. It appears over twenty-five hundred times. Read your English Bible and almost every place you see the word "God" with a capital G — not "the LORD," which is a different word we will meet in Unit 5, but "God" — you are reading Elohim.

Neno hili lina upekee wa kushangaza. Kiebrania huongeza kiambishi tamati -im ili kufanya neno kuwa wingi, kama Kiingereza kinavyoongeza "s." Kerubi anakuwa makerubi (cherubim), serafi anakuwa maserafi (seraphim), siku (yom) inakuwa siku nyingi (yamim). Kwa hiyo Elohim, likiwa na mwisho wake wa -im, ni wingi kisarufi. Umbo la umoja lingekuwa Eloah, ambalo pia linaonekana katika Biblia (takriban mara sitini, hasa katika Ayubu) lakini ni umbo lisilotumika sana. Neno la kawaida, la kila siku, la Mungu katika Agano la Kale ni umbo la wingi.The word has a striking peculiarity. Hebrew adds the suffix -im to make a word plural, the same way English adds "s." Cherub becomes cherubim, seraph becomes seraphim, day (yom) becomes days (yamim). So Elohim, with its -im ending, is grammatically plural. The singular form would be Eloah, which also appears in the Bible (about sixty times, mostly in Job) but is the rarer form. The standard, ordinary word for God in the Old Testament is the plural form.

Na bado — na hapa ndipo ajabu lilipo — karibu kila kitenzi kinachoambatana na Elohim ni umoja kisarufi. Mwanzo 1:1: "Hapo mwanzo Elohim [nomino ya wingi] bara [kitenzi cha umoja] mbingu na nchi." Tafsiri ya neno kwa neno kabisa ingesomeka hivi: "Hapo mwanzo Miungu Yeye-aliumba mbingu na nchi." Sarufi inashikanisha nomino ya umbo la wingi na kitenzi cha umbo la umoja katika pumzi moja. Kiebrania hakiwezi kufanya bahati mbaya katika kiwango hiki. Muundo huu ni wa makusudi.And yet — and here is the wonder — almost every verb attached to Elohim is grammatically singular. Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning Elohim [plural noun] bara [singular verb] the heavens and the earth." A woodenly literal English would read: "In the beginning Gods He-created the heavens and the earth." The grammar holds together a plural-form noun and a singular-form verb in the same breath. Hebrew is incapable of accident at this level. The construction is deliberate.

Wafafanuzi wa Kiyahudi kwa karne nyingi wameliita jambo hili "wingi wa adhama" — njia ya kueleza utimilifu, ukuu, na uzito wa Mungu. Kama vile mfalme wa Uingereza angesema "Sisi tumeamua" akitumia "sisi" ya kifalme, Elohim inaeleza ukubwa wa nafsi ya Mungu. Wafafanuzi wa Kikristo wamesikia katika muundo huo huo jambo zaidi: mnong'ono wa utulivu, usiolazimishwa, wa fundisho la Utatu. Mungu mmoja, aliye wingi kwa namna fulani ambayo Agano Jipya litaifanya iwe wazi. Angalia Mwanzo 1:26: "Na tumfanye mtu kwa mfano wetu." Hapo wingi hauko tu katika nomino bali katika viwakilishi ambavyo Mungu anavitumia kujihusu Mwenyewe.Jewish commentators have for centuries called this the "plural of majesty" — a way of expressing the fullness, greatness, and weight of God. The way an English king might say "We have decided" using the royal "we," Elohim expresses the bigness of the divine self. Christian commentators have heard in the same construction something further: a quiet, unforced whisper of the doctrine of the Trinity. One God, plural in some way that the New Testament will make explicit. Notice Genesis 1:26: "Let Us make man in Our image." There the plural is not just in the noun but in the pronouns God uses about Himself.

Huhitaji kuchagua kati ya tafsiri hizi mbili. Sarufi ya Kiebrania inasema: Mungu ni mmoja, na Mungu ni zaidi-ya-mmoja-sahili. Kitenzi kinasema mmoja. Nomino inasema zaidi. Sentensi ya kwanza kabisa ya Biblia inashikanisha mambo hayo mawili pamoja. Namba ya Strong H430. Litafute; neno hili limejaa kila mahali katika Agano la Kale.You do not have to choose between the readings. The Hebrew grammar says: God is one, and God is more-than-simple-one. The verb says one. The noun says more. The Bible's very first sentence holds the two together. Strong's H430. Look it up; the word saturates the Old Testament.

Mwanzo 1:2: "Nayo nchi ilikuwa ukiwa, tena utupu, na giza lilikuwa juu ya uso wa vilindi vya maji. Roho ya Mungu ikatulia juu ya uso wa maji." Maneno ya Kiebrania ya "Roho ya Mungu" ni Ruach Elohim. Sasa unalijua neno la pili katika maneno hayo — Mungu. Neno jipya ni ruach.Genesis 1:2: "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." The Hebrew phrase for "Spirit of God" is Ruach Elohim. You now know the second word in that phrase — God. The new word is ruach.

Ruach ni mojawapo ya maneno ya Kiebrania ambayo Kiingereza kinayavunja vipande vitatu na Kiebrania kinayaweka kama kimoja. Linamaanisha, kwa wakati mmoja: roho, upepo, na pumzi. Mahali ambapo Kiingereza kingehitaji maneno matatu tofauti kulingana na muktadha, Kiebrania kinatumia ruach kwa yote. Upepo unaopeperusha majani ya kipupwe ni ruach. Pumzi inayotoka kinywani mwako unapopiga kite ni ruach. Roho wa Mungu aliyewashukia manabii ni ruach. Kiebrania kinayashikanisha haya matatu kwa sababu Kiebrania kinaona kwamba ni kitu kimoja: kisichoonekana, kinachosonga, kinachotoa uhai, pumzi ya Mungu ulimwenguni.Ruach is one of those Hebrew words that English breaks into three pieces and Hebrew keeps as one. It means, all at once: spirit, wind, and breath. Where English would need three different words depending on context, Hebrew uses ruach for all of them. The wind that drives the autumn leaves is ruach. The breath that comes out of your mouth when you sigh is ruach. The Spirit of God that fell on the prophets is ruach. Hebrew holds these three together because Hebrew thinks they are the same thing: the invisible, the moving, the life-giving, the breath of God in the world.

Katika Mwanzo 1:2, ruach ya Mungu ni merachefet — "inatulia" au "inapigapiga mabawa" — juu ya uso wa maji. Kitenzi hiki ni adimu. Kinaonekana tena katika Kumbukumbu la Torati 32:11, ambapo kinamweleza tai mama akiruka-ruka juu ya makinda yake ili kuwalinda. Kwa hiyo picha ya kwanza ambayo Biblia inatoa ya Roho Mtakatifu si nguvu ya kimungu iliyo mbali; ni tai mama, akipigapiga mabawa Yake juu ya vilindi visivyo na umbo, akiatamia uumbaji mpya kama tai mama anavyowaatamia makinda yake.In Genesis 1:2, the ruach of God is merachefet — "hovering" or "fluttering" — over the face of the waters. The verb is rare. It appears again in Deuteronomy 32:11, where it describes a mother eagle hovering over her young to protect them. So the first picture the Bible gives of the Holy Spirit is not a far-off divine force; it is a mother eagle, beating Her wings over the formless deep, brooding over the new creation the way a mother eagle broods over her young.

Beba neno hili pamoja nawe hadi Yohana 3 — Kigiriki pale ni pneuma, ambalo pia ni "roho / upepo / pumzi." Yesu anaposema "Upepo huvuma upendapo" na "imewapasa kuzaliwa kwa Roho," anatumia pacha wa Kigiriki wa ruach. Maagano mawili yanaungana kwa njia ya wazo moja katika lugha mbili. Namba ya Strong H7307. Litafute — ruach inaonekana karibu mara mia nne katika Agano la Kale, wakati mwingine kama upepo, wakati mwingine kama pumzi, wakati mwingine kama Roho, daima ikielekeza kwenye uhalisia ule ule usioonekana-unaosonga-ulio-hai unaotoka kwa Mungu.Take this word with you to John 3 — the Greek there is pneuma, which is also "spirit / wind / breath." When Jesus says "the wind blows where it wishes" and "you must be born of the Spirit," He is using the Greek twin of ruach. The two Testaments connect by way of the same idea in two languages. Strong's H7307. Look it up — ruach appears nearly four hundred times in the Old Testament, sometimes as wind, sometimes as breath, sometimes as Spirit, always pointing to the same invisible-moving-living reality that comes from God.

Mwanzo 1:3: "Mungu akasema, Iwe nuru; ikawa nuru." Kwa Kiebrania: "Vayomer Elohim, yehi or, vayehi or." Maneno matano. Angalia jinsi Kiebrania kilivyo kifupi na chenye uzito uliokolea. Vayomer — "naye akasema." Elohim — Mungu. Yehi — "iwe." Or — nuru. Vayehi or — "ikawa nuru."Genesis 1:3: "Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light." In Hebrew: "Vayomer Elohim, yehi or, vayehi or." Five words. Notice how short and concentrated the Hebrew is. Vayomer — "and He said." Elohim — God. Yehi — "let there be." Or — light. Vayehi or — "and there was light."

Neno la Kiebrania la nuru ni or. Ni mojawapo ya maneno sahili zaidi katika Biblia: Aleph — Vav — Resh. Herufi tatu. Litamke kama neno la Kiingereza "ore" (kama "o" ndefu ikifuatiwa na "r"). Hiki ndicho kitu cha kwanza ambacho Mungu alikitamka kikawa. Kabla ya jua (alilolifanya Siku ya 4), kabla ya nyota, kabla ya chanzo chochote cha asili cha mwanga, Mungu aliumba nuru kwa kuitamka. Nuru ya Siku ya 1 si sawa na nuru ya Siku ya 4. Ni nuru ya asili kabisa, nuru iliyoumbwa, mng'ao wa awali uliojaza ulimwengu wenye giza usio na umbo wakati ule ule sauti ya Mungu ilipovunja ukimya.The Hebrew word for light is or. It is one of the simplest words in the Bible: Aleph — Vav — Resh. Three letters. Pronounce it like the English word "ore." This is the first thing God spoke into being. Before the sun (which He made on Day 4), before the stars, before any natural cause of brightness, God created light by speaking it. The light of Day 1 is not the same as the light of Day 4. It is a primal light, a created light, an original brightness that filled the dark formless world the moment God's voice cracked the silence.

Matumizi ya kibiblia ya or yanafunguka kuwa theolojia nzima. Mtunga Zaburi anasema "BWANA ni nuru yangu, na wokovu wangu" (Zaburi 27:1) — neno ni or. Isaya analia "Ondoka, uangaze; kwa kuwa nuru yako imekuja" (Isaya 60:1) — or. Mtumishi wa BWANA anatolewa "uwe nuru ya mataifa" (Isaya 49:6) — or. Tunapofika kufungua Agano Jipya, nuru imekuwa jina la Masihi Mwenyewe: "Mimi ndimi nuru ya ulimwengu" (Yohana 8:12), ambapo neno la Kigiriki phos linachukua nafasi ile ile ya kitheolojia ambayo or ilikuwa nayo katika Agano la Kale.The biblical use of or opens out into a whole theology. The Psalmist says "the LORD is my light and my salvation" (Psalm 27:1) — the word is or. Isaiah cries "Arise, shine; for your light has come" (Isaiah 60:1) — or. The Servant of the LORD is given "as a light to the Gentiles" (Isaiah 49:6) — or. By the time we open the New Testament, light has become a name for the Messiah Himself: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12), where the Greek word phos takes over the same theological role or played in the Old Testament.

Mungu hakuanza uumbaji wake kwa kulifanya jua na kisha kuliacha jua liangaze. Alianza kwa kuitamka nuru moja kwa moja ikawepo, kabla ya chombo chochote cha kuibeba. Tendo la kwanza la Mungu kuelekea uumbaji wake ni kuupa mng'ao wake Mwenyewe, kabla ya kuupa kitu kingine chochote. Kisha anaanza kuunda vilivyobaki. Namba ya Strong H216. Litafute — or inaonekana takriban mara mia moja na ishirini katika Agano la Kale, karibu kila mara ikiwa na maana hii: mng'ao wa Mungu ukipenya ndani ya ulimwengu wake.God did not begin His creation by making the sun and then letting the sun shine. He began by speaking light directly into existence, before any vessel for it. The first action of God toward His creation is to give it His own brightness, before He gives it anything else. Then He starts shaping the rest. Strong's H216. Look it up — or appears about a hundred and twenty times in the Old Testament, almost always with this sense: God's brightness piercing into His world.

Mwanzo 1:27: "Mungu akaumba mtu kwa mfano wake, kwa mfano wa Mungu alimwumba; mwanamume na mwanamke aliwaumba." Neno la Kiebrania la "mtu" ni adam. Linaweza kumaanisha mwanamume mmoja ("Adamu," jina halisi la mtu wa kwanza), au linaweza kuwa nomino ya jumla kwa ajili ya jamii nzima ya wanadamu ("wanadamu"), au linaweza kuwa neno la kawaida kwa binadamu yeyote ("mtu, binadamu"). Kiebrania kinatumia neno moja kwa yote matatu.Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." The Hebrew word for "man" is adam. It can mean a single male individual ("Adam," the proper name of the first man), or it can be a collective noun for the whole human race ("mankind"), or it can be a generic word for any human being ("a man, a human"). Hebrew uses one word for all three.

Na hili ndilo jambo la ajabu. Adam limejengwa juu ya mzizi adamah — neno la Kiebrania la "ardhi" au "udongo." Mungu anapomfanya adam wa kwanza katika Mwanzo 2:7, anamfanya kwa mavumbi ya adamah. Mchezo huo wa maneno uko pale pale katika lugha ya asili. Kiumbe binadamu ni kiumbe-cha-ardhi, kiumbe-cha-udongo, mwana wa udongo. Lugha ya Kiingereza inajaribu kunasa jambo hili katika maneno ya zamani kama "earthling" (mkaaji wa dunia) au "humus-being" (kiumbe cha udongo) (neno la Kiingereza "human" linatoka kwa Kilatini humus, ambalo lenyewe ni neno la Kilatini la ardhi). Lakini Kiebrania ni cha moja kwa moja zaidi: adam kutoka adamah. Wewe ni kiumbe ambacho jina lake linatangaza kwamba ulitoka katika udongo wa ardhi njema ya Mungu.And here is the wonderful thing. Adam is built on the root adamah — the Hebrew word for "ground" or "earth-dirt." When God forms the first adam in Genesis 2:7, He forms him from the dust of the adamah. The pun is right there in the original. The human creature is a ground-creature, a dirt-creature, an earthling. The English language tries to capture this in old words like "earthling" or "humus-being" (the word "human" comes from the Latin humus, which is itself the Latin word for ground). But the Hebrew is more direct: adam from adamah. You are the creature whose name announces that you came from the dirt of God's good earth.

Sasa endelea kusoma Mwanzo 1:27. Adam — kiumbe hiki cha udongo — amefanywa betselem Elohim, "kwa mfano wa Mungu." Maneno hayo ni tselem (mfano, sura, sanamu) pamoja na Elohim (Mungu uliyemjifunza sasa hivi). Binadamu ni wa pekee katika uumbaji wote: kiumbe cha udongo kilichoundwa ili kubeba sura ya Muumba. Kitu cha duniani pamoja na muhuri wa mbinguni. Ndivyo ulivyo wewe. Ndivyo alivyo kila binadamu mwingine.Now keep reading Genesis 1:27. The adam — this dirt-creature — is made betselem Elohim, "in the image of God." The phrase is tselem (image, likeness, statue) plus Elohim (the God you have just learned). The human being is unique in all creation: a dirt-creature shaped to bear the image of the Creator. Earthly stuff plus heavenly stamp. That is what you are. That is what every other human being is.

Fundisho hili la tselem Elohim limefanya kazi iliyobadilisha ulimwengu katika historia. Mapambano ya miaka ishirini ya William Wilberforce ya kukomesha biashara ya watumwa ya Uingereza yalisimama juu yake: kila mtumwa Mwafrika alikuwa mbeba sura ya Mungu, na utumwa ulimtendea kama mali kiumbe ambacho Mungu alikifanya ili kubeba mfano wake. Huduma ya Mama Teresa kwa maskini waliokuwa wakifa huko Calcutta ilisimama juu yake: kila ombaomba aliyekuwa akifa mtaroni alikuwa mbeba sura ya Mwenyezi. Mwamini anapojifunza kwamba kila binadamu mwingine anayekutana naye ni adam aliyefanywa betselem Elohim, jinsi anavyowatendea wanadamu hubadilika. Hawezi kujizuia.This tselem Elohim doctrine has done world-changing work in history. William Wilberforce's twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade rested on it: every African slave was a bearer of the image of God, and slavery treated as property a being that God had made to bear His likeness. Mother Teresa's care for the dying poor in Calcutta rested on it: every dying beggar in the gutter was an image-bearer of the Almighty. When a believer learns that every other human being he meets is adam made betselem Elohim, his treatment of human beings changes. He cannot help it.

Namba ya Strong H120. Adam linaonekana zaidi ya mara mia tano katika Agano la Kale la Kiebrania. Wakati mwingine ni jina halisi. Wakati mwingine ni wanadamu. Wakati mwingine ni mtu yeyote mmoja. Daima ni kiumbe cha udongo kilichoundwa kwa ajili ya sura ya Mungu.Strong's H120. Adam appears over five hundred times in the Hebrew Old Testament. Sometimes it is the proper name. Sometimes it is mankind. Sometimes it is any individual person. Always the dirt-creature shaped for the image of God.

Sasa unamiliki maneno sita ya Kiebrania. Simama na uhisi uzito wake. Bereshit — wakati-kichwa wa mambo yote. Bara — kitenzi ambacho Mungu peke yake anaweza kukifanya. Elohim — Mungu wa wingi anayesema kama mmoja. Ruach — pumzi-Roho-upepo inayotulia kama tai mama. Or — nuru ambayo Mungu aliitamka kabla hajawa na jua. Adam — kiumbe cha udongo kilichoundwa ili kubeba sura ya Mungu. Maneno haya sita, katika mwili wake wa Kiebrania, yanabeba fundisho la sura ya kwanza ya Biblia.You now own six Hebrew words. Stop and feel the weight. Bereshit — the head-moment of all things. Bara — the verb only God can do. Elohim — the plural God who speaks as one. Ruach — the breath-Spirit-wind hovering like a mother eagle. Or — the light God spoke before He had a sun. Adam — the dirt-creature shaped to bear God's image. These six words, in their Hebrew flesh, carry the doctrine of the first chapter of the Bible.

Hiki ndicho kujifunza lugha za asili kunavyofanya. Neno "Mungu" katika tafsiri ni neno zuri, lakini ni bapa. Elohim wa Kiebrania anabeba kitendawili cha wingi-na-umoja ndani ya irabu zake zenyewe. Neno "Roho" ni neno zuri, lakini ni la kidhahania. Ruach ya Kiebrania inabeba upepo na pumzi na tai mama anayeatamia ndani ya silabi yake moja. Neno "mtu" ni neno zuri, lakini ni la jumla. Adam wa Kiebrania anakuambia ulitoka katika udongo gani na unabeba sura gani. Tafsiri inakupa maana; Kiebrania kinakupa maana pamoja na uzito wake.This is what learning the original languages does. The English word "God" is a fine word, but it is flat. The Hebrew Elohim carries the plural-singular paradox in its very vowels. The English word "Spirit" is a fine word, but it is abstract. The Hebrew ruach carries wind and breath and brooding mother-eagle in its single syllable. The English word "man" is a fine word, but it is generic. The Hebrew adam tells you what dirt you came from and what image you bear. The translation gives you the meaning; the Hebrew gives you the meaning plus the weight.

Beba namba hizi sita za Strong pamoja nawe kila mahali. H7225 Bereshit. H1254 Bara. H430 Elohim. H7307 Ruach. H216 Or. H120 Adam. Wakati ujao utakaposoma Mwanzo 1 katika lugha yako, jicho lako litanaswa na maneno "mwanzo," "aliumba," "Mungu," "Roho," "nuru," "mtu" — na nyuma ya kila neno la tafsiri neno la Kiebrania litainuka. Biblia itasikika kwa sauti zaidi. Sura hiyo itakuwa na uzito zaidi. Hutahitaji kutafsiri; tafsiri yenyewe itafanya kazi zaidi kwa sababu unajua kilicho chini yake.Take these six Strong's numbers with you everywhere. H7225 Bereshit. H1254 Bara. H430 Elohim. H7307 Ruach. H216 Or. H120 Adam. The next time you read Genesis 1 in English, your eye will catch on the words "beginning," "created," "God," "Spirit," "light," "man" — and behind each English word a Hebrew word will rise up. The Bible will be louder. The chapter will be denser. You will not need to translate; the translation will simply do more work because you know what is underneath.

Katika Sehemu ya 5 tutapanda pamoja na Isaya juu ya mlima mtakatifu. Maserafi watalia Qadosh, qadosh, qadosh. Moshi utalijaza hekalu. Nabii atamwona BWANA ameketi juu ya kiti cha enzi, kirefu, kilichoinuka. Na maneno utakayokutana nayo pale — qadosh (mtakatifu), kavod (utukufu), YHWH (jina la Mungu), shalom (amani), chesed (upendo wa agano), torah (mafundisho), berit (agano) — yataungana na yale sita unayoyamiliki tayari. Kufikia mwisho wa Sehemu ya 5 utabeba maneno kumi na matatu ya Kiebrania kichwani mwako. Kisha katika Sehemu ya 6, alfabeti ya Kigiriki.In Unit 5 we will climb with Isaiah onto the holy mountain. The seraphim will cry Qadosh, qadosh, qadosh. The smoke will fill the temple. The prophet will see the LORD high and lifted up. And the words you will meet there — qadosh (holy), kavod (glory), YHWH (the divine name), shalom (peace), chesed (covenant love), torah (instruction), berit (covenant) — will join the six you already own. By the end of Unit 5 you will carry thirteen Hebrew words in your head. Then in Unit 6, the Greek alphabet.

Zoezi la Daftari (karatasi na kalamu)Notebook Activity (paper and pen)

Fungua daftari lako kwenye ukurasa mpya. Juu andika "Sehemu ya 4 — Maneno Sita kutoka Mwanzo 1." Tengeneza jedwali la mistari sita lenye safu hizi: Neno la Kiebrania, Unukuzi, Namba ya Strong, Maana kwa sentensi moja, Mstari muhimu. Jaza maneno yote sita. Kwa "Mstari muhimu" andika mahali kila neno linapoonekana kwa mara ya kwanza au kwa nguvu zaidi: Bereshit (Mwa 1:1), Bara (Mwa 1:1), Elohim (Mwa 1:1), Ruach (Mwa 1:2), Or (Mwa 1:3), Adam (Mwa 1:27). Chini ya jedwali, andika sentensi hii: "Hapo mwanzo Elohim bara shamayim na eretz, na Ruach Elohim ikatulia juu ya maji. Akasema, 'Iwe or,' ikawa or. Na siku ya sita bara adam kwa mfano wake." Isome sentensi yako kwa sauti. Angalia kwamba ukiwa na maneno sita ya Kiebrania yaliyochanganywa na lugha yako, umetamka nusu ya fundisho la uumbaji. Ndiyo maana ya sehemu hii.Open your notebook to a fresh page. At the top write "Unit 4 — Six Words from Genesis 1." Make a six-row table with these columns: Hebrew word, Transliteration, Strong's Number, Meaning in one sentence, Key verse. Fill in all six words. For "Key verse" write where each word first appears or most powerfully appears: Bereshit (Gen 1:1), Bara (Gen 1:1), Elohim (Gen 1:1), Ruach (Gen 1:2), Or (Gen 1:3), Adam (Gen 1:27). Below the table, write this sentence: "In the beginning Elohim bara the shamayim and the eretz, and the Ruach Elohim hovered over the waters. He said, 'Let there be or,' and there was or. And on the sixth day He bara adam in His own image." Read your sentence out loud. Notice that with six Hebrew words mixed into the English, you have just spoken half the doctrine of creation. That is what this unit was for.