ETYMOLOGY MATTERS! The terminology used in all of my books is consistent with this Glossary. Many of the terms used here are due to what I call the pantheon of Christian gods—the names of pagan gods and goddesses that have been adopted by Christianity into their everyday vocabulary in a process called syncretism (serving two masters), that tarnishes the name and reputation of the Creator—something He resolutely discourages. In fact the first three of the Ten Commandments are centered on respect for His name, and His hatred of false gods, the impostors! The Scriptures and The Testimony of Yeshua condemn these gods 215 times using the word “gods”; in addition to the numerous times where a single “god” is condemned by name! It’s not as tho they don’t exist—they’re called demons! When Elohim (God) said “Be careful to do everything that I’ve told you, and never memorialize the names of other gods, or let them be heard from your ‘lips’, (Exodus 23:13), He obviously didn’t mean that we couldn’t mention their many names in a condemnatory manner, such as when we read them aloud in the Scriptures. We simply must never praise their names. If He meant “never” under any circumstances, many of us would even have to change our names! My name Martin means “Mars god of war”. Daniel’s pal Abednego, “servant of Nebo” also comes to mind, as does Apollos, “given by Apollo”, and others. It isn’t the time to purify the names of people and places, or the days of the week and months of the year, but it has never been the right time to provoke Yehovah’s (Jehovah’s) wrath by adopting pagan terminology for our words of praise or worship (Deuteronomy 12:30). And, “You must never use the name of Yehovah your Elohim irreverently [in vain], because Yehovah won’t let anyone go unpunished who misuses His name!” (Commandment #3: Exodus 20:7). Why should the vast majority of ‘our’ pagan terminology usage end up in “church”? (Even the word church is derived from the name of the goddess Circe!) Why in particular would people who shun the Christopagan holidays due to an awareness of their ancient origin not be concerned about the pagan original of their words of praise?
Aloha: The existing Aramaic and the Old Syriac manuscripts use the word “Aloha” (equivalent to the Hebrew Eloah), as transliterated in the 1849 Etheridge version for “God”. “Sacred name” Scriptures, aware of the substituted titles, generally use the Hebrew word “Elohim”, pronounced very much like Aloha, where the Aramaic now has Aloha, or a similar rendering. Yet Aloha is not a name, it is a generic title meaning “Sovereign” or “god/gods”. The Jews, under governmental threats suppressed His actual name, and never began using it again once the threat was gone. Christians later edited out the actual name: Yehovah from the Testimony of Yeshua (Jesus) (NT) and replaced the name with titles. For example, the Testimony refers to the Kingdom of Aloha, an Aramaic title, or the Kingdom of Theos, the Greek title, yet the (Hebrew) Scriptures occasionally refer to the Kingdom of Yehovah by name: (1 Chronicles 28:5; 2 Chronicles 13:8 and Obadiah 1:21).
However, there was a great controversy among the Jews as to what to do when they found a copy of the Testimony of Yeshua (the New Testament). They were concerned because the Tetragrammaton—YHVH (Yehovah) in Paleo Hebrew form was inserted into all of the original copies of the Testimony of Yeshua in the Aramaic, Greek and even Latin copies. Some of the Jews wanted to burn them intact, while others insisted on removing each instance of the Tetragrammaton prior to burning the Testimony. That the actual Name Yehovah was present in the original copies of the “Testimony of Yeshua” is apparent from the debates in the Jewish Babylonian Talmud. The true name was soon replaced by Aloha or Maryah in the Aramaic, and Theos and Kurios in the Greek, (“God” and “Lord” in most English Bibles).
In the Scriptures, YeHVaH appears about 6,519 times (with the “o” vowel point deliberately missing), while Elohim appears far less often, about 2,346 times. I feel certain, judging from the context in each usage, that the Testimony of Yeshua also made far more use of the name than any titles. But when the early Christians replaced His actual name with generic terms, the distinction was lost. So far as I know, we can only guess which places would have been Aloha and which places actually inserted the ancient Paleo form of YHVH into the text, as was originally done, until a very old copy in any language is found. The Messianic Faithful of the first century would never have stood for this, but “gentile” Christians did anything possible to distance themselves from the enemies of the Roman State—the Jews, and their “Old Testament” Yehovah. So unless it is obvious that His personal name was not meant, the Gabriel defaults to Yehovah rather than to Aloha. Consequently, the places that the Gabriel uses the generic term “Aloha” is where the personal name of Yehovah would make no sense—such as where Etheridge used the word “God”, as in Matthew 22:32. Also see “Yehovah” below. (Incidentally, there are an astonishing number of variations of the generic Aloha/Elohim scattered all over the world! I do have differences with this link’s vowel points concerning YHVH.
Assembly replaces “church” in the Gabriel Tanakay (Bible). William Tyndale was right! He was murdered by the “church”, partly because the word “church” was not in his translation, except in reference to a pagan temple! “Tyndale’s [version] was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its wide distribution. In 1535 Tyndale was arrested and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year, tried for heresy and burned at the stake. Much of Tyndale’s work eventually found its way into the King James Version (or ‘Authorized Version’) of the Bible, published in 1611. It was the work of 54 independent scholars revising the existing English versions who drew significantly [about 80%] on Tyndale’s translations”, [as has virtually every other translation].—Wikipedia
John Wycliffe’s handwritten 1380’s version did not use the word ‘church’ either. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe died, he ordered his bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in a river!
Aw-main’ replaces Amen, the name of the chief Egyptian pagan god during the time of the exodus.
Bible: The word “Bible” is derived from the Latin word, “biblia”, the plural form of “biblian”. The Romans fashioned their word from the Greek word “biblos”. The Greek word biblos refers to the ancient Egyptian papyrus, literally a book that could be rolled up—a scroll. “Egyptian papyrus reed came from Egypt and was imported through the Phoenician seaport Gebal, which the Greeks called Byblos or Byblus. This seaport Byblos was the home of the Phoenician Sun-deity, according to S.H. Langdon, Mythology of All Races, vol. V. p. 351. This seaport or city was also known to be a city which was founded by Baal Chronos, as well as the real seat of Adonis, where a large temple of Adonis once stood. The Isis and Osiris cult, both Sun-deities, also became popular in this city later on. Further evidence was found when we read that, "The Sun-god is associated with the 'Lady of Byblos' in a letter from Tell el-Amarna (116:65, Kn.). W.H. Roscher in his Ausfuhrliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Romishen Mythologie, vol. 1, pp. 839-840, states that this ancient city Byblos in Phoenicia, as well as the city Byblis, in Egypt, was named after the female deity BYBLIS, also called BYBLE, also called BIBLIS! This female deity was the grand-daughter of Apollo, the well-known Greek Sun-deity!” The oldest “Word of Elohim”, the (Hebrew) Scriptures, are preserved on lamb skins and rolled into a “codex”. “A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover. It was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of book in all Eurasian cultures.” What I sometimes call the Tanakay (Bible) is actually a collection of “little books” [Gr. bibliaridion], written over a period of about 1,600 years, from the earliest Hebrew scroll to the last “little book” of the Testimony of Yeshua—Revelation. It is divided into four parts: the Torah, the Writings, the Prophets and the Testimony of Yeshua. You could call it four books. It was originally subdivided into 49 “little books“ (7X7), but Jerome divided it into 66 sections (double trouble). TaNaK is an acronym for the Hebrew Scriptures consisting of the Hebrew letters (T + N + K), the word’s three consonants. Tanakay would is my suggested alternative to the word Bible (T + N + K + A), due to its origin.
Change of heart: Repentance is virtually always used in other versions, instead of “a change of heart” or “amend your ways”, for repent. Yet the actual meaning is very little understood even by the “churched”. Repentance is not a one time “acceptance of Jesus”, it is a total change in the direction and purpose of your life—accompanied by good works. “Faith alone, without works, is dead.” (James 2:17)
'Chosen ones' is from Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “saints” in English. But since the word “saints” is derived from paganism and there is no recognized synonym, I have decided to use 'chosen ones'. While it would be somewhat impractical to purge English of all its paganism, it seems appropriate to clean up any vocabulary directly relevant to Yehovah’s name (the third Commandment), or worshiping Him. Kaw-seed’ is the Hebrew word most often translated as “saints” (among other things, such as “holy” in most English Bibles. Most of that pagan terminology is seldom heard outside of “church”.(Incidentally, the word “deity” means a “shining one”, which, as it turns out is Satan himself!)
Christian: Christianos was the first name given to Yeshua’s followers—probably contempt by outsiders starting in Antioch (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and 1 Peter 4:16), the only three references to “Christian”, where “gentile” believers (yet another derogatory term) quickly proliferated. At first Yeshua’s followers didn’t even have a name, but simply called themselves ‘brethren’, (Acts 6:3), meaning fellow believers; ‘disciples’, (Acts 6:1); ‘those of the Way’, (Acts 9:2) and ‘'chosen ones'’ (saints). The Aramaic Texts adopted the Greek word ‘Christianos’ (Christians) for lack of a name in Aramaic (spoken by Jews). Soon there was a distinction between the Aramaic ‘Mishikaye’ (Messianics) and Christianos because the Aramaic speaking faithful were not calling themselves Christians at the time. For that matter the Greek speaking faithful weren’t calling themselves Christianos at first, because something essentially meaning Christ-ism took a little while getting used to. ‘Nazarenes’ was another term of contempt used “against” Messianic believers. But Christians quickly evolved away from their Nazarene contemporaries, so the world began to call the Jewish converts ‘Nazarenes’, but the Hebrew roots of the Nazarene believers was for all practical purposes crushed by Constantine and centuries of like minded Christians. At the end of the age (about now) we see myriad versions of Christianity. Revelation chapters 2-3 only addresses the seven groups of commandment keeping (including the Sabbath) “churches”. Many of them except for Philadelphia will be martyrs. Yeshua specifically calls out four of them and threatens to return to punish them:
These are not seven church eras! These are all contemporary commandment keeping Christian “churches” (as were the prototypes in the 1st century) and most of these Christians will be martyrs:
Revelation 12:17 The Dragon was furiously angry with the woman, and he went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, those who obey the Commandments of Yehovah [“OT”] AND have THE TESTIMONY OF YESHUA [“NT”].So, what should we call ourselves?
Only commandment keepers will have eternal life! Revelation 14:12; 22:14; Matthew 19:16-17; John 12:50; 14:15; 15:10; 2 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:3-4; 3:22; 2 John:6. See The Rapture vs the Bible: This is a very rarely understood, but absolutely essential truth. This video makes exceptionally perfect sense (except when factoring in Daniel 12:1-4 and John 5:24-29, because they believe that the unconverted dead must wait for a thousand years to be resurrected!)
church: The word ‘church’ was actually derived from the name of the pagan goddess Circe! The only reference to ‘church’ that was included in the Tyndale Bible was in reference to a pagan temple. This is part of the reason that the ‘church’ had him burned at the stake! The Greek word ‘ecclesia’, the word commonly assumed to be translated into English as This site summarizes the dark history of the “true church”.
Commander Yehovah is variously translated as: “LORD of hosts”, “LORD Almighty”, “LORD of Heaven’s Armies”, “LORD of Armies” or “Jehovah of hosts”. Host is an archaic word meaning army. This term is two Hebrew words “Yehovah” and “Armies” (YEHOVAH SABAOTH). But who or what is “Yehovah Armies”? The common clarifying word “of” helps personify it: “Yehovah of Armies”, but it’s still rather vague. The online Hebrew Lexicon lists: “that which goes forth (to war), army, war, warfare and host” as the possible renderings for “tsaba”, plus a very few misc. applications. So we have Yehovah plus warfare personified. Someone leading an army is called a commander. I also believe that King is implied. Isaiah 6:5 and Zechariah 14:16 plainly tells us Yehovah is “the King” of the army, and history teaches us that kings always led their armies. What other possible role would Yehovah have to do with His armies? Interestingly the pre incarnate Yeshua is “the Commander of Yehovah’s Army” in Joshua 5:14-15, and there is no ambiguity at all there! Also see Jude 1:14-15.
Conqueror & Mighty Conqueror: El Shaddai is the term that no one can define, but all the experts line up to give their opinion as to which pagan origin they want to apply to the term. There is no doubt about El. It is usually translated as “god”, but more literally it means “mighty”. Shaddai is usually translated as “Almighty”, but most translators admit that they can’t be sure of the meaning. But the root word Shaddad means: “violently destroy, devastate, despoil, and assail”! And I am happy with that since those are all things that a Mighty Conqueror does, and prophetically it could be a little too soft! People claim that the “Sacred name” couldn’t be Yehovah because the root word is “hovah”, and claim that it means “ruin” and “disaster”. But the reality is that “hovah” is not the root word! Still, all of the prophecies deal with a world so out of control that it will need a Conqueror. “If it weren’t for those days being terminated, no one would survive” (Matthew 24:22). Scoffers, the demonstration will likely be in 2032 AD!
“Deacon”: The KJV and others, variously translate “diakonos” as “minister”, “deacon”, or “servant”. The KJV even created “the office of a deacon” (1 Timothy 3:10,13) from the verb form of the word, because King James ordered his translators to force words to appear hierarchical whenever possible, in an effort to bolster the “doctrine” of hierarchy in the Church of England. By leaving the word “diakonos” essentially untranslated in key places, they created the illusion of the office of a “deacon”. In the Gabriel Tanakay, “diakonos” is occasionally translated as “deacon”, in quotation marks, to debunk the church office mythology. It is simply the common word for a domestic or public servant in Greek. “Diakonos” applies to Yeshua (Jesus) (Romans 15:8), the “apostles” (2 Corinthians 3:6), “slaves” (Matthew 22:13), servants (John 2:9), demons (2 Corinthians 11:15), judges (Romans 13:3-4) and women (Romans 16:1). No one would have gotten a swollen head being called a “diakonos”. Still, even someone doing manual labor for the assembly was stringently selected, since outsiders might view them as special “representatives”. But most importantly, anyone who serves Him must be a “deacon” in order to enter His kingdom (John 12:26)!
Elohim is the Hebrew equivalent of Aloha. It is what most people refer to as “God”, only it is not a title derived from paganism, tho pagans did later adopt it.
Envoy is usually translated “apostle”. “apostolos” is a word taken directly out of the Greek translations of the Aramaic Peshitta. But “apostle” gives the impression that it is a title rather than a common word that applies to any type of messengers of the day (as in Philippians 2:25), and at least later to Jewish envoys. The Murdock version actually uses the word “Legate” (“a member of the clergy representing the Pope”). But Yeshua (Jesus) applied it as a descriptive term rather than a title. So far as I know, there are essentially no strictly “theological” terms in the Scriptures and The Testimony of Yeshua—just the commonly used words of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic society! The word Apostle has taken on baggage, and is usually viewed as the unquestioned ruler of an authoritarian hierarchy now, rather than a team player. Since apostle is descriptive of a service, rather than a title, you won’t find, “the apostle John”, for example, or “the apostle Peter” in the Testimony of Yeshua.
Eternal life/rescue/salvation: The Greek “Sozo” literally means “rescued from destruction”. Aramaic and Hebrew don’t really have a word for “spiritual eternal Life”, and it is only read into the Greek. “Life” is what Yeshua (Jesus) and His disciples really said. “Salvaging” physical life (from death) happens every day. The common Hebrew word for “deliverance” or “life” is Yeshua. The Aramaic word for “life” alone does not really imply anything eternal. That is contextually discerned except when “eternal” is actually stated. “Entering Life” in the spirit realm will have to wait for the resurrection. Ultimately being “rescued” or “born again” is a future occurrence. Sozo + (5701) indicates eternal life (deliverance) in the future tense. “The [Greek] future tense corresponds to the English future, and indicates the contemplated or certain occurrence of an event which has not yet occurred” —OBGL. Other examples of our future “eternal Life” (as in “shall be saved”) are found in Psalms 80:3, Proverbs 28:18, Matthew 10:22, Mark 16:16, John 10:9, Acts 2:21 and Acts 15:11. Only the context in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek indicate whether or not it is in a physical sense—here and now, or if the permanent condition is implied—eternal Life.
Friends: The Quakers had the right idea about calling their “brethren” their Friends, because the Greek word in no way excludes the “sisthrern”. The plural Greek word “adelphoi” (usually translated as “brothers”) primarily refers to siblings in a family. In the Testimony of Yeshua (Jesus), depending on the context, adelphoi can either refer to men, or to both male and female siblings (brothers and sisters) in the faith.
GABRIEL BIBLE, G.A.B.R.I.E.L. is an acronym. It stands for Greek and Aramaic Bible Rewritten In the English Language. Even tho no other “New Testament” version is called the Testimony of Yeshua (Jesus), that is in fact what they all are. (See: What is the New Testament.) So I couldn’t just call this version The Testimony of Yeshua. Like any other version, it has to have a name. It is not a translation. The Testimony of Yeshua part of this Bible is based on the Murdock and the Etheridge translations—from the original Aramaic, but with extremely updated English. Had I known that I was going to be creating an entire “Tanakay” [Bible] I would have chosen a different name. A primary reason for creating the Gabriel Bible is so that there will exist a modern English version that can be quoted from freely without breaking any copyright laws! My own website could not exist due to the number of verses quoted, unless I chose to use an obsolete English version, due to modern Bible copyright restrictions. Another reason for the Gabriel is to preserve the name Yehovah.
God was once the name of a pagan god named “God”, as even this “so what” link so thoroly explains. It is apparently a variation of one of the 12 tribes of Israel—Gad (Genesis 49:19). The name may have just been adopted by paganism. But many of the common terms of worship, such as amen, church, Hades, holy, sacred, sanctuary, and even sacrifice were all deliberately derived from the names of pagan gods and goddesses in order to appeal to the pagan masses that Constantine ‘converted’ to Christians. Most of the articles that explain these words substitute the name of the Samaritan god “Yahweh” for LORD, another substitute. That’s better? (See Yehovah below.) ”You Samaritans don’t know what you worship...”—Yeshua (John 4:22). This site was formerly called “Israelofgod.org. It was hacked, changed and fortunately droped beyond my control.
Good news: The original English form of the Greek word “euaggelizo” generally translated as “gospel”, is “evangel”. But it is a generic Greek term with various good news Biblical applications. So “Good News” is only capitalized in the Gabriel Tanakay to denote Yeshua’s (Jesus’) Good News message.
Grace is a word conspicuously absent from my books. I use “dignity”, “loving kindness”, “favor” or “good will”. Grace is a pagan goddess, (naturally). There are actually three Graces. They are usually viewed dancing naked as seen here: It’s a word that is usually assigned to the religious realm, but is little understood. It’s about Aloha [God] doing good for us—being kind in ways we don’t deserve. We are dignified by Aloha’s “dignity” when He pardons us from the death sentence that we deserve for sinning against Him. It alludes to our inheritance of eternal life! But there are conditions to be met to obtain an inheritance. It’s like a child who has a vast fortune as an inheritance, but is not given full access to it until reaching maturity. Other conditions stipulated in the will could be that the child must not be considered a troublemaker by the court. While a few “strings” are attached to the inheritance, the fortune (in our case eternal Life) is still not in any way earned. This “dignity” is afforded to us by the death of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah.
Special! Holy, Holiness and Hallowed: “In G. Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols, p. 781, we read, “HOLY: In practically all languages, the word for holy has been derived from the divinely honored sun.” We found confirmation in Forlong’s Encyclopedia of Religions, as follows, “HOLI: The Great Hindu spring festival...held in honour of Krishna, as the spring sun-god...a personified woman called Holi...Holi had tried to poison the babe Krishna...” Further revealing evidence was yet to come. In Strong's Concordance, in the Greek Lexicon No. 1506, we found the following: “heile (the sun's ray)”—this is pronounced: heilei. This form is almost identical to the German and Dutch equivalent of the English “holy”. The Hebrew word “kadesh” is translated as “holy” in virtually every English Bible. (There is at least one exception.) It means set apart for a special purpose, but it is not necessarily a good purpose. It can also be set apart for prostitution! The Gabriel Bible uses “special” (and “cherished”, etc {see above} depending on the context) instead of “holy”. And just as in Hebrew, while the context is usually “special” in a good way, it aint necessarily so!
“Human Son” or Son of Man: How is it best to translate the meaning of this somewhat enigmatic phrase? Was Yeshua (Jesus) the Son of a man? No. Was He the Son of Humanity? Yes, but not as much so as any of us, since He only had one human parent. It would appear that His humanity here is the bottom line. “Son of man” (or “Human Son”) occurs 93 times in reference to Ezekiel of the 106 times it’s used in the entire Tanak. Human Son is seemingly a term of endearment, but Yeshua used it as a means of “cloaking His identity” from skeptics.
Immerse: The word “baptism” is traditionally left essentially untranslated from the Greek. Since about 1700 AD many people have questioned what this word really means. “Baptizo”, when actually translated into English means “immerse”. Sprinkling and pouring are bogus.
Invited, Called, Selected: The word “called” is virtually always substituted for “invited” in other versions, but there are other less specific words that mean “called”. Every time that kletos is used, the context states a specific invitation from Father! Kaleo generally implies to be “called by name”. Proskaleomai essentially means “to call someone aside”. It can be for a spiritual reason or any other reason. Lego is often translated as “called”, but it usually just means “say” or “saying”.
Select vs Elect: from sixteenth century Latin “selectus” and “electus”. In simple terms being selected is being chosen for a job by one (or a very few) to do a job, whereas being elected is being chosen by a majority, as in an election (how’s that working?). Essentially, in regard to being selected or chosen (called) by Elohim, He hand picks His people—who seldom if ever win in elections!
'Special' spirit is usually phrased as “holy spirit”, but the word “holy” (see 'special' above) is derived from Helios, the sun god. I now prefer 'cherished' spirit, but it is not at all associated with a trinity. See what it really is! This is really important to understand!
Karaite “The Karaites are [a Jewish sect] first mentioned in written sources in the late eighth century.” They have almost disappeared from existence. They differ from mainstream Judaism in that they reject the authority of rabbinical tradition. “The main hallmark of the Karaites is their rejection [of the] authority of the Oral Law...”. In my view, the Karaites are/were close to what an Israelite should have been prior to when Yeshua the Messiah showed up; commendable underdogs, but rejecting the most critical part of the complete revelation. I bring this up because I have occasionally cited Nehemia Gordon. He has many insights into the part of the Bible he accepts (and too many opinions on the part he doesn’t accept).
Life Giver: The Aramaic doesn’t refer to us as being “saved”, but refers to our having “life”. In the same way Yeshua (Jesus) spoke of being a “Life Giver”, where the Greek has substituted “Savior”.
LORD is a substitute name for Yehovah that I prefer not to use. It was prophesied that the name of Yehovah would be replaced by “LORD”. Jeremiah says:
Jeremiah 23:26-27 How long will this be in the mind of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own mind? 27 who intend to cause My people to forget My name by the dreams they tell one another, just like their ancestors forgot My name due to Baal [Lord] worship.
Hosea prophesied that Yeshua’s bride would not refer to her husband as Lord—after she is punished for idolatry:
Hosea 2:13-16 I’ll come and punish her for the times when she burned incense to the Baals, when she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry, and chased her lovers, and forgot Me”, declares Yehovah... 16 Yehovah says, “When that day comes, you’ll call Me Husband [Ishi] and you will never again call Me Lord [Baal]!
The name Yehovah was commonly inserted in Paleo Hebrew letters in Jewish literature of the era when the Testimony of Yeshua was being written, whether in Aramaic, Greek or Latin. Tho none of the earliest copies survive, it would have been considered offensive to have omitted the precious name for any reason, from the text of the Testimony.
A verse like this would have been silly without His name intact. Even the Greek has no “the” before the substituted word Kurios, or “Lord”:
Acts 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of YeHoVaH will live!”
The Millennium: Seldom just any old thousand years. In Christian circles this is the 1,000 years that begins after Yeshua returns. But everything the Bible says that is specifically connected to “the thousand years” is in the first 10 verses of Revelation 20. It begins with a Satanic rebellion and ends with another one. Yeshua and His followers will reign on earth much of this time. The Ezekiel 38-39 battles will take place after Israel is turned into a paradise but most of the world is yet to be won over (the original plan), maybe within a generation. Yet the Father is never out of the picture! 1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Daniel 7:21-22.
Nations, Ethnicities & Pagans is almost always translated as “Gentiles”, a very derogatory term. ”Heathen” is occasionally a good synonym for nations, and that often described the behavior of Israel. Interestingly, “goyim”, thought to be the Hebrew equivalent of “Gentiles” is very often applied to Israel in the Bible, as happens in the Greek when gentile/ethnos is applied to Israel; but the translators “fix” all of those places. See Did You Know That All Israelites Are Also Gentiles?
Psyche is usually thought to be soul or life, but soul is totally misunderstood—it is far from immortal—in fact it “defines” mortal! The Greek word psuche (psoo-khay’) is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew word nephesh (neh’-fesh). Both literally mean “someone/thing breathing”, in essence someone/thing that is (or was) alive. The first usage of “psuche” is in Matthew 2:20, “Get up and take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, because the people who were trying to take [destroy] his life [psuche] are dead.” The first usage of “nephesh” is Genesis 2:7, “Yehovah Elohim (God) formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [‘soul’]”. However there is a usage of the word that transcends breathing, but falls short of immortality, that I would call “the inner self” or “the essence of life”. We have an essence of spirit in our breathing/mortal form without being a spirit—Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in mortal mankind, and the breath of El Shadday gives them cognizance.” Our inner self, sort of our backup copy, goes back to Aloha when we die (Ecclesiastes 12:7), to be utilized when we are resurrected. (There was no goddess Psuche until after the Bible was written.)
Rapture: The word rapture was actually in the first English translation of the Bible (sort of), but without fanfare for another half of a millennium. It was the 1382 Wycliffe Bible”. It was filtered thru Aramaic, then Greek, then Latin and then into “English”:
1 Thessalonians 4:17 “Afterward we that lyuen, that ben left, schulen be rauyschid togidere with hem in cloudis, metinge Crist `in to the eir; and so euere more we schulen be with the Lord.”—Wycliffe Version
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then, we who are still alive, having survived, will be carried away together with them [those resurrected] into the clouds to meet our Master in the expanse. And we will be with our Master forever.—Gabriel Bible
A good explanation of the “Rapture of the Church” is found here, were the writer provides a practical summation of the concept.
While an advocate wrote:
“The Bible teaches that the rapture is a time when Christians will receive an immortal body. An actual physical transformation is expected to take place in the rapture, where our corruptible bodies put on incorruption. According to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, this happens in a moment.”
There is a very strange etymology for the word rapture; originally something to do with: “rape, rapine, plunder, hijacking, heist” (and abduction)! (And the word church {above} isn’t something to brag about either!) But the serious problem is that very few of the hundreds of millions of people using the term “rapture” will experience the transformation into immortality when Yeshua (Jesus) returns!
The reason is simple: The vast majority of people calling themselves Christians do not believe that obeying the 10 Commandments is mandatory for salvation—they refuse to believe “Jesus”:
Matthew 17:16 Someone came to Him and asked, “Good Master, what good thing should I do to have eternal Life?” 17 He replied, “Why are you calling Me good? No one is good but One, namely Aloha [God]. But if you want to enter into eternal Life, OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS”. 18 Then he asked, “Which ones?” So Yeshua told him, “Never murder. Never commit adultery. Never steal. Never give false testimony, 19 honor your father and your mother, and you must love your neighbor as yourself”.
This is the world’s most important question, but virtually no one believes His answer, even tho it is repeated in Mark 10:17-22 & Luke 18:18-23! These are the six “love your neighbor” Commandments, (counting covetousness, VSS21-22). The first four Commandments are the “love your Aloha” Commandments, while the last six Commandments apply to human relationships. There is a greatly overlooked means of obtaining eternal Life for righteous people who are ignorant of the Torah, as explained in Are the “unsaved” Lost?.
There is also the idea of “going to heaven” at the rapture. That is not the reward of the saved! Again, who believes what Yeshua said?:
John 3:12 If I have spoken to you about earthly things and you don’t believe them, how could you believe if I tell you about things in the Heavenly realm? 13 NO ONE HAS GONE UP TO HEAVEN EXCEPT THE ONE WHO CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, the Human Son who is in Heaven.
Then, of course they can’t even agree on whether the “transformation” takes place before, during or after the Great Tribulation.
The transformation happens right after the first resurrection: 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-55; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:4-6 and Daniel 12:1-3
Most Christians seldom ever associate the transformation of the living with the resurrection of the dead!
Saint: Most English Bible translations use the word “saint” in their “New Testament” (Testimony of Yeshua). The Greek word behind it is “hagios”. When the Testimony was translated into Greek, hagios meant “devoted to the gods”. Like the Greek word Hades, “god of the underworld” is translated as hell, these are just two more clues why the original texts were in Aramaic, not Greek. The word “holy” as in “Holy Spirit” is also translated from “hagios”. However the English word “holy” is derived from helios: Lord of the underworld. The Greek word “hagios” is the equivalent of the Latin adjective “sanctus”. The Latin Vulgate uses the word “sanctus”. In 1395, Wycliffe translated the Latin sanctus into English as “seyntis”. Later Tyndale spelled it “sayntes”. Coverdale spelled it “saintes” in 1560. The evolution ended with “saints” in the Geneva Bible in 1587. So the key to the origin of the word “saint” is found by tracing the Latin word “sanctus”. Now keep one eye on the word “sanctus” as you read the following quotes on sacred, sanctified and sacrament:
Sacred and Sacrament: Another pagan term of worship. Derived from the sun god Sancus— “Augustine in his City of God, [p]121 reveals to us that the Sabine chief deity, Sancus, was called by some: Sanctus. In the Realencyclopaedie, under ‘Sancus’, we read of a statue of Sancus, representing an archaic type of Apollo, the great Sun-deity of the Greeks. At the end of the article it states that, originally, Semo Sancus was Jupiter itself. Another cognate form Sancius was also identified as Jupiter.”
Sanctified and sanctuary: “Another word that translates the Hebrew qodesh and the Greek hagios, is the word ‘sanctified’, which, according to the dictionaries, originates from the Latin sanctus. According to Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopaedie, under ‘Sanctus’, the primary meaning and origin is not certain. However, this article quotes a source mentioning Santus as a deity, named deus sanctus, and also states that Sanctus was often used as an epithet or surname of deities (See also this same book’s entry: ‘Sancus’). Augustine in his City of God, 121 reveals to us that the Sabine chief deity, Sancus, was called by some: Sanctus. In the Realencyclopaedie, under ‘Sancus’, we read of a statue of Sancus, representing an archaic type of Apollo, the great Sun-deity of the Greeks. At the end of the article it states that, originally, Semo Sancus was Jupiter itself. Another cognate form Sancius was also identified as Jupiter.”
“Although we have fewer witnesses here than in the case against the words ‘holy’, ‘sacred’ and ‘hallow’, we still have enough evidence that ‘Sancuts’ was the name of a pagan deity, even identified with Jupiter and Apollo. Another ‘wicked abomination’, in the form of the words ‘sanctified’ and ‘sanctuary’, had been fused with the pure Messianic Faith, and we must eliminate them.” Scriptures: You may know that there are 76 strong admonitions in the Bible for us to live by the Scriptures? But do you realize that all of those admonitions are found in what has come to be called the “New Testament”, and that they are all referring to the so-called “Old Testament”? Ultimately, all of those admonitions were written to warn Christians to live by what they disparagingly call “the Law”! Actually, the term “Hebrew Scripture” is redundant since virtually “all Scripture” is in Hebrew, with just a touch of it’s sister language Aramaic. All 51 references to Scripture and all 25 references to Scriptures including the misunderstood 2 Peter 3:16, are referring to the “Old Testament” Scriptures extant when Yeshua (Jesus) was here (with only occasional usages in Daniel 9:2 and Psalm 40:7 in a few versions). The inspired Writings pertaining to Yeshua are really called “The Testimony of Yeshua”. I encourage you to examine more proof here: The Word of Elohim. The Scriptures are the part of the Bible that include the Torah, the Writings and the Prophets—the part of the Bible that Timothy had studied from his childhood. The “NT” was not even a concept as most of it was being written. The writers thought that the end time had arrived. Same goes for “the Word of God” (Elohim). No reference to “the Word of God” includes the Testimony of Yeshua (the real inspired name for the apostolic writings!) since it was written after the Scriptures. Look them up! “...Every Scripture [literally, ‘writing’] that was written by the spirit is profitable for doctrine for proving convictions, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, 17 so that a person of Aloha (God) can become ‘very adept’ and accomplished in every good work.” —2nd Timothy 3:15-17. It is apparent that these Scriptures leading to eternal Life are referring to the Tanak, contemptuously dubbed the “Old Testament”. So we have 76 endorsements by the Apostles, all enthusiastically embracing the part of the Bible that 2 billion Christians believe were nailed to the cross! Too bad Christians can’t even locate the Scriptures in an open Bible! These Scriptures are a ticket to eternal life! Is there a reference book anywhere that makes this simple point? Contrarily, the JFB and Gills commentaries comment on what they consider the possibility of Luke 10:18 referencing “a laborer deserves his wages” as “Scripture”, presuming that it is a quotation from Luke that establishes Luke’s words (Luke 10:7) as Scripture, rather than just a common metaphor based on a very common Biblical theme. The comment simply explains what muzzling an ox means. To his credit, Weymouth’s totally original modern English translation, published since the invention of quotation marks, is the only translation I know of that doesn’t attempt to make the “wages” comment into a Scriptural quote. Had the Apostles claimed to have been adding to the Scriptures, they would have been met with deadly resistance. Certainly there would have been some serious controversy, not just a comment or two that could later have been construed to support the notion of an expansion of the Scriptures, as is attempted here. Calling the Scriptures “old” (obsolete) is supporting an original apostasy! Hear the distinction from the book of Revelation (1:2 & 9) “He was a witness to the Word of Aloha (God) AND to the Testimony of Yeshua Messiah about everything he saw... 9 I John, your Friend and your partner in the tribulation and suffering that are ours in Yeshua Messiah, was on the island called Patmos, because of the Word of Aloha AND the Testimony of Yeshua Messiah”. And Isaiah (8:20) “To the Torah AND to the Testimony! If people don’t speak in agreement with these Words, it’s because it [the truth] hasn’t dawned on them!”
Servant: Doulos (doo’-los) literally means a slave. There are other words for servant. Yet the metaphoric meaning, “one who gives himself up to another’s will, those whose service is used by [Messiah] in extending and advancing his cause among men” and “devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests”, is a perfect fit to someone who willingly serves Yehovah, and wouldn’t have it any other way, with absolutely no desire to escape. Both Murdock and Etheridge used the word “servant” rather than “slave”, in the spiritual applications, as is common in many Greek translations. Roman slaves of the first century had the right to be professionals and have families, and other rights. We don’t exactly have a word for that in English. Sundoulos, a related word, means “fellow slave”.
Sheol, Hades, Hell: We can thank the people who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into the (Greek) Septuagint (or their successors) for introducing Hades, the pagan “god of the underworld” into the Biblical realm, rather than transliterating it as Sheol, the Hebrew and Aramaic word, since there is no Greek equivalent (nor English, for that matter). What exactly hell is can be read about here. Once the pagan Greek concept was introduced into the “Old Testament”, it paved the way a couple centuries later for Christian translators of the Testimony of Yeshua (NT), when translating from the original Aramaic into Greek, to pass along some pagan Greek thought as well.
Sovereign in the Bible means essentially King. Bible translations generally use the word “lord” for people of authority. The “Old Testament” Hebrew word translated as “Lord” is Adonay (about 334 times) and the “New Testament” is Kurios, also translated as “Lord” in the King James and similar Bibles. Hebrew and Biblical Greek had no capital letters, and they both refer to the same Person. Only the context indicates the who. I believe we can be more specific. In the Testimony of Yeshua (the real name for New Testament), where other Bibles say “lord”, I use “master” unless, as usual, the context indicates that the person speaking knows that they are addressing the Sovereign of all things, in which case I use “Sovereign”. In the Tanak (“OT”) Yehovah usually refers to the Father, but the Sovereign YEHOVAH (Adonay Yehovah), translated as “Lord God” actually references the One who became Yeshua. In the Greek to English versions of the Testimony of Yeshua {“NT”}, Lord (one cap) is always Jesus Yeshua, tho the distinction is generally misunderstood. So in the Gabriel Bible, Sovereign always means the One who became or was Yeshua.
'Special' is the Hebrew word usually translated as “holy”. It is generally thought to mean something “vaguely having to do with God”. The etymological origin of the English word “holy” is directly connected to the sun god Helios! In most languages, the word “holy” is derived from what Constantine termed “the venerable Day of the Sun”. Obviously this was no coincidence. “Set apart” or “dedicated” are often acceptable translations of the Aramaic, Hebrew, and it means essentially the same thing as the Greek hagios (hag’-ee-os), but in many contexts it’s very awkward. People can be “set apart” ('special') for good or evil! (”Dedicated” is a synonym for “holy”, but the rest of the story is that it can mean “dedicated to infernal (hellacious) gods”.) So until 2022 I strictly used the very words found in the originally inspired Aramaic and Hebrew texts: 'special' (or the Aramaic kadish), and to avoid confusion I had consistently just used 'special', but 'cherished', 'special', 'distinct', 'designated', 'dedicated', 'devout', 'incomparable', 'peerless', or 'set apart' etc are all more nuanced expressions, and I have made much more use of these words, depending on the context, since English, being far more nuanced has 100 times more words than Biblical Hebrew.
Spirit messenger is translated as “angel” in almost every English Bible. Angelos is a word borrowed from the Greek. One reason that spirit Messenger Messenger is used in the Gabriel “Tanakay” Bible is because “angel” has strictly come to mean a spirit composed female being with wings, in our society—a concept borrowed from paganism. The literal translation of angelos is “a messenger, envoy, one who is sent.” In Greek, it can mean anyone, such as the human representatives of the seven “churches” of Revelation 2-3. “Angel” in Aramaic and Hebrew also means messenger. The references to demons as “angels” has been retained because I like the distinction. See What are Angels?
Splendor is usually translated as “glory”. In pre Christian (pagan) old English, the third month of the year was called the ‘month of Hreða’ (‘glory-goddess’). The next month of the pre Christian calendar was called the ‘month of the Eostre (Easter)’, the goddess of the radiant dawn. Both of these goddesses were readily adopted by Christianity. While “glory” may not exactly be the name of the god, I prefer not to use the term in connection with the true Elohim (God).
TaNaK is an acronym that stands for Torah (the 5 books of Moses) + Neviim (the Prophets) + Ketuvim (the Writings). Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 220 AD) popularized calling the Scriptures/Tanak, the “Old Testament”, because he considered it obsolete.
Tanakay’: TaNaK+Ay (Bible) is a continuation of the acronym TaNaK above. While Tanak means Torah + Neviim + Ketuvim; Tanakay adds Ay-dooth’, the common Hebrew word for Testimony (The Testimony of Yeshua is the proper name for the “New Testament”), to finish what Christians call the Bible. The English word “bible” is from the Latin biblia, and ultimately from the Greek. While some associate the word with a pagan goddess, it most certainly isn’t derived from the inspired Word, or even the inspired languages, nor in my opinion from inspired people. “Bible” ultimately means “paper” (papyrus), or the Phoenician port city of Byblos that made paper famous—not exactly inspiring! Christian use of the term can be traced to about 223 AD. Tanakay is my suggested alternative for people who are concerned with word etymology. See why the word “Scriptures” does NOT apply to the “whole Bible”. Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the Torah AND to the Testimony! If people don’t speak in agreement with these Words, it’s because it [the truth] hasn’t dawned on them!”
Theology originally meant the study of pagan gods. That’s why I don’t personally use the word. How much has that really changed in light of the massive syncretism in Christianity? “The first to use the term ‘theology’ in the context of Christianity was Origen. He was responsible for developing theology as an ordered, philosophical pursuit within Christian circles. Origen was already influenced by Stoicism and Platonism, philosophies which in turn molded how he would understand and explain Christianity.”
Thru and Tho: These words appear frequently on anything I’ve written. Since childhood I have been an advocate of spelling reform. English should be completely logical and phonetic. If you can pronounce something you should automatically be able to spell it. Go here to read about the bleak history and future of spelling reform.
Torah: The generic Aramaic and Greek words for “Law” represent any kind of law, but in the Testimony of Yeshua, almost every one of the 197 references to nomos means the Torah: the very specific “Law of Moses” (actually the “Torah of Elohim (God)”). In reality, the usual rendering, “law” is an improper translation, intending somewhat of a negative connotation; it really means direction or instruction! So for clarity to a modern audience, the word “Torah” is used wherever Torah is meant in the Gabriel Bible, as best as I can determine from the context.
Torah teachers is a reference to the “scribes” who in reality were putting their sectarian viewpoints from their “rabbis” way above the Books of Moses. Similarly, most of today’s religious teachers have entirely replaced the Torah with their own sectarian and antinomian [anti Torah] teachings, over Yeshua’s (Jesus’) strong objection. Matthew 5:18-19.
[U]: A Unique detail of the Gabriel Bible (Tanakay) is the [U] indicator: This is used when there appears to be something hiding in the Hebrew or Aramaic that is not found in any of the translations on Biblehub, (i.e. a widespread mistranslation) such as Isaiah 57:16-17.
“Under the law” and “Works of the law”: In every instance where these phrases are used, the definite article has been added to the Greek, in defiance of John’s warning at the close of Revelation. The word “law” (nomos), that in the vast majority of cases means the Torah, is differentiated from ordinary laws by the use of the word “THE”, as in “THE Law”. If you look up all 197 instances of nomos, or law, in an interlinear this clarification is quite consistent: “The law” means Torah every time! Law without the specifying “the” usually means some other law, but there are a few exceptions. If Torah “law” has already been established in the context, then the “the” may not be re-specified. Then very infrequently the context is so clear that nomos is used without the “the” being necessitated. In the Gabriel Bible “works of the law” is worded “obeying secular or sectarian law”, as is “Under the law”. Commentary in the literature found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, long before Paul, used these terms in reference to their own sectarian restrictions. The Essenes used these phrases. The same claims are made for the Pharisees by Avi Ben Mordechai.
“When That Day Comes” is how I word it in the 112 places in the Prophets where it is usually phrased “in (or on) that day”. Actually almost every one of these verses concern the Day of Yehovah (following the Great Tribulation) or else the very beginning of the 7th millennium! (An exception would be when Israel lost their access to the promised land in Jezreel: Hosea 1:4-5.) But virtually every other reference involves a time of Yehovah’s supernatural intervention resulting the 12 tribes returning to their land, very often referring to Yehovah by name in the same verse.
The Word of Aloha (Elohim) (God) is what the Jews call the Tanak, and Christians call the “Old Testament” in every place that it is used in the Testimony of Yeshua, except for when it refers to the pre-incarnate Yeshua (Jesus) Himself. See The Word of Elohim.
Yahweh is he name of the God of Samaria (keyword: stele). Yeshua (Jesus) told the Samaritan woman: “You Samaritans don’t know what you worship, but we worship what we understand, because [eternal] Life comes from the Jews” (John 4:22). This name was used by the Samaritans and preserved by the Greeks and the Catholic Church, tho they have recently banned this name as well as Yehovah’s name. Nehemia Gordon explains the origin of the name Yahweh as one of his most important discoveries here, particularly beginning at about minute 22.
Yehovah (YHVH): It seems logical that the earliest copies of the “Testimony of Yeshua” (New testament) would have used the Paleo Hebrew name YHVH in the text, as was done in the earliest copies of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Tanak, “the Old Testament”). Origen wrote: “in the more accurate exemplars [of the Septuagint], the 'special' name is written in Hebrew characters; not however in the current script [modern Hebrew][modern Hebrew], but in the most ancient [paleo].”—Migue, pg.12
The generic Greek “Kyrios” (Lord), later replaced the original Paleo YHVH (Yehovah) used in the original copies of the Septuagint, also known as the LXX. This was rather recently born out in the finds of some original fragments, such as the so-called Fouad papyrus 266, containing His Paleo name (pictured) dating back to the early first century BC at the latest.George Howard presents evidence in his book: The Tetragrammaton and the Christian Greek Scriptures that the name Yehovah was in frequent use in religious literature prior to the Christian era, whether in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Severe persecution of anything Jewish and anything written in Aramaic changed all of that. Christians greatly distanced themselves from their Hebrew roots in order to survive under Roman occupation. The Romans exterminated anything written in Yeshua’s (Jesus’) native language (Aramaic) that they got their hands on, including every single Aramaic copy of the complete works of Josephus. Fortunately Josephus learned Greek late in life and translated his works into Greek.
An anonymous writer wrote: “The original Jewish followers of Y'hoshua, that is, the sect of the N'tsarim (popularly, though erroneously rendered as Nazarenes) were, like all other Jewish sects at the time, zealous of Torah and continued to live by the mitsvot of Moshe as well as the Jewish traditions (see Acts 21:20-24 and elsewhere), a fact implicit in their very name - N'tsarim, from the root word 'natsar' (No. 5341 in Strong’s) meaning to obey, observe, to guard; to the Semitic ear, so fond of word association, this name would be immediately linked to the Jewish term "Notsray HaTorah" keepers or guardians of the Law (see also Hebrew text of Jer.31:6). Accordingly, the question arises, would the original Jewish - N'tsarim scribes have been any less scrupulous in preserving the Sacred Name when first recording the life and teachings of Y'hoshua in their Hebrew or Aramaic documents? It seems most unlikely, the divine name YHWH was and is the most sacred word in the Hebrew language, and so it is inconceivable that religious Jews of a sort would have removed it from any of their religious documents. How then did the 'erasing' of the Sacred Name in the Greek NT come about?”
It seems implausible to me also that “God’s” personal name—Yehovah, however you care to pronounce it, would be written over 6,800 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, but not once in the Testimony of Yeshua (Jesus). So in my Testimony of Yeshua (a harmony {and occasional disharmony} of both the Aramaic and the Greek texts, not a translation), most of the places where the Etheridge used the generic word Aloha, the personal name Yehovah is used, as well as the instances where Etheridge used “Lord”—but not in reference to our Teacher, Yeshua. Aloha is used where it seems likely that His personal name would not have been used. For example, John 12:38 is a quote from Isaiah 53:1 where the name “Yehovah” is translated as “Lord” in both instances in almost every version. Yet a check of the Hebrew shows that it is His personal name, Yehovah, being used.
The oldest complete Hebrew Bible in existence, the Leningrad Codex, is complete with vowel points for every word—except for the Tetragrammaton, where they deliberately left out the middle vowel, leaving Yeh_vah. However in about 50 instances they accidentally [?] forgot to leave out the “o”! In those instances we see YeHoVah! An example of Elohim’s (God’s) actual name can be seen in Genesis 3:14 on the NASB interlinear, and even tho they write in Yahweh under the Name, the complete spelling is there for anyone who reads Hebrew! However, in their “fine print” the NAS Exhaustive Concordance does give the correct phonetic pronunciation here! For strong evidence that the Tetragrammaton was and is pronounced Ye-ho-vah’, see Do You Know Father’s Name?
Yehovih (Yeh-ho-vee’) is a deliberate misspelling/mispronunciation of Yehovah used following Adonai (Ad-o-noy, meaning sovereign). For fear of saying ‘Yehovah’, Jews typically pronounce Yehovah as Adonai.
Yeshua is usually translated as “Jesus”, but He was really named Yeshua; that is what His family, friends and followers called Him. OK, I'm shocked. A rabbi strangely admitted that Yeshua (by that name) is the Savior and associates the time of the announcement to be at the sounding of the shofar on the Day of Trumpets!
Rabbi Simcha Pearlmutter talks about Yeshua his Messiah 6/9While not in any way an eternal life issue, if you claim to love Him, shouldn’t you at least know His name? His name is most certainly not YAHshua, as this link explains.
Zebak & Zebakim (plural) is usually translated as “sacrifice/s”, but since the word sacrifice, like so many other “theological” terms is derived from the names of pagan gods and goddesses (in this case a sun god named Sancus), I use the Hebrew word zebak in my writings, using phonetic spelling.