Hebrew Word List for Week 4 2026
The term parashah, (Hebrew: פָּרָשָׁה Pārāšâ, "portion", , plural: parashot or parashiyot, also called parsha) formally means a section of Torah, from one of the first 5 biblical books in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). In common usage today the word often refers to the weekly Torah portion.
The haftarah, Hebrew: הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave"[1] (plural form: haftarot), is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im ("Prophets") of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice. The haftara reading follows the Torah reading on each Sabbath and on Jewish festivals and fast days. Typically, the haftara is thematically linked to the parashah (weekly Torah portion) that precedes it.
First parasha is Genesis 1-6; the accompanying haftarah is Isaiah 42-43
When you begin to read Genesis 2,
you realize that the first three verses really belong at the end of Genesis 1,
because they describe the seventh day which finishes the work of the six days
described in Genesis 1.
"Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them." (Genesis 2:1)
The English word “host” in the Old
Testament translates the Hebrew word tsava (צבא), meaning "army." The "host of heaven" is
an army in heaven. One name for Jehovah is "the LORD of hosts" (Yahweh
Tzeva'ot, יהוה צבאות)[1],
which essentially means "the Captain of the Army."
"And on the seventh day God
ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day..."
(Genesis 2:2)
"Ended,"
"rested," and "seventh" are all from the same Hebrew root, shavat
(שבת). This sentence is an extended play on words, using the same word
three times.
God did three things on the seventh
day: He rested, He blessed it, and He sanctified it. “Sanctifying" comes from the Hebrew word
kadosh (קדש), which means "holy." This is the
first time the word "holy" is used in Genesis, which means that the
very first thing God makes holy is not a thing, a place, or an action; it is time
itself. A wonderful book on this topic
is The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel.[2]
The second creation story in Genesis begins in 2:4, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth..." The Hebrew for generations is toledot (תולדת), from the verbal root yalad (ילד), meaning "to give birth." The story is framed as the birth of the world.
The rest of the text is also filled with
wordplay. God forms man (אדם, Adam) from the dust
of the ground (אדמה, adamah). The Lord God formed
the man (יצר, yatsar), like a potter
forms a clay pot. [3] This
metaphor of humans as clay pots will later be used by prophets like Isaiah and
Jeremiah.[4]
To Serve and To Guard : The Lord puts
Adam in the garden "to dress it and to keep it.” [5]
These two Hebrew verbs are rich with meaning.
To Dress: The Hebrew is 'avad
(עבד). Its primary
meanings are "to work," "to labor," and "to serve."
It is the word for a servant or slave. It is also the word used for temple
service, which is a form of worship. This connects directly to King Benjamin's
sermon: "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in
the service (worship) of your God."[6]
Our service all week long is our true worship.
To Keep: The Hebrew is shamar
(שמר). It means
"to guard," "to protect," or "to preserve" or
“keep.” Adam's job was to guard the garden. This is the same verb used in the
command to "keep the commandments."
Help Meet : God determines
that there is not a "help meet for" Adam.[7]
This is not a single word, like the English "helpmate." It is two
words in Hebrew.
Help: The Hebrew is 'ezer (עזר).
Outside of this instance, ezer is almost always used to describe God. He is our help.[8]
To be a helper is not a subordinate position; it means you have a strength or
ability the other person lacks and needs. This is part of the name of the stone
(Heb. eben אבן ) Jacob slept on at Bethel : Eben-ezer.
Meet: The Hebrew is kenegdo (כנגדו),
meaning "corresponding to him" or "appropriate for him." ‘Meet’
is an archaic English term which means “precisely adapted to a particular
situation, need, or circumstance.”[9]
So the woman – note that the woman has no name until after she partakes of the
fruit[10]
- is created as the right person to help Adam accomplish his work.
God then causes a deep sleep to fall
upon Adam and takes one of his "ribs."[11]
Rib: The word for rib here is tsela'
(צלע).
This is the only place in the biblical text where tsela is translated as
"rib." In every other verse that tsela’ appears in in the Old
Testament, it is in reference to a side of something, a wooden panel, or the
timber beam of a building. From this tsela', God builds (בנה,
banah) a woman.[12]
To Build The verb banah
appears repeatedly and is the foundation of many other common words. From
it we get:
Ben (בן)
– son
Beth (בת)
– daughter
'Eben (אבן)
- stone (what a house is built of)
Bayit (בית)
– house (both a building or a family), the same word as beth, daughter.[13]
In a very real way, Eve is built as
a house for the family of God. She is not an afterthought, but a
necessary way station, the crowning architectural achievement.
Naked and Subtle: A Play on Words
Adam and Eve are naked (ערום,
'arom) and not
ashamed.[14] In
the very next verse – which we often miss because we tend to stop reading at
the chapter breaks - the serpent is described as subtle (ערום,
'arum).[15] It's
a homonym, a pun that only exists in Hebrew. The text invites the question: Who
is truly exposed and vulnerable before God? The innocent couple or the cunning
serpent?
Sorrow
Many speak of the ‘curse of Eve.’ This
is not from the biblical text. Neither
Adam nor Eve are cursed: only the snake and the ground are cursed (ארר
, arar).[16]
There are consequences, however, for the choices made by the humans. One consequence for both Eve and Adam of
partaking of the fruit is sorrow. The Hebrew word for sorrow is 'itsabon
(עצבון).
Genesis 3:21 Coats = כתנות Ketonot (pl) ; כתנת ketonet (sing)
Prophets + Priests / Kings + Queens
[1] 1Sa 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine (Goliath), Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
[2] Heschel, Abraham Joshua, Ilya Schor (Illustrator), Susannah Heschel (Introduction). The Sabbath: its Meaning for Modern Man. (1951; republished 2005 by Farrar, Straus and Girou)
[3] Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
[4] Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Jeremiah 18:4, 6 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. . . .6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. Lamentations 4:2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
[5] Genesis 2:15
[6] Mosiah 2:17
[7] Genesis 2:20
[8] Psalms 33:20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
[9] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meet
[10] Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve (chavaחוה 'life' in HB) because she was the mother of all living.
[11] Genesis 2:21
[12] Genesis 2:22
[13] Gen 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
[14] Genesis 2:25
[15] Genesis 3:1
[16] Genesis 3:14, 17
