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Prophets in the Bible

Should Christians follow the 10 commandments? Law vs grace. Are Christians under law?

Please let me know if I’ve missed any prophets.

List of prophets in the Bible
Old Testament
Abraham Genesis 20:7
Moses Deuteronomy 34:10, Hosea 12:13
Miriam Exodus 15:20
Aaron Exodus 7:1
“A prophet” Judges 6:8
Deborah Judges 4:4
Samuel 1 Samuel 3:20, 9:9
Gad 1 Samuel 22:5, 2 Samuel 12:25, 2 Chronicles 29:25
Nathan 2 Samuel 7:2, Ps. 51, 2 Samuel 12:24, 1 Kings 1, 2 Chronicles 29:25
Ahijah 1 Kings 11:29, 1 Kings 14
Old Prophet in Bethel 1 Kings 13
Man of God from Judah 1 Kings 13
Jehu 1 Kings 16
Balaam 2 Peter 2:16
Elijah 1 Kings 18, 1 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 21:12
Prophets of Baal 1 Kings 18
Elisha 1 Kings 19:15, 2 Kings 3-7
“A Prophet” 1 Kings 20:12
Micaiah 1 Kings 22
Zedekiah and 400 false prophets in the courts of King Jehosaphat 1 Kings 22
At least 100 “Sons of the Prophets” 1 Samuel 10, 19:20, 1 Kings 18:4, 2 Kings 1-5, 9
Jonah Jonah, 2 Kings 14:23
Isaiah 2 Kings 19 & 20
Shemaiah 2 Chronicles 12:15
Iddo 2 Chronicles 12:15
Zachariah ben-Iddo Ezekiel 5:1, Zechariah 1:1
Azariah 2 Chronicles 15 & 28:9
Jehaziel 2 Chronicles 20:14
Zachariah ben-Jehoida 2 Chronicles 24:19
“A prophet” 2 Chronicles 25:15
Hulda 2 Chronicles 34:22, 2 Kings 22:14
Jeremiah 2 Chronicles 36:12, Jeremiah 1:5, 26:7, Jeremiah 29
Haggai Ezra 5:1, 6:14, Haggai 1:1
Noadiah – false prophetess Nehemiah 6:14
“The Prophetess” – Isaiah’s Wife? Isaiah 8:1ff
Hannaniah and other false prophets Jeremiah 26:11, Jeremiah 28
Shemaiah – false prophet Jeremiah 29:27
 
New Testament
John the Baptist Matthew 11:9
Jesus Matthew 13:57, Luke 1:76, Luke 24:19
Zacharias Luke 1:67
Anna Luke 2:36
Agabus and other prophets from Jerusalem Acts 11:27, 13:1, 21:9
Bar-Jesus (Elymas) – false prophet Acts 13:6
Judas Acts 15:32
Silas Acts 15:32
“The Holy Prophets” Ephesians 3:5
Cretan prophet Titus 1:12
Jezebel – false prophetess Revelation 2:20
2 Apocalyptic prophets Revelation 11:3-10
The False Prophet Revelation 16:13, 19:20

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Name Meanings in the Bible

A lot of people have written and asked for a list of the meanings of the names of people in the Bible. Most of them come from readers of Name Changes in the Bible, one of the most popular GodWords articles. So: you asked for it, you’ve got it. Keep in mind that many names found in the Bible are not translated in the Bible, and that we often rely on translations of the name from other sources.

This list is, of course, incomplete. I mean, just look at how short it is. We’re just getting started. If you can add a name and meaning to it, just use the form at the bottom of the page and let me know.

Click column headers to sort

Name meanings in the Bible
Name Language Meaning Notes
Abba Chaldee Father In the Bible, Abba is a name applied to God three times, all in the New Testament.
Abda Hebrew Servant of Jehovah There are two Abdas in the Bible:

  1. The father of Adoniram
  2. The son of Shammua
Abel Hebrew Breath The second son of Adam and Eve, Abel’s name may reflect the shortness of his life.
Daniel Hebrew My judge is God There are three Daniels in the Bible:

  1. Daniel the Prophet
  2. The second son of King David and Abigail, also known as Kileab
  3. A leader of the Jews and descendant of Ithamar who returned from Babylon with Ezra
Elijah Hebrew My God is Yahweh There are four Elijahs in the Bible:

  1. Elijah the Prophet
  2. The The son of Jeroham and a clan leader
  3. A man who married and divorced a foreign wife
  4. Another man who married and divorced a foreign wife
Elisha Hebrew My God is Yahweh This is the same name as Elijah.
Enoch Hebrew Dedicated There are two Enochs in the Bible:

  1. The son of Cain
  2. The father of Methusaleh, descendant of Seth, who did not die
Hosea Hebrew Yahweh is salvation Hosea is a Hebrew name, a variant form of Hoshe’a, which was Joshua’s name before Moses changed it.
Jesus 16 Languages Yahweh is salvation Jesus is a transliteration of Iesous, which is a Greek form of the Aramaic Yeshu’a, which is a shortened form of Yehoshu’a. This is the same name as Joshua.
Joshua Hebrew Yahweh is salvation Joshua is the same name as Hosea and Jesus.
Jotham Hebrew Yahweh is perfect There are three Jothams in the Bible:

  1. The king of Judah, son of Uzziah
  2. The son of Caleb and Jahdai
  3. The son of Gideon
Nehemiah Hebrew Yahweh Comforts There are three Nehemiahs in the Bible:

  1. Cupbearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia. Governor of Judea, son of Hakaliah, for whom the biblical book Nehemiah is named, who led the Israelites back from exile in Babylon
  2. Son of Azbuk, a district governor who helped the exiles rebuild Jerusalem
  3. Another of the exiles returning to Jerusalem
Simeon Hebrew To hear There are three Simeons in the Bible:

  1. The second son of Jacob and Leah and head of one of Israel’s 12 tribes
  2. A devout man who blessed Jesus as a child
  3. Simeon Niger, a prophet and teacher who helped ordain Saul and Barnabas
Simon Greek To hear Simon is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Shimon or Simeon. There are nine Simons in the Bible. They are described differently in Scripture, to tell them apart:

  1. Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples
  2. Jesus’ brother
  3. A Pharisee
  4. Simon the Zealot, another of Jesus’ apostles
  5. Simon the Leper, who owned the home where a woman anointed Jesus’ feet
  6. Simon Iscariot, father of Judas Iscariot
  7. Simon the Cyrene, who was forced to carry Jesus’ cross
  8. Simon the Sorcerer
  9. Simon the Tanner

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Jesus in Every Language

Who is Jesus? Was Jesus a real person? Why did Jesus die? Is Jesus God?

While Christianity began in first-century Israel, it quickly spread around the known world. Today, there are approximately 2,180,000,000 Christians living in every country in the world. Around 6,500 languages are spoken in the world today.

One of the most popular articles on GodWords is What Does Jesus Mean?. The article gets a lot of comments requesting the meaning of Bible names, so I thought it was time to begin a list of Jesus’ name in different languages. This list will probably never be complete, but people have been asking for it anyway.

If you speak in languages other than English and have an addition or correction, please send me a message using the form at the bottom of this page.

Click on column headers to sort

Jesus in every language
Language Jesus’ Name
Afrikaans Jesus
Albanian Jezu
Amharic የሱስ
Arabic يسوع
Armenian Հիսուսը
Azerbaijani İsa
Basque Jesus
Belarusian Ісус
Bengali যীশু
Bosnian Isuse
Bulgarian Исус
Catalan Jesus
Cebuano Jesus
Chichewa Yesu
Chinese (Simplified) 耶稣
Chinese (Traditional) 耶穌
Corsican Ghjesù
Croatian Isus
Czech Ježíš
Danish Jesus
Dutch Jezus
English Jesus
Esperanto Jesuo
Estonian Jeesus
Filipino Jesus or Hesus
Finnish Jeesus
French Jesus
Frisian Jezus
Galician Xesús
Georgian იესო
German Jesus
Greek Ιησούς
Gujarati ઇસુ
Haitian Creole Jezi
Hausa Yesu
Hawaiian Iesu
Hebrew ישוע
Hindi यीशु
Hmong Yexus
Hungarian Jezus
Icelandic Jesus
Igbo Jesus
Indonesian Yesus
Irish Íosa
Italian Gesù
Japanese イエス
Javanese Gusti Yesus
Kannada ಜೀಸಸ್
Kazakh Иса
Khmer ព្រះយេស៊ូវ
Korean 예수
Kurdish (Kurmanji) Îsa
Kyrgyz Ыйса
Lao ພຣະເຢຊູ
Latin Iesus
Latvian Jezus
Lithuanian Jezus
Luxembourgish Jesus
Macedonian Исус
Malagasy Jesosy
Malay Yesus
Malayalam യേശു
Maltese Ġes
Maori Ihu
Marathi येशू
Mongolian Ecyc
Myanmar y shayu s nyya
Nepali येशू
Norwegian Jesus
Pashto عیسي
Persian عیسی
Polish Jezus
Portuguese Jesus
Punjabi ਯਿਸੂ
Romanian Iisus
Russian Иисус
Samoan Iesu
Scots Gaelic Íosa
Serbian Исусе
Sesotho Jesu
Shona Jesu
Sindhi عيسي
Sinhala යේසුස් වහන්සේ
Slovak Ježíš
Slovenian Jezus
Somali Ciise
Spanish Jesus
Sundanese Yesus
Swahili Jesu
Swedish Jesus
Tajik Исо
Tamil கிறிஸ்தவ சமயத்தை தோற்றுவித்தவர்
Telugu యేసు
Thai พระเยซู
Turkish Îsa
Ukrainian Ісусе
Urdu یسوع
Uzbek Iso
Vietnamese Chúa Giêsu
Welsh Iesu
Xhosa UYesu
Yoruba Jesu
Zulu UJesu

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Jesus in Every Language

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The Six Days of Creation in Genesis 1

At the beginning of the Bible we see an account of the creation of the universe. Here is the order of creation as outlined in the first chapter of Genesis:

Day One

Light

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.

Day Two

Separating the Waters

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.

Day Three

Plants

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.

Day Four

Sun, Moon, and Stars

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.

Day Five

Fish and Birds

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.

Day Six

Land Animals and Humans

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.

Day Seven

Rest

On the seventh day, God rested…not because He was tired, but because His work had been completed.

There’s more to the story, of course. Genesis 1 isn’t simply an account of creation, but the start of God’s relationship with us. He created us, and we were good. He loves us like a perfect father, and wants us to know Him.

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Seeing What We Want to See

Is the Bible true? Are Bible translations bad? What language is the Bible?

The video below is a bit long, but it illustrates a very meaningful point: we tend to see only what we want to see. Belgian painter Luc Tuymans is apparently very, very famous in the art world. He agreed to help with an experiment.

He painted on a wall on a busy pedestrian street in his hometown to see how many people would notice that they were walking past really good art. Interestingly, an art person (in the video) suggests that (hopefully) 90% of the people passing by would stop and see the amazing art. The result? 96% completely ignored it.

To be fair, one person did explain that context has a lot to do with art appreciation. I find it funny (not being an art person) that these artsy-fartsy folks, immersed in their own little world, think that the rest of the world revolves around art.

You can see that this post is in the Christianity category…because I’d like to make a point. A lot of people (not being church people) think it’s funny that church people, immersed in their own little world, think that the rest of the world revolves around church.

We see what we want to see.

Most people, even non-artsy people like me, can appreciate good art in the right context. Being a web designer, I have to say that I might find artistic beauty in more places than average…but I’m sort of immersed (or slightly dipped, depending on your perspective of my work) in the art world myself.

Most people, even non-religious types, can appreciate the good things that God has to offer…in the right context. The problem, like the problem in the art world, is twofold:

  1. Most unchurched people don’t spent a lot of time thinking about God, and
  2. Most church people assume the opposite.

Like the art-lovers in the video, church people are often willfully blind to the reality around them. How can we wake up the body of Christ and let them see that it is our job to help provide the context in which they’ll see what we see?

Your comments are appreciated.

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The Flaw of Postmodernism

Are minds real? Do humans have free will? Is evolution true?

Postmodernism is the idea is that reality is subjective…that there is no absolute truth, and that reality differs from person to person. The phrase “what’s true for you might not be true for me” typifies a postmodern point of view.

Another way to understand postmodernism (or “Pomo”) is to say that no truth can be extended beyond an individual’s experiences. Postmodernists will necessarily have trouble with my definition, since they like to suggest that words only have the meanings we give them…and, in defining postmodernism, we try to give it a meaning for all to share. That’s the contradictory essence of postmodernism: we can’t even discuss what it is without the conversation devolving into an uncomfortable silence.

Steve Taylor referred to the postmodern dilemma in Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Number’s Up:

Sally’s into knowledge
spent her years in college
just to find out nothing is true

She can hardly speak now
words are not unique now
’cause they can’t say anything new

Listen on YouTube

Here’s the point: postmodernism essentially says “there are no absolute truths”. It’s a self-defeating statement, to be sure…but that doesn’t stop some people (like my friend Sean) from trying to live by it anyway. Many postmodernists avoid looking for answers because, were they to find real answers, they’d then have to change the way they live.

The NBC show ER (Season 14, Episode 13) aired an episode that exposes the flaw of postmodernism: it’s completely useless for people who want actual answers. We all believe in absolute truth, yet the postmodern person rejects truth anyway. In this clip, the hospital’s postmodern chaplain can provide no answers for a dying man who seeks forgiveness for his sins:

Your thoughts?

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What if Starbucks Marketed Like the Church?

Do I have to go to church to be a Christian? Do I have to be baptized to go to Heaven?

Wow. Good stuff! I’ve always wondered whether visitors to my church (not just my current one) felt this way. Is your church totally lame? Do you see yourself in this video?

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