Dabar

This article is about Hebrew word. For other uses, see Dabar (disambiguation).

A Hebrew Bible page (Aleppo Codex), 10th century.

The word dabar means "word" or "talk" in Hebrew.^{[1] [2]} Dabar occurs in various contexts in the Hebrew Bible.

In the Hebrew Bible, dabar is sometimes used in reference to the "Divine Word", and in an active sense as a "word event", or prophetic words.^[3]

In Christianity, the Old Testament concept of "word event" represented by dabar carries over to the New Testament where revelation can be seen as events explained by words.^[4] Hence in the New Testament the word dabar continues to be more than a mere sound, or a doctrine, but refers to people and actions, reaching its climax in the Incarnation of Jesus.^[5]

The Septuagint, the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek uses the terms Rhema and Logos as equivalents and uses both for dabar.^[6][7]

See also

• Rhema
• Logos (Christianity)

References

1. ^ Ancient World: Reader by Ralph D. Winter 2006 ISBN 0878085572 page 185 [1]
2. ^ The etymology and syntax: (in continuation of the elements) of the Hebrew Language by Hyman Hurwitz 1841 ASIN B0008AHQPO page 13 [2]
3. ^ Old Testament Theology by Horst Dietrich Preuss, Leo G. Perdue 1996 ISBN 0664218431 page 81 [3]
4. ^ Christian tradition today by Jeffrey C. K. Goh 2004 ISBN 9042909374 page 303 [4]
5. ^ Christian theological understanding of other religions by John Berchmans Barla 1999 ISBN 8876528199 page 76 [5]
6. ^ Theological dictionary of the New Testament, Volume 1 by Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, Geoffrey William Bromiley 1985 ISBN 0802824048 page 508 [6]
7. ^ The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Q-Z by Geoffrey W. Bromiley 1995 ISBN 0802837840 page 1102 [7]