Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
Genesis 22:1
God did tempt Abraham. The Hebrew verb means tested or proved, not enticed toward evil.
Genesis 22:1, in every translation this tool compares.
In 1611, tempt meant to test or try, the way a metallurgist tempts steel by testing its strength. Today tempt means to lure someone toward doing something wrong. The Hebrew word never changed; the English word did, and the King James sentence now says something it did not originally mean.
Because the King James word tempt has drifted since 1611 into meaning enticement toward sin, a sense the Hebrew verb never carried, so the same English sentence that was accurate four centuries ago now accidentally suggests God was trying to make Abraham fail.
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Modern versions read tested or put to the test, correcting for the English word's drift. The King James, accurate in its own century, now misleads a reader who only knows tempt in its current sense.
נִסָּה nissah (test, prove) · H5254
Nissah means to test, try, or prove, used of testing loyalty, resolve, or genuineness, never of enticing someone toward wrongdoing, a sense that belongs to an entirely different Hebrew vocabulary. The same root gives nes, a banner or a standard used to rally and prove an army, and later gives the word for miracle, both senses built on the idea of putting something on display to be examined or proven, not on luring someone toward failure.
English tempt has narrowed and shifted meaning since the King James was translated; the translators chose an accurate word for their own time, and English drift, not translation error, is what makes the sentence sound wrong to a modern ear.
Before assuming an old translation made a theological error, check whether the English word itself has drifted since. Repented, tempt, and charity are three of the clearest cases in the King James where the Hebrew or Greek never moved, but the English gloss did.
Tested or put to the test uses current English accurately. Tempt, correct in 1611, is misleading today only because English tempt itself changed meaning, not because nissah changed or was mistranslated originally.
- The related noun nes, banner/standard, and later miracle, both from the sense of something displayed to be examined
- Oxford English Dictionary on tempt narrowing from 'test, try' toward 'entice to evil'
