King James Version

Pakad – To Visit

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you visit him? (Psalm 8:5)

One of the words that seems to be used in a strange way in literal translations of the Bible is the word “visit,” or pakad in Hebrew. In the King James Version, it seems to not make a lot of sense in the passages it is found in, as in Exodus 20:5 when it speaks about “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.” Often, the word “visit” is not being used in any sense that we normally use the word, and shows that a literal translation is sometimes quite misleading.

The word pakad in Hebrew is fascinating in its breadth of meaning, only rarely meaning the most literal usage, “to visit.” Its overall meaning is to pay attention to, but that can be in either a positive or negative way. It can mean to care for (as in Psalm 8:5), or even to come to one’s rescue:

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely visit you (come to your aid) and take you to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Genesis 50:24)

But it can also mean to have God’s attention in a negative way, as judgement or punishment:

Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” (Exodus 32:34) (meaning when I bring their sins to my attention, I will punish their sins.)

Interestingly, Jesus makes a powerful statement using this word when he says, “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:43-44) He doesn’t just mean when he “visited” them by coming to earth. He is using the Hebraic sense of the word, both positively or negatively, in the strongest possible sense. For those who repent and follow Christ, God has come to their rescue, to save them eternally, but for those who ignore him, it will be the source of their punishment, when God “visits” their sins on them in the judgment to come.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Yod – One Very Significant Letter

Lois Tverberg 1 Comment

by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:18 NAS)

If you grew up hearing the King James Version of the Bible read, you would have heard the above passage with the words ‘… not one jot or one tittle … “. Perhaps you learned that this was some type of punctuation mark equivalent to our English apostrophe. The “jot” that Jesus was referring to was the Hebrew letter yod. It is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, just a half a line long. It looks like a small capital “L” rotated 180°. Furthermore, in what we translate “tittle” or “stroke of a pen,” Jesus was referring to “the thorn of the yod” which is just the small curve at the top of the letter, a slight embellishment on the yod. In our rendering of it above, when written with a bit of a flair it looks like a ram’s horn: a shofar.

So what Jesus was saying was, not the smallest letter or even a decoration on the letter will disappear. This is actually a well-known Hebrew expression, “lo yod v’lo kotso shel yod” which is, “not a yod or a thorn of a yod,” meaning “not the most insignificant or unimportant thing.”

What was Jesus saying by this? This is a difficult question, with a long answer. But briefly put, he was affirming the sanctity of God’s word to his people, that his coming was to bring the scriptures to their fulfillment, not to undermine them. While the Torah taught the people to live the life the way God wanted, Jesus would give them eternal life by repentance and trust in him, the Torah incarnate.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).