Amen is a word that we’re all familiar with and it’s usually used at the end of a prayer, especially in church. But a few days ago, we had a discussion about what amen really meant. I thought it came from Hebrew and meant “so be it.” My friend thought it meant “in agreement.” I suppose we both were pretty much in agreement as to its meaning, but I thought this would be a good occasion to practice my extensive research.
From what I gather, amen is a word that came to English from Latin, which got it from Greek, which got it from Aramaic, which got it from Hebrew. It turns out that the word is difficult to translate directly, so, like some other words, rather than translate it, we just borrowed it.
If you check the dictionary, it says something like ….uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn. It’s interesting to note that “amen” is not used to conclude any prayers in the Bible. The word is usually used to begin certain passages or sayings, e.g., “Amen, amen, I say to you…”
Amen was used in the Old Testament only thirty times, and five of those it was used as a double word (amen, amen) so it’s only found in 25 passages.
The word is used 129 times in the New Testament and 99 of those are spoken by Jesus, Himself. He often began a sentence with amen or used it to give emphasis to what He said.
Exactly when amen began to be used to conclude a prayer isn’t clear. One theory is that today many people pray with their eyes closed and amen signals that the prayer has ended. In Bible times people prayed by lifting their eyes toward heaven with outstretched arms, so everyone could easily see when the prayer had ended.
Even though the meaning of amen can be translated different ways depending on content, it basically conveys the idea of agreement. So when someone says “amen” after a statement such as, “This is a really great blog,” it means they agree…..
— 30 —