Amen

Lore & Background

The word occurs in the Hebrew Bible 30 times; in Deuteronomy alone 12 times beginning at 27:15. The fixed phrase 'Amen, Amen' is seen five times – Psalm 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; Numbers 5:22; Nehemiah 8:6. It is translated as 'of truth' two times in Isaiah 65:16. Three distinct Biblical usages of amen may be noted: initial amen, detached amen, and final amen.

Reader's Guide

In English, amen has two primary pronunciations, ah-men or ay-men, with minor additional variation in emphasis. In Anglophone North American usage, ah-men is used in performances of classical music and in churches with more formalized liturgy. The ay-men pronunciation is a product of the Great Vowel Shift (15th century) and is associated with Irish Protestantism and conservative evangelical denominations, as well as gospel music.

Did You Know?

• The word amen is of Biblical Hebrew origin, from the triconsonantal root א-מ-נ, meaning to be firm, reliable, or faithful.
• The Talmud teaches homiletically that amen is an acronym for אל מלך נאמן ('God, trustworthy King').
• In the New Testament, Jesus often used amen to emphasize what he was about to say, a rhetorical device that also has parallels in contemporary Jewish liturgical and rabbinic usage.
• In Islam, ʾĀmīn is the Arabic form of amen, used with the same meaning as in Judaism and Christianity.