Bereshit

AlephBet and Genesis 1

We are starting with Genesis 1, verse 1, word for word. This is mainly to go slowly and not inundate the reader.

I will use the transliterated Hebrew. The chart can be found here: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Transliteration/transliteration.html

However, I use a modified form but the above is provided for reference.  For scholarly works, the SBL Style transliteration is found here: https://sbl-site.org and here: http://www.viceregency.com/Translit.htm

Here is the most simplified, modified form for English speakers that I know of:

A     Aleph
B     Bet     -     B*  = Vet
G     Gimel
D     Dalet
H     Hey
V     Vav
Z     Zayin
Ch   Chet
T     Tet
Y     Yod
K     Kaph
L     Lamed
M    Mem
N     Nun
S     Samech
A    Ayin
P     Pey     -     P* =   Fey
Tz   Tzadi
Q     Qof
R     Resh
Sh.   Shin     -    S* =  Sin
T     Tav

Notice, there are some letters that sound the same but have different Hebrew letters representing those sounds. For example, there is the "V" that can come from the Bet/Vet or the Vav. So what I do to distinguish and keep the original letters as they are, I will put an asterisk next to the letter so that you know it is the alternate form.

For example, "Bereshit" will appear as BRAShYT. However, let's just say the "B" is really sounding like a "V", then I will spell it like this, B*RASHYT and you will know it has a "V" sound, not the "B" sound - but it retains the integrity of the letters. It may seem weird but trust me, until you get the gist of how the AlephBet works and sounds, you will appreciate it much more this way.

Vowels

We are not going to put in the vowel marks or any of the other marks. Biblical Hebrew is without vowels and later on, they were added, I believe, during the Babylonian Captivity. That is also where we got the pretty font for the letters. This is not the AlephBet that Lehi would have read, he would have read the former Aleph Bet that would have looked like this:

This comes from the site, "Aleph Tav Scriptures" by William Sanford. He specializes in the usage of the AT (Aleph-Tav) which is basically the Hebrew version of the "Alpha and Omega". It is definitely a good site to visit, lots of interesting information there.

Lehi - Nephi

As you can see, these letters look somewhat similar to some of the characters we know that were on the plates that Joseph Smith translated from. Although he used the Reformed Egyptian, it most likely would have contained some of these letters as well. Hebrew letters also represent numbers and for trade, would have been sometimes used between the two nations for trade.