I’ve learned (as an audio book narrator for the Library of Congress’ National Library Service For the Blind and Print Disabled) that many online dictionaries and pronunciation resources are limited in the depth of definitions and sometimes flawed in their audible pronunciations. Proving again that “educated people” do make mistakes. Therefore, I suggest that it’s best for Readers to master the pronunciation symbols used in print dictionaries, and then, to do our own research, rather than depend on others we believe are experts.ĭiscovering the correct pronunciation and actually pronouncing it correctly are two different things. I’ll share a process that has worked for many Readers. It worked for my wife when we were reading together. This word is pronounced in lots of ways. I go with Harper Collins: “IZ ray-uhl.” The “Westminster Dictionary of the Bible” agrees with this pronunciation. This makes sense to me because the “a” precedes the “e.”īut, I often hear it pronounced “IZ reel,” which is actually offered as an acceptable pronunciation in a number of reference books. However, this requires that the “a” be pronounced as a long “e.” Interestingly, I don’t ever hear the people of Israel referred to as “Iz REE-leez ” but as “Iz RAY-leez,” which is more compatible with “IZ ray-uhl.”Īs a commenter pointed out, we sometimes hear it pronounced as “Eez rye-ell,” or something similar-especially by some singers. I can think of two possible reasons for this. First, they may be attempting to use the Hebrew pronunciation, which, I understand to be “Iss rah ell.” Or, they may simply be exercising their sense of “artistic license.” But, unless their pronunciation is backed by an authoritative reference book, it just seems to me that it’s technically incorrect.įurthermore, when reading Bible words to English-speaking audiences, it is appropriate to use the more Anglicized pronunciation. An exception would be if the author italicizes the word in which case, the author may want the speaker to use the Hebrew pronunciation. Surely, there are other fine reference books, including Bible dictionaries and English dictionaries. These, too, are backed by excellent scholarship. Interestingly, their pronunciations may sometimes differ from Harper Collins’ pronunciations.īut, as long as a Reader’s pronunciation is backed by such authoritative sources, they should be standing on firm ground. When recording Bible Lessons for The Mother Church, I was instructed to use “The Harper Collins Bible Pronunciation Guide” as the standard for correct pronunciation of words in the Bible. In addition to the impressive scholarship of its contributors, this guide is far easier to use than typical dictionaries because pronunciations are given phonetically. Words in the Bible can be very challenging to most English-speaking people. So, we need good, authoritative pronunciation guides. Please note that I realize that I do not make the rules. I do my best to base my responses on well-respected references.Īgain, I’ll repeat that these posts about pronunciation are not specific to any one Bible Lesson. Rather, they are applicable to any Bible Lesson…and to just about any spoken communication in which we find ourselves engaged. A few weeks ago, I offered a post with ideas about pronunciation. As I’ve mentioned, that post generated a number of responses and comments. In my posts since then, I’ve been responding to those comments. This post addresses comments about pronunciation of words in the Bible.
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