What Does Amen Mean in Hebrew, Does it Matter? - Inspiration Photography and Christian Devotions

Prayer is as vital to a Christian’s life as water is for our Earthly survival. For some of us, prayer is a deep and personal connection with our Heavenly Father. For others, it is a very specific prayer, ensuring they show God the honor and glory He rightly deserves. But what these two have in common is we end in Amen. What does amen really mean in Christianity and when translated from Hebrew and Greek in the Bible. I know my five and two year old boys have no idea what it means, but they still say it every night during their bedtime prayers together. Shouldn’t we know the meaning of a word that is such an important part of our prayer lives and our path through sanctification? So we looked deeper to find out.

What does Amen mean in Hebrew, Greek, English?

Do you know the Hebrew word for Amen in the Bible? I bet you do! It’s amen (pronounced aw-mane’). So, each time you speak to God, you are ending with the sacred tongue of Hebrew! In my case, it just includes more of a southern draw like Ay-mayn! But in Greek it is pronounced am-ane’. English it is a-men. German it is Amen. French it’s pronounced a:’men… That’s right, amen is a truly universal word and it just happens to be the one word we all speak in prayer. Jesus Christ and the apostles ended their prayers the same way as we do today. King David, Moses, Solomon, Noah, Abraham. We all end our prayer to our Almighty Father with the same God inspired term, amen.

But what does it mean? Obviously the definition is also universal. Each time you utter this Hebrew term, you are ending your prayer by telling God “so be it.” By saying amen to the Lord on High, you are asking Him, even proclaiming to God that what you have prayed for you now give to Him. You faithfully trust that He will provide. God is going to take your prayer and take action on your behalf, because you know that He loves you. He hears every word you speak to Him and, although He may know a better path, He will address what is on your heart because that is what a loving Father does for His child.

The Take-away from Amen

What we should take from this word is that, in every prayer, we should recognize that we are giving our praise to Him, proclaiming His glory, and laying our problems and struggles at His feet. Then we call out the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gives us the ability to even come to the Father. Then we end our prayer with a simple but powerful Hebrew word of faith. We are telling God that we trust Him with these things we have brought before Him. We know He will see what we are going through and will see us through it. But we have to remember that it is not always the path that we think it should be. God sees past the here and now. He sees the victory in every defeat. He sees us overcome every obstacle. And I can promise you, if you are His child, He will see you through anything you are going through. Amen.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

Please keep this verse close to your heart. When you feel like your prayers are not answered, remember that it means God knew a better way. He put a perfect plan in motion before you even bowed your head to pray for it.

Written By Jon Frederick and Kathleen Frederick with Seven11 and authors of the visual Christian Family study, “Immersion Devotional Book Series“