Amen

This article is about the Hebrew word; for other meanings see Amen (disambiguation).

The word "Amen" is often said at the end of religious prayers. Painting by Albrecht Dürer.

The word Amen (Hebrew אמן meaning "So be it; truly", Arabic آمين ’Āmīn) is a declaration of affirmation and assent found in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and in the Qur'an. It has always been in use within Judaism and Islam. It has been generally adopted in Christian worship as a concluding formula for prayers and hymns. In Islam, it is the standard ending to Dua (Supplication). Common English translations of the word amen include: "Verily", "Truly", "So be it", and "Let it be". Colloquially, it can also mean "I agree," or "Well said." In some Churches, it is used as a jubilant response to a prayer or sermon.

The word 'Amen' appears in the Bible (Old and New testament) 99 times and is the value 99 in Greek numerals [1].

Pronounciation

In English, the word "amen" has two pronunciations, ah-men or ay-men. The ah-men pronunciation is the one that is used in performances of classical music, in churches with more formalized rituals and liturgy and liberal Evangelical Protestant denominations. The ay-men pronunciation, a product of the Great Vowel Shift dating to the 15th century, is associated with Irish Protestantism and conservative Evangelical Protestant denominations generally, and the pronunciation that is typically sung in gospel music. Increasingly, anglophone Roman Catholics are adopting the "ay-men" pronunciation.

Jews usually pronounce the word as it is pronounced in Hebrew: "ah-MAIN."

Etymology

The word Amen may derives from the Egyptian Sun-deity and head of the Egyptian pantheon, Amen-Ra. It is said that before "he was known as Amen-Ra, this Egyptian god was called "Amen" among the Thebans. According to Funk and Wagnall's Standard College Dictionary, AMEN was the god of life and procreation in Egyptian mythology, and later identified with the Sun-god as the supreme deity and called 'Amen-Ra.'"

Amen in Judaism

In Judaism, it is taught that the word Amen is an acronym for אל (’El) מלך (melek) נאמן (ne’eman), meaning "God, King [who is] Trustworthy." It is related to the Hebrew word emuna or "faith" with the same linguistic root, implying that one is affirming with, and of, "the faith" of Judaism (and its belief in Monotheism).

In traditional and modern Jewish liturgy, "Amen" is a word often used by a congregation as a way to affirm and subscribe to the words uttered previously by whoever leads the prayer.

Amen in Christianity

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus calls himself "the Amen, the faithful and true witness."" (Revelation 3: 14). The uses of amen in the Gospels is notable because Jesus used the word to affirm his own utterances, not those of another person, and this usage was adopted by the church:

"The liturgical use of the word in apostolic times is attested by the passage from 1 Corinthians.... Justin Martyr (c. 150) describes the congregation as responding "amen," to the benediction after the celebration of the Eucharist. Its introduction into the baptismal formula (in the Greek Orthodox Church it is pronounced after the name of each person of the Trinity) is probably later. Among certain Gnostic sects Amen became the name of an angel and in post-biblical Jewish works exaggerated statements are multiplied as to the right method and the bliss of pronouncing it.".

In the King James Bible, the word amen is preserved in a number of contexts. Notable ones include:

• The catechism of curses of the Law found in Deuteronomy 27:15.
• A double amen ("amen and amen") occurs in Psalm 89.
• The custom of closing prayers with amen originates in the Lord's Prayer at Matthew 6:13
• Amen occurs in several doxology formulas in Romans 1:25, 9:5, 11:36, 15:33, and several times in Chapter 16.
• It concludes all of Paul's general epistles.
• Amen concludes the New Testament at Rev. 22:21.

In some Christian churches, the amen corner or amen section is any subset of the congregation likely to call out "Amen!" in response to points in a preacher's sermon. Metaphorically, the term can refer to any group of heartfelt traditionalists or supporters of an authority figure.

Amen in Islam

Muslims use the word "Āmeen" not only after reciting the first surah (Al Fatiha) of the Qur'an, but also when concluding a prayer or 'Dua,' with the same meaning as in Christianity.

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Amen
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Amen
• Encyclopedia Britannica: Amen
• The Laws of Responding Amen in Judaism chabad.org
• Strong's Concordance H543
• Strong's Concordance G281

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