The Fourth Word of the Bible
Amazing Bible Facts

You may think you know what the fourth word of the Bible is. But if you take a look at the original language, you'll be in for a big surprise.

The Fourth Word of the Bible

Anyone who has studied the Bible knows that it is a long, continuous story with a common thread throughout. It is saturated with symbolism from the beginning to the end to help the reader understand the central point and purpose, which is of course—Christ.

In the last book of the Bible, The Revelation, Christ calls himself by a certain symbolic name multiple times. He calls Himself "The Alpha and the Omega". Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet—the language the majority of the New Testament was written in.

Speaking of Himself, Christ says:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." —Revelation 1:8

Note that Christ equates Himself with, "the Almighty".

In giving instructions to John (the physical writer of the book), Christ again identifies Himself by saying:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." — Revelation 1:11

When John falls at the feet of Christ in the vision of Revelation, Christ responds in the same way.

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore." —Revelation 1:17-18

In speaking to what is called "The Persecuted Church", Christ identifies Himself by saying:

"These things says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life..." —Revelation 2:8

In speaking to what is called "The Lukewarm Church", Christ identifies Himself by saying:

"These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God..." —Revelation 3:14

Note that "Amen" means complete, fulfilled, and also implies "the end".

Finally, Christ makes the last reference to Himself by repeating the concept three times by saying:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." — Revelation 22:13

This brings us to the fourth word of the Bible.

Figure 1. The first few words of the Bible as printed in the Interlinear Bible showing Hebrew, English, and the number which corresponds to Strong's Bible Dictionary. The fourth word is highlighted (remember to read from right to left).

The fourth word of the Bible is not translated because its meaning is not traditionally known. If you search a Bible dictionary, there is no definition associated with this word. Most Bible teachers are not aware this word even exists.

This word is simply a two-letter sequence containing the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are Aleph (aw'-lef) and Tav (tawv) (see Figure 1). It is located next to the word "God". Note that there is no Strong's Bible Dictionary number associated with it.

Christ calls Himself the "Alpha", "Omega", "First", "Last", "Beginning", "End", and this mysterious word underscores this idea by stating it in Hebrew. He is the "Aleph" and the "Tav", the "First" and the "Last" letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

It's also interesting to note that the number 4 is always associated with the creative works of God in the Bible (E. W. Bullinger, "Number In Scripture"). This mysterious word happens to be the fourth word in the Bible, and this sentence is speaking specifically of the creative works of God.

In the fourth gospel (The Gospel of John), Christ is described as "The Word".

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made." —John 1:1-3

Because the entire Bible ("The Word") is representative of Christ, it's interesting to note that the wordage concerning the "First" and the "Last" occurs in the books of Genesis and Revelation; the first and last books of "The Word".

You may also notice that the previous scripture—the fourth gospel—demonstrates Christ's association with creation.

Another intriguing point is that the first letter, Aleph occurs four 4 times within the first 4 words of the Bible (see Figure 2).

It occurs as the center or middle letter in the first word (in the beginning),
the last letter in the second word (created),
the first letter in the third word (God),
and of course, the first letter in the fourth word.

Figure 2. The first few words of the Bible highlighting the Hebrew letter Aleph which occurs four times in the first four words.

The study of Bible numbers is deep and compelling. You may be interested to know that the number 3 is associated with God and his divine perfection or completeness. Perhaps it's significant that the word "God" is the third word in the Bible.

As an aside, you will notice that the book of Genesis is named after the English translation of the first word of the book.

Figure 3. The name of the book of Genesis is the same as the English translation of the first word in the book.

I hope you have enjoyed this mini-study. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for specific studies in the future.