Letter | Figure | Name | Remark |
א | 1 | Aleph | A silent letter |
בּ | 2 | Beth | Sounds like "b" |
ב | Beth | Beth with no dot: Sounds like "w" | |
ג | 3 | Gimmel | Sounds like "g" in get |
גּ | Gimmel | Only in ancient Hebrew, in Ivrit never with dot | |
ד | 4 | Daleth | Sounds like "d" in dog |
דּ | Daleth | Only in ancient Hebrew, in Ivrit never with dot | |
ה | 5 | He | Sounds like "h" in hit |
ו | 6 | Vav | Sounds like "v" in wet |
ז | 7 | Zayin | Sounds like "z" in Zebra |
ח | 8 | Cheth | Sounds like "ch" in Loch |
וּ | Vav | With a dot in the middle: Sounds like "ou" in you | |
וׁ | Vav | With a dot on top: Sounds like "o" in Oh! | |
ט | 9 | Thet | Sounds like "t" in tip |
י | 10 | Jod/Yod | Sounds like "y" in yet |
כּ | 20 | Kaph/Kaf | Sounds like "k" in keep |
ך | Kaph/Kaf | Only at the end of words | |
כ | Kaph/Kaf | Sounds like "ch" in Loch | |
ל | 30 | Lamed | Sounds like "l" in leg |
מ | 40 | Mem | Sounds like "m" |
ם | Mem | Only at the end of words | |
נ | 50 | Nun | Sounds like "n" |
ן | Nun | Only at the end of words | |
ס | 60 | Samek/Ssamech | Sounds like "s" in set |
ע | 70 | Ajin/Ayin | Guttural |
פּ | 80 | Pe/Feh | Sounds like "p" in pet |
פ | Pe/Feh | Sounds like "ph" in phone | |
ף | Pe | Only at the end of words | |
צ | 90 | Tsade/Sadeh | Sounds like "ts" in meets |
ץ | Tsade/Sadeh | Only at the end of words | |
ק | 100 | Qoph/Kof | Sounds like "q" in query |
ר | 200 | Resch | Sounds like "r" in rent |
שׂ | 300 | Sin/Schin | Sounds like "s" in sound |
שׁ | Schin/Sin | Sounds like "sh" in show | |
ת | 400 | Taw | Sounds like "t" |
תּ | Taw | Only in ancient Hebrew, in Ivrit never with dot |
At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, the genealogy of Jesus
(ancestors of Joseph, the husband of Mary) are listed.
Matthew 1,17:
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David,
fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the
exile to the Christ.
With this statement, Matthew says, that Jesus
is the foretold redeemer, who will take over the throne of David.
Jesus is even three times David!
Today in Israel, also our normal ciphers are used for writing numbers of course.
In Ivrit, the modern Hebrew, you normally will not find any dots to indicate the pronunciation of vowels.
Luzius Schneider September 24, 2002