1/2 Chronicles歷代志上/下 {li4-dai4-zhi4-shang4/xia4} Speaking of the kings, we all know where to look for their stories: 1 Kings and 2 Kings! Once we finish those captivating histories, we are immediately invited to persevere through 9 chapters of family trees in 1 Chronicles, only to read on and feel, “Wait, didn’t I just read these in Kings?” Yes,…
Among the 27 books in the New Testament, some have names that are plural in nature and others, singular. That means we have certain books whose names end in “s” and others that don’t. Until we have them memorized, it’s possible to make the mistakes such as “2 Peters” or “Hebrew”. The rule of thumb is: Only two…
帖撒羅尼迦前/後書{tie3-sa4-luo2-ni2-jia1-qian2/hou4-shu1}New Testament – Epistles Pronounce as [the-suh-LOH-nyuhns],as in “theft-Lisa–LOW-onions“ Thessalonians were people from Thessalonica (current day Thessaloniki). In Acts 17, we see that Apostle Paul and Silas managed to stay in Thessalonica for only about three weeks before being chased out by some jealous locals. In three weeks, they planted a church that later grew so strong…
In the Old Testament, you can find many books that are named after prophets. Among these prophets, many of their names end with –iah. This is actually quite a common theme in Hebrew names, because -iah originates from a Hebrew word for God’s name, יָהּ (Yah). Their names happen to mean something about God. For example, Jeremiah…
Matthew 馬太福音 {ma3-tai4-fu2-yin1}Mark 馬可福音 {ma3-ke3-fu2-yin1}Luke 路加福音 {lu4-jia1-fu2-yin1}John 約翰福音 {yue1-han4-fu2-yin1} The Four Gospels constitute the 1st section of the New Testament, documenting Jesus’ life on earth at the dawn of this epoch. Two of the authors, Mark and Luke, were not actually the disciples of Jesus, but of Peter and Paul, respectively. It’s also worth noting that the…
歌羅西書/歌罗西书 {ge-luo-xi-shu}New Testament – Epistles [kuh-LO-shuhnz], as in “coca–LOT-nations“ Colossians is Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae [kuh-LO-si]. It’s the best name for a city if you ask me. Colossae is still there if you want to visit, although it’s no longer part of the Roman or Byzantine Empire, but Turkey.
Both are Books of the Bible and sound identical except for their tones in Mandarin. 雅歌 {ya3-ge1} is “Song of Solomon” or “Song of Songs“. 雅各書 {ya3-ge4-shu1} is “James“. (Yes, him again. Anyone needs a baby name?) The good thing is, you will only hear the speaker say “雅各書” instead of “雅各”, and “雅歌” instead of “雅歌書”. So…
申命記/申命记 {shen1-ming4-ji4}Old Testament – Pentateuch/Torah Pronounce as [dyoo-tuh-RO-nuh-mee], as in“deuce-today-ROT-gonna–me“ Why the long name? “Deuteronomy” is made of two parts: deuteros (δεύτερος = second) and nomos (νόμος = law), i.e. the second time Moses stated God’s laws to the Israelites after their first generation passed in the wilderness.
腓立比書/腓立比书 {fei1-li4-bi3-shu1}New Testament – Epistle Please don’t pronounce it like “Philippines”. It’s very close, but the trick is to emphasize “li“, like this:[fi-LI-pi-uhns], as in “fit – LIT – champions“ The Philippians lived in the city of Philippi, which you may also want to pronounce properly:[FI-li-peye], as in “FIT – lit – pie“. Notice how the emphasis changes from “li”…
This one can be particularly troublesome. Imagine someone speaks in Mandarin and mentions 猶大 {you2-da4} without any context, what do you do? Trick: instead of taking a guess, just say “this person”. Hopefully, the next sentence gives you enough context so you know which one is being referred to, and clarify then. Now you need to…