STRONGS G1445:
Ἑβραῖος [WH
Ἐβρ., see their Introductory § 408],
-ου,
ὁ,
a Hebrew (
עִבְרִי a name first given to Abraham,
Genesis 14:13, afterward transferred to his posterity descended from Isaac and Jacob; by it in the
O. T. the Israelites are both distinguished from and designated by foreigners, as afterward by Pausanias, Plutarch, others.
The name is now generally derived from
עֵבֶר for
הַנָּהָר עֵבֶר,
i. e. of the region beyond the Euphrates, whence
עִבְרִי equivalent to
one who comes from the region beyond the Euphrates;
Genesis 14:13 Sept. ὁ περάτης. Cf.
Gesenius, Gesch. d. hebr. Sprache u. Schrift, p. 11f; Thesaurus, ii., p. 987;
Knobel, Völkertafel der Genesis, p. 176ff;
Bleek, Einl. in d. A. T. edition 1, p. 73f. [English translation, i. 76f]; [
B. D. under the word Hebrew. For
Synonym: see
Ἰουδαῖος.]).
In the
N. T.
1. anyone of the Jewish or Israelitish nation:
2 Corinthians 11:22;
Philippians 3:5. (In this sense
Euseb. h. e. 2, 4, 3 calls Philo the Alexandrian Jew,
Ἑβραῖος, although his education was Greek, and he had little [if any] knowledge even of the Hebrew language; and in Praep. evang. 8, 8, 34 he applies the same word to Aristobulus, who was both an Alexandrian, and a Greek-speaking Jew.)
2. In a narrower sense those are called
Ἑβραῖοι, who lived in Palestine and used the language of the country,
i. e. Chaldee; from whom are distinguished
οἱ Ἑλληνισταί, which see. That name adhered to them even after they had gone over to Christianity:
Acts 6:1. (Philo in his de conf. lingg. § 26 makes a contrast between
Ἑβραῖοι and
ἡμεῖς; and in his de congr. erud. grat. § 8 he calls Greek
ἡ ἡμετέρα διάλεκτος. Hence, in this sense he does not reckon himself as a Hebrew.)
3. All Jewish Christians, whether they spoke Aramaic or Greek, equivalent to
πιστοὶ ἐξ Ἑβραίων; so in the heading of the Epistle to the Hebrews; called by Eusebius,
h. e. 3, 4, 2
οἱ ἐξ Ἑβραίων ὄντες. [Cf.
K. Wieseler, Unters. u. d. Hebräerbrief, 2te Hälfte. Kiel, 1861, pp. 25-30.]
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
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