John,
Joseph and I were wondering why in some documents, the Greek word, αμεν, is translated consistently as “verily” throughout the first part of the New Testament (up to John 21:18) and as “amen” in the rest of the New Testament. Do the two English words mean the same thing?
Joseph & Wendell
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Hi Wendell.
The Hebrew word, “amen”, (with Greek letters spelled αμεν) can translated in various ways, but all of them have the sense of “truly” or “assuredly”, or even something like, “let it be so!”
Each translator has to decide what English word best conveys the meaning in the verse being translated, and my guess is that in the document that you and Joseph have been reading, the translator(s) decided to use “verily” whenever Jesus was the speaker, and “amen” the rest of the time.
jdc