Hebrew word · H546
אׇמְנָה
'amenah
truly
An adverb meaning "truly, in fact, it is really so". It comes from the root ʾ-m-n (firm, reliable, true), the same root as ʾāmēn ("amen, so be it") and ʾĕmûnāh ("faithfulness"). It agrees that something is factually so.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
verily, truly, indeed
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
An adverb meaning "truly, in fact, it is really so". It comes from the root ʾ-m-n (firm, reliable, true), the same root as ʾāmēn ("amen, so be it") and ʾĕmûnāh ("faithfulness"). It agrees that something is factually so.
- Against the English
"Indeed" (KJV), "truly" (WEB, YLT, ESV, NASB) and "it is true" (BSB, NIV, NLT) all fit. None of them shows that this is a rare word built on the "amen" root, a kind of "amen" to the charge.
- Used elsewhere in the period
It occurs only twice in the Hebrew Bible: here and Genesis 20:12, where Abraham insists that Sarah "truly" is his half-sister. In both places it confirms a fact under pressure. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) renders it alēthōs, "truly", and the Vulgate (the Latin translation) renders it vere.
Where it appears
Genesis · 1
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Genesis 20:12 אָמְנָ֗ה truly
Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.
Joshua · 1
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Joshua 7:20 אָמְנָ֗ה truly
“It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:
Here: A rare word meaning "it is true, really so". It comes from the same root as "amen". It opens the confession by admitting the charge: what the lot showed is true.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.