Troublesome Topic: A Trick for Pronouncing Long Bible Names

“How in the world do I pronounce this one?” We look at a long jumble of letters and our brain freezes up while our tongue doesn’t know what to do. This situation is the worst if we have been asked to read out loud.

Here is a helpful and fun way to deal with that problem.

I suggest that you only pronounce one syllable of the name, sometimes two. Don’t worry about the rest. This is much better than struggling along unsuccessfully, and better than saying things like, “yada yada yada, what’s his face, whatever whatever, I hate reading out loud.” Pronouncing only one syllable will relieve the tension of the situation and make everyone smile.

You can choose the first syllable. This works well when you are asked to read a passage out loud and you have not had a chance to peruse it beforehand.

Thus Tiglath-pileser becomes Tig, Nabupalazar becomes Nab, Ashurbanipal becomes Ash, Zaphnath-paaneah becomes Zaph, Bashan-havoth-jair becomes Bash, and Hepzibah becomes Hep.

You can choose any syllable, not just the first one. If the first syllable does not work because it is a bad word in English, or is awkward in some other way, choose a different syllable of the name. Maher-shalal-hash-baz can become Hash (I suggest Hash simply because I like it better than Mah). Also Cushan-rishathaim can become Rish.

You can choose two syllables. If choosing two syllables will sound better than one, then do so, e.g. Samothrace can be Samo, Berodach-baladan (or Merodach-baladan) can become Balad, and Ahasuerus can be Aha.

In all honesty, the ancient Jews would never have done it this way because every name had meaning and required every part of the name to create the meaning. But we don’t know what the names mean without looking them up, so shortening a name does us no harm.

The only problem I see with pronouncing only one or two syllables of a long Bible name is that there may be someone in the group who thinks they know how to pronounce these names and takes it upon themselves to instruct you out loud each time you fail to get one right or if you were to just pronounce one syllable. I suggest you tell them something like this, “I know I struggle to say these names, so I am choosing to turn this into a situation in which everyone can smile. I don’t see you creating any smiles, so please allow me to continue creating smiles while attempting to read the Bible out loud. Thank you.” Then keep doing what you started doing; don’t let them intimidate you.

The point is to identify the person (at a bare minimum level) and create an enjoyable atmosphere in the process. Hopefully, others who are called on to read out loud after you will follow your lead and continue creating smiles.

The next lesson in Why Are Parts of the Bible So Hard to Understand? is We Hurt Ourselves if We Study Only the New Testament

The next lesson in Genealogies is: Can a Genealogy Tell a Story?