What does Jehovah-Jireh mean?

Q: What does Jehovah-Jireh mean?

Jehovah-Jireh means 'the LORD will provide' (literally 'the LORD will see'). It is the name Abraham gave the place on Mount Moriah where God provided a ram in place of Isaac (Genesis 22:14).

Jehovah-Jireh (H3070) appears exactly once in the Bible. It combines YHWH with the verb raah, "to see" — and in Hebrew thought, when God sees a need, He sees to it. Hence the KJV margin's "the LORD will provide."

“And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.”Genesis 22:14 (KJV)

The name seals the story that precedes it: Abraham, asked to offer Isaac, tells his son "God will provide himself a lamb" — and at the last moment a ram caught in a thicket takes Isaac's place. Abraham names not the ram but the place, and turns it into a proverb: "In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen."

It is one of several compound names built on YHWH, alongside Jehovah-Nissi ("the LORD my banner") and Jehovah-Shalom ("the LORD is peace") — each coined at a moment of crisis, each used only once.

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What does Jehovah-Jireh mean?

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