Some biblical words show up all over the place: love, justice, mercy. But others appear only once or twice, leaving translators and theologians scratching their heads.
Take ephod. Usually, it means a priestly garment. But in the story of Gideon, it becomes something else entirely. Was it a statue? An idol? Some kind of sacred bling? We are not told.
Or nephilim, the so-called giants of Genesis 6. The text offers no real explanation, just a cryptic reference to heroes of old. Were they divine beings? Warriors of legend? No one knows.
Then there is epiousios, the Greek word in the Lord’s Prayer that is usually translated as “daily.” Except epiousios shows up nowhere else in the Bible or in any other ancient Greek writing. It might mean daily. Or necessary. Or future. No one is quite sure.
These words remind us that the Bible is not a tidy instruction manual. It is wild and ancient and full of gaps. And that is not a flaw. It is an invitation.
An invitation to imagine. To wonder. To stay curious. And to trust that God still speaks through the mystery.
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