Immanuel vs. Emmanuel

I have been confused for years on why sometimes “God with us” is spelled Immanuel or Emmanuel. Was I misspelling?!  Is there a different meaning?  Am I wrong, am I right? What in the world is going on? I never know how to spell it and I always second guess myself.

Turns out , it doesn’t matter!  The Bible actually uses both spelling.

Immanuel with and I is the Hebrew transliteration.  Some say you’ll find this way of spelling in the Old Testament because it was originally written in Aramaic (Hebrew). But I don’t always find that to be true.

Emmanuel with and E is the Greek and Latin transliteration.  Used in many Christian traditions and will often find it in the New Testament because it was originally written in Greek.  Again, not always true. 

That’s it! That’s the only difference. There is not some big huge revelation or deeper meaning. Both spellings mean the exact same thing, “God with us.”

Also fun fact:

I also found this interesting, 

Further break down Immanu mean with us and El means God.  And I just learned this, Hebrew is read right to left!  Which now makes more sense on the formation of the word.

There you have it.  I versus E.  You can find more blog posts which elaborate on this finding but sometimes succinct is better.  ;) (wink)

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