---
title: "The Names of the Holy Spirit: Hebrew Word Cards"
category: "other"
description: "Fifteen printable A4 flashcards of the Old Testament's names for the Spirit of God in Hebrew, ordered so each card adds a few new letters: the Hebrew, its Paleo-Hebrew form, the pronunciation, the meaning, a verse, and the word in Hebrew today."
tags: ["lang/hebrew", "learning", "names-of-god", "printable"]
draft: false
primary_passage: "Isaiah 11:2"
bible_references: ["Genesis 1:2", "John 3:8", "Ezekiel 36:27", "Isaiah 11:2", "Romans 8:14", "Ephesians 1:17", "Psalm 51:11", "Psalm 51:12", "Nehemiah 9:20", "Joel 2:28", "Acts 2:17", "Zechariah 12:10", "Hebrews 10:29", "Isaiah 61:1", "Luke 4:18", "Zechariah 4:6", "Isaiah 44:3"]
date_created: 2026-10-18
date_modified: 2026-10-19
ai_provider_models:
  - anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
---

# The Names of the Holy Spirit: Hebrew word cards

**In one sentence:** learn the Hebrew alphabet by learning the Old Testament's names for the Spirit
of God, one card at a time, starting with the one word they all share, *ruach*.

> ✝️ Isaiah 11:2 (ESV)
>
> 2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
> Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

Almost every card begins with <span dir="rtl">רוּחַ</span> (*ruach*, H7307), which means breath,
wind and Spirit. Most of the Spirit's names in Hebrew are "the Spirit of" something, so once you
can read *ruach* you can read the first word of nearly every card. [The Names of the Holy
Spirit](https://the-way.lewy.au/holy-spirit/names-of-the-holy-spirit/) is the study behind the cards. The companion
decks are [The Names of God](https://the-way.lewy.au/hebrew/names-of-god-cards/), [The Names of Jesus](https://the-way.lewy.au/hebrew/names-of-jesus-cards/),
and the [Greek word cards](https://the-way.lewy.au/greek/names-of-the-holy-spirit-cards/) for the Spirit's New
Testament names.

## How the deck teaches the letters

The cards are in a deliberate order. The first, *ruach*, has three letters. Each card after it adds
a few more, and the front shows which, with a bar for how many of the 22 you have met. The last
letter, samekh, arrives on David's prayer for "a willing spirit" (Psalm 51:12). The order and the
counts are worked out from the Hebrew on the cards, so they cannot drift from what is printed.

Use the deck alongside [The Hebrew Alphabet](https://the-way.lewy.au/hebrew/alphabet/): when a card introduces a letter, find it
in the table, say its sound, then read the word.

## Reading a card

- **The front** has the name as the Hebrew Bible writes it, vowel points included, and beneath it the
  same letters in **Paleo-Hebrew**, the script Israel wrote before the exile.
- **The back** has the reading in syllables with the stressed one underlined, the meaning, a verse
  (ESV), and a line marked **Today** on the word in modern Hebrew. Where the New Testament takes up
  the name, the verse is the New Testament one.
- **The divine name is not sounded out.** On *ruach YHWH* it is read *Adonai*. On *ruach Adonai
  YHWH* (Isaiah 61:1) it is pointed with the vowels of *Elohim* and read that way, so the reader does
  not say *Adonai* twice.
- **Two cards are about the Spirit without being names.** *Eshpokh*, "I will pour out" (Joel 2:28),
  is the verb of the promise, and *ruach nedivah*, "a willing spirit" (Psalm 51:12), stands beside
  David's prayer for the Holy Spirit in the verse before.

## Learning a card

**On screen**, choose **Practise on screen** above the cards. It shows one card at a time: read the
word, show the reading to check yourself, then mark it **Again** or **I read it**. It introduces
three new cards a day, in the deck's order, and brings each card back when it is due. **Hear it**
reads the word in your device's Hebrew voice, where it has one. Your progress is kept in this
browser only.

**On paper**, take one card a day. Read the front aloud, letter by letter, then turn it over to check
the reading. Each time you read it correctly on a later day, tick a circle: **1, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 30
days** after you learn it.

## How to print

1. Choose **Flashcards** for the word on the front and everything else on the back, or **Cards**
   for one-sided cards.
2. Print at **A4, 100 % / actual size**, with **margins set to none** and **headers and footers
   off**. Turn **background graphics** on.
3. For flashcards, print **double-sided, flip on long edge**.
4. Cut on the dashed lines.

## The cards

<!-- hebrew-cards: names-of-the-holy-spirit -->

## Sources

Every Hebrew word on these cards is checked against STEPBible.org's Translators Amalgamated Hebrew
OT (TAHOT, CC BY), which follows the Leningrad Codex, and takes its syllables, stress and Strong's
number from it. Cantillation marks are removed for legibility. Scripture quotations marked ESV are
from the ESV® Bible, © 2001 by Crossway, used by permission (see [Copyright & Scripture
Permissions](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/copyright/)), and each is checked against the ESV text before it is
printed.