I've taken this from wikipedia:
Old Testament
Three distinct Biblical usages of
amen may be noted
- Initial Amen, referring back to words of another speaker and introducing an affirmative sentence, e.g. 1 Kings 1:36.
- Detached Amen, again referring to the words of another speaker but without a complementary affirmative sentence, e.g. Nehemiah 5:13
- Final Amen, with no change of speaker, as in the subsciption to the first three divisions of Psalms
In the New Testament
There are 52 Amens in the
Synoptic Gospels and 25 in
John. The five final Amens (Matthew 6:13, 28:20, Mark 16:20, Luke 24:53 and John 21:25), which are wanting in the best
manuscripts, simulate the effect of final amen in the Hebrew
Psalms. All initial Amens occur in the sayings of Jesus. These initial Amens are unparalleled in Hebrew literature, according to
Friedrich Delitzsch, because they do not refer to the words of a previous speaker but instead introduce a new thought
The uses of
amen ("verily") in the
Gospels form a peculiar class; they are initial, but often lack any backward reference.
Jesus used the word to affirm his own utterances[
citation needed], not those of another person[
citation needed], and this usage was adopted by the church. The use of the initial amen, single or double in form, to introduce solemn statements of Jesus in the Gospels had no parallel in Jewish practice.
In the
King James Bible, the word
amen is preserved in a number of contexts. Notable ones include:
- The catechism of curses of the Law found in Deuteronomy 27.
- A double amen ("amen and amen") occurs in Psalm 89 (Psalm 41:13; 72:19; 89:52), to confirm the words and invoke the fulfillment of them.
- The custom of closing prayers with amen originates in the Lord's Prayer at Matthew 6:13
- Amen occurs in several doxology formulas in Romans 1:25, 9:5, 11:36, 15:33, and several times in Chapter 16.[1] It also appears in doxologies in the Pss (41:14; 72:19; 89:53; 106:48). This liturgical form from Judaism.
- It concludes all of Paul's general epistles.
- In Revelation 3:14, Jesus is referred to as, "the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation."
- Amen concludes the New Testament at Rev. 22:21.
Amen in Judaism
Main article:
Berakhah
Jewish
law requires an individual to say
Amen in a variety of contexts.
Liturgically,
amen is a communal response to be recited at certain points during the prayer service. It is recited communally to affirm a
blessing made by the
prayer reader. It is also mandated as a response during the
kaddish doxology. The congregation is sometimes prompted to answer 'amen' by the terms
ve-'imru (
Hebrew: ואמרו‎
= "and [now] say (pl.)," or,
ve-nomar (ונאמר
= "and let us say." Contemporary usage reflects ancient practice: As early as the 4th century BCE, Jews assembled in the
Temple responded 'amen' at the close of a doxology or other prayer uttered by a
priest. This Jewish
liturgical use of amen was adopted by the Christians. But
Jewish law also requires individuals to answer
amen whenever they hear a
blessing recited, even in a non-liturgical setting.
The
Talmud teaches
homiletically that the word
Amen is an
acronym for
אל
מלך
נאמן (
El melekh neeman, "God, trustworthy King"), the phrase recited silently by an individual before reciting the
Shma.
Jews usually pronounce the word as it is pronounced in Hebrew:
/ɔːˈmeɪn/ aw-MAYN (
Ashkenazi) or
/ɑːˈmɛn/ ah-MEN (
Sephardi).
Amen in Christianity
The use of "Amen" has been generally adopted in Christian worship as a concluding word for prayers and hymns and express strong agreements.
"Amen".
Encyclopædia Britannica.. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.. 2008.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9006072/amen. Retrieved 2008-03-17. </ref> The liturgical use of the word in apostolic times is attested by the passage from 1 Corinthians cited above, and
Justin Martyr (c. 150) describes the congregation as responding "amen," to the benediction after the celebration of the Eucharist. Its introduction into the baptismal formula (in the Greek Orthodox Church it is pronounced after the name of each person of the Trinity) is probably later. Among certain
Gnostic sects
Amen became the name of an angel.
In
Isaiah 65:16, the authorized version has "the God of truth," ("the God of Amen," in
Hebrew. Jesus often used Amen to put emphasis to his own words (translated: "verily"). In John's Gospel, it is repeated, "Verily, verily." Amen is also used in oath (Numbers 5:22; Deuteronomy 27:15-26; Nehemiah 5:13; 8:6; 1 Chronicles 16:36). "Amen" is further found at the end of the prayer of primitive churches (1 Corinthians 14:16).
In some Christian
churches, the
amen corner or
amen section is any subset of the congregation likely to call out "Amen!" in response to points in a preacher's
sermon. Metaphorically, the term can refer to any group of heartfelt traditionalists or supporters of an authority figure.
Amen in Islam
Muslims use the word "ʼĀmīn" (
Arabic: آمين‎
not only after reciting the first surah (
Al Fatiha) of the
Qur'an, but also when concluding a prayer or dua, with the same meaning as in Christianity. The Islamic use of the word is the same as the Jewish use of the word.
In Arabic ʼĀmīn simply means "so be it". To Muslims it is a reasonable end to any supplication. Aḥādith narrated from the prophet
Muhammad suggesting that the he encouraged people to say it after supplications. There are also a great number of traditions which tell us that the prophet commanded the believers to say Ᾱmīn when the Imām completes reading sūrah Fātiḥah.
Whew