📖 Biblical Definition
Jehovah-Jireh (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה) — "the LORD will provide" — is the covenant name Abraham gave to the place where God provided the ram caught in the thicket as a substitute for Isaac on Mount Moriah: "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). The Hebrew root raah ("to see") carries both "see" and "see to it". Provision in Scripture begins with God’s sight: He sees the need before the need lands, and His seeing is itself the provision. The same mountain became the temple-site, and not far from it Christ — the true Lamb — was sacrificed. Jehovah-Jireh stands forever.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
JEHO'VAH-JI'REH, n.
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A Hebrew name, signifying “the Lord will provide,” given by Abraham to the mount on which he had been about to sacrifice his son, in token that the Lord had provided a substitute.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 22:14 — "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 22:8 — "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."
Philippians 4:19 — "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory."
Matthew 6:32 — "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Prosperity preachers turn Jehovah-Jireh into a vending machine; Genesis 22 sets the price at a knife.
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Jehovah-Jireh is the name of provision — but the context is critical. Abraham did not name the mountain after God provided breakfast; he named it after God provided a ram in place of his son's blood. The provision was a substitution. The deeper layer is that the ram itself was a placeholder: two thousand years later God provided Himself a Lamb on the same range of mountains, and there was no thicket-substitute for Christ.
Prosperity preaching turns Jehovah-Jireh into a guarantee of comfort. The original Mount Moriah teaches the opposite. The provision came at the climax of an obedience that demanded the dearest thing Abraham had. The Father who sees still provides — but the provision often arrives only after we've raised the knife. Trust Him in the climb; the ram is in the thicket already.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew YHWH-Yireh (H3068 + H7200).
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H3068 — YHWH — Yahweh; Jehovah; the LORD
H7200 — raah — to see, perceive; provide
Usage
"The provision often arrives only after the knife is raised; that is the Moriah pattern."
"Jehovah-Jireh is not a vending machine; He is the substitute-God on the mountain."
"The ram was a placeholder for the Lamb; both belong to the same mountain."