Adonai Yireh (hebrew Insight)

One of the names of God in the Bible isיהוה יִרְאֶה (Adonai Yireh). It appears in Gen 22: 14 and most Bibles translate it as “the LORD will provide”.

The four letter name of God comes first but theיִרְאֶה (yireh) part comes from Hebrew verbלִרְאוֹת (lirot) which means “to see, to perceive, to look”. This same root is used to describe someone who has an ability to see things others cannot, aרֹאֶה (roeh) – a seer or a prophet.

Another related termרָאָה פָּנֶה (raah paneh) stands for advisor or overseer, a person who literally “looks into the face”. So the phrase can be translated more literally to say “the LORD will see” instead of “The Lord will provide”.

The idea of “providing” verses “seeing” although not identical, is actually not too far off at all. In Gen 22 the verb is used several times and God is being described as “one who will see to it” or “one who will look out for his interest.” When God sees his people in need, He acts to provide for them all that is needed.