The Amidah: The Jewish Standing Prayer in Hebrew, Transliteration and English

The Amidah (often spelled Amida) is the central prayer of every Jewish prayer service. It is said standing, facing Jerusalem, usually in a quiet whisper. Below you will find its opening blessings in transliteration, in Hebrew and in English. After them comes a walk through what the lines mean and how a believer in Yeshua (Jesus) can pray them.

The name simply means "standing." The rabbis also called it HaTefillah, "the Prayer," because it was the prayer above all others.

Eighteen blessings, then nineteen

The Amidah is also known as the Shemoneh Esreh, Hebrew for "eighteen," because it originally had eighteen blessings. The Talmud (Berakhot 28b) records that a nineteenth was added at Yavneh under Rabban Gamliel, after the Temple fell in the year 70. The old name stayed. If you want to know more about where that kind of record comes from, see The Talmud Explained for Believers.

On weekdays it is prayed three times. Shacharit is the morning service, Mincha the afternoon, and Maariv the evening. If you came here looking for a Mincha prayer transliteration, the Amidah is the heart of the Mincha service, and the opening blessings below are the same at every service. Praying three times a day has a long biblical shadow behind it. Daniel knelt and prayed three times a day toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10), and David wrote, "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray" (Psalm 55:17).

A few customs go with it. People stand with their feet together and take three small steps back and then forward before beginning. They bow at the opening and close of the first blessing. The words are said quietly, lips moving but barely audible, after the example of Hannah, whose "lips moved, but her voice was not heard" (1 Samuel 1:13). In a congregation, the leader then repeats the Amidah aloud for everyone.

Where the prayer came from

The roots go back to the Second Temple. The priests served in Jerusalem in rotating shifts, and each shift was accompanied by a ma'amad, a group of ordinary Israelites from the same region. Some went up to Jerusalem to stand by the offerings. The rest gathered in their home towns at the same hours, as described in the Mishnah (Ta'anit 4). This practice of praying together at the hours of the Temple service is considered one of the earliest models of congregational prayer.

We should be honest about dating. The number and order of the blessings were set after 70. The exact wording still varied from community to community for centuries, and the earliest complete written prayer books come much later. What reaches back further are the themes: God of the fathers, the One who raises the dead, the hope of redemption, the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

The shape of the whole prayer

The Amidah moves in three parts, like a servant coming before a king. First comes praise, then requests, then thanks. Here are the nineteen weekday blessings:

• Praise: (1) the God of the Fathers, (2) God's Power, (3) the Holiness of God's Name
• Requests: (4) understanding, (5) repentance, (6) forgiveness, (7) redemption, (8) healing, (9) a blessed year of harvest, (10) gathering of the exiles, (11) restoration of justice, (12) against slanderers and the wicked, (13) for the righteous, (14) rebuilding Jerusalem, (15) the kingdom of David's line, (16) that God hears prayer
• Thanks: (17) restoration of the Temple service, (18) thanksgiving, (19) peace

On Shabbat and festivals, the thirteen requests are set aside and a single blessing for the holy day takes their place. On a day of rest, Israel does not bring its list of needs.

The text below is the opening. It contains the first blessing, called Avot (Fathers), and the beginning of the second, called Gevurot (Powers).

Transliteration of Amida:

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu v’Elohei avoteinu,
Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak, v’Elohei Ya’akov,
HaEl hagadol hagibor v’hanora, El Elyon,
Gomel chasadim tovim, v’koneh hakol,
V’zocher chasdei avot,
U’meivi go’el livnei v’neihem lema’an shemo b’ahavah.

Melech ozer u’moshia u’magen.
Baruch Atah Adonai, magen Avraham.

Atah gibor l’olam Adonai,
Mechayei meitim Atah, rav lehoshia.

Amida Prayer in Hebrew:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה‘ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ
אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב
הָאֵל הַגָּדוֹל הַגִּבּוֹר וְהַנּוֹרָא אֵל עֶלְיוֹן
גּוֹמֵל חֲסָדִים טוֹבִים וְקוֹנֵה הַכֹּל
וְזוֹכֵר חַסְדֵי אָבוֹת
וּמֵבִיא גוֹאֵל לִבְנֵי בְנֵיהֶם לְמַֽעַן שְׁמוֹ בְּאַהֲבָה

מֶֽלֶךְ עוֹזֵר וּמוֹשִֽׁיעַ וּמָגֵן
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מָגֵן אַבְרָהָם

אַתָּה גִבּוֹר לְעוֹלָם אֲדֹנָי
מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים אַתָּה רַב לְהוֹשִֽׁיעַ

Translation of Amida (Standing Prayer):

Blessed are You, Lord our God and God of our ancestors,
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob,
the great, mighty, and awesome God,
God Most High, who bestows lovingkindnesses,
creates all things, and remembers the kindnesses of the patriarchs,
and brings a redeemer to their children's children
for the sake of His name, in love.

King, Helper, Savior, and Shield.
Blessed are You, Lord, Shield of Abraham.

You are mighty forever, O Lord.
You revive the dead; You are greatly able to save.

Reading the opening lines slowly

"God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob." The prayer does not start with the universe or with our needs. It starts with three named men. The God of Israel is known by what He has done with real people in real places. Naming each patriarch separately has often been read as a quiet lesson: each generation has to know God for itself, not only inherit him.

"The great, mighty, and awesome God." These three words come straight from Moses in Deuteronomy 10:17. Nehemiah uses them again in his prayer (Nehemiah 9:32). The person praying borrows Scripture's own vocabulary before adding anything of their own.

"God Most High, who creates all things." El Elyon and koneh hakol echo Melchizedek's blessing over Abram: "God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19).

"Brings a redeemer to their children's children." God remembers what He promised the fathers and keeps working for their descendants, "for the sake of His name, in love." Redemption here is not earned. It flows from God's own character and His love.

"Shield of Abraham." The first blessing seals with the word God spoke to Abram in Genesis 15:1: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield."

"You revive the dead." The second blessing turns from history to power. The God who protected Abraham is strong enough to bring the dead back to life.

What the apostles would have recognized

This is where the opening lines meet the Gospels head on. In the first century, resurrection was a live argument. The Sadducees denied it. The Pharisees taught it (Acts 23:8). When Sadducees tried to trap Yeshua on the question, He answered from the Torah: God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," and "He is not God of the dead, but of the living" (Mark 12:26-27, quoting Exodus 3:6; see also Matthew 22:31-32). In one reply He joined the two ideas that open the Amidah, the God of the fathers and the God who raises the dead.

Paul made the same stand before the council: "I am a Pharisee... concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged" (Acts 23:6). For believers, "You revive the dead" is not only a future hope. We believe God has already shown that power by raising Yeshua.

The themes of the first blessing also run through Zechariah's song at the birth of John. He praises the God of Israel who has "redeemed his people," who shows mercy to "our fathers" and remembers "the oath that he swore to our father Abraham" (Luke 1:68-73). That is the language of Avot on the lips of a first-century priest.

The early believers kept the hours of prayer too. Peter and John "went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour" (Acts 3:1). That was the time of the afternoon offering, the hour that later gave its place to Mincha. We cannot say they recited the Amidah as it is worded today, but they prayed at the same hours with the same hopes. Read more in The Early Believers in Yeshua & the Second Temple.

The prayer Yeshua taught His disciples (Matthew 6:9-13) is much shorter. Still, it shares the Amidah's instinct: begin with God's name and kingdom, then ask for bread, forgiveness and protection. Praise comes before petition.

Praying it at home

You do not need to be Jewish to learn from the Amidah, and you do not need to leave your church. It can sit beside the prayers you already know, the way the Shema declares who God is and the Amidah speaks to Him directly.

Here is a simple way to begin:

1. Stand. It is a small thing, but you are coming before a King.
2. Pray the opening lines. Use the Hebrew, the transliteration or the English. Say them slowly, even just the first blessing.
3. Bring your requests. Use the nineteen themes as a guide if you like: understanding, repentance, forgiveness, healing, provision, justice, Jerusalem.
4. Close with thanks. End by thanking God, and ask for peace, the note on which the Amidah itself ends.

With children, try reading just the first line together at breakfast. Ask them who Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were, and what God promised them. When the day's prayers are done, some families close with Aleinu.

Tomorrow morning, before you ask God for anything, try praying one sentence: "Blessed are You, Lord, Shield of Abraham." Then read Genesis 15:1-6 and think about what it meant for Abram to hear those words with no son and no land yet in hand.

Questions people ask

Where can I find the Amidah prayer transliteration?

The opening blessings of the Amidah appear on this page in transliteration, beginning "Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu v’Elohei avoteinu." They cover the first blessing (Avot) and the start of the second (Gevurot). These opening lines are the same at the morning, afternoon and evening services.

What does the Amidah say in English?

The Amidah opens by blessing God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the great, mighty and awesome God who remembers the kindness of the fathers and brings a redeemer to their children. It then praises Him as the One who revives the dead. The full weekday prayer continues with thirteen requests and closes with thanks and a prayer for peace.

Is the Amidah in Hebrew or Aramaic?

The Amidah is in Hebrew. Its language borrows heavily from the Hebrew Bible, such as "the great, mighty and awesome God" from Deuteronomy 10:17. The Hebrew text of the opening blessings is given on this page.

Is the Amidah part of the Mincha prayer?

Yes. The Amidah is the center of Mincha, the afternoon service, just as it is of the morning and evening services. On weekdays it is said silently while standing and then repeated aloud by the prayer leader.

Did Jesus pray the Amidah?

We cannot say for certain. The number and order of the blessings were set after the Temple fell in the year 70, and the exact wording varied for centuries after that. What we do know is that Yeshua and the apostles kept the Jewish hours of prayer (Acts 3:1). Yeshua also taught the same truths that open the Amidah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the resurrection of the dead (Mark 12:26-27).