What is the Hebrew word for oracle?

Answer 1

There is no Hebrew word in the Book of Habakkuk (הבקוק) that actually means "oracle".

If you are talking about the first verse, it is written like this:

הַמַּשָּׂא אֲשֶׁר חָזָה חֲבַקּוּק ×”Ö·×?ָּבִיא (ha masah asher khazah khavakkÅ«k ha navee)

It literally translates to this:

"The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw"

masah (משא) means "burden", "bundle," or "that which is carried". It comes from the Hebrew verb nasah (×?שא) which means, "to carry".

This word was mistranslated in older Christian versions of The Bible, but many modern versions have corrected this error.

Answer 2

The word oracle doesn't appear anywhere in the original Hebrew text. Here is an example. Jeremiah 23:36 says...

וּמַשָּׂא ה׳, לֹא תִזְכְּרוּ-עוֹד כִּי הַמַּשָּׂא יִהְיֶה לְאִישׁ דְּבָרוֹ וַהֲפַכְתֶּם אֶת דִּבְרֵי ד׳ חַיִּים ה׳ צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹקֵינוּ

Here is a literal translation׃

And the burden of YHVH* you will not remember further for every man's own word will be his burden; and you will flip (or turn over) the words of the living God, of YHVH of hosts, our God.

I've checked this with some Christian translations, and they are mistranslating the word משא, which means Burden. It comes from the word נשא, which means "to carry".

*YHVH is never pronounced or translated. Christians substitute the word LORD and Jews substitute LORD or ETERNAL.

Answer 3

There is no Hebrew word for oracle. Modern Hebrew uses the English word, spelled אוֹרַקְל
You could also use the word for prophet, which is Naví (נביא)