Title
Alpha and Omega
to Alpha kai to Ō
τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ
- Meaning
- The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — 'the beginning and the end'.
- Occurrences
- 3–4 times, all in Revelation
- First occurrence
- Revelation 1:8
- Languages
- Koine Greek
Pronunciation
AL-fa and oh-MEG-a
Origin
A Greek rendering of a Jewish idiom: rabbinic literature uses aleph-to-tav for totality. Applied in Revelation to both God and Christ, which is a significant Christological move.
Usage & scribal practice
Rendered as Alpha and Tav in some Hebrew New Testament editions to preserve the idiom.
Cross-references
Revelation 1:8
'I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God.'
Revelation 22:13
'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last' — spoken by Jesus.
Isaiah 44:6
'I am the first and I am the last' — the YHWH text behind it.
How translations render it
Theories, myths & conspiracy claims
Each claim is stated as its proponents state it, then assessed against the manuscript and linguistic evidence.
Revelation 1:11 variant
The claim: 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last' at 1:11 is absent from the earliest manuscripts.
Assessment: Correct — it is a Textus Receptus reading and appears in the KJV and NKJV but not in critical texts. The title itself is secure at 1:8 and 22:13.