King James Bible Dictionary

A title of Christ
Revelation 1:8; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:13

Compare with
Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12

(A), the first letter of the Greek alphabet. With Omega, the last letter, it is used in the Old Testament and in the New to express the eternity of God, as including both the beginning and the end. (Revelation 1:8,11; 21:6; 22;13; Isaiah 41:4; 44:6) hence these letters became a favorite symbol of the eternal divinity of our Lord, and were used for this purpose in connection with the cross, or the monogram of Christ (i.e. the first two letters, ch and r, of Christ's name in Greek). Both Greeks and Hebrews employed the letters of the alphabet as numerals.

AL'PHA, noun [Heb. an ox, a leader.]

The first letter in the Greek alphabet, answering to A, and used to denote first or beginning.

I am alpha and Omega. Revelation 1:8.

As a numeral, it stands for one. It was formerly used also to denote chief; as, Plato was the alpha of the wits.

[WRITING]

AL'PHABET, noun [Gr.]

The letters of a language arranged in the customary order; the series of letters which form the elements of speech.

AL'PHABET, verb transitive To arrange in the order of an alphabet; to form an alphabet in a book, or designate the leaves by the letters of the alphabet

ALPHABETA'RIAN, noun A learner while in the adjective B.C.

ALPHABET'IC,

ALPHABET'ICAL, adjective In the order of an alphabet, or in the order of the letters as customarily arranged.

ALPHABET'ICALLY, adverb In an alphabetical manner; in the customary order of the letters.

1. The father of James the Less, the apostle and writer of the epistle (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), and the husband of Mary (John 19:25). The Hebrew form of this name is Cleopas, or Clopas (q.v.).

2. The father of Levi, or Matthew (Mark 2:14).

(changing) the father of the apostle James the Less, (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13) and husband of Mary. (John 19:25) [MARY] In this latter place he is called Clopas (not, as in the Authorized Version, Cleophas).