To maintain authenticity and add a sense of realism to the narrative in this fictional account—especially for longtime readers of the English Bible —the author has chosen to use the Hebrew and/or Aramaic names of the characters in this story.
Here is an alphabetical list of those names and their Hellenized—and subsequently anglicized—equivalents used today. Please note that these are commonly accepted phonetic spellings but do not, in all cases, have universal agreement:
Andreas = Andrew
Bar-Talmai = Bartholomew
Bar-Timaeus = Bartimaeus
Eleazar = Lazarus
Eliyahu = Elijah
Elisheva = Elizabeth
ha-Mashiach = The Messiah
Herodes = Herod
(Herodos ha-Meshuga – Herod the Mad)
(Herodos ha-Shochet = Herod the Butcher)
Maryam = Mary, the mother of Yeshua (Jesus)
Mattityahu = Matthew
Miryam ha-Magdalanit = Mary Magdalene
Moishe = Moses
Netanel = Nathanael
Philippos = Phillip
Shim’on heKana = Simon the Zealot
Shime’on Kefa = Simon Peter
Ta’oma = Thomas
Taddai = Thaddeus
talmid, talmidim = disciple, disciples
Ya’akov ben Alfei = James, son of Alpheus
Ya’akov ben Zav’di = James, son of Zebedee
Yeshua = Jesus
Yochanan = John, son of Zebedee
Yochanan ha-Matbil = John the Baptist
Yosef = Joseph, Mary’s (Maryam’s) husband
Yosef ha-Arimathaea = Joseph of Arimathea
Zekharya = Zechariah
Other terms (not proper names):
Chelkat Kohanim = the priests’ section (of a cemetery)
Gevirah = term of respect for the wife of a priest
Kohan = term of respect for a priest
Morati = term of respect for the wife of a priest
niddah = menstrual cycle
Rav = term of respect for a priest
Yahad = Community, or Unity
Yam ha-Melach = Dead Sea, Salt Sea