BEHTH

[ב].

The second letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The name assigned to the letter means “house.”

It has a labial sound similar to the English “b” when a dot is placed in the middle of this Hebrew character to harden the letter’s pronunciation. Without the dot it has a softer sound close to “v,” as in the word “vine.”

In the Hebrew text, the opening word in each of the eight verses of Psalm 119:9-16 begins with this letter, in keeping with the acrostic style of the psalm.​—See HEBREW, II.