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Sapphira

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Wife of Ananias, struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit about a donation

Detailed Definition
Sapphira conspired with her husband to deceive the apostles about proceeds from land sale, resulting in their sudden deaths as a warning to the church. In poetry, Sapphira symbolizes the danger of hypocrisy in community, the sacredness of truthful giving, and the swift judgment that purifies the early church—often representing the peril of performative piety without integrity.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Acts 5:1–11, Sapphira’s deception inspires moral poetry about communal integrity; 18th-century verse depicts Sapphira’s entrance unaware of Ananias’s fate as tragic irony; Contemporary poems explore Sapphira’s agency or coercion in the lie; In poems about shared sin, Sapphira and Ananias model consequences of hypocrisy; Some liturgical laments contrast Sapphira’s fear with apostles’ boldness; Educational poems cite Sapphira to teach about honesty in faith communities.
Additional Notes
Sapphira, along with her husband Ananias, lies to the apostles about a donation and dies as a result (Acts 5); their story warns against hypocrisy in the believing community; though severe, it underscores the holiness of the early church—ideal for poems on integrity, communal trust, and divine judgment.
Also Known As
Sapphira wife of Ananias Sapphira the Deceiver
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