As such, there remains a philological realism to our pedagogy coupled with our use of second-language acquisition SLA techniques. In particular, the exercises included in the textbook center around self-contained narratives from the Bible and include visual and audio aids for vocabulary memorization and narrative comprehension.
In John A. The effect is that students are overwhelmed and instructors are faced with cutting out the unnecessary clutter. To put it in SLA terms, our selection of grammar in the textbook has been guided by the goal of acquiring the ancient Hebrew language as opposed to simply learning its grammar.
Organization- ally, the most notable result of this approach is our decision to relegate summaries of weak verb forms to an appendix, along with the customary verb paradigms. In this way we aim to give these discussions their proper place in grammar study, as expla- nations of forms in the context of reading texts rather than complex morphological explanations abstracted from the practice and skills of reading Hebrew. Organization The organization of the textbook centers around discrete grammatical issues.
The lessons do not present the grammar in the traditional sequence of phonology- morphology-syntax, but recognize that language is learned in small chunks of infor- mation that alternate through the various aspects of grammar including a greater focus on syntax and semantics, areas neglected by current introductory textbooks. The material is also organized to maximize the use of repetition, a key to language acquisition.
For example, paradigms are often broken into halves, so that presenta- tion of the second half reinforces the material already learned. Text-Based Exercises The lessening of the morphology burden in the grammar has allowed us space to incorporate discussions of grammar that are conducive to reading and understanding Hebrew literature.
In particular, we have several lessons that introduce students to im- portant aspects of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic systems of Biblical Hebrew, illustrated with examples from the same texts Genesis episodes used for the exercises. Recognition of the Diversity of Hebrew in the Bible Our choice of a particular corpus discrete episodes from Genesis from which to draw examples for the discussion of Hebrew syntax, semantics, and pragmatics comes out of a recognition that Biblical Hebrew is not a monolithic or uniform language.
Rather, preserved in the biblical corpus and extrabiblical ancient epigraphs and texts 10 John A. Modern Linguistic Background Our textbook incorporates more recent linguistic explanations of Biblical Hebrew in a way that is as jargon-free as possible and understandable to beginning students. The currently available textbooks of Biblical Hebrew are often astonishingly behind the times in their grammar descriptions and terminology. Biblical Hebrew grammar instruction has also been plagued with idiosyncratic and archaic vocabulary.
Nonconfessional Orientation The textbook is nonconfessional. Religious and theological aims for studying Biblical Hebrew have shaped the concerns of many textbooks to the point that they sometimes wed their grammar lessons to theological insights from the text. Such overtly confessional approaches unnecessarily preclude other interests in studying Hebrew, such as cultural or linguistic insights.
Although we are not averse to confes- sional approaches to the Bible one author teaches at a theological seminary , we think that a textbook written without a confessional stance will serve a wider community of language learners and institutions.
Acknowledgments The detail and complexity of writing an introductory language textbook exceeded our wildest dreams. It is entirely possible that if we had not begun this project as ambi- tious, energetic doctoral students, we might never have begun it at all. Certainly, we are indebted to the eagle eyes of numerous instructors at the University of Wisconsin, Asbury Theological Seminary, the University of Toronto, and many other institutions who willingly accepted the challenge of using a draft textbook, either in early forms of this work or in its current design.
Thank you all. John A. Any notion that Hebrew was somehow special among languages since it was the language of Scripture was dispelled in the eighteenth century, when philological study was able to trace Hebrew back to the Semitic language family.
It was in that century that the name Semitic was coined to refer to languages spoken in those areas of the Near East that the Bible purports to have been settled by descendants of Shem: To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. Its history can be traced back through written evidence to the third millennium BCE, although it was likely much older than that. Though many branches of the family have fallen into disuse e.
Hebrew words without this accent mark are stressed on the last syllable see appendix A. Note that we do not use the accent mark in the text of the reading illustrations. Semitic languages originally had only three vowels—a, i, u—each of which could be pronounced long or short.
The vocabulary of Semitic languages predominantly has triconsonantal roots. Semitic words are formed from roots of three consonants. The relative closeness of languages on the family tree is based on the degree of similarity among languages.
As a result, those languages most closely related to He- brew e. That is, the Hebrew Bible contains the single largest body of ancient Semitic literature and has remained a core religious text for Judaism and Christianity for 14 John A.
Indeed, the impact of Hebrew on Western culture can scarcely be overstated. While knowledge of Hebrew was preserved for centuries mainly by Jewish scholars, Hebrew increasingly gained wider attention during the Renaissance and following periods.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not testify against your neighbor as a false witness. From Hebrew was a required language for an MA degree at Cambridge. The noted legal scholar John Selden — studied biblical and talmudic legal writings in helping to reshape British jurispru- dence. In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim and Thummim identify a device or process for divination associated with the priestly breastplate Exod. Studying ancient Hebrew thus provides a window into that culture inasmuch as it provides an entry into a different worldview than our own.
Understanding the ancient Israelite worldview through ancient Hebrew helps us ap- preciate its contribution to our own modern worldview and at the same time may free us to examine issues from a viewpoint different from our own. In turn, we may come to understand our own worldview more deeply through comparison with that of ancient Israel as manifest in ancient Hebrew.
Richardson, 2 vols. Francis Brown, ni Nifal S. Driver, and Charles A. David perf Perfect J. Ludwig Koehler, w. Holmstedt, Beginning Biblical Hebrew letter. Do not use the words given in the chart above. Draw a line from the Hebrew proper name to the English equivalent. Say aloud the names of the letters in the following verse. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place. Hebrew vowel signs a.
Write each of the Hebrew vowel signs with each of the consonants. Pronounce aloud the combination of consonant and vowel as you write them e. Without looking at the chart above, read aloud the name of each vowel and write the correct sign under, over, or following the box. Identify a close sounding English word for each Hebrew word e. Spell how these English words sound with Hebrew letters e.
Will he not pull up its roots, cause its fruit to rot so that it withers, so that its fresh sprouting leaves fade? Want to see something else? Or need something explained? Leave a comment below! I read them all and will be adding more and more with time. I highly recommend this for Hebrew learners. Disclosure: This site has affiliate links to language products including those on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
Thank you. Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links to language learning products. We receive a commission for purchases made via these links, at no cost to you. Want Free Hebrew Audio Lessons? Click here. Want to get a complete Hebrew learning program? Download PDFs clicking on the image or blue text.
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