On Reading Biblical Hebrew: Advice for Beginners

My advice for students with a year of Biblical Hebrew under their belts who want to launch out on their own:

(1) Read & listen through the passage at least once without stopping to identify forms and unfamiliar words.

• A high-quality recording produced by the Bible Society in Israel can be streamed or downloaded at Bible.is. (The recording is in a modern Israeli pronunciation, which means that distinctions between vocal and silent shewas are not always maintained, etc.)

• Another more traditional recording narrated by Abraham Shmueloff can be accessed here: https://www.torahclass.com/audio-bible-in-hebrew.

(2) Look up unfamiliar forms:

• StepBible provides parsing and an abridged lexicon. (You will want to switch the Bible from ESV to THOT. You can do that manually, or click here: https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=THOT.)

• Full versions of the standard (dated but still valuable) Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon can be searched online here:

  • http://www.2letterlookup.com/

  • http://www.ericlevy.com/revel/bdb/bdb/main.htm

(3) Read and Re-read until you can understand the text without looking up forms. I recommend a 1-2-3 reading process. For example, read Genesis 1:1-2 on day 1, Genesis 1:1-2 + 1:3-4 on day 2, and Genesis 1:3-4 + 1:5-6 on day 3. This way each reading will include review and new material.

Finally, some general advice:

• Stay humble. You have learned enough Hebrew to be dangerous.
• Be patient with yourself. There is lots more to learn.
• Form a habit. Reading a little Hebrew regularly is much better than grand ambitions that never get off the ground.
• Don’t stop.
• Have fun!