Hebrew Books

Biblical Hebrew (Zondervan Get an A! Study Guides)

Gary D. Pratico, Miles V. Van Pelt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Nice Quick Reference 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful.

This four page laminated Notebook insert covers all the basic concepts of Biblical Hebrew grammar; the Alphabet, vowel diacritics, syllables, nouns, adjectives, articles, conjunctions, prepositions, verbs, pronouns, and construct chains. All in all, very much a useful item. I actually got mine in the Biblical Hebrew Survival Kit, which includes the Vocabulary Cards. Check that item out before you make your decision, since the Study Guide and Vocab Cards (in addition to the vocab CD) are both useful even with grammars other than Zondervan's.

great resource 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I found this study guide a very helpful item. It allows quick reference to verb charts and stems that are cumbersome in the appendix of the book. Great 4 page resource to have. I simply stuck it in my binder. I still use it well after my class is over!

Excellent tool! 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent quick ref guide for those trying to learn Hebrew or for those who have been learning. Everything you need to know is on this guide in a logical layout! I couldn't be more pleased with this product!

Editorial Review:

This series of laminated sheets enables students and pastors to see critical material at a glance and serves them well as they review for tests, for comprehensive exams, and for later on in life.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

Francis Brown, S. Driver, C. Briggs

Amazon Price: $23.07 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hendrickson Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $17.00

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Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Has been supplanted 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This review is for 4 Hebrew lexicons in common use: Brown-Driver-Briggs, Koehler-Baumgartner, Holladay, and Langenscheidt.

The sizeable Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon is a development of Gesenius' historic work, and a long-time standard in English speaking countries. However, it has become dated, and now is used mostly because Hendrickson put out a cheaply constructed version keyed to Strong's concordance. Oxford's Clarendon Press edition is superior if you are required to get BDB. In addition, organizing entries by verbal root rather than alphabetically makes it difficult to use "BDB" for those without intimate knowledge of Hebrew. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

The Koehler-Baumgartner lexicon is superb and thorough, and based on the latest Hebrew and Aramaic scholarship. The authors also took into account cognates from Ugaritic and Akkadian, so users of this massive work have a goldmine of information to draw from. By massive, I mean it is over 2000 pages in 2 large volumes. This plus its $190 asking price means it might be better to let the university or seminary library bear the brunt of purchasing and housing it unless you are an Old Testament specialist.

Most readers will be best served by the work of William Holladay, a reasonably sized 426 pp lexicon based on the latest scholarship. Holladay abridged K-B by removing bibliographic references and other information most needed by specialists. It is well organized (alphabetically), and the font is clear. Entries also have references (not exhaustive) to use within the Old Testament, meaning it can be used as a poor man's OT concordance. While Holladay is manageably sized enough (9.75" x 6.875" x 1.25") to be pleasant to read and easily portable in a bookbag, it is not the smallest resource available.

Some may be tempted to go a step further for the ultimate in compactness with the Langenscheidt pocket dictionary. This item is 6" x 4" x 1" and quite lightweight - in its 1959 iteration anyway. Its definitions are limited in scope and scholarly foundation, but still, what else fits in your coat pocket?

My overall recommendation: Holladay for everyone, supplemented by Koehler-Baumgartner for those who need and can afford it.

BDB: 3 stars
K-B: 5 stars
Holladay: 5 stars
Langenscheidt: 4 stars

Editorial Review:

A trio of eminent Old Testament scholars—Francis Brown, R. Driver, and Charles Briggs—spent over twenty years researching, writing, and preparing The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Since it first appeared in the early part of the twentieth century, BDB has been considered the finest and most comprehensive Hebrew lexicon available to the English-speaking student. Based upon the classic work of Wilhelm Gesenius, the "father of modern Hebrew lexicography," BDB gives not only dictionary definitions for each word, but relates each word to its Old Testament usage and categorizes its nuances of meaning. BDB's exhaustive coverage of Old Testament Hebrew words, as well as its unparalleled usage of cognate languages and the wealth of background sources consulted and quoted, render BDB and invaluable resource for all students of the Bible.
—From the publisher's preface

Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew

Ethelyn Simon, Joseph Anderson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An easy primer for Hebrew. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

What I like about this book is that it's easy.
The reader is shown how to write Hebrew letters as well as the sounds associated with it.

The authors explain the differences between Hebrew and English.

They suggest using flash-cards or a similar memory tool. I am approaching memorization by writing the letters and the associated English sound and frequently referring to those papers.

I recommend "Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew" as a basic starter book.

Good Introduction to Hebrew Aleph-Bet and sounds 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book really helped me learn the Hebrew Aleph-Bet quickly. I finished the book in a matter of days and could actually read words in Hebrew. Please note that this book is very, very basic. You will need another book after reading this one that covers vocabulary, parts of speech, etc. The one I purchased after I finished this one was Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew by Sarah Nicholson isbn:0071434623 Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew Complete Course (Book Only) (Teach Yourself). The book by Sarah Nicholson is good but note that examples of the vowel sounds that are given in it are in a British Accent. Another good resource is http://www.hebrew4christians.com.

Editorial Review:

Written especially for adults, this is a complete self-teaching course. Ten lessons teach students how to pronounce any Hebrew word. 104 pages.

The First Hebrew Primer: The Adult Beginner's Path to Biblical Hebrew, Third Edition

Ethelyn & Stahl. Simon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The best teachable book for Hebrew beginners 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I am very enthusiastic about this book. Until now, I have bought many Hebrew Grammars as the Weingreen, Pratico, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar and others in the Greek language. None is so teachable as this one for Biblical Hebrew. The beginning is very soft and easy. There are not many grammar details or exceptions of the general rules, only the main rules. But the teaching is not simplistic; there are also endnotes, where you can read more details or exceptions.

The pronunciation is the same as in modern Hebrew. So you learn to spell ancient Hebrew as modern Israelis speak now. This is easier and useful. Other Grammars teach another way of pronunciation that could be more accurate regarding the ancient pronunciation, but Israelis don't speak now like that. So in the future, if you want, you could learn much easier the modern Hebrew.

This is not a complete Hebrew Grammar. If you want to learn more, you can buy for example the Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar by Pratico and Van Pelt.

It contains many exercises which make you learn the language by repetition of the words and the rules. This book doesn't contain detailed terminology. The kind of teaching is modern and pleasant.

If you are a beginner and you want to learn Biblical Hebrew, don't hesitate to buy this book. You will not waste your money. I advise you to buy also the "Primer Answer Book" of the exercises, and the "Audio Companion tape or CD set". So you could learn better the pronunciation by Hebrew teachers.

There is also an excellent digital edition for self study, which contains the Textbook, the Answer book and the Audio Companion together. You can buy the Audio CD set and the Digital Edition only by the EKS Publishing Co. (www.ekspublishing.com). The rest you can buy also by the Amazon.com.

May you enjoy teaching and learning of Biblical Hebrew by this book!

Spyros Karalis

Editorial Review:

THE comprehensive grammar for the beginning student. Systematically teaches Biblical Hebrew in a straightforward style. 30 lessons include: verb, grammar and spelling charts; vocabulary lists; oral reviews; exercises; stories; biblical quotes; Book of Ruth. Introduces 95% of words appearing over 200 times in the Hebrew Bible. Revised edition includes explanatory endnotes. 402 pages.

Resurrecting Hebrew (Jewish Encounters)

Ilan Stavans

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Here is the stirring story of how Hebrew was rescued from the fate of a dead language to become the living tongue of a modern nation. Ilan Stavans’s quest begins with a dream featuring a beautiful woman speaking an unknown language. When the language turns out to be Hebrew, a friend diagnoses “language withdrawal,” and Stavans sets out in search of his own forgotten Hebrew as well as the man who helped revive the language at the end of the nineteenth century, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.

The search for Ben-Yehuda, who raised his eldest son in linguistic isolation–not even allowing him to hear the songs of birds–so that he would be “the first Hebrew-speaking child,” becomes a journey full of paradox. It was Orthodox anti-Zionists who had Ben-Yehuda arrested for sedition, and, although Ben-Yehuda was devoted to Jewish life in Palestine, it was in Manhattan that he worked on his great dictionary of the Hebrew language.

The resurrection of Hebrew raises urgent questions about the role language plays in Jewish survival, questions that lead Stavans not merely into the roots of modern Hebrew but into the origins of Israel itself. All the tensions between the Diaspora and the idea of a promised land pulse beneath the surface of Stavans’s story, which is a fascinating biography as well as a moving personal journey.

Learn Hebrew Today: Alef-Bet for Adults

Howard I. Bogot

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Very Dumbed-Down Way to the Alef-Bet 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Don't buy this book. Better sources exist for FREE; search for:

1) ancient-hebrew dot org and you'll find a good site. on the left-hand side will be the menu; scroll down till you see "learn hebrew". "alphabet" and more is available--with audio files--for free.

2) "foundationstone" this is a free downloadable program that teaches hebrew.

3) "hebrew4christians" dot com and you'll have another good source.

These sites will not only teach you everything for free that this book instead sells to you but a whole lot more in addition. This book is also over-simplified. It's mostly a waste of time since any adult or child, with the correct motivation, can learn much more than this book offers at a much faster pace. Also, the "script" form of the letters was calligraphed and not practically written for the beginner who wishes to actually write it. "The First Hebrew Primer" gives a much better source with three choices of style available: book print, block print, and script. A student can easily write Hebrew immediately with this book's help.

Editorial Review:

This popular approach to learning Hebrew is designed for adults who want to use Hebrew when celebrating Judaism at home and in the synagogue. Students will learn how to pronounce the Hebrew letters and vowels, enabling them to read more than 30 essential Hebrew blessings and prayers. For classroom and individualized instruction.

Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar: Second Edition

Gary D. Pratico, Miles V. Van Pelt

Amazon Price: $29.69 List Price: $44.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Zondervan Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $25.11

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Best Update to Date 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is by far the best update to the Basics of Biblical Hebrew text book to date. Lay open design with extra wide margins for notes. Red letters to show endings and changes to words. Very easy to read and very logical instruction. In combination with the Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary course OT500 (taught by the author), the Hebrew text comes to life. Great instruction by a great instructor. Very nice companion CD for further study. A must for anyone wanting a better understanding of the Hebrew text. Appropriate for pastors,teachers, and students of the Bible.

Basic Hebrew manual 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book has a lot of information in it. It also has useful chapter vocabulary words and examples. I would like to have seen mor transliteration in the early chapters in order to get the nhang of pronunciation and spelling.

Editorial Review:

Basics of Biblical Hebrew, today’s best-selling introductory Hebrew grammar, has just gotten better with additional, linguistically nuanced explanations for some of the more difficult elements in biblical Hebrew.

Old Testament Hebrew Vocabulary Cards (Zondervan Vocabulary Builder Series, The)

Miles V. Van Pelt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Hebrew Bible is not an "Old" Testament 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I just purchased the other set because I am uncomfortable learning the meaning of Biblical Hebrew from Christians. We just don't intrepret things the same way.
The number of stars reflects being forced to pick one, as I haven't seen them this should be blank.

Must for Hebrew Students 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Just got them today! And I realize how desperately I needed a memory study tool like this. Perfect.

Hebrew flash cards 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

These were purchases for a friend. He was thrilled to receive them and has said they are very valuable.

Editorial Review:

Old Testament Hebrew Vocabulary Cards are keyed to the four leading Hebrew grammars, have frequency numbers on each card, and include unusual forms of verbs. These cards are a convenient way for students to quiz themselves on new Hebrew words being learned. Want to find a card number for a particular Hebrew
word? Click "Take a Closer Look" above. You'll find a listing of all the 1000 words in Hebrew alphabetical order. This list is not included in the Vocabulary Cards product. You'll want to print it out here as a study aid for yourself.

Basics of Biblical Hebrew: Workbook, 2nd Edition

Gary D. Pratico, Miles V. Van Pelt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Better than the companion grammar "Basics of Biblical Hebrew". 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This workbook is better than the Basics of Biblical Hebrew grammar book. This workbook has many different phrases, sentences, and scripture passages for you to read from, and helps to build a strong foundation in terms of applied Hebrew grammar, and inductive exposure to the language.

There are many inflected verbal forms in this workbook that are not broken down into their stem, tense, person, number, or gender, and all you are given is their inflected definition at the bottom of the page. Treat these words as if they were vocbulary words, and memorize them in their current form.

For example, the Hebrew word "vay-yomer" means "And he said". This is a Hebrew word in the imperfect state with what is called the "vav/waw conversive". However, the workbook does not tell you this information. It only tells you that "vay-yomer" means "and he said". Treat this word as if it were a vocabulary word, and memorize both it's current form and definition. By doing this, you're actually simulating natural learning process. You will be picking up on prefixes, suffixes, and inflected verbal stem forms without actually being formally introduced to them, so that when the time comes to introduce them in your Hebrew grammar study, you will already be familiar with them in an intuitive sense.

If what I said sounds like a bunch of jibberish, I'll put it another way. Suppose a someone said, "Tim went to the store, him will be back later", and you overheard it. Naturally, you know from natural exposure to the English langauge that this is improper grammar. The word "him" is the objective form of "he", while "he" is the subjective form which should be used in place of "him" in the example sentence given. However, we native English speakers don't "think" about making such a transition in our minds. We speak the language based on how we've learned it through natural exposure, and thus we know intuitively to say "he", and not "him" in such instances. The same methodology is applied in this workbook for certain words, especially verbal forms. This is truly important when learning Hebrew because the verbal system in Hebrew can be VERY cumbersome at first glance.

Editorial Review:

The Basics of Biblical Hebrew Workbook has just gotten better. In order to keep students from becoming discouraged, especially in the beginning stages, the authors have decided to give more vocabulary aid, so students do not have to spend all their time trying to look up words in a dictionary. Many of the minor changes in this workbook have come as a result of professor and student feedback.

Hebrew Illuminations 2009 - A 16-Month Wall Calendar

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

CHECK OUT A LITTLE JOY, A LITTLE OY! 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 7 people found this review helpful.

THIS IS A GOOD PRODUCT, BUT ..... FOR SOMETHING TRULY SPECIAL, GET THIS PLUS A LITTLE JOY, A LITTLE OY, 2009!

WE GET SEVERAL AS IT MAKES A TERRIFIC GIFT.A Little Joy, A Little Oy: A Banquet of Jewish Humor and Wisdom 2009 Day-to-Day Calendar

Editorial Review:

The ancient and enduring spirit of Jewish tradition comes alive in the Hebrew Illuminations 2008-2009 wall calendar. Jewish artist Adam Rhine has created ornate, highly detailed Judaic paintings in watercolor and acrylic. Each work is crafted to honor the infinite nobility of the Lord, and to visually bring forth His energy within different combinations of overlapping shapes, rich colors and intricate patterns. The sheer elegance of their construction conveys wisdom and ideas. This unique calendar features the first six letters of the Hebrew alphabet plus 10 new illuminations of significant Jewish concepts, such as Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) and Neshamah (The Jewish Soul). Adam Rhine's highly detailed Judaica paintings combine modern palettes and aesthetics with the influence of medieval illuminated manuscripts.