Hebrew Grammar: Introduction to Biblical Hebrew by Charles David Isbell

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Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (A Two Year / Four Semester Course)
by Charles David Isbell
Contents ______________________________________ viii...PREFACE ix.....INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDENT xii....INTRODUCTION TO THE INSTRUCTOR xviii..LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1......1 THE HEBREW ALPHABET 5......2 THE HEBREW VOWELS 12.....3 PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING 17.....4 THE NOUN SENTENCE 22.....5 HEBREW PARTICLES 26.....6 SIMPLE VERBS: "Past" 31.....7 SIMPLE VERBS: "Future" 35.....8 INDEPENDENT PERSONAL PRONOUNS 40.....9 ABSOLUTE & CONSTRUCT STATE 45....10 THE HEBREW VERB 51....11 JONAH 1:1-2 55....12 JONAH 1:3-4 60....13 JONAH 1:5-6 63....14 JONAH 1:7-8	ORDER NOW Do you find teaching or learning Hebrew to be difficult? This book is what you've been looking for! ISBN 0-9714683-8-9 Student Lessons Price $49.50 US ISBN 0-9714683-9-7 Teacher Manual Price $19.50 US Single Orders Volume Orders Excerpt Below
66....15 JONAH 1:9-10 70....16 JONAH 1:11-13 73....17 JONAH 1:14-16 78....18 JONAH 2:1-2; 11 82....19 JONAH 3:1-5 86....20 JONAH 3:6-10 92....21 JONAH 4:1-5 96....22 JONAH 4:6-11 101...23 REVIEW EXAM ONE 103...THE TEXT OF GENESIS 24 148...36 REVIEW EXAM TWO 148...EXODUS ONE to FOURTEEN 237...APPENDICES 290...VOCABULARY 317...GLOSSARY OF TERMS R E V I E W S “Aimed at complete beginners, the introduction teaches Hebrew through reading narrative passages of Scripture. The approach is pregmatic and the vast majority of explanations of linguistic forms and functions are clear and concise. The Teacher's Manual clarifies the first two lessons and provides the key to the questions along with some suggestions for examinations.” - S. Groom, Society for Old Testament Study - Book List 2004, London, 2004, pp. 228-9. “I've read it and loved it! Teachers and students should find this book invaluable!” - Prof. Ian Goldsmith from England “The product of a mature scholar, who has taught Hebrew for many years and now wants to make his approach available to anyone...” - Prof. Frederick E. Greenspahn, Florida Atlantic University Review published in Religious Studies Review, Vol. 30, No 2/3 (April, July 2004), p. 181. About the Author Prof. Dr. Charles David Isbell has been teaching biblical Hebrew for most of his life. He is author of several books on the subject, and this is his most recent and student friendly work to date. Dr. Isbell is currently Professor of Religious Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. “Dr. Isbell's thirty plus years of experience in teaching Biblical Hebrew shine through in his Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. The volume is relaxed in style, yet logical and comprehensive in execution. Grammar and Syntax are practically applied to authentic compositions direct from the Hebrew texts of the Bible, giving the student 'real life' examples in which to work. Having used many of the classic introductions to Hebrew Grammar, I now find this volume a constant companion, always near to hand. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, I believe this book is a classic in the making, introducing the student of Hebrew to the best of modern biblical scholarship in an easy and accessible way. As an added bonus, the Introduction also has a companion Teacher's Manual with CD available, as a Key for teachers or those studying alone (not personally read by me). Dr. Isbell states in the introduction to the book that his aim is to produce a work "that will not discourage students from the outset", his is aim is certainly achieved. If you want a one-volume work that will introduce you to the basics of biblical Hebrew and lead you into deeper areas of grammatical and syntactical study, this is the work for you! Dr. Isbell aims this book mainly for use in the classroom where there is a teacher on hand, but with the Key or another companion grammar this will prove an ideal book for students studying alone (it is usually found in my bag!). I've read it and loved it! Teachers and students should find this book invaluable!” - Prof. Ian Goldsmith from England

EXCERPTS

STUDENT’S INTRODUCTION

 There are many good reasons to study the Bible and thus to learn biblical Hebrew.  [a] It is the language in which many of the sacred writings of Judaism are composed, including the Bible and the Mishnah, as well as the Hebrew Siddur (prayerbook).  [b] It is the language in which about three quarters of the Christian Bible are written.  [c] For those who are neither Jewish nor Christian, the Bible comprises one of the largest and most important bodies of extant literature from an critical era of human history. [d] Biblical Hebrew is an important contributor to the basis of the modern Hebrew language now spoken in the State of Israel.  [e] The Bible contains stories that are interesting as literature, quite apart from their spiritual or theological value to certain groups of “believers.”  In fact, the stories you will soon be reading about Jonah, about the search for a wife for Isaac, and then about the plagues in Egypt are masterpieces of drama, describing a wide range of human emotion and experience.  Even in the telling of these stories to small children, I have learned that they are capable of gripping the imagination and holding the interest of listeners to the very end.  So whether the Bible is a book of faith for you, or simply the repository of great literature, the study of the Hebrew language is essential to your understanding and enjoyment of it.

 After many years of teaching students ranging in age from seven to seventy-seven, I have composed my own Ten Commandments of learning biblical Hebrew.  I hope you will take them seriously and that you will profit from them.

 [1] Do not fall behind quietly and do not suffer in silence.  Experience teaches that students who fail to ask questions because of shyness suffer at their own hands.  If you do not understand what is being covered in class, it is a safe bet that others in the room feel the same.  So ask. You have the right to require your teacher to continue giving explanations and illustrations until you understand well enough to master each lesson.

 [2] Do not ignore the written explanations and examples that are given in the book.  Trying to translate new sentences by thumbing back and forth from the vocabulary list to the exercises is a time waster.  Learn the new words that are given in each lesson.  Study the examples.  Then, and only then, you may turn to the exercises.  Try to translate a sentence without help, even if you do not remember a word or two.  After you have given your best effort, use the vocabulary lists and examples to fill in what you have missed.

 [3] Do not write an interlinear English translation on the same page as your Lesson assignments or your Bible.  When your eyes see writing both in Hebrew and English, they will automatically fix upon that which is familiar, and you will lose the visual aspect of learning Hebrew.  At first, you may not be able to recite quite as smoothly in class, but working from Hebrew rather than from English is crucial to your development.  So when you do your translation assignments for class, do not begin with an open translation in front of you.   Only after you have worked out your own translation should you compare it with a published version.

 [4] Read everything aloud.  You must listen more than once to the CD that is made especially for this book. And you must participate as you listen. Repeat what you hear on the CD or from your instructor, and when you are studying at home alone, practice reading everything aloud.

 [5] Copy into your own Hebrew hand the assignments from the book and the biblical passages that you are translating. And make your own charts of conjugations and declensions.  The discipline of writing in Hebrew will become an important avenue for your mastery of the language.

 [6] Find one or more study partners.  Learn from and teach the others in your group.  This practice will help keep you from becoming discouraged simply because you cannot decipher one or two items in an assignment.

 [7] Remember that learning a language is different from taking a  lecture course. You cannot wait until late in the semester before starting to “cram” for a final grade.  The more time you invest in Hebrew early in the semester, the better you will discover the end of the semester to be for you.

 [8] Do not skip lessons, and do not skip study days.  In fact, you will be better served by studying Hebrew two or three times every day, twenty to thirty minutes per session, than by blocking out time for one long (90 to 120 minute) session.  Above all, make certain that your study is done without distractions.  The total amount of time spent is not nearly as important as [a] the number of times you think about and grapple with Hebrew or [b] the level of concentration that you bring to each session.

 [9] Start at once to thumb through your Hebrew Bible.  Find a verse that you learned as a child and see if you can recognize one or two words.  It is surprising how quickly the number of familiar words will grow, and your level of interest can be raised as you succeed in recognizing familiar ideas.

 [10] Remember that you must do the learning.  Your textbook, the CD, an excellent instructor, a study pal or group--all are important.  But in the end, you and you alone are responsible for the learning.

INSTRUCTOR’S INTRODUCTION

 This book is designed for beginning students.  It is not a complete
treatment of grammar, syntax, and morphology, but merely an introduction to enough elements of the language to allow students to begin reading narrative passages of Scripture.  Introductory textbooks for the study of biblical Hebrew may be guilty of several shortcomings.  Some are too technical for students who have no prior knowledge of the language.  Some present charts and forms that are complete, even though numerous hypothetical forms must be included to achieve that completeness.  Some waste far too much time on exercises that are often not authentic biblical Hebrew compositions.#  Some require beginning students to compose “biblical Hebrew” from English, although this is never the skill that students are seeking to perfect, and virtually no scholar in the world either writes in “biblical” Hebrew or could do so to the satisfaction of all other scholars.#  In fact, the hours spent on hypothetical exercises often are a direct drain on the time and experience students have with actual biblical texts. At the other extreme, some texts have attempted an “inductive” approach, but lead students through far too little biblical material to provide adequate experience with the grammar and syntax of Hebrew narrative.

 Hebrew, as written in the Bible, is a complicated language.  But the rules of its structure and syntax need not be learned in isolation, by studying hypothetical sentences composed by a 21st century scholar.  Rather, the Hebrew of the Bible may be learned in a step-by-step process leading through texts that are authentic compositions, and at the same time exciting and interesting stories.  The adventures of Jonah, the enthralling love story of seeking a wife for Isaac, and the pulsating story of the original exodus provide the basis for the learning of narrative biblical Hebrew in this beginner’s textbook.  These stories contain most of the basic vocabulary and virtually all of the common sentence structures necessary for reading any Hebrew narrative throughout the Bible.  Yet they hold the interest of students because of their intrinsic power and drama.

 Teaching students to read biblical Hebrew in the manner set forth here is my attempt to avoid the major pitfalls described above. Should students compose such sentences using English punctuation [question marks, for example]?  Or should they be expected to reproduce the Tiberian vocalization system complete with te‘amim, which indicate such biblical niceties as pausal forms?  We do not need to sidetrack students, attempting to learn biblical Hebrew, by asking them to puzzle over a skill they will not use. Those who wish to compose Hebrew can learn to do so in modern Hebrew, a skill that can not only be put to actual use, but one that can be “graded” against currently accepted [and constantly changing!] conventions of pronunciation and speech, as used by native speakers of the language.

 My experience also teaches that time spent thumbing through a lexicon for a new word is frustrating for students, and learning forms that do not actually appear in the Bible is confusing.  So I have included vocabulary words where they are needed as students read, and I have left blank spaces in charts where biblical examples are lacking.

 I have also avoided the use of transliteration.  Not only is such an idea bad in itself, but the systems chosen in current textbooks are invariably outdated in current scholarly convention, and represent a form of pronunciation neither documented from biblical times nor spoken in any dialect of Hebrew in current use [modern Israeli, sidduri].  Requiring students to learn a useless system of Latin letters in order to follow the exercises prevents them from engaging with the Hebrew alphabet and point system from the outset.  When students are presented with a page containing letters in both the Hebrew and their own native Latin alphabets, their eyes invariably go first to the Latin letters that are more familiar to them. For this reason also, I have avoided teaching from an inter-linear text of the Bible, the English version of which will always draw first attention from the student whose native language is not written in the Hebrew alphabet.

 What I am attempting with this grammar is a combination approach.  In nine introductory chapters, students will learn the most basic rudiments of the language—the noun sentence, simple verb forms, basic nominal formations, high frequency particles--and acquire a vocabulary of ca. 300 high frequency words.  In chapter ten, students are given an overview of the formation of the Hebrew verb, kept to simple essential information only, intended to be a chapter to which frequent reference can be made as actual biblical verbal forms are encountered.

 Beginning with chapter eleven, the biblical texts of Jonah and Genesis 24 become the basis for study, and new forms and concepts as well as vocabulary are explained as they occur in the biblical passages.  Charts for conjugations or declensions are given in the body of the text to correspond to the flow of each biblical passage itself, and new forms or functions are explained, again as they occur. Explanations are often accompanied by reference to comparable forms found elsewhere in the readings.

 After completing Jonah and Genesis 24, the book turns to chapters 1-14 of the Book of Exodus.  From this point forward, the Exodus material is not divided into separate lessons, so that each class may proceed at its own pace.  Also beginning at Exodus 1.1, while high frequency new words and forms are explained fully as they occur, many unusual forms are referred to a series of appendices at the back of the book.  This allows each teacher to determine how much class time it is appropriate to spend on particular forms or constructions.  Passages with several difficult spellings, conjugations or idioms may decree that some class sessions cover only a few verses. As the story advances, a larger number of verses should become manageable for each session. Students are given all necessary information to identify new forms and words, but are required to practice the skill of form and function[!] identification via a series of questions posed by the book itself about each difficult word. 

 When this grammar has been completed, students will have read a total of 475 verses from the Hebrew Bible, and will have encountered virtually all of the forms and constructions necessary for reading all biblical narrative fluently.

 Charts of important and high frequency forms appear in context to the story where they are encountered.  Thus paradigm declensions and conjugations are introduced in an informal sequence throughout the book, not to be memorized in isolation.  They are to be acquired in a more natural process, via contact with narrative Hebrew itself. The same principle applies to the use of the appendices. They are added as a reference resource, and individual instructors may choose to spend different amounts of class time on them and the examples they contain.

 The explanations in the appendices use standard terminology.  Scholars may know that Hebrew has no “tenses,” but beginning students need a framework based on their own language experience that will allow them to begin to understand.  For example, despite all the debate among grammarians, 95% of all biblical vayyiqtol forms are past tense, as 95% of the veqatal forms are future.  Thus “past” and “future” are acceptable starting points for beginners trying to learn the Hebrew “Perfect” and “Imperfect.”  I have shown how function words like particles signal time or sequences, and have emphasized the fluidity of the functions of the Perfect, Imperfect and Participles.  But I have avoided the use of technical linguistic jargon wherever possible. Words
like fientive, telicity, dynamicity, durativity, Aktionsart, polysemous, etc. ad naseum, add an unnecessary burden on students, requiring them to learn a new “English” vocabulary even before they can have the pleasure of delving into “Hebrew.”  An indexed glossary of key grammatical terms in provided at the end of the book. However, the finer points of syntax, along with the requisite technical jargon, are appropriate for classes at the intermediate and advanced level of any foreign language.  

 For beginning students, what is really important is early experience with actual texts. And the texts have been chosen deliberately.  Jonah is a fascinating and amusing story quite apart from any theological “spin” readers may wish to bring to it.  Genesis 24 is not only an interesting and compelling love story, but its narrative repetition of words and phrases is a boon to the learning of vocabulary and simple structure.  The story of the Exodus should require no defense.  But its use here serves a purpose not readily apparent.  Since we read it during the Spring semester, the festival of Passover comes each year while we are studying the original Passover story in the Book of Exodus.  My wife and I invite our students to our own family seder each year, and require them to prepare and read portions of the Haggadah during the celebration.  Not only is this good practice and a review of much class material, the experience serves to underscore, as mere words cannot, the continuing value of the biblical exodus narrative for modern liturgy and celebration.

 I have urged students not to begin their translation of the biblical text with an open translation on the desk, but it is unrealistic to believe that students will not consult an English translation of the Bible in order to check their work.  I have cited the JPS most frequently, and it is the version I recommend to my own students.  For sheer accuracy, the work of Everett Fox# is sans pareil, in my judgment, though it will seem to students a bit wooden in places.  You may wish to suggest a particular version or two that will be most helpful to your classes.

 I have made a series of CD’s keyed to the lessons, Jonah and Genesis 24. You may find these helpful or you may wish to record your own.  Either way, students should be encouraged to augment their visual and translation skills by listening to the tapes on a consistent basis.

 Also available from the publisher is a “Teacher’s Manual,” including suggestions for teaching students how to write the Hebrew letters, a key to the exercises, and a series of answers to questions asked in the readings about difficult forms and constructions. This booklet elaborates what I am trying to get students to see with each question, as well as the steps I believe they should take to understand difficult forms or constructions.  It contains many helpful hints to increase appreciation of biblical passages they study.  It contains suggestions for quizzes and tests. Many of the vocabulary lists in this grammar contain questions for the students to answer. The answers may be found in this booklet. Instructors may wish to draw questions for quizzes from these questions, or use them to enhance classroom discussion and review. The answers are not provided in this grammar because I do not believe an exercise key should be available to students. If given such a key, they may be able to recite perfectly in class, but instructors would have no idea how well they understand on their own.  Instructors with much experience teaching Hebrew may prefer their own approach, while those asked to teach Hebrew only periodically may find these answer keys and teaching notes a good way to save time in preparing for class.  Both the CD’s and the Manual may be ordered separately.

 I have included the Hebrew text of Jonah and Genesis 24 so students will be able to stretch book purchases over four semesters.  For the first semester, this textbook is all they will need to purchase.  For the readings from Exodus in semester two, students should purchase a Hebrew Bible.  But they will not need a lexicon for the second semester, because all the words they encounter in Exodus 1-14 are included in the vocabulary list at the back of this book, as well as in the notes on individual verses.  At the beginning of the third semester, I require students to purchase the Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver and Briggs. It is complete in one volume, and it is substantially lower in price than other more recent scholarly editions.  At the beginning of semester four, I encourage students to purchase Waltke and O’Connor’s Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax.#  Thus, after completing the four semester cycle of Hebrew courses here at Louisiana State University, students own four of the basic reference tools they will need to continue their learning and use of biblical Hebrew.

 Finally, suggestions and corrections are welcome. It is a daunting task to set out a personal view of how a language should be taught.  And it is terrifying to type such a lengthy manuscript complete with vowel signs and accents. But to avoid the high cost of having the book type-set in Hebrew and in English, the only option was for me to use my own Davka Word Processor and bang away.  I am confident that mistakes remain as the result of my anti-semantic keyboard.  So I invite users and reviewers to alert me to corrections that need to be made. This book and this method work for me, and my students who finish two semesters can read narrative Hebrew tolerably well. Whether it will work for any other instructor only my reviewers can tell me.  I do not claim mine is the only or even the best way to teach biblical Hebrew, only that it is the best way for my students and me.  Your criticism can only help improve the end product.

CHARLES DAVID ISBELL
Louisiana State University, 2002



Introduction à l'hébreu biblique (Un Cours De Deux Ans/Quatre Semestres)

Einleitung in einen biblischen Hebräer (Ein Kurs Zwei Jahres/Vier Semester)

Introduzione ad ebreo biblico (Un Corso Di Due Anni/Quattro Semestri)

Introdução ao hebraico bíblico (Quatro Semester Um Curso De Dois Anos)

Introducción al hebreo bíblico (Un Curso De Dos Años/Cuatro Semestres)

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