Hebrew Refresh

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brycebeale
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:11 am

Hebrew Refresh

Post by brycebeale »

Hi there,

I'm a pastor in Evansville, IN who learned Hebrew in seminary several years ago and is eager to keep it. I'm working my way through Pratico & Van Pelt's Basics of Biblical Hebrew right now, though it wasn't the grammar we used in seminary (we had a more immersive text, I forget what it was called). I can wing my way through much of OT narrative with some lexical help, but would like to get past winging.
Bryce Beale
Evansville, IN
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Jason Hare
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:07 am
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Re: Hebrew Refresh

Post by Jason Hare »

Hey, Bryce.

Welcome to B-Hebrew! I’ve never used BBH though I have it sitting on my shelf. I have the previous version, the red one.

Will be happy to provide help if you need it.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Post by talmid56 »

Welcome, Bryce. I will be happy to help as well.
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
kwrandolph
Posts: 1531
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:51 am

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Post by kwrandolph »

brycebeale wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2023 6:36 am Hi there,

I'm a pastor in Evansville, IN who learned Hebrew in seminary several years ago and is eager to keep it. I'm working my way through Pratico & Van Pelt's Basics of Biblical Hebrew right now, though it wasn't the grammar we used in seminary (we had a more immersive text, I forget what it was called). I can wing my way through much of OT narrative with some lexical help, but would like to get past winging.
Dear Bryce Beale:

I have learned a few modern languages “just winging it” because living in the area and needing to speak the language. A dictionary is a constant companion which, while one uses it less and less, from which one never graduates.

What you need to do is get into the Bible NOW, starting with Genesis. Read just a little bit a day. You will make mistakes—I made plenty of mistakes—but I learned. I ended up reading the complete Tanakh in Hebrew, then a second time, then a third time, learning more each time. Once you’ve read Tanakh ten times, you’ll start getting a feel for the language that you couldn’t get from reading grammars. By 20 times you’ll be able to use your dictionary only for words used fewer than five times in Tanakh.

If you have questions, we have a “Beginners’ Forum” and other places on this site where you can post your questions and we’ll be glad to help.

Karl W. Randolph.
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hebrew Refresh

Post by Jason Hare »

Karl is correct in this suggestion. You indicate that you’ve already studied through a basic grammar. I’d blow through the grammar review as quickly as possible and then dive into the biblical text in some way. Do you have an intermediate reader that helps with vocab and grammar? Zondervan has put one out (Graded Reader of Biblical Hebrew: A Guide to Reading the Hebrew Bible by Van Pelt and Pratico), as has Takamitsu Muraoka (A Biblical Hebrew Reader: With an Outline Grammar), not to mention Cook and Holmstedt’s Intermediate Biblical Hebrew: An Illustrated Grammar.

Perhaps spend time memorizing passages that are very familiar to you, like the Ten Commandments, the 23rd Psalm, Isaiah 53, etc. The more text you have in your memory, the more you’ll be able to recall later and to make comparisons with as you read less familiar passages.

What’s one of your own favorite sections from the Tanach (Old Testament) that you would find beneficial to know in Hebrew?
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
brycebeale
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:11 am

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Post by brycebeale »

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I have Zondervan's Hebrew Reader's Bible and thankfully jumped straight into it right after the first grammar I worked through, and found it massively helpful. I made it all the way through once, but haven't been all the way back through yet. At the moment I'm working my way slowly through 1 Samuel, parsing everything. I appreciate the feedback.
Bryce Beale
Evansville, IN
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Jason Hare
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Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Re: Hebrew Refresh

Post by Jason Hare »

brycebeale wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:08 am Awesome, thanks for the advice. I have Zondervan's Hebrew Reader's Bible and thankfully jumped straight into it right after the first grammar I worked through, and found it massively helpful. I made it all the way through once, but haven't been all the way back through yet. At the moment I'm working my way slowly through 1 Samuel, parsing everything. I appreciate the feedback.
A reader’s Bible is also a great tool to utilize in order to get into the text! They didn’t have those when I learned Hebrew. I’m getting older nowadays.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
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