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Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 6:36 am
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.

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:08 am
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.

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:12 am
by talmid56
Welcome, Bryce. I will be happy to help as well.

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 9:31 pm
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.

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2023 12:57 am
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?

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:08 am
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.

Re: Hebrew Refresh

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 5:52 am
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.