Beginning Biblical Hebrew: A Grammar and Illustrated Reader

by John A. Cook, Robert D. Holmstedt

This innovative textbook by two leading experts in Biblical Hebrew combines the best of traditional grammars, new insights into Hebrew linguistics, and a creative pedagogical approach. The material has been field tested and refined for more than a decade by the authors, who are actively engaged in Biblical Hebrew discussions and research.

The book includes fifty brief grammar lessons with accompanying workbook-style exercises, appendixes providing more detailed explanations, and a full-color reader--bound at the back of the book for right-to-left reading--that incorporates comics, line drawings, and numerous exercises, all in Hebrew. This work offers a realistic approach to beginning Hebrew, helping students comprehend texts without overloading them with too much information, and it can be adapted to either one-semester or full-year courses. An accompanying website will offer help to both students and professors.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Language, Old Testament

324 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2013

About the author

John A. Cook (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is associate professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Wisconsin (Madison and Milwaukee campuses), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Wheaton College, and Grace College.

Reviews

[Sam Blades]

lo shalom

[C. C. I. Fenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished my second semester of Biblical Hebrew and our class used this book for the first semester as well as the first few weeks of the second semester. At first, I absolutely despised this text. The chapters are short (one to two pages) and offer little in the way of explanation. They largely consist of a few paragraphs, an example or two, and a series of exercises. Unfortunately, I found myself scratching my head over more than one exercise simply because the chapter didn't adequately explain what was going on. The other thing that I found odd was that a large amount of necessary information was only found in the appendices. In most textbooks that I've used, appendices included additional information that you could use for deeper understanding but wasn't absolutely necessary. The appendices contained in 'Begining Biblical Hebrew' are not really appendices. They are necessary information that you will have to refer to often if you're going to actually use this book.

I don't think this would be a big deal if you were in an actual class with a teacher present. Unfortunately, my class was all online. This led to many moments of frustration when I came across forms of verbs that looked totally unfamiliar because they were irregular (and the irregularities were not explained in the text but in the appendices). As a result of this, I cannot recommend this book for someone who is wanting to study Hebrew on his own.

With that said, the latter half of the book - an illustrated reader that covers some key Old Testament stories - is fantastic. I loved the stories that were chosen as well as the illustrations. In addition, they slowly increase in difficulty which allows you to feel more and more confident in your Hebrew ability as you go.

As a result of this, I can heartily recommend this book as a supplemental text to a more complete grammar such as Van Pelt or Futato. I just wouldn't expect to teach yourself Hebrew with this book alone. If you try, it will be a long, slow, frustrating journey.

[Brian LePort · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not an expert on Hebrew pedagogy by any stretch of the imagination, but I think this book may prove to be a game changer.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its strength is its weakness: brevity.

Many of the lessons are not formatted very well.

The appendices in the back are very unhelpfully organized and do not integrate into the lessons well.
The view of verbal system is on the cutting edge, a major advantage of this book.