Basics of Biblical Hebrew Workbook

by Gary D. Pratico, Miles V. Van Pelt

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.

Genres: Language, Reference, Theology, Old Testament, Christian, Religion, Biblical Studies

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Dr. Gary D. Pratico is Senior Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew Language at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Dr. Pratico holds a Bachelor of Arts from Berkshire Christian College, a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Theology from Harvard University with concentration in Hebrew Bible, Ancient Near Eastern History and Syro-Palestinian Archeology. Dr. Pratico was curator of archaeological collections at the Harvard Semitic Museum from September 1982 until December 1993. He has participated in archaeological projects in North Africa, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan. He has also directed dozens of archaeological study tours of Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Dr. Pratico’s most recent book is entitled, Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal. He has co-authored numerous articles with Dr. Cooley on the western cemetary at Tell Dothan and has published many articles on topics concerning biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies.

Reviews

[Nia · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least the workbook skipped most of the Christian sermonizing found in it's hardback companion, and I really did like the excercies and the way the 'answer key' was created from the next excercise three pages later.

[Lancelot Schaubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty standard text for classic Hebrew. Recommend for those trying to learn the language.

[Scott Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful but filled with several mistakes.

[Matthew Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having already completed Basics of Biblical Greek as part of my degree, I moved on to this second book, Basics of Biblical Hebrew, also by Zondervan. I had my critiques of Basics of Greek, and they carried over into this book but only further exaggerated.

Hebrew is hard! Having studied Greek for several years I, of course, had the confident attitude of, 'sure, I can handle this!'. But it was a challenge in a whole different way. That for me is where the bad taste in my mouth begins with this grammar. From the get go you spend 12 lessons on Nouns and there forms, learning a lot of vocab, which isn't bad, but provides you only the ability to say words. Then through the next 10 or so lessons you learn the Qal forms, the most essential verbal form, and start practicing basic sentences with nouns and verbs. The final portion of the book is given over to other verbal forms, which feels rushed.

The whole verbal system is taught through rules regarding how vowel changes occur when met with specific combinations of consonants and verbs through suffix and prefix additions. By the end of the book, I felt like I was finally getting it, but the whole way through I felt so lost in the weeds I didn't even know where I'd started. Learning a language by memorising 15 rules per chapter on vowel changes is not helpful and it is certainly not natural.

As I break for the summer, I am left with two thoughts. I would not want to have studied this book alone, for I certainly would have felt lost. Secondly, I need to go back and review everything from the beginning with the knowledge I now have at the end. I will be treating myself to a study of 'Learning Biblical Hebrew Workbook' by Kutz and Josberger, which I will leave a review on that promises a more engaging and rounded approach to Hebrew usage and retention!

[Marcus Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Admittedley, I am not a fan of the Grammar-Translation method. In the workbook, my biggest frustration came out where it was almost impossible to translate in context due to there being one verse or part of a verse which is ironic because Semitic languages are heavy context driven.

[Darrell Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I prefer a more modern approach to language acquisition, these techniques are still the standard in biblical studies for some reason, but decades behind the best research on language acquisition.

[h.f. · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got through most of this workbook for my Hebrew classes. Helpful exercises, despite the difficulty of the translations toward the end (as it should get more challenging).

[Crystal Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for studying and learning hebrew. There is an app for flashcards as well.

[Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical, helpful guide alongside the Grammar.

[Jack Goldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kinda put me off learning Hebrew for a while but I think i made a mistake upon buying this cause I think it is like the 2nd part

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This workbook is huge. It has tons of exercises and reinforces the grammar that is learned from its companion volume. The translations are not heavily glossed and sometimes requires a lexicon, but usually the glossary in the back is enough to figure out the exercise.

Unfortunately, the answer key is on a cd which is included, not in this book, but the companion grammar. So you have to buy both.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talbot Course: Hebrews 1 & 2

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful though a more complete answer key would be helpful ie. Bible translation exercises info on verbs

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't fun, but I suppose it was worth it.