Learning Biblical Hebrew: Reading for Comprehension: An Introductory Grammar

by Karl Kutz, Rebekah Josberger

What's the best way to learn a new language? By approaching it not as a series of facts to memorize but as something alive, with a personality you can get to know and tendencies you can sometimes predict. Designed for long-term retention, Learning Biblical Hebrew focuses on helping students understand how the Hebrew language works and providing a solid grounding in Hebrew through extensive reading in the biblical text.

Written for first-year and second-year Hebrew students, grammar is laid out to present comprehensive concepts to first-year students and then to aid in review and deeper understanding for second-year students. Though written for Hebrew competency, Learning Biblical Hebrew is also well-suited for students with different learning styles and objectives.

Genres: Language, Linguistics, Old Testament, Christian

368 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2018

Reviews

[Ethan Sink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good Hebrew grammar textbook. However, because it is a Hebrew grammar textbook, it cannot be five stars. I don’t make the rules.

[Steve Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5–5 stars

Roundtable interview with Rebekah Josberger, Andrew King, and Adam Howell: https://youtu.be/wOLqfH2ntk4

[S. Runyan]

Explanations were not clear all the time. Mixed pronunciations between ancient and modern Hebrew.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was both intimidated and excited to pick up “Learning Biblical Hebrew: Reading for Comprehension: an Introductory Grammar” by Karl V. Kutz and Rebekah L. Josberger. Their bios are on the back of the book as follows:

Karl V. Kutz (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is professor of biblical languages at Multnomah University in Portland, OR. For over two decades his teaching and mentoring of students in the language and literature of the Hebrew Bible has cultivated students’ passion for the biblical text , shaped and transformed their lives, and led to the establishment of an outstanding program for the study of the Hebrew Bible.
Rebekah L. Josberger (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland, OR. Since coming to Multnomah in 2009, she has focused on developing a solid Hebrew program that enables and encourages students to learn Hebrew well enough to use it for personal growth and ministry long after they leave seminary. She teaches Old Testament with a focus on biblical theology and continues research related to Torah.
I have no formal experience in Hebrew, but learning it has been a recent interest of mine so I was delighted for the opportunity to read this. From the point of view of a layman, this Hebrew introductory grammar may be a little difficult to grasp without the aid of a classroom education, but I do think it is possible through patience, diligence, and focus. Prior experience with the language could be helpful, but I do not believe necessary in order for a new student to be able to comprehend the material, provided that they devote the time and energy required.

In chapter 3 Syllables and Reading Hebrew, the authors state “One of our goals in this grammar is not just to teach you facts but also to help you integrate them so that you come away with an understanding of how the language works” which is one of this grammar’s greatest strengths, not merely presenting facts to be memorized — though there is some of that — but also explaining the “why” or the principles that are vital to understanding the language.

The companion workbook, which was recently released, contains the exercises and vocabulary referred to at the end of each chapter and will likely benefit the student more than reading the grammar without it.

In the back of this grammar are 6 appendices covering an introduction to the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew accents, creating a grammatical diagram, creating a thematic outline, transliteration, and verb paradigms which contains helpful verb charts.

Whether one is considering picking up “Learning Biblical Hebrew” as a seminary or Bible college student, or as a layman seeking to dig deeper into the riches of one of the original languages of scripture, this introductory grammar will be a valuable resource to have on one’s shelf. I suspect I’ll be referring to it frequently in the future.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.

[Matt Quintana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Learning Biblical Hebrew" by Dr.'s Kutz and Josberger is a tremendous achievement that has grown out of years of fruitful teaching and scholarship. This textbook is absolutely phenomenal, and as someone who has had the privilege of actually studying under these professors, I cannot recommend their work and their approach highly enough. They have both labored for years in creating a robust and top-tier Hebrew program at Multnomah University, and it is a blessing to everyone else that their material and pedagogical approach is now accessible in book form. The approach taken here by Kutz and Josberger does exactly what the title suggests: it teaches you how to read and comprehend Biblical Hebrew. Unlike many other grammars and approaches, this book gets you into the text of the Hebrew Bible and reading quickly, which is exactly why you are learning Hebrew in the first place! While some may feel this introductory grammar is too dense for the beginning student, I see this as a strength since it exposes the reader to advanced concepts that they can revisit as they progress in their studies.

The companion workbook is essential for anyone desiring to get the most out of this grammar. Though it is an additional cost, having a separate workbook is actually a major benefit of this work. It enables a much more comprehensive engagement with the language than if the exercises and translations were crammed into the grammar itself. It also allows the student to be exposed to large sections of Hebrew in the context of a continuous narrative, rather than bits and pieces of verses or chapters. Again, this approach has a major emphasis on actually *reading* Hebrew, which forces the student to put what they are learning into practice and also helps them soak in grammar, vocabulary, and syntax through actually exposure in context, instead of just memorizing things in a vacuum.

Another benefit in using this textbook is the wealth of supplemental resources created by the authors, which are accessible online and for free through Lexham Press. There are some wonderful resources available for professors, students, and self-learners. These can be found at: https://lexhampress.com/learning-bibl...#

I am so thankful for this new introductory textbook that makes the daunting task of learning Biblical Hebrew so accessible, while also providing an approach with material that is sure to help even the intermediate and advanced student. I truly believe that this work is a game-changer when it comes to learning and teaching Biblical Hebrew.

[J. Rutherford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overabundance of beginner level Hebrew textbooks available these days begs us to ask when new one is released, why do we need another? Unfortunately, this new volume from Lexham does not present its material in a way that makes it better than existing volumes, and in some ways its presentation is inferior (such as the organization of the first several chapters). However, it goes to a greater depth than most of these beginner volumes and is quite readable, so it may have a place as a beginner level reference grammar. Its stated goal, to teach the learner to read Hebrew for comprehension is laudable and is a goal that beginner textbooks have yet to adequately acheive, unfortunately I do not think that Learning Biblical Hebrew does much better in this regard.

[Justin Wheaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great Hebrew book. I've read through Pratico and Van Pelt's basic Hebrew grammar a number of times and I thought I would try this one out to see how they teach things. Naturally, there are things I like about this book better than the other, and the other better than this book. Bottom line is, you cannot go wrong with this Hebrew grammar, but you MUST get the accompanying workbook to really cement your learning. I'm a seminary student at TEDS in the MA for Semitic Languages program, so I really love reading through different Hebrew books.

[Ming Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Kutz and Josberger provide a highly linguistics-oriented approach to Hebrew, focusing not merely on rote memorisation of paradigms or conjugations but also discussing how the language works. For instance, they dedicate considerable space to discussing vowel shifts regarding both nouns and verbs. The companion workbook is also excellent, especially because it provides a graded reader going through the Joseph story that matches the different chapters. It also contains the text of Esther and Jonah with reading helps, but I have not looked at those yet.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. The best textbook for learning biblical Hebrew. Very clear, concise, and helpful. The workbook that goes with this is also excellent. The beauty of the method is that it minimizes memorization (almost no paradigms) and gets you translating lots of text immediately. Not only is that more fun, it's more pedagogically sound!

[Alex Inouye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to fill in some of the gaps of my understandinging after taking Hebrew in seminary. This book was super helpful in explaining why the paradigms are the way they are. If you want to understand morphology at a beginning level and not memorize as much, this is for you.

[James-Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful approach, but outside of a classroom without a teacher explaining the various rules with lots of details, it's hard to internalize them. Also, there are no vocabulary or sample readings in this grammar. I believe you have to buy the workbook for that.

[Caleb Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best textbook I’ve read on the subject and at this point I’ve read quite a few.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know that I would have been able to appreciate this as a beginner. But as an intermediate student of Hebrew, this has been mind-blowing in the way it has propelled me into understanding all the vowel changes that happen when prefixes and suffixes (et al) are attached to words. I can now anticipate the spelling changes; even Construct forms are easy to anticipate. That means I no longer need to memorize the four forms for every noun. (And there was much rejoicing!) And as I work my way through the stems, I'm no longer overwhelmed by reams of paradigm charts. Each new stem only requires me to learn just four of the forms! So simple. (Buy the book to find out what I'm talking about.)

The charts that explain all these ideas and more are very well done. They make it very quick and easy to grasp the concepts being addressed.

This is now my go-to book to understand how and why things work as they do in the Hebrew language.

[Michaela Weller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get this book (and the workbook) if you want to learn Hebrew! You can! It does not shy away from any difficult concepts but lays it all out while telling you exactly what you need to know as a beginner. Instead of translating sentences, you get in the Bible and translate Genesis 37-50 right away! Powerful tool! Recommend it to all who want to learn Hebrew or who teach Hebrew.