A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew

by C.L. Seow

This is a comprehensive revision of our popular Hebrew grammar textbook.

Key Features: *Revision of a proven textbook *Uses biblical text from the outset *Greater emphasis on understanding of accents and other critical details; new material on the study of the Hebrew language

Key Benefits: *Helps the student use the biblical text itself *Make use of Hebrew dictionaries and other reference tools easier for the beginning student *Excurses provide a good general overview of the Hebrew language, as well as some in-depth understanding of grammatical rules

Genres: Language, Reference, Biblical Studies, Nonfiction, Religion, Old Testament, Textbooks

380 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Carson Harraman]

Counting this as I skimmed multiple times while studying for my final. i need all the help i can get on this reading goal lol

[Thomas Avery]

There is a lot to recommend this grammar. Its terse explanations are clear. I found Seow's consistent inclusion of hypothetical proto forms helpful in internalizing morphological patterns. And I found the journey through the second half of the book smooth and satisfying.
On the other hand I have several issues. The book delays practice translation sentences until lesson six, troubling the student's vocabulary acquisition before that point. I do not prefer Seow's choice to introduce the participal before the perfect verb and thus his relatively late introduction of the later (lesson 13), especially since verbs in the perfect have already been presented in the vocabulary lists of earlier chapters. If I ever had the opportunity to teach undergraduate Hebrew, I would look first to other grammars.
Despite my quibbles, I did very much enjoy learning with this book. For those with background in another semitic language, I would unreservedly recommend it. For those too who have a solid grounding Greek or Latin, I think they would find this a manageable introduction. And while this wouldn't be my go-to recommendation for those new to semitic or ancient language learning, I think a driven student would walk away with a solid foundation in the language.
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Additional note after continuing on with Hebrew: contrary to my expectations, I have not found this to be an intuitive reference tool.

[slaveofone]

Herein is everything a student needs to begin building a solid foundation in ancient Biblical Hebrew. I only have two major issues with it. First, language is not just about form, it is also about beauty and art. While this grammar is the pinnacle of form, it is null and void of beauty and art. There has not ceased to be rumblings of discontent and frustration among my peers since the first chapter, for language was not meant to be understood on the basis of never-ending systematic charts and rules. Second, there is far too much information condensed into the grammar to ever be absorbed in any one year of Hebrew apart from almost total immersion. Seow can be congratulated for giving us the tools and means to construct our house. It remains to be seen, however, how many laborers will remain to complete the job.

[Solomon Chrysostom Selah]

相较于溪水那套教材，最大的优点是简洁清晰，一个总表给出形式，特别好的是，本书还给出了进阶用的语法书和查词典的方法，对于古希伯来语这种语言来说，课本上的词汇总是不够用的。每个例句都出自经文也为这本教材加不少分。音变单独放一章来讲，为后面变位变格都省了不少功夫。

当然缺点也是有的，总的来说，因为没有简单的语感培养，这本书并不适合初学者，溪水教材有课文在这方面做的很好，建议在读完溪水后再把这本书整体过一遍。

[RT]

An older grammar. Very concise. Seems to assume the reader is more familiar with either linguistics or the Hebrew language itself. Helpful, but some readers may find it more helpful for review rather than for learning Hebrew.
The paradigms are not ordered the best way.

[Marcos Marsal]

Este es el mejor libro de lengua que jamás tuve en mi mano. Llegó a mi por accidente, y aunque no domino el idioma, tengo por delante tiempo para entenderlo, dado que es complejisimo y abre más puertas de trabajo que los libros de autoayuda.

[Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev]

This was one of the Hebrew grammars I used when I was taking Hebrew as my minor in undergrad. I recall it being a difficult but rewarding textbook.

[ניקאָלע]

Even better the second time!

[Drew Van Gorder]

This is the best grammar for learning Hebrew. Great book, great approach to teaching Hebrew, and thorough.

[Michael]

This is what you need. You don't necessarily need to go in order, though. I read straight through to get a feel for things without really learning, then went back and memorized.

Also... If you're in roughly my situation (you are learning on your own and you will probably never have to orally communicate in Hebrew), I strongly recommend that you don't sweat a lot of the pronunciation issues like those in Lesson 2, such as how to distinguish qames hatup from regular qames. I always pronounce qames like a in father, I try to do stress more or less right but I'm sure I screw it up all the time, etc. This stuff is a LOT to take in and you won't get it right without someone to teach you anyway. Plus even if you do get it right you still won't be pronouncing Hebrew the way the ancient Israelites did.

The above paragraph may be anathema to a lot of people, I don't know. All I can say is that if I waited until I had all that stuff right before I learned any more I would still be working on it.

[David]

This is not user friendly and definitely directed at a more scholarly crowd. If you happen to go to Princeton Theological Seminary this book will be supplemented with various PowerPoint presentations which make it much more palatable but essentially render this a workbook. If you want to teach yourself Biblical Hebrew find another grammar. However, if you have a foundation in Biblical Hebrew this may be a useful tool to help you keep your skills up, which is how I've been able to use it.

[Lauren]

Blah! I had such a hard time learning Hebrew and this book was NOT helpful. Seow's Power Point slides made so much more sense. This book is really hard to read and not very well organized. The basics are there but Seow seems to be writing to an audience that already gets it (which, of course, wouldn't be the case for beginning students in Hebrew like myself).

[Helen]

Not the most accessible book ever. Perhaps if you are more linguistically capable than I... Because of the bizarre terminology and confusing format it definitely isn't where I would start learning Biblical Hebrew, at least without an instructor or otherwise big-brained person handy.

the language itself, however, is Awesome :) tackle it if you are ready for copious studying...

[Dan]

This was my textbook for learning Biblical Hebrew. I found it to be well organized and, compared to my study of Greek, made learning Hebrew pretty managable. I loved the way the book emphasized "Look, don't worry about memorizing this or that and for heaven's sake, don't stress too much about certain trivialities that will come with continuous reading!" The advice was sound.

[Abbi]

Reference Book

[Renae]

I learned Hebrew, but I really don't like how this book is structured...

[Dan Glover]

This was my Hebrew text. I found Hebrew very challenging. However, I thought Seow's approach was fairly good and his book should not be judged on my ability to learn the language.

[Friend of the Talking Bird]

An excellent review of the grammar of the language, better organized than Pratico and Van Pelt, and not as bogged down in the minutiae as Gesenius.

[Philip Ryan]

If you are trying to learn Hebrew, then this gets 2 1/2 to 3 stars. If you are using it as a portable reference grammar, it gets 5 stars.

[Abraham Jenkins]

A good grammar if you have some background, but probably a bit intense for beginners