Harvey, do you have favorite Hebrew study resources? Lexicons, interlinears, etc.? My husband is in the middle of another study on Genesis and would like some helps. I gave him the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament for Christmas (he thought it was a very romantic gift), but it is not as useful to him as he thought it would be. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.
By God’s grace,
Maureen
I’m not up to date on the very latest, but here is a bibliography of useful Hebrew materials — some of it out of print. I’ve asterisked the in-print item in each category which I’d get first.
Beginners Grammars:
*Biblical Hebrew Step by Step, by Menahem Mansoor, 2nd Ed., Baker Book House, 1980. (reprinted)
Beginners’ Hebrew Grammar, by Harold L. Creager and Herbert C. Alleman, D.C. Heath and Company, 1927. (out of print) (This old grammar has some of the best explanations I’ve seen.)
Full Grammars:
Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, edited by E. Kautzsch, revised by A.E. Cowley, Oxford, 1910. (reprinted)
*A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew, by J. Weingreen, Oxford, 1939. (reprinted)
A Grammar of the Hebrew Language, by William Henry Green, New York: John Wiley, 1865. (out of print) (This old grammar is much more thorough than the modern grammars.)
Grammar topics:
Hebrew Syntax: An Outline, by Ronald J. Williams, U. of Toronto Press, 1967. (out of print)
*Hebrew Syntax, by A.B. Davidson, T. & T. Clark, 3rd Edition, 1901. (reprinted)
A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, by S.R. Driver, Wm B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1892 / 1998.
Sermons in Syntax, by John Adams, T. & T. Clark, 1908. (out of print)
Lexicons:
Hebrew and English Lexicon, by Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1907. (reprinted) (This is the older standard in lexicons.)
*A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, edited by William L. Holladay, Wm B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1971 (reprinted) (This is a useful condensation of the much larger Koehler-Baumgartner Lexicon of 1953.)
Langenscheidt Pocket Hebrew Dictionary to the Old Testament, by Karl Geyerabend, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1969. (Very brief but reliable.)
Hebrew Honey, by Al Novak, Houston, Texas: J. Countryman Publishers, 1987. (Word studies.)
Synonyms of the Old Testament, by Robert B. Girdlestone, Wm B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1897 / 1973 (Word studies.)
Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, Benjamin Davidson, n.d.
A Concise Lexicon to the Biblical Languages, Jay Green and Maurice A. Robinson, 1987, Sovereign Grace Publishers, Lafayette, Indiana. (Very brief, but handy — coded to Strong’s numbers.)
Lexicon and Concordance:
Old Testament Word Studies, by William Wilson, London: Macmillan, 1870, Kregel Publications (reprinted) (This is combined selective concordance and helpful word studies.)
Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance, by George V. Wigram, London, 1843. (reprinted)
*The Online Bible (or some other computer Bible with the Hebrew Old Testament and search program.)
Interlinears:
Hebrew-English Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 2000. (Has Hebrew text in right column, English translation in left column.)
Interlinear Old Testament, by Jay Green, Sovereign Grace Publishers, Lafayette, Indiana. (Each word is coded to Strong’s.)
Analytical Key to the Old Testament, by John Joseph Owens, Baker Book House, 1990. (This goes phrase by phrase through the Old Testament, gives the grammatical analysis, and translates into English.)
If you’re not too familiar with Hebrew, probably Green’s Interlinear and Owens’ Analytical Key will prove handy.
Harvey
John Dobson’s “Learn Biblical Hebrew” is a good way for a beginner to ease into the language. It is very helpful because there are sound recordings, which are absent for most texts. I have also found it helpful to dip into a bit of the modern language. Much of the vocabulary is the same and there is nothing better for learning the pronouns. I am a doctoral student in Biblical Hebrew teaching methodology and if anyone is interested in which resources I think are best you can reach me through the “send e-mail” link on my website.