Hebrew I
“The Hebrew language is the best language of all … If I were younger I would want to learn this language, because no one can really understand the Scriptures without it. For although the New Testament is written in Greek, it is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions. It has therefore been aptly said that the Hebrews drink from the spring, the Greeks from the stream that flows from it, and the Latins from a downstream pool.” —Martin Luther
Hebrew I is a four credit course that immerses the student in the grammar, vocabulary, and syntax of the Old Testament. This course lays the foundation for the student to continue reading and analyzing the Old Testament. Students have twenty lessons to complete. Each lesson has an assignment, a vocabulary quiz, and a grammar quiz. There are no exams.
Students who complete Hebrew I will have been exposed to most of the grammar and some of the syntax of Old Testament Hebrew. More specifically:
- Learning the 195 most common words in the Hebrew Bible;
- Conjugations of verbs;
- The morphology and syntax of participles and infinitives;
- Using contextual clues to parse/translate.
The following texts are required:
- Bonnie Pedrotti Kittel, Victoria Hoffer, and Rebecca Abts Wright, Biblical Hebrew, 2nd edition: New Haven: CT, Yale University Press, 2005.
| Assignments: | Grammar Quizzes: | Vocabulary Quizzes: |
| As each assignment is completed, the student uploads it to the appropriate location on this site. The student will check the assignment for any errors. Where there are questions, he can submit these to the instructor. Each assignment consists of verses taken from the Old Testament which the student is required to translate, parse the words, and answer questions about the syntax. There are twenty-four assignments. The student is allotted three hours to complete each assignment. | The grammar quizzes are based on frequency of use in the Bible. There are twenty-five grammar quizzes. The student is allotted one hour to complete the quiz and thirty minutes for preparation. | The vocabulary quizzes are online quizzes. The words on the quiz are based on frequency of use in the Old Testament. There are twenty-five vocabulary quizzes. The student is allotted one hour to complete the quiz and thirty minutes for preparation. |
“And thus have I given some account of the days of my vanity, being this 24th of October 1730, 54 years, 7 months, and 1 week old. Upon the whole, I bless my God in Jesus Christ, that ever He made me a Christian, and took an early dealing with my soul, that ever He made me a minister of the gospel, and gave me some insight into the doctrine of his grace; and that ever He gave me the blessed Bible, and brought me acquainted with the originals, and especially with the Hebrew text. The world hath all along been a stepdame to me; and wheresoever I would have attempted to nestle in it, there was a thorn of uneasiness laid for me. Man is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed from that quarter. “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.—I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.” –Thomas Boston