Biblical Hebrew through Modern Linguistic Pedagogy
Biblical Hebrew is often a daunting begrudged course of study. In this course Dr. Mario Melendez presents biblical Hebrew through this 14-part video lecture series recorded at Oklahoma Baptist University. In this course, Mario introduces biblical Hebrew and simple principles to grasp the language quickly. Where many Biblical Hebrew courses take several semesters to achieve reading capability, at Oklahoma Baptist University students achieve reading capability in one semester. Each lecture is an average of 20 minutes long, making it very usable for group or individual study. Be sure to purchase the grammar book before going into lesson one; Hebrew Grammar: Implicit Learning by Elaborative Encoding (College and Clayton, 2023). Enjoy the journey, for the Hebrew Language will captivate and help you to enjoy the Bible more!
Mario Melendez (Ph.D., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) is assistant professor of Old Testament and the Auguie Henry Chair of Bible at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, OK. He is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister and has served in Hispanic, Asian, and English churches. You can find more on his website.
This book and course utilizes the learning theories known as Implicit Learning & Elaborative Encoding (also known as Elaborative Rehearsal). Mastery of grammar and vocabulary words is often accomplished by rote rehearsal. Rote memory, however, often fails to relate significance or to assign meaning to the new information. The value of ER theory is that it consciously and intentionally relates the significance and meaning of the new information to established or long-term memory. Like a child though, implicit learning is the natural unconscious act of language learning. Truly, Implicit Learning comes with many errors but yields a quicker handling of the language. Implicit learning methods utilized in this course are: Interlinear Reading, Colored Marking, and Auditory Learning.
To learn Hebrew through our method devote yourself to:
This handy card will provide critical information for handling the Hebrew text.
These flashcards will aid in the memorization of Hebrew words and phrases.
Read “Reasons & Hamilton Method of Reading.”
While it may seem strange to provide interlinear translations, this is done on purpose for several reasons:
We suggest this website to listen to as you read the biblical text. The pronunciation method utilized is Sephardic, whereas Mario’s pronunciation is more of a “modern Hebrew.” Later we’ll have a discussion concerning the types of Hebrew pronunciations.
We suggest using this website on your phone / tablet as you are at church, or a Bible study. Train your eyes to read the original language, and only look down at the English when you do not know the vocabulary word. With time this will help you to grow in your Biblical Hebrew (and Greek if you use it).
The most challenging aspect of learning Biblical Hebrew is mastering the alphabet. The script of the letters looks nothing like the Latin / Roman script as utilized by English, Spanish, French, among many other languages. Once the various letters and their corresponding sounds are mastered, the overall grammar of Hebrew proves to be remarkably straightforward.
The text of the Hebrew Bible text is known as a “pointed text.” A pointed text includes both vowel points and accent marks. Modern Israeli newspapers and books are unpointed texts; that is, the text consists only of printed consonants. The pointed text will yield three primary vowels: /a/, /i/, and /u/. Secondary vowels would be O and E. As you learn to read Hebrew and read often, you will learn to not read the vowel points but rather utilize the natural vowel sound that comes between the consonants. By not reading the points you will increase your reading speed. For now though, learn the vowel point sounds and practice reading them in the assignments.
When learning the Hebrew aleph-bet you often find that בְּגַד כְּפַת (Begad Kefat) letters may have a “dot” called a dagesh (דָּגֵשׁ) in the letter. In three of the letters (בּ, פּ, תּ) a “hardening” or strengthening can occur in the sound of the letter. The Masoretes included a second type of דָּגֵשׁ known as the dagesh forte (strong dot). This דָּגֵשׁ doubles the consonant in which it appears.
In addition to the vowel pointing, the Masoretic pointing of the Hebrew Bible has, in addition to vowel pointing, included a symbol known as a sheva/שְׁוָא. The sheva/שְׁוָא appears as a colon (:) directly under a letter as in the word שְׁוָא itself. The sheva can either be an “e” or can designate a break for syllable pronunciation.
Hebrew is not only a consonantal language, but a contract language (linguistically we call this Synthetic). Thus, one word can have numerous letters added onto the word which results in multiple English words when translated. The most common contractions come from 6 letters that can be added as an affix to the primary word. Some of these are considered inseparable prepositions for they cannot stand alone. The name Abimelech is an acronym to aid in memorizing these prefixes.
Hebrew nouns are identified by gender (masculine or feminine), number (singular or plural), and state (absolute and construct). The word form found in the dictionary is the masculine singular absolute, or feminine singular absolute. Biblical Hebrew has no neuter. Like the H-Abimelech letters added to the front of a word, a noun’s number and gender are determined by the suffix additions.
This chapter represents the hallmark of this Grammar. Never before has a grammar presented the entire strong verb, both perfect and imperfect forms, in all seven major stems in a single chapter. Most grammars cover the material presented in this lesson in ten to twenty chapters. This lesson utilizes Hezekiah’s name as an acronym to aid in deducing the proper parsing of Hebrew verbs.
Select: All Stems, Perfect Tense, Qtil Root Strong (#2)
Select: All Stems, Imperfect Tense, Qtil Root Strong (#2)
We suggest doing these as two separate practices. Then Harmonize them once you’re finding success individually.
Hallelujah [הַלְלוּיָה<]!” Hallelujah comes from the root הָלַל meaning “praise.” The word hallelujah הַלְלוּיָה means “praise the Lord.” In the English spelling of hallelujah appear three letter L’s. Three L’s in hallelujah will remind us that the letter ה, which of course is the first letter of the word הַלְלוּיָה, has 3 particular uses. For memory purposes, we will call this the “Hallelujah Principle.”
Also contained in this lesson is a conversation about Particles. Particles are function words that must be associated with another word or phrase in order to impart meaning. Such words typically signal a salient or prominent component of the sentence.
The Joseph principle comes from the meaning of Joseph’s name “to add.” Pronouns (literally, “for a noun”) allow for the subject or object of a sentence to be referenced without repeating the actual name (proper noun). Pronouns are signaled either by independent pronouns (individual words) or by a suffixed remnant of the personal pronoun. Thus, the Name Joseph reminds us to consider what has been added to the word.
In terms of frequency, the vast majority of verbs in the Hebrew Bible are weak verbs (irregular in form) as opposed to strong verbs. Weak verbs contain within their root a weak consonant. We call these the Jonah Letters for two reasons. First, the letters that run away are the very same letters used to spell Jonah יוֹנָה. The ה in Jonah’s name represents all the guttural letters (א, ה, ח, ע, plus ל). Second, this is called the Jonah principle because like Jonah, these letters often run away when something else shows up.
Select: All Stems, Perfect Tense, Any non Strong root (not biconsonantal)
Select: All Stems, Imperfect Tense, Any non Strong root (not biconsonantal)
We suggest doing these as two separate practices. Then Harmonize them once you’re finding success individually.
The participle and infinitive are taken together due to both possessing related grammatical features. The most obvious feature of the participle and infinitive is that both share a characteristic /o/ vowel. The names of two antediluvian personalities found in early Genesis, namely (noah) נֹח and (Nimrod) נִמְרֹד, will remind us of the syllable in which the characteristic /o/ vowel appears. Participles characteristically have an /o/ vowel in the first syllable of the root, as in the name NOah נֹחַ; infinitives have the characteristic /o/ vowel in the second syllable of the root as in the name NimrOd נִמְרֹד.
Select: Qal Stem, Participle Tense, Qtil Root Strong (#2)
Select: Qal Stem, Infinitive Tense, Qtil Root Strong (#2)
Hebrew grammarians have assigned three different names for each of the three-person categories of imperatives: a third-person imperative is called a jussive, while a second and first person is called an imperative and a cohortative respectively. The three syllables in the city name of Jericho יְרֵחוֹ (Jer-i-cho) will be used to remember the three categories of imperatives. The /J/ in Jericho reminds us of the jussive; the /i/ in Jericho recalls the second-person imperative and the final syllable /cho/ reminds us of the first-person cohortative.
Select: Qal Stem, Jussive Tense, Qtil Root Strong (#2)
Select: Qal Stem, Imperative Tense, Qtil Root. Strong (#2)
Select: Qal Stem, Cohortative Tense, Qtil Root Strong (#2)
Once you are comfortable with these, expand the Stem and consider selecting Jussive, Imperative, and cohortative at the same time.
To this point we have focused on reading the Hebrew text throughout this work. But now it is time to give sense to the text so that those we minister to may understand the text. This lesson is not intended to be an all-encompassing study, but a very short primer to the hermeneutics of the Hebrew text. The theme verse for the Biblical Interpretation PhD major at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is Nehemiah 8:8. From this verse we derive 3 steps: Read the text clearly, get a sense of the text, help others understand the text. Within step 2, we consider Words, Syntax, and Discourse.
A necessary tool of the Hebrew trade is the Lexicon. Don’t fret, for with a few pointers you can understand the Lexicon! Within a Lexicon you can find a word entry much like a dictionary, but with much more data.
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, BHS, is the most commonly used edition of the Hebrew Old Testament. Within the BHS are text-critical notes which aid the reader to see any variant or disputed texts. This lesson will help you understand these notes in the margins of the BHS.
Congratulations for making it to this point!
Hebrew 2 at Oklahoma Baptist University consists of reviewing the prior grammatical principles and much more reading. Students lead the grammatical review for about 15 minutes, then the remainder of the week’s class time is spent reading. The weekly readings are pulled from the below list (alternating between Torah, Writings, and Prophets). The list is increasing in difficulty of the vocabulary. The students are required to read these passages aloud to a classmate and explain the grammatical principles they find within the verses. At the end of Hebrew 2, the students are orally tested via drawing one of these passages from a cup. The student must be able to read the Hebrew, and give a basic literal sight translation of the text. For this bonus lesson, utilize your Hebrew Reader that we suggested at the beginning of this course.
Study the Book of Amos Using a Verse-by-verse Approach to the Hebrew Text
Study the Book of Jonah Using a Verse-by-verse Approach to the Hebrew Text
Study the Book of Ruth Using a Verse-by-verse Approach to the Hebrew Text
