In Judaism, the Hebrew Bible is traditionally called the Tanakh (תנ”ך). Tanakh is an acronym which stands for Torah (תוֹרָה), Nevi’im (נְבִיאִים), and Ketuvim (כְתוּבִים). In English these words translate to Law, Prophets, and Writings. Of course, Judaism and Christianity order and count the books of the Hebrew Bible differently. (Indeed, even within Christianity there […]
Waltke O’Connor An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax
Waltke and O’Connor’s An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax is one of the most important Biblical Hebrew reference grammars available today. It bridges the gap between introductory grammars and the much more advanced grammars of Gesenius and Joüon-Muraoka. What is Waltke-O’Connor’s An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax? Bruce Waltke and Michael O’Connor first published An […]
Jouon-Muraoka A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (J-M)
Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar has been considered the standard reference grammar in biblical studies for close to 200 years. However, nowadays Joüon-Muraoka’s A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew has come to rival Gesenius and in some ways even surpass it. Just like Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, Joüon-Muraoka’s A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew is not a tool for beginners. If […]
Gesenius Hebrew Grammar (GKC)
Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar is an essential tool for any serious biblical scholar. In its various editions, it was the most important reference grammar for almost two centuries and remains invaluable to scholars today. However, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar is not a tool for beginners. If you are just starting to learn Biblical Hebrew, you should use […]
English Translations of the Hebrew Bible
In biblical studies it is absolutely essential to have a copy of the bible in Hebrew. After all, how can you read the Bible in Hebrew if you don’t actually have a copy of the Hebrew text? The standard scholarly edition of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew is BHS. However, within biblical studies it is […]
A Reader’s Hebrew Bible
For beginning and early intermediate biblical scholars, one of the more useful tools for studying the Hebrew Bible is A Reader’s Hebrew Bible, edited by A. Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith. A Reader’s Hebrew Bible is not an interlinear bible, but a complete version of the Hebrew Bible that happens to contain glosses […]
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS)
If you could only have one resource for biblical studies, BHS is it. In fact, if you are on this website, you probably already own a copy. What is BHS? BHS, or as it is known by its full name, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, is the most important version of the Hebrew Bible available today. It […]
Organized by Root or Spelling?
What makes a better Hebrew Bible resource: one organized by root or by spelling? In contrast to older resources, most dictionaries and concordances coming out in biblical studies for the past 50 years have been organized purely alphabetically, rather than by the root. What does it mean exactly that a resource is organized by root […]