The First Hebrew Reader: Guided Selections from the Hebrew Bible

by Jessica W. Goldstein

A transitional text for intermediate students. Written especially for readers of The First Hebrew Primer, this text is ideal for anyone moving from grammar study to biblical translation. Includes selections ranging from easy historical narratives to more difficult poetic and philosophical passages. Each chapter presents Hebrew text with an interlinear translation, vocabulary list, verb analysis and grammatical notes. Beginning chapters are simple to encourage the novice translator. Later chapters present more complex constructions to augment the student's knowledge of Biblical Hebrew. 18 chapters. 195 pages. Hebrew and English

Genres: Language

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s hard to find a good Biblical Hebrew reader. While this one can get the job done, it is little more than a simplified version of an interlinear Bible with grammatical notes. The Hebrew inside also lacks full MT pointing, and the accompanying audio is accordingly not read with Masoretic accentuation.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to learn foreign languages by reading them (I liked Tardy's Easy Spanish Reader), and you may not have another way to go with an ancient language, although that isn't quite the case with Hebrew. I enjoyed this book a lot. It's inexpensive, it has well-chosen passages from the Torah, and it is well-organized and presented. Each passage has a word-for-word English translation, new vocabulary (relative to the text The First Hebrew Primer), tabular analysis of every verb, and grammatical notes. There is a glossary at the back. The author has simplified the vowel markings, which may be irritating to some users.