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Keep Up Your Biblical Hebrew In Two Minutes A Day, Volume 1: 365 Selections for Easy Review
If you have studied Biblical Hebrew, you know that even after two or three semesters in the classroom it can be easy to soon forget most of what you learned. After entering the working world, most of us who studied Hebrew in seminary or college find it challenging to pay much attention to the language, let alone achieve our primary goals of exegeting and meditating on the Hebrew Bible in the original Hebrew. Keep Up Your Biblical Hebrew in Two Minutes a Volume 1 has been specially designed to build on your previous study of Hebrew and help you read a small amount of the Hebrew Bible in its original language every day in an easy, manageable, and spiritually enriching way. It does not replace the need for a grammar or textbook; rather, it complements grammatical study by helping you to build a robust vocabulary and to review morphology and syntax in a completely inductive way, and without using any grammatical jargon. The page for each day • one new vocabulary word, with transliteration and meanings, and two review words from earlier in the book • the English text of a verse from the Hebrew Bible, with these three Hebrew words embedded in it, as they appear in the verse • the Hebrew text of the verse, in full and then divided into phrases or clauses, with the corresponding English phrases or clauses next to them The book presents, one day at a time and in order of descending frequency, the 365 most frequently occurring words in the Hebrew Bible (about two-thirds of the vocabulary that one typically learns in a first-year Hebrew class). Keep Up Your Biblical Hebrew in Two Minutes a Volume 1 is designed to help you reconnect with Hebrew in an easy and enriching way and to empower you with the vocabulary you need to begin again reading the Hebrew Bible in its original language.
- GenresOld Testament
370 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2017
7 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 8, 2022
I love how easy it was to sort of relearn Hebrew through this. It simply goes through the most common words, and then lists a verse each day that includes that word in the Hebrew, and the previous couple of days' words. By doing the translation, you're forced to remember the grammatical rules and such, although you won't get any of that from this book. You'll definitely need to already have learned the language at one point or at least have a Hebrew grammar/syntax on hand to look anything up if you're stuck.
The only thing I would have loved even more is if the verses were a little more devotional in nature. There are definitely days where it is, but there are plenty of days where you'll translate something like "And so Ruth went to the grain field where she saw Boaz". Perhaps a good exercise in translation, but I'm not doing much with that personally!
All in all though, a wonderfully easy way to stay engaged in the original languages. (There's also a Greek version)
The only thing I would have loved even more is if the verses were a little more devotional in nature. There are definitely days where it is, but there are plenty of days where you'll translate something like "And so Ruth went to the grain field where she saw Boaz". Perhaps a good exercise in translation, but I'm not doing much with that personally!
All in all though, a wonderfully easy way to stay engaged in the original languages. (There's also a Greek version)
December 31, 2023
Very helpful book to keep me fresh in biblical languages!
January 31, 2018
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Hendrickson Publishers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
Although I do not consider myself a Hebrew scholar, I certainly have an interest in biblical languages and this book is definitely worthwhile for those purposes [1]. This book is not designed to be a guide to Hebrew grammar and morphology, although the book certainly is written in such a way that it could serve those interests well if the reader has them and in combination with other textbooks or guides to the Hebrew language and its structure. What this book is specifically designed for, and for what it does its purpose well, is to provide a handy review of the 365 most commonly found words in the Hebrew Bible, organized in order from most to least common, and paired (except for the first two days) with two other words for the reader to review as well. This is a book, therefore, that serves as an effective guide for review of the Hebrew language as well as an aid to biblical vocabulary for about two thirds of the words one would gain from a year's worth of study in the language.
In terms of its contents, this book is pretty straightforwardly designed and focused on its aim of giving vocabulary practice. From ve (and, but) to lakad (to catch or capture), this book contains all of the Hebrew words used more than 120 times in the Hebrew Bible in a consistent format. Each day and verse are listed on the header of a page and under that is the verse along with the Hebrew spelling of the words being taught/reviewed. Underneath this there is is a particular word in Hebrew along with its transliteration, translation, its frequency as well as a Strong's Number for ease of further reading and review. Beneath this is the verse in Hebrew and then broken down into phrases with the English translation and a highlight on the words being taught or reviewed. The words being reviewed are linked back to their original occurrence in the book so that the reader can get a sense for the way that words are used and how some words have related forms with various prefixes and suffixes attached to them.
This book does a good job at providing vocabulary practice for students of a variety of levels in Hebrew who range from slight literacy to considerable expertise, and altogether the book has most of the words that a scholarly Bible like the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition would assume that a reader would understand. Those readers who studied Hebrew at seminary or in graduate school and are looking to brush up on their vocabulary and keep certain key words in mind will find a great deal to appreciate here, as this book includes everything from direct object pronouns to personal names to notable vocabulary that occur frequently in the pages of scripture. Also worthy of high praise is the way that the author manages to not only include the meaning of a word in particular instances but also to give a sense at the range of meaning that many Hebrew words have, which can make the language a bit of a challenge for those who want words to have a much more limited set of meanings. The book will likely encourage many readers to do some Bible study and to reflect on the patterns and relationships between related words of frequent occurrence.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
Although I do not consider myself a Hebrew scholar, I certainly have an interest in biblical languages and this book is definitely worthwhile for those purposes [1]. This book is not designed to be a guide to Hebrew grammar and morphology, although the book certainly is written in such a way that it could serve those interests well if the reader has them and in combination with other textbooks or guides to the Hebrew language and its structure. What this book is specifically designed for, and for what it does its purpose well, is to provide a handy review of the 365 most commonly found words in the Hebrew Bible, organized in order from most to least common, and paired (except for the first two days) with two other words for the reader to review as well. This is a book, therefore, that serves as an effective guide for review of the Hebrew language as well as an aid to biblical vocabulary for about two thirds of the words one would gain from a year's worth of study in the language.
In terms of its contents, this book is pretty straightforwardly designed and focused on its aim of giving vocabulary practice. From ve (and, but) to lakad (to catch or capture), this book contains all of the Hebrew words used more than 120 times in the Hebrew Bible in a consistent format. Each day and verse are listed on the header of a page and under that is the verse along with the Hebrew spelling of the words being taught/reviewed. Underneath this there is is a particular word in Hebrew along with its transliteration, translation, its frequency as well as a Strong's Number for ease of further reading and review. Beneath this is the verse in Hebrew and then broken down into phrases with the English translation and a highlight on the words being taught or reviewed. The words being reviewed are linked back to their original occurrence in the book so that the reader can get a sense for the way that words are used and how some words have related forms with various prefixes and suffixes attached to them.
This book does a good job at providing vocabulary practice for students of a variety of levels in Hebrew who range from slight literacy to considerable expertise, and altogether the book has most of the words that a scholarly Bible like the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition would assume that a reader would understand. Those readers who studied Hebrew at seminary or in graduate school and are looking to brush up on their vocabulary and keep certain key words in mind will find a great deal to appreciate here, as this book includes everything from direct object pronouns to personal names to notable vocabulary that occur frequently in the pages of scripture. Also worthy of high praise is the way that the author manages to not only include the meaning of a word in particular instances but also to give a sense at the range of meaning that many Hebrew words have, which can make the language a bit of a challenge for those who want words to have a much more limited set of meanings. The book will likely encourage many readers to do some Bible study and to reflect on the patterns and relationships between related words of frequent occurrence.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
December 31, 2019
This is a quick, easy way to maintain the Biblical Hebrew you so enjoyed in seminary or Hebrew School, but it is NOT a way to learn it. Very helpful with Bible verses to translate each day. I really enjoyed it. I am switching to Greek for this year, but will certainly continue with the Hebrew in the future as well as Aramaic.
February 6, 2022
A resource to help keep Biblical Hebrew fresh.
This first book begins with the most often used words. The compiler has the word used in a verse and does his best to find verses that use other words recently used.
If this kind of thing helps you, great. I found it meh personally.
This first book begins with the most often used words. The compiler has the word used in a verse and does his best to find verses that use other words recently used.
If this kind of thing helps you, great. I found it meh personally.
May 8, 2022
This was a great resource, and i’m glad there’s a volume 2. i would’ve preferred to have the Hebrew text highlighted (at the top) rather than English, which took conscious effort to reverse so as to focus on the Hebrew.
February 12, 2021
It is exactly what the title says. Except it really took only about 30 second per day. Very helpful.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews