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Hebrew NT for someone with rudimentary Hebrew


Julia Falling

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Julie, I trust that I might offer something useful to the discussion of Hebrew. I tried following the Hebrew text for Hebrews, but it simply did not develop well. I would like to offer a suggestion, if I may. I was going through the pain of my wife going through dementia, and the problems of  a broken hip from which she never recovered . At that time I began to work on the Psalms. There is nothing more helpful than taking a Psalm and translating it as best as one can do using the resources Accordance provide. I managed, through God''s grace, to do all the Psalms in about three years. Some would argue that the poetry of the Psalms is simply too hard. But when one is not striving for perfection it is a divergent matter. Of course I read the Psalms in English, but followed up my reading in Hebrew. I divided each Psalm into "strophes"—poetic paragraphs (I used ESV for a guide, but often I went my own way when I felt their paragraphs were poorly analyzed). I gave a thematic title for each strophe and then gave each Psalm a title.

 

The Psalms are divided into five books, so I divided my studies into five books. I used a book by O. Palmer Robertson entitled the "Flow of the Psalms" (an excellent study). My point in all of this is to translate as best as you can. Hebrew is best understood by actually translating it. You have the tools to do that. You will learn all the forms as you use them—qal, niphal, piel, and so on. And you will learn how these verb patterns function. It will take patience. Hebrew is confusing because it is a mid-Eastern language. But Hebrew allows more tolerance than Greek. And as you see the text the tolerances will begin to come together. The struggle you are going through everyone goes through. Julie, I have spent many years with Hebrew and have not regretted it at all. I wonder if you don't teach Hebrew in the wrong way by learning all the forms—vocabulary we need, but we grow in that as well. From all that you have said you are a good student and you are hungry to lear all you can. I began Hebrew in the earl seventies, and at 89 years old I still am learn and living it. The study I have done in the Psalms is 800 pages long, and I do not regret one minute of the time spent with it The Lord bless you and just keep on trusting Him. Harold 

Edited by Harold Hosch
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Harold – Thank you for your reply and for the encouragement!  The book by O. Palmer Robertson was used by one of our elders to teach Sunday school (before I left to teach a children's class).  Bite sized pieces of a book I love and spend time in every day really appeals to me.  I read the book through in English 2x/year and have done so for many, many years.  Reviewing what I have already learned of Hebrew could be incorporated into such a study.

 

Sounds like a plan!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I’ll just mention, since I don’t think anyone has said this yet, that the Hebrew translations of the NT are in modern Hebrew, which is not quite the same as biblical. Just to take the example given, already in Matthew 1:1 linked to above, or in John 1:1, etc., (let’s be honest, just off the top of my head I imagine the same is true in Mark 1:1) there is a construction that’s all over rabbinic and modern Hebrew but not common in the Bible. “The book of the genesis of Jesus” etc. uses the Hebrew ״של״ which is sort of like Greek “του” rather than a construct, which is what you’d expect in Biblical Hebrew.

 

That said, in my opinion learning modern Hebrew is one of the best ways to strengthen your ability to read the Bible in Hebrew, so...

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I know that Hebrew challenge well..

 

Perhaps this method may help you too? What I’ve enjoyed is taking the Greek LXX and translating in parallel to the Hebrew . I have stayed especially in Genesis when I haven’t been able to look at Hebrew in a while. I set all words to 150 and below to be highlighted for the Hebrew side. Single verse slowly ...

 

This format has helped me keep up with Hebrew and seems far less daunting as the text is familiar and ties in the familiarity of Greek.

Drew

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  • 5 months later...

We are working on a Hebrew New Testament tagged with Strong's, but there are many additional words, and several issues to deal with. The LXX also has many many additional words and names.

 

The Israel Bible Society has the tagged text on their website, so that might help you in the interim.

 

any updates here?

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any updates here?

 

The Hebrew NT with Strong's got sidelined due to some technical issues and other priorities. We will revisit it going into January. 

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hope you will sort your priorities according to my priorities. Credit Card is ready.  :)

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  • 1 month later...

It's February :)  Some updates, please

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For Julia, or anybody else wanting to learn biblical Hebrew vocabulary, I will share my MS Excel spreadsheet, systematically housing all 8,000 words in the Hebrew Tanakh.  It is sortable by frequency, status (learned (or not)), month learned, and so on, you can customize it for your own needs.

 

The spreadsheet contains rudimentary glosses for each and every one of the 8,000 words in the Bible, and you can begin to learn them this way.  But even better, for the first 1,600 words (based on frequency of use), I also imported an actual verse from the Bible, both in Hebrew and in English, with the word in question underlined (see attached).

 

This is a great way to build vocabulary, *and* see the word in actual use within the Bible.  This is developed with students in mind, and I recommend spending at least 30 minutes a day with this spreadsheet, interspersing it with time in grammars, and just reading the Hebrew Bible.  If interested, send me a personal message (anybody), and I will be glad to share this.

 

Perhaps it should be asked to Julia, what exactly is your goal?  You say, "learning Hebrew," but that isn't specific enough.  Are you just trying to learn to pronounce Hebrew?  Are you trying to parse the language?  Why the emphasis on "NT"?  These are just some questions.

 

I also recommend using Accordance' Hebrew audio files.  I haven't heard anyone mention that yet.  But again, it goes back to what exactly is your goal, or purpose.  In regards to age and other considerations, I say forget about all that, and just go for it.  None of us are promised tomorrow, regardless of age.

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Edited by TYA
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Still waiting for an official answer.

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  • 1 month later...

Now that Oxford is in, some updates please.

 

That's equal important.

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Frankly, outside of Israel this is not high priority for more than a few users. This is a modern translation for those who speak modern Hebrew. However, last week I did ask our developers to pick up the issue again. It had been sidelined due to the pressure of other tasks.

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Helen, I total agree. but sometimes such decisions make a minority happy.  So I hope you will get your blessings from many people living in the holy land for this decision. My blessing you have.

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  • 3 months later...

just a question..... 

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Great, can I make a preorder? In July I have my birthday. One wish fulfilled. 

Edited by markusvonkaenel
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