Biblical Languages

Learning the original languages is the single most basic and significant step anyone can take to read and study the Bible effectively. Although it seems intimidating to learn new languages, it is easier than it seems and pays huge dividends. It is also a step that children can take. In Jewish synagogues, boys and often girls too learn to read the Hebrew Bible in its original language, culminating in public readings at their bar- or bat-mitzvah. My real hope is that someday Christian churches start to take Sunday School and the value they place on the Bible more seriously by introducing Hebrew and Greek. For homeschoolers and private Christian schools, this is really a no-brainer. Children acquire languages much easier than adults and, in doing so, also expand and develop their intellect. Studies have shown that learning languages can raise overall intelligence. Imagine a new generation of Christians with an unparalleled level of biblical literacy, capable of reading the Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek before heading to the university! In scouring the web, I even discovered that it is an effective way to discipline children. Instead of timeouts or spankings, make them parse Hebrew or Greek verbs! For teaching biblical Greek to children, I have come across a three year course that looks solid, though I have not been able to evaluate it personally yet:

Elementary Greek: Koine for Beginners, Year One Course by Christine Gatchell and Ian & Abby Bogost

Elementary Greek: Koine for Beginners, Year Two Course by Christine Gatchell and Ian & Abby Bogost

Elementary Greek: Koine for Beginners, Year Three Course by Christine Gatchell and Ian & Abby Bogost

Sadly, I have not found anything comparable for Biblical Hebrew. Still, all is not lost, I strongly recommend using Rosetta Stone to learn related modern languages. I tried a Rosetta Stone demo quite some time ago and already then, it worked very well. Although it seems pricey, it is less than a semester's tuition, has proven to produce better results, and is appropriate for children (K-12) and adults. Rosetta Stone has Homeschool Editions of modern Greek, modern Hebrew, and Latin:

Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition: Greek Levels 1, 2, & 3 by Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition: Hebrew Levels 1, 2, & 3 by Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition: Latin Levels 1, 2, & 3 by Rosetta Stone

Modern Greek speakers will find themselves able to learn biblical Greek fairly easily with a grader reader and some help with vocabulary. I recommend:

Koine Greek Reader by Rodney Decker

iVocab Biblical Greek 2.0 by J. Michael Thigpen & David Hoffeditz

iVocab Biblical Greek: Advanced Vocabulary by Frequency by J. Michael Thigpen & David Hoffeditz

Modern Hebrew speakers can also make the transition to biblical Hebrew fairly smoothly, though there are some significant grammatical rules that are different. I recommend:

Biblical Hebrew for Students of Modern Israeli Hebrew by Marc Zvi Brettler

iVocab Biblical Hebrew 2.0 by J. Michael Thigpen & David Hoffeditz

iVocab Biblical Hebrew: Advanced Vocabulary by Frequency by J. Michael Thigpen & David Hoffeditz

If, however, you are ready to jump right in and learn the biblical languages, the market is now saturated with options. For biblical Greek, the standard is the Basics of Biblical Greek series. Conybeare's Grammar still appears to be the standard for Septuagint Greek.

For learning biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, I recommend starting with Kittel, Hoffer, & Wright's Biblical Hebrew, especially if you want to move quickly into translation. The inductive approach of the Kittel, Hoffer, & Wright text is largely unmatched by any other textbook. I have a difficult time with languages, yet I found this text very satisfying. Readings in Biblical Hebrew is an excellent way to continue with more translations. As it is organized by genres, it is also a helpful introduction to the different forms of biblical Hebrew. On the downside though, you will not have especially strong grammatical knowledge after working through these texts. To develop your grammar, the standard is really still Lambdin's An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. I used this text in a directed study to improve my Hebrew grammar. I would have found it tremendously intimidating as a first year text but it made an excellent second year text. Lambdin is very thorough. The Basics of Biblical Hebrew series, with its many supplements, is probably the most comparable to Lambdin and much more student-friendly. In contrast to the other resources, it is explicitly Christian. To add Aramaic, Greenspahn's Introduction to Aramaic is an excellent choice, which assumes and builds on previous knowledge of biblical Hebrew.

There are many, many more excellent textbooks as well as advanced grammars for biblical Hebrew and Aramaic and other cognate languages. Cook and Holmstedt have put their textbook, Biblical Hebrew: A Student Grammar, online. For more on textbooks and reference grammars, see my Original Languages page or visit Tyler Williams' annotated guides to Learning Biblical Hebrew and Mastering Biblical Hebrew. There are also modern Hebrew and biblical Hebrew online courses through eteacher, with the option to earn credit from Hebrew University in Israel. If, however, you are a person who can not or does not want to invest the time necessary to learn and read biblical Hebrew and Greek, Zondervan publishes two volumes that will, at least, provide you with a working knowledge of the language so that you can make better use of lexicons, commentaries, and other academic resources:

Greek for the Rest of Us: Using Greek Tools without Mastering Biblical Greek by William Mounce

Hebrew for the Rest of Us: Using Hebrew Tools without Mastering Biblical Hebrew by Lee M. Fields

Biblical Poetics

In the last several years, many prominent Jewish and Christian scholars have written great books on the basics of Bible reading. In engaging and accessible ways, these books provide general overviews of the challenges of reading the Bible and strategies to help improve Bible reading. Most of these books do not require knowledge of the original languages. For Christians, the series of "How to Read the Bible" books by Zondervan are perfect for private use or Bible studies:

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee

How to Read the Bible Book by Book by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

How to Read the Bible as Literature and Get More Out of It by Leland Ryken

Still, while these books contain solid information that will be new to many people, Zondervan's "How to Read the Bible" series is not going to challenge most readers to step outside their comfort zone and truly start looking at the Bible in a much different, more intellectually rigorous way. For a more challenging read, and one that will ruffle more feathers, I recommend:

How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature — Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference, and What It Means for Faith Today by Stephen McKenzie

Marc Zvi Brettler and James Kugel, two outstanding Jewish scholars, have also made excellent contributions on the basics of reading the Hebrew Bible, though Kugel's is not a short read by any measure at over 800 pages:

How to Read the Bible: Translating the Culture of the Bible by Marc Zvi Brettler

How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by James Kugel

All the "How to Read the Bible" books address the issues of genre and culture that are so vital to reading and studying the Bible effectively. They will help any meaningful seeker, student, and scholar to gain a deeper appreciation of those issues. When it comes to the Hebrew Bible, however, there are additional books that will help cultivate important analytical skills to read, understand, and interpret biblical narrative and poetry:

Reading Biblical Narrative by J.P. Fokkelman	Reading Biblical Poetry by J.P. Fokkelman
The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter	The Art of Biblical Poetry by Robert Alter

After working through one or two of the "How to Read the Bible" books and either the Alter or Fokkelman books, there are certainly many more outstanding resources to delve even deeper into biblical poetics. In particular, I recommend two highly influential and foundational books that will significantly advance your ability to read and study the Bible effectively:

Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel by Michael Fishbane

The Poetics of Biblical Narrative by Meir Sternberg

Biblical interpretation, however, can not be divorced from its historical and literary contexts. It is, therefore, important to develop a solid background in the archaeology, history, and literature of the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world, for which I have recommended resources in Step Four: History Behind the Bible. If you are interested in further developing your skills and knowledge in reading and studying the Bible, move to Step Five: History of the Bible.