Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (1992), Paperback, 453 pages
Description
A standard, much-used textbook updated and improved Comprehensive in scope, this carefully crafted introductory grammar of Biblical Hebrew offers easy-to-understand explanations, numerous biblical illustrations, and a wide range of imaginative, biblically based exercises. The book consists of thirty-one lessons, each presenting grammatical concepts with examples and numerous exercises judiciously selected from the biblical text. These lessons are accompanied by eleven complete verb charts, an extensive vocabulary list, a glossary of grammatical terms, and a subject index. In this second edition Timothy Crawford has updated the text throughout while preserving the Page Kelley approach that has made Biblical Hebrew so popular over the years.
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member JDHomrighausen
After over a year with this book, I am glad to say I've finished it!
Advantages of Kelley's book:
I love how he combed through the Bible and found actual verses for the exercises in each chapter. It gives a feeling of authenticity to the book, and the joy of working through the Bible rather than
Disadvantages:
I thought the way he handled weak verbs was unhelpful. His book is very step-by-step: he teaches almost everything about nouns, then moves into verbs, then weak verbs. So there are 10 chapters at the end of the book that focus on weak verbs alone. Some of these chapters were unnecessary, such as certain types of weak verbs that don't lose any of their root consonants - only the vowels change, but one can intuit these pretty easily. Other chapters he overcomplicated immensely, focusing on intricate phonological rules that don't seem necessary to understand biblical Hebrew.
Given the verbs are the most difficult thing about Hebrew morphology, I feel he should have introduced them from the get-go, introducing individual weak verbs along the way and treating them as special irregular cases. Then one is dealing with strong and weak verbs while learning everything else rather than slapping them all at the end of the textbook.
Advantages of Kelley's book:
I love how he combed through the Bible and found actual verses for the exercises in each chapter. It gives a feeling of authenticity to the book, and the joy of working through the Bible rather than
Show More
fabricated textbook examples. Each chapter has a LOT of helpful exercises of many different kinds, particularly verb identification. There is also an answer key (sold separately) which makes this book ideal for self-study.Disadvantages:
I thought the way he handled weak verbs was unhelpful. His book is very step-by-step: he teaches almost everything about nouns, then moves into verbs, then weak verbs. So there are 10 chapters at the end of the book that focus on weak verbs alone. Some of these chapters were unnecessary, such as certain types of weak verbs that don't lose any of their root consonants - only the vowels change, but one can intuit these pretty easily. Other chapters he overcomplicated immensely, focusing on intricate phonological rules that don't seem necessary to understand biblical Hebrew.
Given the verbs are the most difficult thing about Hebrew morphology, I feel he should have introduced them from the get-go, introducing individual weak verbs along the way and treating them as special irregular cases. Then one is dealing with strong and weak verbs while learning everything else rather than slapping them all at the end of the textbook.
Show Less
ISBN
0802805981 / 9780802805980