An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introductory text
Review: This was the text specified by my Intro. to Biblical Hebrew professor 2 years ago . I thought it was an excellent book. Our prof. discouraged us from using Lambdin's transliterations as a crutch--we began by memorizing the Hebrew alphabet. Each chapter is organized around a theme (or two), and gives you a manageable amount of vocabulary and paradigms to memorize. Two semesters were not quite enough time to finish the whole book, but we came close. The chapters have plenty of exercises and simplified Biblical passages to translate, plus our prof. supplemented these with translation exercises from the actual Hebrew Bible. It also has English-to-Hebrew excercises, which really have little value for reading the Hebrew Bible. With any foreign language book, typographical errors can be a real nuisance. I am happy to report that typos in this book are few to non-existent. I am not as happy about the recent price increase, but perhaps this is indicative of how well-accepted this book has become at universities where Hebrew is taught. Are there better books for self-study? Perhaps--I can speak only for this one. But Lambdin is very straightforward and if you work hard at the memorization part, this book will put you well on your way to reading the Hebrew Bible.