How Biblical Languages Work

A practical and easy-to-understand guide to the logical structure of both Hebrew and Greek. Ideal for biblical language students.

A practical and easy-to-understand guide to the logical structure of both Hebrew and Greek. Ideal for biblical language students.

We rarely think about the way languages work because communicating in our native tongue comes so naturally to us. The Bible was written in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—languages no modern reader can claim to have a native understanding of. A better understanding of how language works should help us understand the Bible better as we seek to discern the original intent and meaning of each biblical author. In this book, you will get a basic introduction to the field of linguistics—its history, its key concepts, its major schools of thought, and how its insights can shed light on various problems in biblical Hebrew and Greek. Numerous examples illustrate linguistic concepts, and technical terminology is clearly defined. Learn how the study of language can enhance your Bible study.

What could Greek poets or Roman historians say in their own language that would be lost in translation? After all, different languages have different personalities, and this is especially clear with languages of the ancient and medieval world. This volume celebrates six such languages - Ancient Greek, Latin, Old English, Sanskrit, Old Irish, and Biblical Hebrew - by first introducing readers to their most distinctive features, then showing how these linguistic traits play out in short excerpts from actual ancient texts. It explores, for instance, how Homer's Greek shows signs of oral composition, how Horace achieves striking poetic effects through interlaced word order in his Latin, and how the poet of Beowulf attains remarkable intensity of expression through the resources of Old English. But these are languages that have shared connections as well. Readers will see how the Sanskrit of the Rig Veda uses words that come from roots found also in English, how turns of phrase characteristic of the Hebrew Bible found their way into English, and that even as unusual a language as Old Irish still builds on common Indo-European linguistic patterns. Very few people have the opportunity to learn these languages, and they can often seem mysterious and inaccessible: drawing on a lucid and engaging writing style and with the aid of clear English translations throughout, this book aims to give all readers, whether scholars, students, or interested novices, an aesthetic appreciation of just how rich and varied they are.

Diligent study of God's Word involves engaging with it in the language it was written. Learning Greek can be a challenging experience for seminary students, but it is a critical piece of their education. Engaging with the Bible in its original language will lead to deeper understanding, new insights, and provide tools to enter into the conversation surrounding God's Word. Biblical Greek Made Simple is a one-semester textbook that teaches the basics of biblical Greek. Designed with the modern student and curriculum in mind, this grammar introduces all the essential elements of biblical Greek while also utilizing the tools and features of Logos Bible Software to help retain and enhance knowledge of Greek. Each chapter includes exercises tailored to its contents as well as additional teaching material for further advancement. Daniel Zacharias provides a solid overview of the entire biblical Greek system, while challenging students to understand how this ancient language is relevant to meaning and translation.

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we’re from and even who we want to be.

This new and fully revised edition of the A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar serves as a user-friendly and up-to-date source of information on the morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics of Biblical Hebrew verbs, nouns and other word classes (prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, modal words, negatives, focus particles, discourse markers, interrogatives and interjections). It also contains one of the most elaborate treatments of Biblical Hebrew word order yet published in a grammar. Compiled by authors with extensive experience in the teaching of Hebrew, the text is rendered both easily accessible and a fascinating examination of the language, building upon the initial publication by incorporating up-to-date developments in the study of the Hebrew Bible. This grammar will be of service both to students who have completed an introductory or intermediate course in Biblical Hebrew, and also to more advanced scholars seeking to take advantage of traditional and recent descriptions of the language that go beyond the basic morphology of Biblical Hebrew.

If you’d love to learn Greek so you can study your Bible better, then this newly revised second edition of Greek for the Rest of Us is foryou. Developed by renowned Greek teacher William Mounce, this revolutionarycrash-course on “Greek for the rest of us” will acquaint you with the essentials of the language and deepen your understanding of God’s Word. You’ll gain a sound knowledge of Greek, and you’ll learn how to use tools that will add muscle to your Bible studies. This book is divided into three major sections (Foundational Greek, Church Greek, and Functional Greek), each of which builds on the previous section and takes you to the next level. Depending on which levels you take, the book will teach you how to: Read and pronounce Greek words Learn the fundamentals of the Greek noun and verb system Conduct effective Greek word studies Learn the basics of Greek exegesis for biblical interpretation Decipher why translations are different Read better commentaries Be comfortable using reverse and traditional interlinears Understand the information displayed by biblical software

"Keep up your ability to read Biblical Aramaic with this daily guide. Each day's reading includes a verse in both Aramaic and English, two vocabulary words with transliteration and definitions, and a breakdown of the Aramaic verse into phrases with a side-by-side translation"--

Learning Biblical Hebrew focuses on helping students understand how the Hebrew language works and providing a solid grounding in Hebrew through extensive reading in the biblical text.