Charts of Biblical Hebrew

By Miles V. Van Pelt and Gary D. Pratico

Charts of Biblical Hebrew provides students of biblical Hebrew with a unique, highly visual study aid for learning the language.

This innovative language resource contains 130 of the most vital Hebrew-learning charts in order to accomplish two things:

1. To simplify grammatical presentation as much as possible.
2. To present the basics of biblical Hebrew as thoroughly as possible.

Featuring two color design, Charts of Biblical Hebrew is cross-referenced to Pratico and Van Pelt's Basics of Biblical Hebrew and may be used with other first-year biblical Hebrew textbooks as well. The charts are also an ideal means of review for advanced students.

ZondervanCharts are ready references for those who need the essential information at their fingertips. Accessible and highly useful, the books in this library offer clear organization and thorough summaries of issues, subjects, and topics that are key for Christian students and learners. The visuals and captions will cater to any teaching methodology, style, or program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jan 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9780310100324

Miles V. Van Pelt

Miles V. Van Pelt (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, academic dean, and director of the Summer Institute for Biblical Languages at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson. He also serves on the pastoral staff of Grace Reformed Church in Madison, Mississippi. He and his wife, Laurie, have four children.

Book preview

Preface

The charts in this ebook were developed over the course of several years in the context of classroom instruction. It may be observed that the production of these charts stemmed from one author’s desire to simplify grammatical presentation as much as possible and the other author’s desire to be as thorough as possible in the presentation of the basics of biblical Hebrew. Hopefully, these two approaches will have produced a tool that will be helpful for both students and instructors.

For beginning students, these charts will provide clear and concise summaries of important grammar concepts. Additionally, the use of color in these summaries and in the presentation of paradigms will emphasize grammar basics and important features of morphology. These charts have also been designed to assist those who teach Hebrew. They may be printed and used as overheads in the classroom or they may be imported into electronic presentation applications such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint to assist in classroom lectures and discussion. They may not, of course, be duplicated and handed out to the students. But please note that those who purchase the ebook have permission to print out any charts for personal use.

The charts in this text, in significant measure, derive from our Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar (Zondervan, 2001). The corresponding section number in the grammar book is identified in the lower left corner of each chart (e.g., BBH 1.1; BBH 1.4). Their organization and presentation in this resource, however, are designed to complement the many beginning Hebrew grammars that are now available. The 459 charts in this ebook are arranged, in general, by the grammatical categories listed in the table of contents. The selected charts that appear in the printed version are marked in this eBook version with a small book icon ( ) at the bottom center of each chart. The number following the icon indicates the page number for that chart in the printed book.

Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to Zondervan for their support in the publication of this language resource. Zondervan’s visionary commitment to providing educational resources for the study of biblical languages is commendable. Special thanks are due to Verlyn Verbrugge, Jack Kragt, and Jody DeNeef. We also thank Lee Fields, Jonathan Kline, and John Beckman for their expert assistance with this project.

This text is dedicated to those students who submit themselves to the rigors of studying biblical Hebrew recognizing the authority, the relevancy, and the sufficiency of Scripture for life and ministry.

Miles V. Van Pelt Gary D. Pratico

October 18, 2006

Alphabet

Twenty-Three Consonants

Written from Right to Left

Hebrew is written from right to left, not left to right as in English

Five Final Forms

Five Hebrew letters have final forms. When one of these letters occurs at the end of a word, it is written differently than when it appears at the beginning or in the middle of a word. The changing of a letter’s form does not change its pronunciation or transliteration.

Six Begadkephat Consonants

Six consonants have two possible pronunciations and are known as b e g a dk e ph a t consonants. To distinguish between the two pronunciations, a dot called Daghesh Lene is inserted into the consonant. The presence of Daghesh Lene indicates a hard pronunciation and its absence denotes a soft pronunciation.

Four Guttural Consonants and

Four Hebrew letters are called gutturals. They are called gutturals because they are pronounced in the back of the throat.

and sometimes

Easily Confused Letters

Hebrew consonants that look similar

Hebrew consonants that sound alike

Modern Pronunciation

The pronunciation of modern or Israeli Hebrew differs in a number of ways from what is considered to be the traditional or ancient pronunciation. Though many differences could be observed, the most notable involve the pronunciation of , , and

Vowels

Consonants with Vowels

Deuteronomy 6:5

consonantal text with no vowel pointing

consonantal text with vowel pointing

Vowel Chart 1

(Changeable) Long Vowels

Vowel Chart 2

Short Vowels

Vowel Chart 3

Reduced (Hateph) Vowels

Summary Vowel Chart: Long, Short, Reduced

Hebrew Vowel Letters 1

Vowel Letters Written with He

Vowel letters written with are used only at the end of a word, as in (law) and (he will build).

Hebrew Vowel Letters 2

Vowel Letters Written with Waw

These vowels are often referred to as unchangeable long vowels because they do not reduce or change.

Hebrew Vowel Letters 3

Vowel Letters Written with Yod

These vowels are often referred to as unchangeable long vowels because they do not reduce or