Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the Old Testament

By H. H. Hardy II and Matthew McAffee

Learning any language is no small task, not least one that sounds as unusual as Hebrew does to most English speakers’ ears. Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew primarily aims to equip second-year grammar students of biblical Hebrew to read the Hebrew Scriptures. Using a variety of linguistic approaches, H. H. Hardy II and Matthew McAffee offer a comprehensive and up-to-date textbook for professors and students.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BH Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9781462776740

Book preview

Table of Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Transliteration

Linguistic Abbreviations

Part A

Chapter 1: Hebrew Language

1.1 Going Deeper with Hebrew Language

1.2 Chapter Objectives

1.3 Introduction

1.4 Northwest Semitic Setting

1.4.1 Genetic Relationship of Hebrew within Semitic

1.4.2 The Northwest Semitic Languages and their Scripts

1.5 Development of Biblical Hebrew through Time

1.6 Text of the Hebrew Bible

1.6.1 Ancient Scripture and the Modern Bible

1.6.2 The History of the Hebrew Bible

1.6.3 Reading Traditions

Chapter 2: Retrieving the Text of the Hebrew Bible

2.1 Going Deeper with the Text of the Hebrew Bible

2.2 The Primary Sources for Hebrew Bible Textual Criticism

2.3 Direct Witnesses of the Hebrew Manuscripts

2.3.1 Masoretic Text

2.3.2 Samaritan Pentateuch

2.3.3 Dead Sea Scrolls

2.3.3.1 Dead Sea Scrolls Manuscripts from Qumran

2.3.3.2 Dead Sea Scroll Manuscripts from Other Sites

2.3.3.3 Textual Changes in the Dead Sea Scrolls

2.4 Indirect Evidence of the Ancient Versions

2.4.1 Greek Versions

2.4.1.1 The Old Greek Translations

2.4.1.2 Old Greek as Translation

2.4.1.3 The Old Greek and the Text of the Hebrew Bible

2.4.1.4 Later Greek Versions

2.4.2 Latin Vulgate

2.4.3 Syriac Peshitta

2.4.4 Aramaic Targums

2.5 The Use of Ancient Versions in Textual Criticism

Part B

Chapter 3: The Verbal System

3.1 Going Deeper with Hebrew Verbs

3.2 Chapter Objectives

3.3 Introduction

3.4 Verb Morphology

3.4.1 Verbal Roots

3.4.2 Person, Gender, and Number

3.5 Semantic Roles

3.6 Types of Semantic Situations

3.6.1 Grammatical Voice

3.6.2 Dynamism

3.6.3 Completion and Valency

3.6.4 Causation

3.6.5 Plurality

3.7 Qal Stem

3.7.1 Qal Morphosemantics

3.7.2 Qal Transitivity and Valency

3.7.3 Qal Denominative

3.8 Qal Passive

3.9 Exercises

Chapter 4: Verbal Stems

4.1 Going Deeper with Verb Stems

4.2 Chapter Objectives

4.3 Introduction

4.4 Semitic Context

4.5 Syntactic-Semantic Features of Verbs

4.6 Derived Stems

4.6.1 Verb Stems in the Semitic Context

4.6.2 Hebrew Stem Distribution

4.6.3 Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics of the Derived Stems

4.7 Niphal Stem

4.7.1 Morphology of the Niphal

4.7.2 Semantics of the Niphal

4.7.2.1 Anticausative

4.7.2.2 Middle

4.7.2.3 Passive

4.7.2.4 Ingressive (Inchoative)

4.7.2.5 Reciprocal

4.7.2.6 Reflexive

4.7.2.7 Equivalent to the Qal

4.8 Piel/Pual/Hitpael Stems

4.8.1 Morphology of the Piel

4.8.2 Semantics of the Piel

4.8.2.1 Intensive Framework of the Piel

4.8.2.2 Factitive Framework of the Piel

4.8.2.3 Transitivity and Verbal Plurality Framework of the Piel

4.8.3 Pual: Morphology and Semantics

4.8.4 Hitpael: Morphosemantics

4.9 Hiphil/Hophal Stems

4.9.1 Morphology of the Hiphil

4.9.2 The Semantics of the Hiphil

4.9.3 The Morphology of the Hophal

4.9.4 The Semantics of the Hophal

4.10 Other Stems: Pilpel, Poel, Polel, and So On

4.10.1 Morphology

4.10.2 Semantics

4.11 Exercises

Chapter 5: Prefix and Suffix Conjugations

5.1 Going Deeper with Verb Conjugations

5.2 Chapter Objective

5.3 Introduction

5.4 Tense-Aspect and Hebrew Conjugations

5.4.1 Definition of Tense and Aspect

5.4.2 Tense-Based Approach

5.4.3 Aspect-Based Approach

5.4.4 Assessment

5.5 Modality

5.6 Suffix Conjugation

5.6.1 Historical Development

5.6.2 Meaning and Function

5.6.2.1 Narrative Uses

5.6.2.2 Discourse Uses

5.6.2.3 Prophetic Future

5.6.2.4 Irrealis Uses

5.6.2.5 Special Uses

5.7 Prefix Conjugation

5.7.1 Historical Development

5.7.2 Meaning and Function

5.7.2.1 Imperfective Uses

5.7.2.2 Modal Uses

5.7.2.3 Other Uses

5.8 WAw Conjugations

5.8.1 Waw + Prefix Conjugation

5.8.2 Waw + Suffix Conjugation

5.8.3 Verbal Sequences Involving wayyiqtol, wəqātal, and wəyiqtol

5.9 Exercises

Chapter 6: Volitives

6.1 Going Deeper with Volitives

6.2 Chapter Objectives

6.3 Introduction

6.4 Volitives and Social Status

6.5 The Imperative

6.5.1 Morphology and Historical Development

6.5.2 Use of the Imperative

6.5.3 The Long Imperative

6.6 The Jussive

6.6.1 Morphology and Historical Development

6.6.2 Non-Volitive Shortened Forms

6.6.3 Use of the Second-Person Jussive

6.6.4 Use of the Third-Person Jussive

6.7 The Cohortative

6.7.1 Morphology and Historical Development

6.7.2 Use of the Cohortative

6.8 The Particle נָא

6.9 Exercises

Part C

Chapter 7: Nouns and Noun Phrases

7.1 Going Deeper with Nouns

7.2 Chapter Objectives

7.3 Introduction

7.4 Noun Phrases

7.4.1 Types of Noun Phrases

7.4.2 Functions of Noun Phrases

7.5 Noun Classes

7.5.1 Proper and Common Nouns

7.5.2 Concrete and Abstract Nouns

7.5.3 Count and Noncount Nouns

7.5.4 Individuative and Collective Nouns

7.6 Noun Morphology

7.6.1 Noun Derivation

7.6.1.1 Noun Patterns

7.6.1.2 Noun Affixes

7.6.2 Noun Inflection

7.6.2.1 Gender

7.6.2.2 Number

7.6.2.3 State

7.7 Construct Phrase

7.8 Apposition

7.8.1 Semantics of Apposition

7.8.2 Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Relatives

7.9 Determiners

7.9.1 Definiteness

7.9.2 Demonstratives

7.9.2.1 Demonstrative Personal Deixis

7.9.2.2 Demonstrative Discourse Deixis

7.9.2.3 Locative Adverbs

7.9.3 Quantifiers

7.9.4 Numerals

7.9.4.1 Cardinal Numbers

7.9.4.2 Ordinal Numbers

7.9.4.3 Fractions

7.9.4.4 Multipliers

7.9.4.5 Distributives

7.9.5 Measure Words

7.10 Exercises

Chapter 8: Pronouns, Adjectives, and Participles

8.1 Going Deeper with Participles

8.2 Chapter Objectives

8.3 Introduction

8.4 Pronouns

8.4.1 Morphology and Usage

8.4.2 Independent Pronouns and Verbless Clauses

8.5 Adjectives

8.5.1 Gender and Number

8.5.2 Adjectival Patterns

8.5.3 Definiteness

8.5.4 Adjectival Syntax

8.5.4.1 Attributive

8.5.4.2 Substantive

8.5.4.3 Predicate

8.5.4.4 Comparative

8.5.4.5 Superlative

8.5.4.6 Intensification (with הָלַךְ)

8.5.5 Adjectives and Nouns: Syntactical Distinctions

8.6 Participles and Verbal Adjectives

8.6.1 Morphology

8.6.2 Semantics

8.6.3 Syntactical Function

8.6.3.1 Attributive

8.6.3.2 Substantive

8.6.3.3 Predicate

8.7 Adverbial Adjectives

8.8 Exercises

Chapter 9: Infinitives and Temporal Clauses

9.1 Going Deeper with Infinitives

9.2 Chapter Objectives

9.3 Introduction

9.4 Infinitive Morphology

9.4.1 Qal Infinitive Construct

9.4.2 Qal Infinitive Absolute

9.4.3 Infinitive Morphology and the Derived Stems

9.5 Infinitive Construct

9.5.1 Infinitive Construct and Derived Nouns

9.5.2 Infinitive Construct as a Nonfinite Verb

9.5.3 Nominalization of the Infinitive Construct

9.5.3.1 Irrealis Usages

9.5.3.2 Temporal Usages

9.6 Infinitive Absolute

9.6.1 Nominal Predicate Uses

9.6.2 Verbal Predicate Uses

9.7 Exercises

Chapter 10: Conjunctions, Adverbs, and Other Particles

10.1 Going Deeper with Particles

10.2 Chapter Objectives

10.3 Introduction

10.4 Conjunctions

10.4.1 Coordination

10.4.1.1 Coordinator -וְ

10.4.1.2 Coordinator אוֹ

10.4.1.3 Correlatives

10.4.1.4 Other Conjunctions

10.4.2 Subordination

10.4.2.1 Relativizer

10.4.2.2 Complementizer

10.4.2.3 Adverbializer

10.4.2.4 Clausal Subordination

10.5 Adverbs

10.5.1 Syntax of Adverbs

10.5.2 Adverbial Semantic Functions

10.5.2.1 Space

10.5.2.2 Time

10.5.2.3 Process

10.5.2.4 Contingency

10.5.2.5 Association

10.5.2.6 Modality

10.5.2.7 Quantity

10.6 Conjunctive Adverbs

10.6.1 Result

10.6.2 Addition

10.6.3 Contrast

10.7 Negations

 לֹא 10.7.1

 אֵין 10.7.2

 (לְ) בִלְתִּי 10.7.3

 אַל 10.7.4

 אֶ֫פֶס 10.7.5

10.8 Questions

10.9 Reaction Signals

10.9.1 Joy (הֶאָח)

10.9.2 Sorrow (אֲהָהּ)

10.9.3 Silence (הַס)

10.9.4 Desperation (בִּי)

10.9.5 Entreaty (נָא)

10.9.6 Approval (אָמֵן)

10.9.7 Disapproval (חָלִ֫ילָה)

10.9.8 Warning (אוֹי or הוֹי)

10.9.9 Shock (אָנָּא)

10.9.10 Surprise (רְאֵה or הִנֶּה)

10.10 Existentials

10.11 Object Markers

10.12 Exercises

Chapter 11: Prepositions

11.1 Going Deeper with Prepositions

11.2 Chapter Objectives

11.3 Introduction

11.4 Prepositions

11.4.1 Preposition Morphology

11.4.1.1 Primary Prepositions

11.4.1.2 Secondary Prepositions

11.4.1.3 Multiword Prepositions

11.4.2 Preposition Syntax

11.4.3 Preposition Semantics

11.4.3.1 Semantic Functions of Prepositions by Relationship Type

11.4.3.2 Motion in Space

11.4.3.3 Spatial Relations of Prepositions

11.4.3.4 Temporal Relations of Prepositions

11.4.3.5 Logical Relations of Prepositions

11.5 Exercises

Guided Lesson א

Guided Lesson ב

Guided Lesson ג

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Bibliography

Name Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Hardy and McAffee have smartly employed a textbook-style format to produce a ­second-year grammar for students of biblical Hebrew. Rather than using the fully deductive or strictly inductive methods most often employed in a second year of instruction, they have successfully navigated to a mediating approach, giving us a pedagogically helpful textbook for the classroom. The volume can be used to good effect with intermediate students, but it also provides abundant and up-to-date discussion of many technical details that often seem baffling to students. This volume will immediately become a classic in the list of resources available to students of the Old Testament.

—Bill T. Arnold, Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation, Asbury Theological Seminary

"In Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew, Hardy and McAffee provide a well-researched study of the grammar and syntax of the Hebrew Bible. In addition, they introduce students to the history of the Hebrew language and to the Masoretic text. This volume will be an excellent next step for students who have completed their study of the basics of Hebrew."

—Mark Futato, Robert L. Maclelland Professor of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary

"In Going Deeper, McAffee and Hardy have done a great service for the study of biblical Hebrew, combining solid research and thoughtful pedagogy. Finding a textbook that aids both teacher and student is a rare jewel, and this volume is a treasure trove—with grammar explanations, integrated translation exercises, vocabulary, and guided lessons on textual criticism, semantics, and syntactical analysis. In my teaching, this comprehensive resource will always be close at hand!"

—Brian P. Gault, professor of Old Testament, Dallas Theological Seminary

"In Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew, Hardy and McAffee present fresh, pedagogically sensitive lessons in a manner applicable to all interested readers yet nuanced for Christians desirous of applying the idiosyncratic points of the biblical text to their lives. This volume creatively embodies the transitional space between beginner grammars and advanced texts that sometimes relate frivolous minutiae. Hardy and McAffee have greatly served the academy and the church by producing a scholarly yet accessible resource for all those serious about going deeper with biblical Hebrew!"

—Dominick S. Hernández, associate professor of Old Testament and Semitics, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

"Both practically accessible and linguistically rigorous, Hardy and McAffee’s valuable resource meets the needs of students and professors. Though not shying away from the technical details, the authors carefully balance the technical semantic information with the important pragmatic implications. Using famously complex passages (such as the Nephilim) as examples both draws students in and illustrates the importance of the issues. Overall, the authors make the technical relatable and, most of all, practical to second-year Hebrew students."

—JoAnna M. Hoyt, associate professor of applied linguistics, Dallas International University

"Hardy and McAffee give students a gift. This book offers accessible, linguistically informed details of biblical Hebrew. It brings students in contact with the rich complexity of the language. Yet Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew is a steady guide. Hardy and McAffee demonstrate their pedagogical acumen throughout the book, particularly in their directed lessons on semantics and syntax. This volume is a welcome addition for students and professors alike."

—Ethan C. Jones, associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Don and Helen Bryant Chair of Old Testament, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

"Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew combines traditional grammatical methods with the best of current cognitive linguistic approaches to illustrate, convincingly and repeatedly, how a deeper, more mature grasp of Hebrew grammar enriches our understanding of God’s Word. Through clear explanations and copious examples, Hardy and McAffee demonstrate in practical terms the relationship between grammar, exegesis, and application. If you have studied biblical Hebrew, get this book, and take your interpretive skills to the next level."

—Catherine L. McDowell, associate professor of Old Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

"Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew is a detailed exposition of biblical Hebrew intended for an intermediate or advanced seminary student. By focusing attention on the intricate details of Hebrew—phonological, morphological, syntactic, discourse, text-critical, and especially semantic —the authors integrate an intimate knowledge of the meaning-making processes of the Hebrew text with its exegetical value within a Christian context."

—Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé and Jacobus A. Naudé, senior professors of Hebrew, University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa)

"Hardy and McAffee’s Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew is an outstanding resource for teaching intermediate biblical Hebrew grammar. It presents grammatical concepts in an accessible way while being well-grounded in both linguistic and comparative Semitic scholarship. Along the way, Hardy and McAffee give significant attention to exegesis and how knowledge of biblical Hebrew grammar can be applied practically to the biblical text. Because of these distinctives, this volume is arguably the most useful and effective intermediate biblical Hebrew teaching grammar on the market today. Both instructors and students will profit greatly from it."

—Benjamin J. Noonan, associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Columbia International University

"One of the main reasons Hebrew students fail to progress in long-term proficiency is due to the fact that the path from beginning Hebrew to using more advanced resources is largely uncharted and daunting. Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew now provides students with a guided tour of the more advanced wonders of biblical Hebrew. The authors are to be commended for their excellent work, and students will be grateful for this tremendous resource as it ‘deepens’ their ability to read, study, and teach the Old Testament."

—Miles V. Van Pelt, Alan Hayes Belcher, Jr. Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, and director, Summer Institute for Biblical Languages, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson

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Going Deeper with Biblical Hebrew:

An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the Old Testament.

Copyright © 2024 by H. H. Hardy II and Matthew McAffee

Published by B&H Academic®

Brentwood, Tennessee

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4627-7674-0

Dewey Decimal Classification: 492.4

Subject Heading: HEBREW LANGUAGE--GRAMMAR / BIBLE. O. T.--LANGUAGE, STYLE / HEBREW LANGUAGE--GLOSSARIES, VOCABULARIES, ETC.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Also cited briefly:

Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

International Standard Version (ISV) Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.

King James Version (KJV) (public domain)

New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman and Todd and Les Editions du Cer.

New King James Version® (NKJV). Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV), copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change.

Cover design by B&H Publishing Group. Cover Hebrew sourced from clu/iStock. Interior Egyptian Hieroglyphs by BelayaMedvedica/shutterstock.

To our parents,

Rocky and Joan Hardy

Oral and Susan McAffee

Preface

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כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשתו

Assuredly the word is exceedingly close to you—even in your mouth and your heart—so that you might do it.

—Deuteronomy 30:14

Introduction

The Word of God speaks, acts, and lives. Little should invigorate the believer more. Divine expression spoke creation into existence and sustains the world today. That same word is light to a world full of darkness and brings hope to the oppressed, burdened, marginalized, and weary. His verbal acts fashion, uphold, liberate, and restore.

The Israelites knew of God’s pronouncement firsthand. Those receiving it were declared the children of God. The decree thundered from Sinai as a dark cloud encompassed it. The Israelites heard the word on the lips of Yahweh’s chosen servants. They saw it written on tablets and stone monuments. They listened as it was recited from inscribed scrolls. They learned, memorized, and invoked it. They repeated it to their children (Deut 6:4–9). They voiced it every moment of their lives. The word marked their entrances and their exits. It reverberated at nightfall and intoned their waking at first light. It formed who they were—their work and rest, their prayers and worship, their society and humanity.

The word is intended to be spoken aloud and heard. The sacred Scriptures do not reside as static letters merely inked on a page and stored in a sacrosanct box. One of the earliest descriptions is מִקְרָא (miqra). It is the word for oral reading in Neh 8:8. This word shares a root with the verb קרא proclaim, read aloud and is connected to the notion of convocation as part of the religious service enacted during an assembly (see, e.g., Deut 31:11 and Josh 8:34–35). While the word of God could be inscripturated (i.e., written), Scriptures require oration! No evidence exists for silent reading in ancient Judaism.

The word is never meant to be far off and unknowable. As Deut 30:14 says, it is not distant—that is foreign and unfamiliar—but resides in your mouth and on your heart. The spoken word inhabits the believer. The mouth evokes metaphors for speaking and action, and the heart educes the will and desires. This embodied word, we are told, enacts doing. The word is meant to be spoken, understood, and lived!

This notion and practice of holding the word near is echoed in the Christian tradition. The word of God is incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. His words and work are the lived Word. The word made alive. Love and sacrifice covenant to create new life. And Christians speak of God’s indwelling presence in their lives. The apostle Paul urges, Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you (Col 3:16). Christians savor the very word of God. But all too often we treat it as mundane or foreign. We have not taken seriously the admonition to abide in the word. Rather it is unknown, distant, and dead. May we not be satisfied with such complacency. Let us turn to the words of light (Ps 119:130) and the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

What does it mean to embody the Scriptures? Deuteronomy provides the pattern. God’s word must be in our mouths and in our hearts. This practice certainly looks different for different folks. It might mean listening and repeating the words if you cannot read. You may recite the Scriptures in morning and evening prayer. It could entail joining others in a Bible study. And it might mean learning to read, speak, and meditate on Hebrew. One approach exercised from the earliest days of the synagogue and taken up by the early church was the daily and weekly public reading and praying of the Scriptures. Eugene Peterson described his entire ministry simply as Scripture and prayer, prayer and Scripture.¹ These simple means of grace have always embodied the word of God for believers.

The Purpose of This Book

This book is intended to help Christians read the Hebrew Scriptures. Not everyone will have the time, opportunity, and ability to undertake such a virtuous task. For those who try, however, they need all the help they can get! Learning any language is no small task—not least one that sounds as unusual as Hebrew does to most English speakers’ ears. Yet, sometimes in our search for knowledge and truth, we must set our sights on the impossible.

The primary focus of this text is grammar and interpretation. The grammatical descriptions appraise both modern linguistic methods and long-held approaches to the language. Historical, functional, and cognitive linguistic approaches are prominent in the explanations. The conclusions of other linguistic methodologies are beneficial and variously discussed, but ultimately these predilections drive our assessment.

While the grammatical aspects reflect linguistic notions shared by believers and nonbelievers alike, the exegetical application is distinctly Christian. We have not aimed to offend in this outcome. And we hope that this work will be valuable for anyone interested in reading Hebrew. Nevertheless, we would consider it dishonest to fain ignorance of our own religious reading tradition and interpretive proclivi­ties. Perhaps this approach is most evident in the introductory Going Deeper sections of each chapter and in the concluding and supplemental materials (Guided Lessons and Appendix A: Continuing with Hebrew). In these sections we explore acutely what it would mean for Christians to benefit from the study of the Hebrew Scriptures as God’s Word.

Who Will Benefit?

Our primary audience includes students of Hebrew who have completed an introductory grammar. A customary pattern is for a student to begin with a one-year course in Hebrew taught from one of many entry-level textbooks currently availa­ble.² For many students, thirty weeks of intense memorization of forms, vocabulary, and grammatical rules allow for a rudimentary ability to read from the Hebrew Bible. The student might even have read a short book or narrative sequence, such as Ruth, Jonah, the Abrahamic narratives, or the Joseph story.

Quickly, however, most students find that the grammar learned in these short weeks of instruction becomes insufficient for the task of reading. They encounter unfamiliar words and constructions. Like a child learning to color with crayons, the basic skills of drawing and applying color to a page are the first steps. A grand universe of methods and visual mediums can be used to represent the world. The coloring book page may be displayed proudly on a parent’s refrigerator, but it is a far cry from the gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago or the Musée d’Orsay. Students realize that reading Hebrew is considerably more complicated than merely mastering the presentation of a beginning grammar.

This stark and hard reality produces a quandary for even seasoned instructors. What comes next after working through an introductory textbook? Two basic approaches are common. In classic pedagogical fashion, they follow inductive and deductive methodological preferences. The first approach gives preference to reading texts. You might read a lot of texts or read texts in their smallest detail. The grammatical particulars are discussed as you go. From time to time, you review the beginning grammar or perhaps look at sections of a reference grammar, but most of the student’s knowledge is formed through on-the-job training. The second approach focuses on more advanced grammars. The fine-grained details are presented and reviewed. Students examine closely the examples provided in the discussion. Then they apply that knowledge of grammar as they read individual texts.

This resource attempts to offer a different, mediating approach. We continue the pedagogical pattern of a beginning textbook but present the material at an intermediate (or, at times, admittedly advanced) level. We do not attempt to give full coverage to introductory matters; instead, we assume the student has some familiarity with basic morphology, vocabulary, and syntax. In so doing, we move from the sterile and controlled environment of beginning Hebrew grammar to the wily and uncalibrated world of the language found in the Hebrew Bible. For the most part, our discussions are focused on general formations of grammar instead of itemized representations of all formal and functional variations. They guide the student into the next steps required to read more and more.

For the teacher interested in trying this approach, we suggest several ways to use the material.

How to Use This Material

This volume contains eleven chapters, three guided lessons, and four appendices. The material can be divided in several ways and effectively used in various instruc­tional settings. The two most common classroom formats are a one semester course or two semester courses. In these organizations, a semester represents fifteen instructional sessions or weeks.

For a one semester course in intermediate Hebrew, the entire book can be assigned. To do this, the longest chapter may be partitioned into two parts: nouns (§7.1–8) and determiners with numerals (§7.9–10). In twelve weeks, the teacher could cover the other eleven chapters, and three weeks could be dedicated to the Guided Lessons. We suggest spreading these lessons throughout the semester and assigning an exegetical exercise related to each lesson. The assignments could be integrated into a larger exegetical paper or be assigned as independent projects. This strategy has been very effective in our own classes. It has the added benefit of allowing for some distance between the assessments rather than crowding all three at the end of the term.

For a year-long format (or two semesters), each chapter could be read over two weeks or paired with other readings. In the first semester, we would recommend covering Parts A and B (chapters 1–6), and the first Guided Lesson (text criticism). These chapters focus on understanding the text of the Hebrew Bible and the complicated issues related to Hebrew finite verbs. The second semester would comprise Part C (chapters 6–11) and the other two Guided Lessons (lexical and syntactic analyses).

Chapter Descriptions

This collaborative project stands as a testament to the fact that the body is not one part but many (1 Cor 12:14). Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 9 were drafted and written jointly by both authors. McAffee was the primary author of chapters 5, 6, and 8. Hardy authored chapters 7, 10, and 11. All the chapters were greatly improved through years of collaboration and discussion. John Meade graciously agreed to contribute the material on the ancient sources (chapter 2) and Guided Lesson א: Textual Criticism. The final two exegetical exercises (Guided Lesson ב and ­Guided Lesson ג) represent the collaborative efforts of the two main authors. The guided lessons direct students into the vast worlds of textual criticism, word studies, and syntactic analysis. The three lessons supplement the grammatical chapters with detailed descriptions, strategies, guidelines, and models of how to accomplish important exegetical tasks. Four appendices provide additional resources for students: how to continue learning Hebrew beyond this textbook (Appendix A), vocabulary lists including words occurring 40× or more (Appendix B), an English to Hebrew catalogue (Appendix C), and a glossary of the underlined grammatical terms (Appendix D).

Chapter Breakdown

Each chapter begins with a section highlighting a significant and expanded example of the grammar discussed. These sections are labeled Going Deeper. The grammar of each topic is explained with biblical examples. Guided practice exercises and suggested readings end chapters 3–11.

Going Deeper

These brief discussions focus on a particular text and its interpretation. Each example is meant to connect with the grammar covered in the chapter.

Discussion

The arrangement of each chapter varies depending on the topic. Generally, the discussion moves from issues of morphology to syntax and pragmatics. Our goal is to present a broad description of the grammatical topic, represent apposite positions, and specify our understanding. We fully recognize that not every reader, teacher, or scholar will agree with our decisions, assumptions, or theoretical frameworks. At times, the two authors do not completely agree on these matters, and we frequently modified our own views while researching these topics. Ultimately, we intended to represent accurately the scholarly conversation and present clearly, albeit briefly, our conclusions.

Each grammatical topic is accompanied by Hebrew examples and translations. Translations are the authors’ own unless otherwise notated. The translations are specifically rendered to focus on the grammatical topic at hand. The text may be translated in a woodenly literal manner to highlight or represent the Hebrew grammar more clearly. Most examples are provided with limited context. A copy of the Hebrew Bible would be helpful to consult (see Appendix A: Continuing with Hebrew). The verse reference designates where the example may be found even when only part of the verse is represented. When the complete verse is included, the sop pasuq (the colon-like cantillation mark at the end of the verse) is included at the end of the line.

Supplementary Resources

Additional resources are available at www.deeperhebrew.com. We plan to make available various materials, such as lesson plans, suggested readings, exegetical assignments, quizzes, exams, worksheets, and answer keys.

Acknowledgments

A work of this extent and scale would never be completed without countless individuals. The problem with naming anyone is that enviably others will be omitted. We offer our apologies and sincere thanks to those we fail to name here.

We first and foremost express our deepest gratitude to our wives, Anna McAffee and Amy Warren Hardy, as well as our children: Abigail, Lydia, Samuel, Marianne, and John Isaac McAffee and Samuel Lewis Hardy.

We owe a great debt to our Hebrew teachers (Dennis G. Pardee, Peter J. Gentry, Daniel I. Block), our colleagues and friends (John Meade, Tracy McKenzie, Ben Merkle, Matt Mullins, Adrianne Miles, Heath Thomas, Brian Gault, Chris Fresch, Young Bok Kim, Daniel Rodriguez, Cathy McDowell, Samuel Boyd, Drayton Benner, Mike Aubrey, Ethan Jones, Kim Phillips, Kaspars Ozolins, Fausto ­Liriano, Elizabeth Robar, Caleb Howard, Zach Vickery, Daniel Webster, Amy Hardy, and Billie Goodenough), our many students (particularly Seth Ellington, Dougald McLaurin, Robb Colman, Devin Moncada, Anna Marie Gedeon, Alejandro Johnson, Ryan Payne, Josh Hunter, and Dustin Walters), and our academic institutions (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Welch College).

Lastly, we appreciate the patience and encouragement of the good people at B&H Academic and the thoughtful interaction of Bryan Cribb.

Notes

¹ This modest but captivating vision is found in the epilogue of Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, rev. ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2000), 201–3.

² See Appendix A: Continuing with Hebrew for examples of first-year Hebrew grammars.

Abbreviations

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Transliteration

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Notes

For non-contextual Hebrew words, ◌֫ (ʿôlê) is used as a generic accent mark to indicate nonfinal stress (e.g., תָּבֹ֫אנָה).

Transcription of the consonantal text renders the letters in italicized Roman script without vowels (e.g., תָּבֹ֫אנָה transcribed as tbʾnh).

Although rarely used in this volume, transliteration renders the consonants and Tiberian vowels in italicized Roman script (e.g., תָּבֹ֫אנָה transliterated as tābōʾnâ), adapted from SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014).

The symbol * means a reconstructed (and unattested) earlier Semitic form, > signifies develops into, and < indicates derived from.

The historic forms are rendered in italicized Roman script with historic phonemes (e.g., *kablu > כֶּ֫לֶב; *yaqtulū > יִקְטְלוּ; and כֹּהֵן < *kāhinu).

Proto-Semitic contained at least 29 consonantal phonemes of which ancient Hebrew includes 25 historic consonants. The historic vowels are limited to three quantitatively (short or long) vowels: *a, *i, *u, *ā, *ī, and *ū. Diphthongs derive from a vowel and consonantal glide (e.g., *ay, *aw, *iy, and *uw). For details, see Gary A. Rendsburg, Phonology: Biblical Hebrew, in EHLL, 3:100–109.

The historic phonemes are not equivalent to the Tiberian Biblical Hebrew inventory. For a full description of the latter, see Geoffrey Khan, The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, vol. I, Description of the Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition, Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures 1 (Cambridge, UK: Open Book, 2020).

Phonemic realizations are enclosed in forward slashes (e.g., שִׁבֹּ֫לֶת /ʃiˈbolεθ/) using the standard symbols of International Phonetic Association (IPA) (see https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/full-ipa-chart).

Linguistic Abbreviations

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Part A

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CHAPTER 1

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Hebrew Language

The history of the Hebrew language starts around the beginning of the first millennium BC and continues until the present. The evidence for ancient Hebrew in its earliest stages is slight and piecemeal, but we do know that it emerged within the broader linguistic setting of the ancient Near East (ANE). From this vantage point, the student encounters the ever-changing spoken and written languages of the ancient inhabitants of the Middle East. Ancient Near Eastern literatures survived because of innovation in graphic representation and historical happenstance. Many of these ancient languages remain unknown to us, as they either were not written down or have yet to be rediscovered. Hebrew, in many ways, played a minor role in this larger ancient world of language and writing. It was never the most dominant language, and its speakers did not pioneer advanced scribal technologies. But their theological writings—the collection that we today call the Hebrew Bible—endured through the labors of generations of unnamed individuals. The Bible narrates the tenacity of a people in preserving their language and writings that they understood to communicate the very words of God.

Biblical Hebrew is not a uniform spoken idiom but represents multiple dialects found in the texts referred to variously as the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, and the Old Testament. Some of these instances of linguistic variation are more obvious than others. Prominently, half of the book of Daniel and the epistolary material in Ezra were written in forms of Aramaic from the second half of the first millennium. Certain northern Israelite language features are evident in the Elijah-Elisha narratives in Kings. And demonstrably later biblical writings, such as the book of Chronicles, Esther, and the Hebrew portions of Ezra-Nehemiah, reflect the complex and variable idioms of postexilic Jewish communities. These differences witness to a range of vernaculars from different interrelated locales and periods. When assessed properly, one discovers a diversity of linguistic communities, despite being found in what might appear to be a uniform corpus.

1.1 Going Deeper with Hebrew Language

Linguistic diversity, at times, plays a key role in the biblical narrative. Judges 12 provides an infamous illustration. Upon the incursion of an Ephraimite force into Gilead—east of the Jordan River—Jephthah led his fellow Gileadites against the invading Ephraimites. The Gileadites defended their land and defeated the raiding army. Before the Ephraimites could flee back to their territory, the Gileadites outflanked them and captured the shallow crossing points of the river. A spoken challenge was established to distinguish friend from foe, insider from outsider, for anyone hoping to escape. Instead of a secret password or countersign, the authentication involved saying the appropriate passphrase correctly. Mispronunciation meant death on sight.

While both groups spoke Hebrew, distinctions in speech revealed the outsider status of the Ephraimite intruders. The account culminates with the narrative interchange in verses 5–6.

Judg 12:5b–6

וְֽ֠הָיָה כִּ֣י יֹאמְר֞וּ פְּלִיטֵ֤י אֶפְרַ֨יִם֙ אֶעֱבֹ֔רָה וַיֹּ֨אמְרוּ לֹ֧ו אַנְשֵֽׁי־גִלְעָ֛ד הַֽאֶפְרָתִ֥י אַ֖תָּה וַיֹּ֥אמֶֽר׀ לֹֽא׃ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ לֹו֩ אֱמָר־נָ֨א שִׁבֹּ֜לֶת וַיֹּ֣אמֶר סִבֹּ֗לֶת וְלֹ֤א יָכִין֙ לְדַבֵּ֣ר כֵּ֔ן וַיֹּאחֲז֣וּ אֹותֹ֔ו וַיִּשְׁחָט֖וּהוּ אֶל־מַעְבְּרֹ֣ות הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן וַיִּפֹּ֞ל בָּעֵ֤ת הַהִיא֙ מֵֽאֶפְרַ֔יִם אַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּשְׁנַ֖יִם אָֽלֶף׃

When the Ephraimite deserters would say, Let me cross, the Gileadites asked him, Are you an Ephraimite? He said, No. They said to him: "Say the word stream." But he responded steam—he was not competent to say it similarly. They seized him and slaughtered him in the shoals of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell at that time.

The Gileadite sentries expected a response in kind. Their challenge word שִׁבֹּ֫לֶת /ʃiˈbolεθ/ likely refers to a flowing body of water, as in the final clause of Ps 69:3: וְשִׁבֹּלֶת שְׁטָפָתְנִי a stream overwhelms me.¹ In Masoretic Hebrew, the initial sound was the postalveolar /ʃ/, akin to English sh. This passcode is borrowed into English as shibboleth thanks to its transcription in the King James Bible.

Failing the response, the infelicitous pronunciation of the Ephraimites exposed their denied identity. The doomed impostors incompetently lisped סִבֹּלֶת /siˈbolεθ/. The exact original phonetic value is debated,² but the spelling with samek suggests that the westerners mistakenly articulated the first sound as a voiceless ­alveolar /s/.³ To imitate the subtle phonological difference, the English translation above employs two similar but distinguishable initial blends str and st (stream ~ steam), or if one understands it to refer to ear of grain, possibly sheave ~ sieve would be a similar comparison. English speakers may think of various identifiable regional accent differences, such as the Standard American English (SAE) pronunciations of car compared with the Bostonian cah /ka/, sorry with the Canadian sore-y /ˈsɔɹi/, or the merger of pin and pen as /pɪn/ in various dialects. In any case, the Ephraimites paid dearly for their gaffe.

Hebrew did not require linguistic uniformity. While every difference in dialect does not have the grave consequences of Judges 12, variation in phonation can signal important linguistic, cultural, and sociological qualities. An accent may indicate a particular geographic origin (provincial source), socioeconomic status (high/low caste), or even first language influence (foreign accent). Group speech and writing patterns distinguish vital aspects in understanding ancient cultural perceptions. Dialects ultimately signal in-group or out-group social identification, resulting in positive and negative assumptions, which motivate respect, prestige, stereotypes, or even discrimination. Attention to perceived linguistic dissimilarities is, at times, key to interpreting the Hebrew narratives.

The people of Ephraim and Gilead had drastically different backgrounds. The patriarch Jacob favored Ephraim over the elder grandson Manasseh (Gen 48; Deut 33:13–17). The Ephraimite tribe held a prized and important inheritance in the northern hill country of Israel (Josh 16:5–17:18). During the conquest, Joshua commanded Israel as a member of Ephraim (Josh 19:49–50; Judg 2:9). Despite this leadership, the tribe failed to drive out the Canaanites (Judg 1:29). They were strong but proved impotent and petulant when not called on to act (Judg 8:1–3). The Transjordanian territory of Gilead, on the other hand, was settled by the two and half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Their outsider status is demon­strated in multiple texts (Joshua 22). From the Ephraimites’ perspective in particular, Gilead represented those living on the wrong side of the tracks (Judg 5:17).⁴ And yet, God appointed one of their own to deliver them from Midianite oppression (Judges 6–8) as well as an Ammonite threat (Judg 10:6–12:7).

In this sardonic episode, Ephraim functioned like an incompetent foreign in­vader. The tribe stood against God’s deliverer. They mocked Jephthah’s compatriots as פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַ֫יִם Ephraimite fugitives, but they were thoroughly routed (12:4), and in a satirical twist they themselves became Ephraimite fugitives (12:5). As those challenging divine protection, Ephraim obtained outsider status and was driven from the land. The geographic boundary of the Jordan River on this occasion was a disadvantage in retreat (cf. 3:26–29; 7:24–25).⁵ The Ephraimite forces were foreigners in the land, opponents of God’s purposes, alienated from their brothers, and condemned like the Ammonites (11:32–33). Summing up their otherness, the Ephraimites mangled a basic Hebrew word and paid for it with their lives.

This foreign nature of the Ephraimite speech in Judges 12 points to the broader problem of Israel’s alienation from Yahweh. The book of Judges represents an entirely downside-up world. Nothing is right. Israel is fragmented and fallen and fated for destruction. Evil is ubiquitous. God’s people emulate the Canaanites. Righteousness is absent. Oppression is pervasive. Tribe battles tribe. Hebrew kills Hebrew. Redemption is partial and short-lived. Peace is only accomplished through sordid proxies, and it lasts barely a generation. The judges would deliver some from oppression, but overall they judged the Israelite tribes for their rebellion against God’s commands. Israel had become indistinguishable from their pagan neighbors.

This episode illustrates the complexity of the Hebrew language. Many of these details are only visible to readers of the Bible with a keen understanding of its linguistic setting. This chapter will orient the reader to key aspects of the language within its Northwest Semitic setting. It provides details about the development of the Hebrew language and locates its place in the interpretation of the Scriptures.

1.2 Chapter Objectives

The following sections provide brief overviews for a wide range of language topics, including the Northwest Semitic setting of Hebrew, its genetic relationships within the Semitic language family, Hebrew variation through time and dialect, script innovation, and the textual and reading traditions of the Hebrew Bible.

1.3 Introduction

The Semitic language family is the linguistic context of Hebrew. Ancient speakers of Semitic languages were principally located in the Middle East as well as North and East Africa, though written evidence of Semitic has also been discovered in Southern Europe and India. This material represents some of the oldest known methods of communicating through graphic representation. Three different Se­mitic languages have served as the linguae francae (i.e., the common transnational languages) in the Middle East and northern Africa: Akkadian in the second millennium BC, Aramaic in the first millennium BC (2 Kgs 18:26; Ezra 4:7; Dan 2:4), and Arabic in modern times.

1.4 Northwest Semitic Setting

The Hebrew language is described geopolitically in the biblical texts as the lip of Canaan (Isa 19:18) and the language of Judah (2 Kgs 18:26, 28; 2 Chr 32:18; Neh 13:24). Linguists group Hebrew according to its language features into the Canaanite branch along with Phoenician and the Transjordanian dialects—Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite. Canaanite is a part of the larger language group known as Northwest Semitic, including Aramaic and Ugaritic. Northwest Semitic is a subgroup of West Semitic, which can be divided into three subgroups: Central Semitic (including Northwest Semitic, Arabic dialects, and Old South Arabian), Ethiopian, and Modern South Arabian. West Semitic is to be distinguished from the East Semitic languages of Akkadian (and its main dialects of Assyrian and Babylonian) and Eblaite.

1.4.1 Genetic Relationship of Hebrew within Semitic

The following diagram illustrates the genetic or genealogical relationships within the Semitic languages. The arrangement is based on shared linguistic features. It represents subgroupings of related languages organized in a branching tree model.⁶

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1.4.2 The Northwest Semitic Languages and their Scripts

While written language dates to the third millennium BC, the attestation of the Northwest Semitic languages begins as early as the middle of the second millennium BC. One hallmark of this group of languages is their development and adaptation of the alphabetic script.⁷ Nearly all modern alphabetic writing systems may be traced to this invention.

The origins of the Semitic alphabet are rather mysterious and have fostered no small disagreement among scholars. Much of the controversy has centered upon a collection of early alphabetic inscriptions first discovered by W. M. Flinders Petrie in 1905 at Serabit El-Khadim in Sinai.⁸ The complete decipherment and interpretation of these inscriptions continues to evade scholars. The dating of the inscriptions is particularly problematic and highly controversial, with proposed dates ranging from the nineteenth or eighteenth centuries BC to sometime between the fifteenth and twelfth centuries BC.⁹ Two additional alphabetic inscriptions were recently discovered from Wadi el-Ḥôl (located on the edge of the western desert of ancient Egypt) dating from the latter portion of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. In light of this find, John C. Darnell et al. assert: We may now, more confidently than at any time in the past century, push the origins of alphabetic writing back to the beginning of the second millennium.¹⁰ Yet speculation about these inscriptions and their relation to the origin of writing continues.

Scholars have identified several correspondences between signs attested in the Sinaitic inscriptions and known Egyptian hieroglyphs. The symbols also resemble letters from the early Phoenician script attested centuries later. The following chart outlines the correspondences.¹¹

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¹²

¹³

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¹⁵

¹⁶

The symbols represented in the Sinaitic inscriptions show striking affinities to Egyptian hieroglyphs and later alphabetic scripts. Scholars argue that the West Semitic alphabetic script originally developed from pictographic representations of sounds. This theory is called acrophony, which refers to the practice of associating the name of a letter with the initial letter of its name. Alan H. Gardiner espoused this theory as a means of explaining the development of the Semitic alphabet, and the evidence from the Sinaitic inscriptions appears to support such a theory.¹⁷

Acrophony Theory

The table above illustrates the acrophony theory, especially as it relates to the letters ʾalep, bet, kap, ʿayin, and reš. The first letter (ʾalep) symbolizes the head of an ox ( Serebit el-Khadim-3-349.pdf ), and its name אָ֫לֶף means cattle (< *ʾalp-). Its sound (the glottal stop /ʾ/) corresponds to the first consonant of its name. The similarity between the Semitic symbol for ʾalep and the Egyptian hieroglyph for ox is rather striking. Even though the meaning is similar, the sound represented by the ox-head in Egyptian does not correspond to that of ʾalep. Likewise, the symbol for the first letter of the Semitic word bêt house depicts the floorplan of a walled structure, with or without partitions ( Serebit el-Khadim-8-349.pdf ) and sometimes with an open door ( Serebit el-Khadim-19-346.pdf ) as attested in Egyptian symbols for house. The name of the letter kap in Hebrew means palm (of the hand), symbolized in the form of a hand ( Serebit el-Khadim-15-353.pdf ). The name of the letter ʿayin means eye, originally represented with the picture of an eye ( Serebit el-Khadim-10-354.pdf ). The pictograph for reš is a head ( Serebit el-Khadim-6-349.pdf ), also the first letter of the Hebrew word for head.

Orly Goldwasser theorizes that the Sinaitic inscriptions were the creation of Semitic miners during the Twelfth Dynasty of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. She believes these miners who invented the alphabet were illiterate in the sense that they did not know how to read or write Egyptian.¹⁸ She furthermore observes that the Sinaitic materials are acrophonically pure, having eschewed the complexi­ties of the Egyptian system, and therefore they suggest that the inventors and writers had access only to the pictorial level of the Egyptian hieroglyphic script.¹⁹ Darnell et al. have instead proposed that the alphabet originated within the confines of Egypt at the hands of individuals having a high level of literacy in Egyptian.²⁰ They also point to the known presence of Asiatics (the so-called Hyksos) in the early Dynastic periods and beyond, who may have adapted aspects of Egyptian writing in the service of their own Semitic language.

The debate over the earliest Semitic alphabet has been reinvigorated with the recent discovery of four incised clay cylinders from a mortuary complex at Umm el-Marra, Syria, dating from the Early Bronze Age (third millennium BC). The signs found on these cylinders have been shown to correspond to the early alphabetic symbols attested elsewhere. If this dating is maintained, it would push the development of the Semitic alphabet much earlier than has been previously recognized.²¹ A short inscription was recently discovered at Lachish in a Late Bronze

Age context (ca. 15th century BC).²² It bridges the gap between the early material from Egypt and later Levantine evidence.

For our purposes here, it is sufficient to conclude that alphabetic writing was developed by Semitic speaking peoples in and around Egypt toward the beginning of the second millennium BC (or perhaps even earlier). The symbolic representations of the letters were informed by Egyptian hieroglyphic prototypes. These early pictographs were Semiticized, however, and did not necessarily adhere to the phonetic values of their counterparts in Egyptian. They were invented to write ancient Semitic.

As the Semitic script subsequently developed from its pictographic emergence in the proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, the symbols became more stylized (see table above). The characters eventually lost visual correspondence to their pictorial archetypes—although they kept their names—and developed into pure phonological symbols. For instance, the water image ( Serebit el-Khadim-9-349.pdf ) was schematized as Siloam Tunnel-4.pdf , representing the sound /m/. The facing stance of the letters was also formalized and oriented in the direction of the reading. For instance, in a right-to-left writing the letters faced the left ( Ahiram-9.pdf as in the Aḥiram inscription) instead of the left-to-right orientation of Ahiram-9.pdf elsewhere. Some inscriptions, such as those from Wadi el-Ḥôl, attest both right-to-left (inscription 1) and even vertical orientations (inscription 2).²³ Inscription 1 orients the signs to the left in the direction of the writing (e.g., Wadi el-Hal-1.pdf ), whereas inscription 2 orients the signs downward, also in the direction of the writing (e.g., Wadi el-Hal-2.pdf ). The Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon, purportedly one of the earliest extant Hebrew inscriptions from the early first millennium BC, attests letters with several differing orientations ( Khirget Qeiyafa-4.pdf , Khirget Qeiyafa-3.pdf , Khirget Qeiyafa-2.pdf ). Nevertheless, some scholars consider this document to be a scribal exercise—a fact that warrants appropriate caution from drawing too many conclusions regarding its arrangement.²⁴

An important step along the way in the alphabet’s development occurred along the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean in the ancient city-state of Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. Ugaritic provides a remarkable bridge between the cuneiform practices of ancient Mesopotamia and the burgeoning alphabetic scripts of the Canaanite languages. The practice of writing cuneiform involved incising wedges into soft clay tablets with a square or triangle-shaped stylus. The resulting impressions give a triangular or pyramidal appearance. Varying combinations of the incised wedges represented syllables or even whole words. The practice was originally used for writing the Sumerian language, but it was adapted to write Akkadian, an East Semitic language. Under the influence of Akkadian, cuneiform signs were used to represent numerous other languages, such as Eblaite, Hittite, Hurrian, Urartian, Elamite, and Old Persian. Cuneiform writing was a sign-based system, whereby hundreds of signs were used to convey various phonological values or words. Moreover, one sign could convey multiple values. For example, the Neo-Assyrian sign could represent the sound /an/, but it also functioned as the Sumerian logogram for deity, DINGIR, or even the Akkadian word ilu(m) god.²⁵

Ugaritic Cuneiform

The Ugaritians developed a unique repertoire of cuneiform signs to represent the West Semitic alphabet. Instead of adapting the hundreds of existing signs used for writing Akkadian, Ugaritic speakers developed thirty new cuneiform symbols to represent their own Northwest Semitic language. This alphabetic cuneiform was constructed using the cuneiform wedges, written left-to-right, and inscribed on clay tablets, but the forms corresponded to the linear shape of the Canaanite alphabetic letters.²⁶ The connection to the proto-Sinaitic script is further verified based on the parallel orders of the alphabets.

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Ugaritic Abecedary

The order of the Ugaritic alphabet is attested on several abecedaries. The following text provides one example, listing each letter of the alphabet in order.²⁷

RS 12.063 Abecedary²⁸

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Scholars have noted that the number of signs attested in the Ugaritic alphabet corresponds to the earliest proposed phonology of Semitic.

The Ugaritic writing system shares considerable overlap with the Old South Arabian alphabet from the first millennium BC, which contains twenty-nine distinct characters. The order, however, for Old South Arabian is different. It uses a halaḥam sequence (i.e., h l ḥ m) that developed into the Geʿez abugida (alphasyllabary) that was widely used in Christian traditions in Ethiopia and Eritrea.²⁹ The full series is:

h l ḥ m q w š r b t s k n ḫ ṣ ś f ʾ ʿ ḍ g d ġ ṭ z ḏ y ṯ ẓ

This alternative early alphabetic order is similar to an Ugaritic abecedary (RS 88.2215). It employs the short alphabet of twenty-seven signs.³⁰

h l ḥ m q w ṯ r b t ḏ š k n ḫ ṣ s p ʾ ʿ ḍ g d ġ ṭ z y

The twenty-eight consonants of Arabic are comparable to the Ugaritic phonological inventory. The script, written right-to-left, reflects a development from several varieties of Aramaic, in particular Syriac cursive writing. The oldest Arabic sequence is likely derived from the West Semitic order.³¹ This alphabetic arrangement is called an abjad. The letters are provided with a common Latin transcription and IPA phonetic values.

Most modern alphabetic arrangements of Arabic are based on grouping similar letter shapes.

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The correspondence between the late second millennium Ugaritic alphabet and the consonants attested in Arabic is striking. It demonstrates the close correspondence of the spoken varieties of Semitic, even with large expanses of time and place separating these languages. Furthermore, comparing the relationship between related languages allows for a better understanding of difficult and rare linguistic features.³²

The Ugaritic alphabet possesses several innovative characters that are not known from elsewhere in the West Semitic inventory. Namely, the last three symbols appear to be add-ons. These include two additional ʾalep signs (i.e., ỉ, ủ). They are placed at the end of the alphabet and leave the impression that they supplemented an existing list of consonants. Scholars believe that the West Semitic languages originally only had one glottal stop, as in Hebrew ʾalep, but in Ugaritic the two additional ʾaleps were expanded to represent either pure vowels (i.e., i, u) or syllables with the glottal stop plus a different vowel (i.e., ʾ + i, and ʾ + u).³³ The initial letter was used for ả, then ỉ and ủ were innovated and placed at the end of the alphabetic sequence. With these three signs, the primary vowel qualities of Ugaritic could be represented (a, i, u). This symbolic enlargement may have arisen out of the need to write other languages that represented vowels (e.g., Akkadian) or contained words with initial vowels (e.g., Hittite, Hurrian).³⁴ As for the origin of the final character s̀, it may represent an affricated sibilant (i.e., page16c , similar to the original Hebrew samek ס), perhaps because the sound represented by s was becoming a fricative.³⁵ Given these considerations, Ugaritic writing resembles a cuneiform version of an earlier West Semitic alphabet consisting of thirty signs.

Individual languages adapted the twenty-two graphemes of early Canaanite in different ways. The Ugaritic attestation of a 27 + 3 alphabet suggests that the ­twenty-two-sign alphabet could have been a simplification of an earlier longer West Semitic version (see above Ugaritic Cuneiform).³⁶ Hebrew scribes adopted the twenty-two signs to their existing phonetic system. Old Aramaic script was also developed from a similar system. Unlike Old South Arabian’s almost one-to-one correspondence between