Category Archives: Grammar

Interjections in Biblical Hebrew are spontaneous, expressive words that convey strong emotion, attention, or surprise. Often standing outside regular sentence structure, they nonetheless play a vital syntactic and rhetorical role. Words like אֲהָהּ (“alas”), הֵן (“behold”), אוֹי (“woe”), or הָבוּ (“come!”) can signal grief, astonishment, warning, or urgency. Recognizing interjections is crucial not only for accurate translation, but also for understanding the emotional and dramatic tone of biblical passages. This article explores the types, usage, and syntactic behavior of Hebrew interjections, with a focus on their theological, prophetic, and poetic significance.… Learn Hebrew

Grammatical gender is a central organizing principle in Biblical Hebrew. Every noun is inherently either masculine or feminine, and this gender distinction governs how adjectives, pronouns, and especially verbs agree with their subjects. Unlike English, where gender is usually biological or optional (e.g., actor/actress), Hebrew grammar requires gender agreement across the sentence structure, even for inanimate objects. This article explores the morphological patterns of masculine and feminine endings in both nouns and verbs, their syntactic behavior, and notable irregularities. Understanding these endings not only aids reading fluency and parsing but also reveals poetic and theological nuance in Scripture.… Learn Hebrew

Idiomatic expressions are among the most vivid and culturally revealing elements of any language. In Biblical Hebrew, idioms often carry rich theological, historical, and emotional connotations that resist word-for-word translation. Whether in prose narrative, poetry, or prophecy, Hebrew idioms compress complex ideas into compact, figurative language. Misunderstanding them can distort interpretation; recognizing them opens the door to deeper exegetical insight. This article surveys a selection of key idiomatic expressions in Biblical Hebrew—highlighting their literal meanings, figurative uses, and interpretive significance. We will also explore the cultural metaphors underlying these phrases, many of which reflect ancient Near Eastern life, covenantal thinking, and embodied experience.… Learn Hebrew

Among the many small but powerful tools in Biblical Hebrew, the definite article הַ stands out for its consistent grammatical function and its far-reaching interpretive impact. Though it appears as a prefix attached to nouns and adjectives, the article modifies the semantic force, syntactic behavior, and discourse status of its host. Understanding the mechanics and nuances of הַ is essential for exegesis, grammar, and theology. This article explores how the Hebrew definite article operates morphologically, syntactically, and pragmatically. We draw from standard reference grammars such as Waltke & O’Connor (1990) and Joüon & Muraoka (2006) to illustrate how the article shapes meaning in context.… Learn Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew narrative is a rich and carefully crafted form of storytelling that employs distinctive syntactic, morphological, and pragmatic structures. Unlike modern Western storytelling, which tends to rely on chronological sequencing and a proliferation of subordinated clauses, Biblical Hebrew narratives achieve cohesion, foregrounding, and temporal movement using a highly structured verbal system and pragmatic cues embedded in its discourse grammar. This article explores how Hebrew constructs narratives through the lens of discourse analysis and pragmatics, examining the roles of the verbal system (especially wayyiqtol and qatal), syntactic structuring, topic-focus dynamics, and discourse markers.… Learn Hebrew