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Recent Articles
- “A Three-Day Journey”: The Syntax of Volition and Deixis in Exodus According to Targum Onkelos
- Disaster That Flies Down: A Hebrew Lesson on Isaiah 8:22
- Purified and Presented: A Hebrew Lesson on Numbers 8:21
- Like the Nations Before You: A Hebrew Walkthrough of Deuteronomy 8:20
- Voices of the Dead or the Living God? A Hebrew Lesson on Isaiah 8:19
- When the Ground Denies Him: A Hebrew Walkthrough of Job 8:18
- From Dust to Gnats: A Hebrew Lesson in Action
- The Power of Repetition: Exploring the Waw-Consecutive
- Through the Great and Fearsome Wilderness: From Fiery Serpent to Flowing Spring
- “Counsel Is Mine” — Exploring the Voice of Wisdom in Proverbs 8:14
- From the Garden to the Ear: Participles and Imperatives in Song of Songs 8:13
- Wisdom’s Self-Introduction: Where Insight Meets Strategy
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Hebrew Scripts: Paleo-Hebrew vs. Square Script
The visual evolution from Paleo-Hebrew to Square Script traces a story of cultural resilience and theological stewardship. Rooted in Phoenician forms, Paleo-Hebrew carried the sacred language of First Temple Israel, etched in stone and scroll without vowels or modern uniformity. Post-exile, Square Script—refined from Imperial Aramaic—became the vessel of scribal tradition, enabling precise copying, vocalization, and canon preservation. Its adoption reflected not mere convenience but a commitment to clarity, covenant, and continuity. Today, Samaritan scrolls echo Paleo-Hebrew’s legacy, while Square Script continues to inscribe Israel’s theological memory with enduring precision.… Learn Hebrew
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Understanding Masculine and Feminine Forms in Biblical Hebrew
Grammatical gender in Biblical Hebrew isn’t just linguistic—it’s theological and poetic. Every noun, verb, adjective, and pronoun submits to a masculine or feminine identity, often shaping not only syntax but the soul of the text. With masculine as the default and feminine marked by suffixes like –ה or –ת, gender affects agreement, meaning, and even metaphor—like Israel portrayed as a bride despite its masculine form. From מֶלֶךְ to מַלְכָּה, or כָּתַבְתָּ to כָּתַבְתְּ, these subtle distinctions unlock layers of sacred narrative where identity, action, and divine symbolism intermingle through grammar.… Learn Hebrew
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The Historical Context of Biblical Hebrew in the Old Testament
Biblical Hebrew unfolds as a living record of Israel’s journey—from its Canaanite roots to exile and liturgical preservation—mirroring the theological and political pulse of its people. Emerging as a distinct dialect within Northwest Semitic traditions, it rose through royal scribes, prophetic poetry, and covenantal law into Classical Biblical Hebrew, later adapting under Babylonian and Persian influence into Late Biblical Hebrew. Though displaced by Aramaic and Greek, Hebrew endured through sacred texts and Mishnaic revival, culminating in the Masoretic tradition. More than a language, it is the embodied grammar of divine-human covenant, shaped by empire and sustained by faith.… Learn Hebrew
The Hebrew Vowels in General, Vowel Letters and Vowel Signs
1. The original vowels in Hebrew, as in the other Semitic tongues, are a, i, u. E and o always arise from an obscuring or contraction of these three pure sounds, viz. ĕ by modification from ĭ or ă; short ŏ from ŭ; ê by contraction from ai (properly ay); and ô sometimes by modification (obscuring) from â, sometimes by contraction from au (properly aw).[1]
In Arabic writing there are vowel signs only for a, i, u; the combined sounds ay and aw are therefore retained uncontracted and pronounced as diphthongs (ai and au), e.g.… Learn Hebrew
Grammatical Treatment of the Hebrew Language
1. At the time when the old Hebrew language was gradually becoming extinct, and the formation of the O.T. canon was approaching completion, the Jews began to explain and critically revise their sacred text, and sometimes to translate it into the vernacular languages which in various countries had become current among them. The oldest translation is the Greek of the Seventy (more correctly Seventy-two) Interpreters (LXX), which was begun with the Pentateuch at Alexandria under Ptolemy Philadelphus, but only completed later.… Learn Hebrew
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Tagged Hebrew Language
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Changes Of Hebrew Consonants
The changes which take place among consonants, owing to the formation of words, inflexion, euphony, or to influences connected with the progress of the language, are commutation, assimilation, rejection, addition, transposition, softening.
1. Commutation may take place between consonants which are either homorganic or homogeneous, e.g. עָלַץ, עָלַס, עָלַו to exult, לָאָה, לָהָה, Aram. לְעָא to be weary, לָחַץ and נָחַץ to press, סָגַר and סָכַר to close, מָלַט and פָּלַט to escape. In process of time, and partly under the influence of Aramaic, the harder and rougher sounds especially were changed into the softer, e.g.… Learn Hebrew
Rāphè רָפֶה: The Sign of Softness in Hebrew Orthography
Rāphè (רָפֶה i.e. weak, soft), a horizontal stroke over the letter, is the opposite of both kinds of Dageš and Mappîq, but especially of Dageš lene. In exact manuscripts every בגדכפת letter has either Dageš lene or Rāphè, e.g. מֶלֶךְֿ mèlĕkh, תָּפַֿר, שָׁתָֿה. In modern editions (except Ginsburg’s 1st ed.) Rāphè is used only when the absence of a Dageš or Mappîq requires to be expressly pointed out.
Rāphè רָפֶה: The Sign of Softness in Hebrew Orthography
Rāphè (רָפֶה, meaning “weak” or “soft”) is a diacritical mark in Biblical Hebrew orthography.… Learn Hebrew
Mappîq
1. Mappîq, llke Dageš, also a point within the consonant, serves in the letters א ה ו י as a sign that they are to be regarded as full consonants and not as vowel letters. In most editions of the text it is only used in the consonantal ה at the end of words (since ה can never be a vowel letter in the middle of a word), e.g. גָּבַהּ gābháh (to be high), אַרְצָהּ ˒arṣāh (her land) which has a consonantal ending (shortened from -hā), different from אַ֫רְצָה ˒árṣā (to the earth) which has a vowel ending.… Learn Hebrew
Hebrew Phonology
Hebrew Vowels
The original Hebrew alphabet consisted only of consonants and vowel letters. The vowel signs and pronunciation (known as vowel pointings) currently accepted for Biblical Hebrew were created by scholars known as Masoretes after the 5th century AD and are known as Tiberian vocalization. The Masoretes are thought also to have standardized various dialectal differences.
However, it is questioned that Classical Hebrew’s vowel inventory was not identical to that notated by the Masoretes. For instance, /e/ and /ē/ were both indicated with a tzeire in the Masoretic text, but in Greek transcription (Septuagint, Origen, etc.)… Learn Hebrew
Qal (The Pure Stem)
The common form of the 3rd sing. masc. of the Perfect Qal is קָטַל, with ă (Pathaḥ) in the second syllable, especially in transitive verbs. There is also a form with ē (Ṣere, originally ĭ), and another with ō (Ḥolem, originally ŭ) in the second syllable, both of which, however, have almost always an intransitive meaning, and serve to express states and qualities, e.g. כָּבֵד to be heavy, קָטֹן to be small.
Rem. 1. The vowel of the second syllable is the principal vowel, and hence on it depends the distinction between the transitive and intransitive meaning.… Learn Hebrew