Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tigran Aivazian <tigran AT bibles.org.uk>]

On Mon, 21 Mar 2005, Steve Miller wrote:
> Lastly, could anyone recommend a PC program for studying the Hebrew Bible
> and Biblical Hebrew?

I would recommend to AVOID using computers for studying Biblical Hebrew, 
because it is too much strain on the eyes. Your eyes are a precious 
resource give to you by God and it is best to use them for reading books 
printed on paper than on the screen. So, to study Biblical Hebrew I 
recommend the following grammars:

J. Weingreen, Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew.

Gesenius. Hebrew Grammar (though his ungodly so-called "scholar" remarks 
may cause you to vomit --- on the other hand, if you read much of what is 
said on b-hebrew and don't vomit then you'll be ok :)

As for studying the Hebrew Bible (I assume you mean Massoretic "lore") I 
recommend:

1. Eliyahu haLevi, Massoret haMassoret. A valuable treatise written in 
16th century with lots of notes by Ginsburg (includes both the original 
rabbinic Hebrew text and English translation)

2. Yaakov ben Chayim ibn Adoniyah, Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible.
Again, lots of useful notes by Ginsburg and an English translation 
alongside the Hebrew original.

3. C.D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical edition of the 
Hebrew Bible

(all these books are freely available from bibles.org.uk e-library, of 
course)

There are many "modern" books on the subject, such as those by Tov, 
Wurthwein, Paul Kahle and many others but they are all "junk", i.e. are 
good if you want to be a "modern hebrew scholar" (i.e. blind leader of the 
blind) but absolutely no use if you want to be a servant of the Lord God 
of Israel who studies the Hebrew Scriptures in order to keep and do 
according to all that is given to our fathers by the hand of Moses.

Shalom
Tigran