Customer Reviews

Do It Yourself Hebrew and Greek

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

For years, the insights of the original languages of the Bible were limited to those who knew Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew. Now, through this volume, anyone with a little discipline can learn enough of the original languages to use some of the tools which until now were only used by "scholars". Goodrick introduces the reader to both languages and also recommends which study tools to buy in order to allow the students the ability to dig deeper into the original languages through the use of the "short cuts" he shares. One important note: Once this volume is completed, the reader is NOT a Biblical scholar. The reader will only have a cursory knowledge at best of both Greek and Hebrew. But it is this "cursory" knowledge together with the recommended tools which allow the reader to realize Goodrick's main goal-that of placing into the reader's hands the means whereby they may enjoy the original languages deeper.

If you are considering purchasing this book then you should really take the subtitle seriously - "A Guide to Biblical Language Tools". This is not a book about learning Hebrew and Greek so that you can read either of them in a Hebrew or Greek Bible. This is a book about understanding the Hebrew and Greek language so that you can better use and understand biblical language tools. For each language it goes over the alphabet, parts and types of speech, pronunciation, and similar items. Then, using your understanding of the word forms and the like, you can turn to a concordance, biblical Greek dictionary, lexicon or similar reference and understand the importance of how a particular ending on a verb changes it and changes the meaning of a whole sentence. If you are intimidated by the daunting task of learning another language like Greek or Hebrew then this is the book that will free you to at least learn about the language and its structure so you can use other tools more effectively for Bible study. "Do It Yourself Hebrew and Greek" is a recommended book for any Bible students who just can't quite bring themselves to learn another language.

"Do It Yourself Hebrew and Greek" is just what the name implies. This is a "do it yourself" course on original Biblical languages. In the book, Goodrick has done a quality job of explaining basic Greek grammar in summary form. The book includes many common sense rules and guidelines for the interpretation of Scripture. You'll find the majority of the book is devoted to teaching the student how to use language tools (concordances, commentaries, analyticals, lexicons, and interlinears) and how to conduct word studies. The text includes twenty lessons, self-graded worksheets, and answer keys that are quite helpful. There are many warnings along the way regarding the limitations to this "low road" method of studying the original languages. Goodrick has provided a practical and helpful guide for those desiring to better understand the Bible's message in its original tongue without the necessity of making the enormous investment necessary to become proficient in the languages.

The late Prof. Goodrick knew he was facing a challenge when he came up with this syllabus. How can one equip a Bible student to "break the language barrier" between himself and the original-language texts of the Bible, without requiring him to tackle the languages "head-on" and without making him think he know more than he really does by the end of the course?

This syllabus is the best such effort I have yet seen. It helped me tremendously in my beginning studies of biblical Hebrew; it still helps me even though I'm now fluent enough in biblical Hebrew to read much of it without aid of English helps; and it continues to be a tremendous help in my fledgling efforts to deal with New Testament Greek. One of the most helpful features is the persistent goal of the author to keep the student in mind of what the non-linguist's limitations are in technical Bible study -- a goal which is aimed for (and, I think, reached) with humility and humor.

The book isn't absolutely perfect. It doesn't deal with biblical Aramaic at all (although admittedly not much of the Bible is in Aramaic); once in a great while, some theological biases get under the author's radar screen; and thanks to my current coursework in Dr. Randall Buth's LIVING BIBLICAL HEBREW FOR EVERYONE, I've spotted one important error of omission in this syllabus' discussion of Hebrew grammar. Contrary to Dr. Goodrick's claim that biblical Hebrew has no tense, it not only has tense, it has tense-aspect. (One may pardon Dr. Goodrick for looking to the Masoretic paradigm of the Hebrew accents -- and thus ignoring it as too complex for the student he aims to help -- rather than to the much simpler and much more helpful melodic paradigm developed by Suzanne Haik-Vantoura in a book likewise sold here.)

Despite those problems, I always recommend this syllabus without hesitation to everyone I know who wants to learn how to use the "language tools".

The author packs a lot of grammatical information into a very small space. While this is good, the reader will require some practice and repetition on his part. Good intro to further study. Also has a rather "quaint" attitude. I read this with a background in amateur linguistics and philology, rather than Biblical studies, and found the author a bit biased in his tone.

This book is designed for the serious Bible student who wants to discover as accurately as possible what the Bible meant in its original languages but who is not in a position to master those languases. This manual introduces the alaphabets and the basic elements of Hebrew and Greek grammar. With this foundation, the student is taught to use the basic language tools, including analyticals, lexicons, interlinears, concordances, and commentaries. I found this book very helpful in helping me learn about the Greek and Hebrew language and alaphabet, though it would take extreme dedication and motivation to master the language, it was a good ice breaker, so to say. Thank you Zondervan for the review copy.

This book is what I have been looking to buy for weeks. It is great! It has the best discussion of case structure grammer I have seen.

I believed that a do it yourself Hebrew and Greek book would help aid in the learning of Hebrew, which I am studying. When I opened it up I was surprised to find one chapter on the Hebrew alphabet, one on grammar, one on the analysis of the Hebrew word and one on the Hebrew Lexicon. If you are thinking of learning Hebrew, then this book is not for you. If you are thinking of getting a very basic overview on how the language works, then it might just suffice. It is certainly a 'guide' and no more. Saying that, the greek section gets more than three quarters of this book's attention, but that was not what I was after, only the hebrew.

This book starts off great in the first lesson and then goes down hill. The first chapter goes into the simple parts of the language; however, by chapter two the lesson wants you to translate a page and a half story from Greek to English and answers questions about the story. I think the author had good intentions; however, I am disappointed in the book.

On another note, the book is not put together well. My book started to fall apart as soon as I started using it. Pages started to fall out before I made it to lesson three. Thank goodness the book was not that expensive.

Thanks,

Scott G.