Introducing Biblical Hebrew [Hardcover]

Allen Ross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001

The best of both deductive and inductive approaches introducing students to the basics of Biblical Hebrew.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"An absolutely superb textbook introducing Biblical Hebrew grammar. The grammar is crystal clear, paradoxically concise and copious, and most helpfully creative."-Bruce Waltke, Regent College

"The clear, simple presentation in each chapter, the consistent and early use of biblical examples in the exercises, and an approach that combines the best in modern linguistics with older philological traditions reveals a pedagogical art seldom seen. Ross provides copious helps to jump-start the student in reading narrative and offers intermediate level information for the keen learner. I have used earlier versions of Ross's grammar over the past sixteen years with great success and highly recommend this text to others."-Peter J. Gentry, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"Introducing Biblical Hebrew more than satisfies a one-year curriculum and may function especially well as a preparatory step for advanced studies. It is the best introductory volume available."-Ken Mathews, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

"Tested for years in the classroom, this is a welcome addition to our resources for teaching and learning Biblical Hebrew."-Richard E. Averbeck, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Allen P. Ross (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the director of the Christian Leadership Center in Tallahassee, Florida, and the author of several books. He taught Hebrew at Dallas Theological Seminary and Trinity Episcopal School of Ministry for more than thirty years.

About the Author

Allen P. Ross (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is professor of Old Testament at Beeson Divinity School and has taught Hebrew grammar to seminary students for over thirty years. His publications include Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of the Book of Genesis and Holiness to the LORD: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic; Later printing edition (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801021472
• ISBN-13: 978-0801021473
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Hebrew > Instruction

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introductory grammar, November 11, 2001

By 

Stephen Marler - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introducing Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

This introductory grammar is one of the best yet written for Biblical Hebrew. It is more of traditional textbook in the sense of size and layout than most Hebrew Grammars. Overall it is well written, easy to understand, and for a introduction, it has a lot of useful information. His explanation of the rare stems (Poel, Poal, etc.) deserves praise as it is one of the best descriptions of the rare stems in any English Hebrew Grammar. The ending chapters also walk students through the use of the BHS, while analyzing sentences, thus teaching both intermediate grammar and also how to use the BHS apparatus. There are a few drawbacks to the book, it lacks any aesthetic value as there are no pictures or graphics, thus it is quite bland. Also, since it is a brand new book, inevitably there will be minor errors which will be corrected in later editions. Overall however, this book clearly raises the standard by which future Hebrew Grammars will be judged. For use within a classroom, it is a great choice and its readability makes it useful for independent study as well.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars quick review, March 31, 2003

By 

Garrett Tyson (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introducing Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

The book is clearly written and seems to contain all of the information necessary for a first-year grammar. My only complaint is that, to the best of my knowledge, there is no answer key for the book. So if you are planning on self-study, this would not be a good choice.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better BH textbooks on the market, February 18, 2008

By 

Jaroslav Melgr "jaroski" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introducing Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

Ross' book is definitely one of the better books on the market. There are books that promise to teach BH quick and easy or "as you go", but the truth is that there isn't an easy way to do this. BH is a very different language and for most folks with an Indo-European native language is pretty tough to learn.

Moreover, it is important to remember that each BH book is written for a specific purpose, either self-study, in-class instruction or as a reference grammar. Most books, including this one, fall into the second category of being written for in-class instruction, although many of these can be used for self-study as well. But with the focus on the in-class instruction these books are formatted to fit a two semester course in first year BH. And you can only fit so much into the first year or you can only learn so much in two semesters. So they are not comprehensive as a reference grammar might be. So there will be things that the author simply doesn't have room to cover and will be left out. This one is no exception, but that is not a bad thing. Reference grammars are intended to be comprehensive and thorough, but on the other hand they're not very useful as a textbook for a first year student. On the contrary, they can be pretty overwhelming -- try showing Jouon, Gesenius or even Weingreen to a new student and you might scare them away.

This book is well structured and well laid out -- nice type-setting, which is very important especially in case of Hebrew fonts. Ross' introductory material is pretty good compared to most grammars, it's visual and well laid out. I like his section on vowels, it is often neglected and poorly done in other grammars. Likewise, his verbal summary tables at the end of the book are great and well laid out. They should be a standard part of every BH textbook. The answer key in not provided, which might make it challenging if used for self-study.

The individual lesson's are structured quite well, Ross is pretty clear on his grammatical principles, has good examples and exercises. He introduces you to verbal stems besides Qal pretty early on and then covers each stem separately with all the different patterns and variation for weak and doubly-weak verbs within each stem. I tend to think that this is a better approach then Lambdin's (although I like his book too for different reasons), where you spend an entire semester learning BH before learning another stem besides Qal. Ross also has pretty well structured discussion of the most important syntactical rules and examples which is very helpful. This comes after all the verbal stems are covered, that is after one has reasonably "mastered" BH grammar. I would think that introducing some syntax early on (like Lambdin does) would make learning BH more fun, but that's a matter of preference. This way one does not have to search through the book to find this or that syntactical rule.

Ross' book compares pretty well to other BH grammars, like An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew(see my review) or Seow in particular. It may not be as in-depth in some areas, but it is in others. And it's structure and layout are very good. Compared to Van Pelt/Pratico or Futato on the other hand, it's much more in depth and better organized than those two. But there probably isn't an ideal BH textbook out there -- once again it's a matter of preference. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and depending on the audience and the setting, each of them can be appropriate. But Ross is definitely one of the better ones out there and I do recommend this book.