Learn Biblical Hebrew [Hardcover]

John H. Dobson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

From his experience in teaching biblical Hebrew to beginners, John Dobson has developed a teaching style that enables people to read actual passages of Scripture from an early stage. With this book, readers can learn Hebrew on their own and will find themselves reading meaningful verses from the Hebrew Bible after just two hours of study!

The second edition has been updated and revised and includes an audio CD-ROM.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John H. Dobson (B.D., University of London) was known around the world for his infectious enthusiasm for the biblical languages. Thousands of students have benefited from his teaching in colleges and universities. He taught Greek and Hebrew effectively in many different countries and settings.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic; 2nd edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801031028
• ISBN-13: 978-0801031021
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Hebrew > Instruction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very user friendly, May 3, 2006

By 

Philip J. Bohlken (Caldwell, Idaho) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Learn Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

I first studied biblical Hebrew in college forty years ago. Hebrew is so very different from Western European languages that it was hard for me to wrap my mind around it. Dobson's book aims at making the study of Hebrew fun and at giving the student success each step of the way. He aims to get the student reading worthwhile sentences and many of them as soon as possible. It is still the learning of a language, so it is not a "for dummies" project. But, Dobson presents the most frequent verb forms first and gets those drilled into the student's mind so they become very familiar. He does this rather than the approach used by Weingreen in my college class in which the student memorizes all forms in a paradigm and then later tries to pull some meaning out of the paradigms in the experience of translating. I especially like the audio CD. It allows the student to engage hearing as well as seeing in fixing a lesson in the mind. Dobson attempts to use current understanding of how one learns in order to make the material familiar territory for the student. I think I might not have let my Hebrew lapse over the decades had I learned with an approach like Dobson's the first time.

I have the advantage of using this book for a review and refresher. I already remember some vocabulary and some grammar. I can tell that makes using Dobson's book easier than it might be for a newbie to Hebrew. I would be curious to observe someone with no Hebrew who learns it with Dobson's approach. Still, the results he describes in the introduction are impressive. He speaks of students who struggled with Hebrew winning awards for their progress when they began to use his approach.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book., March 25, 2006

By 

Jay "Jay S." (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

Mr. Dobson teaches in a way that is both very informative, and often humorous. By the completion of this book, I had translated the book of Jonah, as well as passages from nearly every book in the Old Testament. I would highly recommend this book to someone who wants to learn Biblical Hebrew, even if you (as I did) already have some knowledge of the language. This is truly a profound book. I learned much more than I expected to learn when I bought this book. My only complaint, is that the meanings listed for words are in (abstract) english, such as the Hebrew word "chai" which Mr. Dobson says means "life" which it does, but the word actually means "stomach" and was a Hebrew sign of life. Though you would rarely even consider translating the word as "stomach" it is nice to know the ancient meanings behind the Hebrew your reading... still, a very good book.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great complement to beginning Hebrew, October 13, 2007

By 

B. Pribbenow (Fergus Falls, MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Learn Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

The Dobson book takes more of an "immersion" approach to teaching Hebrew in that it jumps right into speaking and reading Hebrew, without making the distinctions in syntax and grammar. For me this has been a very helpful 2nd year Hebrew grammar book. I used Kelley's Biblical Hebrew for my first year. Dobson makes a lot of assumptions and glosses over a lot of things that, I think, would have been very confusing if I had used it in my introduction year to Hebrew. But, knowing what I now know about the Hebrew language (which is not a lot!), Dobson's book serves to get me going on actually reading and listening to Hebrew. The companion CD with this book is a MUST HAVE!!

Overall, it's a good book. But I would not recommend this for a solo beginning Hebrew grammar. It should be paired with a book like Kelley's Biblical Hebrew to give the best results.