Customer Reviews

A grammar of biblical Hebrew (Porta linguarum Orientalium : Neue Serie)

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Prof. Blau has hit upon an interesting blend of reference and introduction in his grammar. The book reads like a reference grammar and does not have systematic vocabulary and practice sections after each chapter. However, he presents the material in a logical order that might be suitable for those learning the language. There are also exercises appended to the end. In any case, this book would clearly be intended for use along with a purely introductory grammar, and not on its own as a systematic introduction to Hebrew. By nature it is a reference grammar.
This book certainly fills a niche. It is one of the only truly concise Hebrew reference grammars. Unfortunately, this book can even be painfully concise. This makes it good for quick reference, but limits its value as a serious linguistic research tool. Also, he bases his section on syntax solely on some chapters of Genesis and on Jonah, further limiting the usefulness of that section.
Prof. Blau, one of the world's greatest Hebrew scholars and president emeritus of the Academy of the Hebrew language, could have done a better job of making this both a concise reference tool and a serious linguistic work. Nevertheless, the format that Prof. Blau uses for this grammar has tremendous potential for future works. If you read modern Hebrew, I suggest Blau's "Hebrew Phonology and Morphology (Torat Ha-Hegeh We-Hatsurot)." If you are interested in a more advanced Hebrew grammar, I suggest Joüon-Muraoka's "A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew" or even better (for the subjects it covers), the incomplete "Hebräische Grammatik" by Bergsträsser, which Blau calls "still the best Hebrew grammar," available in German and modern Hebrew.

This book is definitely not for the linguistic amateur. It assumes a basic knowledge of phonetics and general grammatical terms. Having said that, it gives an excellent and exhaustive introduction to the grammar of Biblical Hebrew. The author has generously quoted the examples from the book of Genesis and Jonah. Exercises are provided at the end of the book covering all the chapters. The bibliography is good and also includes the author's comments on the value of each reference. The only drawback is that most of the references are out-of-print as they were published in the earlier part of the 20th century.

The appendix contains the actual text from some of the chapters of Genesis and Jonah. Each word is annotated with the index to the chapter where the related grammar is discussed. I found this exteremely useful.

I rate this book a 5-star as it is really a classic work, something on par with Gesenius' or Bergstrasser's Hebrew Grammar. I use this book in conjunction with Jacob Weingreen's Hebrew Grammar and together they give the best possible introduction to Biblical Hebrew.