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Free Online Tools for Learning Biblical Hebrew

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Image by  zofiaEliyahu  from  Pixabay   When I used to read and study the Bible in English. my native tongue, I generally thought that I knew what the text said and felt confident to argue a point based on the grammar and word choices in the English translation I held in my hands. It wasn't until I started to explore the Hebrew text that I realised just how wrong I was.  For example, did you know that there is a specific word for "work" in Hebrew that is only used in the creation narrative, tabernacle construction narrative, and instructions about observing the Sabbath? In English, this distinction is completely lost — leading most readers of English Bibles to think the 39 Jewish prohibitions are merely "rabbinical" and not based on anything in the text.  The word Torah , as another example, is translated variously in English as "law", "instruction(s)" and "teaching". The English-speaking reader has no idea as they skim over these w...
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Overview of the Hebrew Bible

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Image by  Tom Gordon  from  Pixabay The Hebrew Bible, for Christians, forms the first and largest part of T he Holy Bible . For Jews, the Hebrew Bible is the complete and timeless revelation of God for their lives and the substance of their faith and practice.  Very different from the Christian New Testament, the Hebrew Bible was compiled in stages over hundreds of years — beginning with the five books of Moses, followed by the prophets, and concluding with the writings. There is a very important reason behind this three-fold division of the books, and that is that they represent three distinct kinds of divine revelation: Torah/Five Books of Moses God spoke directly to Moses in front of the entire nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai and Moses wrote down everything that God told him to write. The Torah is considered the "gold standard" as far as authority in Scripture. Prophets God spoke to individuals directly but not in the hearing of the nation. These prophets were confi...
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