ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive introduction to Biblical Hebrew language and texts. It presents the essentials of biblical grammar and vocabulary in an engaging and systematic way. The chapter focuses on all the topics expected in a first-year Biblical Hebrew course, including the Hebrew writing system, pointing rules, nouns and adjectives, parsing, mastery of strong and weak verb paradigms and full attention to syntax. Hebrew is a fascinating language with a rich history spanning 3,000 years. It is a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family, which is a large group of languages spread throughout much of northern Africa and the Middle East. The chapter discusses the nifal stem that has almost the same range of forms as the qal, namely a qaal, yiqol, wayyiqol, weqaal, volitives, an infinitive absolute, and an infinitive construct. The only way in which the nifal differs from the qal is that it has just one participle rather than separate active and passive ones.
