ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive introduction to Biblical Hebrew language and texts. It presents the essentials of biblical grammar and vocabulary in a systematic way. The chapter examines 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 talks about hofal, which is much more straightforward than the nifal in that it is very regular: hofals invariably have passive meaning and correspond to an active hifil of the same root, in contrast to nifals, which may have active meaning and/or lack a corresponding qal. Because the hofal is a purely passive stem, volitives are very rare.
