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 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 hitpael, the last of the seven standard Biblical Hebrew stems. Verbs in this stem are usually intransitive and often denote reflexive actions. The hitpael resembles the piel and pual in that its characterized by a strong dagesh in the second radical. Because of this common feature, the piel, pual, and hitpael are often collectively labelled the intensive stems.
