Biblical Hebrew – Elementary

Description

Elementary Biblical Hebrew

Objectives:  To prepare for the examination, the candidate is expected to be able to identify letters, parts of speech, grammatical forms and syntax; analyze a verb for its root stem by making connections among different pieces of information learned and formulate what these connections mean; assess grammatical questions and give correct answer; incorporate all the grammatical syntax and morphology learned and correctly translate 15 lines of biblical prose; be able to use the Brown, Driver, Briggs Lexicon; parse verbal forms according to root, person, number, and gender; switch perfect to imperfect and vice-versa; inflect nouns; and infer from context of biblical verse the proper tense and meaning of a word.

Instruction:  The proficiency examination process is intended to measure a body of knowledge that the candidate has acquired through other learning experiences. Each examination is administered under secure and proctored conditions.

Content covered includes: Nouns and adjectives; the article (He’ Hayyidua’), the nominal phrase and the noun-clause; the interrogative pronoun; the dual form; the genitive and the construct state (Semichut); numerals: cardinal and ordinal numbers; the pronoun: the personal pronoun – the separate pronoun, the pronominal suffixes, the demonstrative pronoun, the relative pronoun, the interrogative and indefinite pronouns; the particles: prefixed prepositions, prepositions with pronominal suffixes (prepositions in the singular nominal pattern and prepositions in the plural pattern);  conjunctions (ki, ya’an, ‘ekev, ‘al ki, ‘asher, ‘im, pen, ‘af, ‘af ‘asher etc.);  basic nominal patterns; verbal morphology: root vs. pattern (binyan) plus the seven binyanim; the tenses: katal (perfect), yiktol (imperfect), vayyiktol, vekatalti, participle forms, infinitive forms (absolute and construct form); the modal forms (cohortative, jussive, imperative); some basic syntactical issues: nominal vs. verbal clause, relative clause, infinitive phrase.

Selected biblical passages (prose) are taken from: Genesis 22, 27, 29. I Samuel 11, Ruth 1.

This course has a value of 3 lower-level undergraduate credits.