The Very Best Online Resources for Students of Biblical Hebrew

Five resources are particularly useful.

(1) The best online edition of the Hebrew Bible is on offer from the J. Alan Groves Center for Advanced Biblical Research of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. It is a faithful reproduction of Codex Leningradensis, although it corrects miniscule errors of the naqdan: compare ריח in Song of Songs 7:9 in BHQ vs. the Westminster electronic edition and BHL. Its usefulness is enhanced because one can strip the Masoretic text of accents and vowels. It is important to be able to read biblical Hebrew without vowels. If you can read Hebrew without vowels, that’s because you know the language. If you can’t, that’s because you don’t. An intermediate to advanced student of ancient Hebrew can learn to read the biblical text without vowels within a short amount of time and with a minimum of error.

(2) How so? Starting with unpointed text, do your best to read it properly. Then check your work against audio recordings of the text of the Hebrew Bible. The best set I know of contains the reading of Avraham Shmuelof and is divided into chapters courtesy of Gary Martin here. Practice makes perfect.

(3) The standard reference grammar of biblical Hebrew, Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley, is available online, searchable in wikisource. Everything in the volume, including all the paradigms, is cut-and-pastable. Let’s say you are wondering if the grammar says anything about תְּלָאָה‎, a noun whose pattern you wish to investigate. Or perhaps you wish to see each time the grammar references a particular verse, say Ps 119:14. Stick Kautzsch-Cowley and the item of interest into the Google search engine, and voilà, a list is yours. Check it out.

(4) Dictionaries. Stick a Hebrew word into this search engine, milon.morfix, and see what comes up. For best results, insert the “dictionary” form. Otherwise, you might not get anything appropriate back. The nice thing about this search engine is that lexemes pop up vocalized. (5) This search engine, courtesy of Babylon.com, is helpful because of its thesaurus and “image” functions. The problem with it is that not all biblical Hebrew vocabulary is covered. Milon.morfix is more complete based on a spot check.

So far as I know, a searchable online edition of Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) is not available. UPDATE: I take that back – for the scoop on a sort of searchable online edition, courtesy of David Reimer, go here.

But then, those who haven’t already need to break down and purchase a suite of electronic resources from Logos Bible Software or another provider. The research advantages are considerable.  

Comments

[danielandtonya]

Accordance offers a searchable BDB.

[JohnFH]

Hi Daniel and Tonya,

Looking forward to seeing you two in New Orleans!

It's also worth having a searchable HALOT, which I use together with a searchable BDB through Logos.

[David Reimer]

There is a (searchable) (sort of) PDF of BDB on Archive.org, of course. My notes here:

http://bit.ly/BDBLexicon

which, as it turns out, references another John Hobbins article! :)

[David Reimer]

Btw, John - have you done any comparisons of the tanach.us "edition" with the "Online Bibeln" from the Stuttgart Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft?

http://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/online-bibeln/

(See menu in left-hand sidebar.)

[JohnFH]

David,

Thanks for drawing that to our attention. I've updated the post.

[JohnFH]

Re the online BHS, yes, I like the presentation very much, but it does not, apparently, have the features I mention above, which make the Westminster edition much more useful.

[Jonathan Allen]

Is there a standard set of rules that govern how (unpointed) words and syllables are to be pronounced? Similar to those for the vocalisation of a leading vav (i.e. 'v' or 'oo')

[B-LO]

For the narration of the Tanakh, besides Avraham Shmuelof, I highly recommend Shlomo Bertonov who appeared on Kol Israel narrating the Bible for many years. One of the best narrators in Israel.

See below as an example (you can find bundles and discounts at other Israeli websites):
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Online_Store/Audio/Bertonov/bertonov.html

[JohnFH]

Jonathan,

There are all kinds of rules, as there are in any language. But I bet you do not depend on those rules for the language or languages you know well. Rules often have exceptions anyway. In the first place, it is best to let your brain do the sorting, through imitation, immersion, and a basic grasp of the grammar through book learning.

[JohnFH]

B-LO,

I grew up, so to speak, on Bertonov's recitation of the biblical text. His tapes were the ones I learned from as a teenager. The recitation is excellent, but I like the way Shmuelof captures ayins and even alefs.

[B-LO]

John,

It's good that he pin points those phonetical specifications. However, Bertonov has pace, consistency, and does not chant; a real narrator. I can easily fall asleep by listening to Abraham because he lacks those aforementioned characteristics. I guess it has to do more with preference.

Anyone (as I have) can download all his recordings here and burn it on DVD:
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/ptmp3prq.htm

[Jeremy]

John,

I'd also add Harper's Intro Grammar:
http://books.google.com/books?id=HTAQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=harper+hebrew#PPA13,M1

and

Harper's Vocabularies:
http://books.google.com/books?id=xBYUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=harper+hebrew

The vocabulary text actually provides the background for many of the lists that are common today.

[Hebrew Scholar]

Totally agree with your comments that it is only by reading the Hebrew Bible text without vowels, that you really know whether you know and understand the text. It is a great way to check your progress, especially when you compare with an audio version of the Hebrew Bible.

[tzvee]

FWIW - my independent studies course manuals:
Introduction to Classical Hebrew 1104
http://zahavy.com/Hebrew1104.pdf
Introduction to Classical Hebrew 1105
http://zahavy.com/Hebrew1105.pdf
Introduction to Classical Hebrew 1106
http://zahavy.com/Hebrew1106.pdf

[JohnFH]

Thanks, tzvee, for the helpful links.