Further Biblical Hebrew (hardback)

Further Biblical Hebrew is a coursebook designed for students who have completed at least one year of College study in Biblical Hebrew. It helps students make the transition from the basic grammar books to use of the comprehensive reference grammar books and to more advanced analysis of Biblical Hebrew. Constant reference is made not only to recent works of grammar, but also to the grammatical comments of the medieval Jewish exegetes in the original Hebrew, for which translations and explanations are provided. A central theme is the idea that medieval and modern scholars in the field of Biblical Hebrew grammar have reached essentially similar conclusions, even if the medievals lacked modern terminology.

Part One covers the Hebrew verb, focusing on the recognition and analysis of the uses of Niphal, Piel, Hiphil and Hithpael. There are exercises, such as: 'Spot the Niphal'; 'Identify the Piel verbs and discuss their form and use'; 'Identify and parse Polel formations'. All the analysis and all the exercises are based on actual Biblical verses and there is no use of artificial Hebrew.

Part Two treats the uses of Infinitive Absolute and Infinitive Construct; Part Three is devoted to Syntax, focusing on: antithetical sentences, purpose clauses, interrogative sentences, answers to questions and causal clauses. Part Four deals with uses of: Perfect, Imperfect and Participle. Part Five discusses the grammatical features of 'poetic' Biblical Hebrew and 'elevated style', including a grammatical overview of the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15).