Most of us first encounter the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament) in translation. We, therefore view it through the lens of someone else’s interpretation, however venerable that interpretation may be. But for many centuries, before translations made the text of the Bible accessible to people around the world, it was read and interpreted in its original language, ancient Hebrew. Jews continue to read the Bible in that language today, and so can you.

Biblical Hebrew was the language of ancient Israel. It is an archaic form of the modern Hebrew that is spoken on the streets of present-day Jerusalem; the relationship between the two is akin to that between Shakespearean English and modern English. Biblical Hebrew is no longer used in casual conversation, but it remains at the heart of Jewish worship.

What can be gained by learning to read and understand the the Hebrew Bible in its original language?

According to Professor Michael Carasik of the University of Pennsylvania, who has spent his career studying and translating the Hebrew Bible, it’s about deepening one’s knowledge and appreciation of this profound work. By learning how to read the Bible in Hebrew, you’ll be able to:

Reach your own conclusions about what its stories really mean,
Enhance your appreciation of its un-translatable literary artistry, and
Gain new understanding of ancient history and the roots of the three great Abrahamic religions.

Professor Carasik has designed this 36-lecture course, Biblical Hebrew: Learning a Sacred Language, to be your authoritative primer on everything from the Hebrew alphabet and punctuation marks to essential vocabulary words to advanced grammatical rules. Whether you’re just starting out on a study of Hebrew or you already know the basics, these lectures are a helpful resource that will contextualize the language for you with a line-by-line reading of passages—and ultimately an entire chapter—from the Hebrew Bible. They’re meant not just to teach you Biblical Hebrew, but to equip you to explore one of the world’s greatest books in its original language on your own. And they’re crafted to help you learn in what Professor Carasik calls the va-yomer-elohim way: not through rote memorization, but by hearing this fascinating language and speaking it aloud and reading it and practicing it—the same way we all learned our native language.

Biblical Hebrew—Taught Holistically

“In Hebrew, you don’t want to rely on a single trick for anything,” Professor Carasik notes. “You want to learn holistically. It takes time, but that’s the more natural way to learn a language.”

Using this methodical, holistic approach, the lectures of Biblical Hebrew cover all the fundamentals of the language. The course is a cumulative learning experience that rewards following the lectures in order, so that as you progress, your understanding of Biblical Hebrew not only broadens but also deepens.

Here are just a few of the many building blocks of the language you’ll explore in depth:

Alphabet: From the silent letter aleph to the t-sounding tav, you’ll learn the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and how to pronounce them (all with the help of a little song).
Numbers: Numbers in Hebrew have a gender, and depending on what you’re counting, the number is either masculine or feminine. You’ll learn how to count to 10,000, how to list things in order, how to refer to a pair of things, and more.
Punctuation: One function of punctuation and accent marks in Hebrew is musical. How so? When the Bible is read out loud in a synagogue service, its words are not supposed to be spoken but chanted.
Adjectives: In Hebrew, adjectives are regularly used like nouns. Take, for example, shofet: an adjective from the verb meaning “to judge” that can be used to say either “I am judging” or “I am a judge.” The Hebrew name for the book of Judges is Sefer Shoftim, which could more literally be called “the book of Judgers.”
Verbs: The Biblical Hebrew verb system consists of five forms: perfect, imperfect, infinitive, imperative, and participle. Along with these, you’ll also learn about Hebrew’s verb roots and master verb stem identifications (known as binyanim), including Qal, Pu’al, Hiphil, Niphal, and Hitpa’el.

As you build on your understanding, you’ll acquire a host of new insights into both Biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible.

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