Ep. 19 - Best Books for Learning Greek and Hebrew
Episode Transcript
Ep. 19 - Best Books for Learning Greek and Hebrew
[00:00:00]
[00:00:00] JC Schroeder: Hello friends. Have you ever wanted to learn Greek and Hebrew, to read the Bible in its original languages? But you weren't sure where to start. So in today's episode, I'm going to share some of my favorite books for learning Greek and Hebrew. As well as some things to think about as you start this journey of learning the biblical languages. I'm JC Schroeder and welcome to Bite Size Seminary.
[00:00:31] So you're interested in learning either Hebrew or Greek. And you're not sure where to turn. I've got some resources for you. But before I give you some of those resources. I want to let you know that I recently started a YouTube channel for Greek and Hebrew. It's called Bite Size Greek and Hebrew. I know. Uh, apparently I'm not very original when it comes to titles. So there you'll find quick tip videos for learning Greek and Hebrew.[00:01:00] I'd really love it if you checked it out or shared it with a friend who's interested in the biblical languages, you can find the link in the show notes or on my website, or just searching on YouTube for Bite Size Greek and Hebrew. Now back to the regularly scheduled program. And let's talk about some resources.
[00:01:18] Let me begin by saying that there are some fantastic resources out there. Any book, any resource is not perfect though. There is no perfect grammar. They all have their own pros and cons. So I'm just going to share with you my favorite and then an honorable mention for both Greek and Hebrew. For whatever reason, I'm going to start with Greek.
[00:01:42] Greek Resources
[00:01:42] JC Schroeder: My absolute favorite introductory Greek grammar is Reading Koine Greek by Rodney Decker. I absolutely love this book. It is very detailed, very accessible. He deals with some newer concepts in Greek [00:02:00] grammar. So it's fairly, I don't want to say cutting edge, but it's a very, up-to-date, that's a good term. It's very, up-to-date in its grammatical terminology. As well as in the information that is portraying. It's also, I find just a really great resource for thinking about how Greek works as a language.
[00:02:22] One of the difficulties in learning the biblical languages for many people, myself included is, I didn't know much about English, let alone another ancient dead language. One thing that I really like about Decker's book, Reading Koine Greek, is that he will introduce and discuss English grammar a little bit and then make the transition into Greek grammar. That gives you a really good mental handhold for knowing what in the world is he talking about.
[00:02:53] Also the way that he describes the various forms, what we call morphology [00:03:00] and the way that words put together, is some of the best that I've seen in introductory grammars. It's just so fantastic and so helpful. He gives just a really great way of presenting the morphology that is so easy and so smooth. One of the things that he emphasizes in his textbook is trying to limit the amount of memorization that is needed. Now, anytime you learn a language and all grammars are going to do this, there is lots of memorization. There's just no way to get around it. But he tries to limit as much of the, kind of like rote memorization, and tries to help you think of the different forms in terms of formulas. There you go. What makes Decker's book stand out, is he tries to help you how the language actually functions and how the language is actually built. So if you can think of how [00:04:00] it actually works and how it actually is put together, that goes a long way to helping you figure out what you're looking at.
[00:04:10] Now, this is a fat book. It's something like 700-800 pages. It's a big book. And with that there is kind of a double-edged sword with that is that you get lots of explanation, which is good, especially if you're on your own or if you're trying to review or just trying to figure out what's going on. That's very, very helpful. What's not good about that is that there's a lot of reading that goes in there. So it's kind of a double-edged sword for us in terms of this length. But the charts, which charts are very important in the biblical languages and the charts are fabulous in this book. It's very well made. And is a great resource for following up in your Greek studies. So if you've already learned Greek, this is a great review book. It's a great book to pull off of your [00:05:00] shelf and review something. If you are going to use this afterwards or in the process of learning. The charts are just fabulous.
[00:05:09] Another benefit of Decker's book. Is that it's not just limited to New Testament Greek. He will pull in a lot of examples from the Septuagint and from some other Greek literature as well, but primarily from the Septuagint and from the New Testament. And so you're not just getting a limited section of reading just from the New Testament, which can really limit your Greek. You're getting a wider form of Greek and that can really pay dividends for your Greek knowledge and your ability to handle the language.
[00:05:43] Now, one thing I don't really like about this book are the exercises. It is a pro for this book that it does contain the exercises in it. There's no additional workbook that you need to buy. If you buy the grammar, you got everything that you need to do. But, the [00:06:00] exercises leave a little bit to be desired at times. Um, I'm sorry. I really loved this book, but, um, the exercises sometimes are just too hard for an introductory student. This is the book I use for when I teach Greek. And I love it, but I have to make my own homework assignments because I just find that my students just get too frustrated with those particular homework assignments. And so that's the one down thing I have to say about this book. Again, there's no perfect grammar. There are things in this book that I would explain differently. But I think it's by far the best grammar that I have seen.
[00:06:40] Now an honorable mention for introductory Greek grammar is Beginning with New Testament Greek by Benjamin Merkle and Rob Plummer. This is a fantastic book as well. It's just as good as Decker. What's nice about this book is that it is much more concise. It's on the other [00:07:00] end of that double-edged sword is that it's a bit shorter, so it's easier to get through and to get the material and be able to process that information and get into the homework. But the other flip side is that you'll find that sometimes the explanations aren't quite large enough or expansive enough for you to fully understand the concept at times. So in terms of a later resource to review. Merkle and Plummer's book is maybe not the best one.
[00:07:31] The one thing though, that does set this book apart, Beginning with New Testament Greek by Merkle and Plummer, is that it comes with videos that are completely free. So all of these videos are online. And you can find the link in the book. I think they're hosted on Rob Plummer's website, dailydoseofgreek.com, which is absolutely fantastic. He has a lecture that corresponds to each chapter in the book. So [00:08:00] if you're not taking a class, if you're trying to learn Greek on your own, this is absolutely fabulous because you don't have to try to figure out what's going on in this book and try to read it. You can have someone explain it to you on a video. Other textbooks have these videos as well, but they'll charge you 50 to 100 dollars sometimes to buy these DVDs or to buy the download. That's expensive. You're already spending, spending, $20, $30, $40 for the textbook. And sometimes you need to buy the workbook as well. And then you got to buy these videos. That's a lot of money. So what I love about this book is that, you could take this as someone who is trying to learn Greek all by yourself, and have everything that you need to get rolling, right there.
[00:08:47] Now you can do that with Dekker's book, but you just don't have the corresponding videos. So if you're that kind of learner, if you're just can dive into a book, then you're set with Decker. If you want some extra [00:09:00] explanation, the videos in Merkle and Plummer's book are just absolutely fabulous.
[00:09:04] One of the other helpful things of Beginning with New Testament Greek is that it has lots of exercises that are super handy and are geared to the right audience unlike Decker's. So it tests you on. Are you able to write the specific forms? Are you able to translate these sentences that are actually manageable for beginning students? So that is really great. And it's all contained within the book. There's no separate workbook that you have to buy, which is great.
[00:09:36] A couple of downsides that I have with Merkle and Plummer's book. And it's fabulous. You should buy it. It's a, it's a great book. But the downside, I think, is that some of the charts are a little confusing and not as clear as say the charts in Dekker's book. And because it's shorter and more concise sometimes some of the explanations are a little lacking, I feel like. And can feel [00:10:00] like you just need a little bit more to really understand what's going on here. So, that's why it's not my favorite, but it's definitely number two. It's a great honorable mention. And you can't go wrong with it. Remember, there is no perfect grammar. So if you have one already use that one. You don't have to go out and buy a different grammar. But these two are both really great resources to get started on studying Greek.
[00:10:26] Hebrew Resources
[00:10:26] JC Schroeder: Now we're going to talk about my favorite books for learning Hebrew. Now my absolute favorite introductory book is called Learning Biblical Hebrew by Karl Kutz and Rebekah Josberger. This book is fantastic. It just really emphasizes the need and the ability of the student to read the actual text.
[00:10:50] What happens a lot of times for studying biblical languages is that people will almost like try to decipher the biblical language. They'll try to pick apart the different elements, [00:11:00] but then they're not actually treating it like a real language. And they're not actually reading it as a language. They're just kind of decoding it. Learning Biblical Hebrew really tries to push against that. They try to emphasize the ability and the fluency in reading. It's so good. Now this book has a corresponding workbook that goes with it, which is kind of a downside because it's an additional cost that the student has to make, but their workbook is fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. So worth the money. And the combo so worth the money.
[00:11:36] Where this book stands out in comparison to other Hebrew grammars is that as it teaches you Hebrew and gives you tries to give you that fluency in reading. Through the workbook, you're going to be reading significant portions of Hebrew. You're going to read in that first, a couple semesters of Hebrew, you're going to be reading Genesis 37 through [00:12:00] 50. Um, so not all of that. And it's, some of it is kind of like dumbed down Hebrew at the level that you're learning at that time, but you're very much getting into the language and seeing real Hebrew and seeing what God is saying in his word as, as he wrote it.
[00:12:18] A lot of other books will give you even like fake Hebrew sentences, made up sentences that are there for you to kind of just get the handle on the language. And that's helpful, but it also like doesn't excite you, like, okay, the good king. The king is good. All right. That's not exciting, but you're reading real Hebrew in their approach in Learning Biblical Hebrew. So that makes it really helpful.
[00:12:44] Now another couple of things that make this textbook stand out opposed to others, is that like Decker for Greek is that they really try to emphasize how the language works and how the language is put together. So their perspective [00:13:00] is not here, here's a bunch of charts memorize this, these charts. It's if you can think about how words are built, how the language functions, then when you encounter, when you encounter a weird form or a weird construction, you are able to pick it apart and deal with it. Another aspect of this book that is really helpful is that they, along with that, is that they try to limit the amount of memorization. Now, there's always going to be memorization and there's always going to be lots of memorization, but they really try to have some model forms that you utilize to help you understand more difficult ones. So they try to keep the memorization down to as low of a minimum as they're able to.
[00:13:45] Now this too is not a small book. It's about 450 pages. So not the shortest, but also not the longest. And it's really helpful in that the explanations are very thorough. And, [00:14:00] um, so you can go back and review concepts later, or as you are working your way through it you are able to understand fairly well the concepts at hand. One of the things I really like about this book too, is that they give you a lot of really helpful memory devices of how do I remember this really complicated snooty grammatical form. The, you know, like here's the silly song or here's the silly saying that helps you remember it. And for whatever reason, our brains really need and can utilize those sorts of memory tricks. And so they help explain some of those. So they're not coming to you as the reader of like, here is this great language now learn it. You know, they are coming to it as real people's like, here's, here's a silly song. Learn that, and that goes a long way to remembering this. So I really appreciate that.
[00:14:47] So this book can serve as a great introduction. Can also be a great resource to have on your shelf to review concepts. So it functions as a introduction, but also a great [00:15:00] review, intermediate review of kind of the way the language works.
[00:15:04] They also have a corresponding website for the textbook, which has a lot of free and great resources and they have different resources for the vocabulary, different resources for the charts. Lot of great stuff that is geared for students there. And if you're a teacher, also great material there as well. If you want to teach from this textbook as well, they have sample syllabi, of how they work through. So very helpful. One of the things that they do in their example syllabi is that the first year of Hebrew, they will go through the entire grammar. And then that second year of Hebrew, they'll go through this grammar again, as a review in the first semester of your second year. So that'd be your third semester of Hebrew, which I think is really, really beneficial because a lot of students, as they come into that third semester of a language, Greek or Hebrew, they're really struggling on some [00:16:00] of those basic elements and they need that review. So this book can do that and kind of filling in some of those blanks that you, that you have from the first year.
[00:16:10] Now one, maybe con to this book is that you need the workbook to go along with it. And another maybe con to it is that the vocabulary is all found in the workbook, which I find slightly annoying. It's tied to the readings in the homework. So I guess that makes sense. But more traditional grammar will put the vocabulary in the textbook itself. So it's, I'm always hunting for where the vocabulary is. Another maybe con to this book, is that for some of the explanations, because the authors are trying to emphasize how the language functions and how the language is built, sometimes they give you a little bit too much information about how things work and the student can feel a little bit lost. So when it talks about the construct state [00:17:00] is really helpful. But also like, just give me a couple of forms to memorize and then I'm good. So, uh, I have a love, hate relationship with how they described the construct state, because it's so helpful. But for the beginning student in like chapter five, it can just feel so overwhelming. So, that's maybe the one con to this book. But otherwise, fantastic book. My favorite introductory Hebrew book. I wish I had this one when I was a Hebrew student. I appreciated the textbook that we used as a, as an intro student, but I really like this one a whole lot better.
[00:17:34] Now my honorable mention for Hebrew is Basics of Biblical Hebrew by Gary Pratico and Miles Van Pelt. This is one of the most common and or popular books for Hebrew. I think it's in its third edition now. I have the second edition and it's really great as well. I've used this as a supplemental book. I've never taught out of this book, but I've used it as a supplemental for myself and learning Hebrew [00:18:00] as well as a supplemental for when I've taught Hebrew. So great charts, great explanations. It's a round 400 pages. So still kind of a big book, but the font, at least in my edition is, is bigger. So there's not a whole lot of text there. It's a very easy read, very digestible. One of the pros of this book are the charts. The charts are really great, very clear, color-coded. Another thing that really makes this book stand out is it will have different encouragements along the way of here's why this grammatical concepts matters for us studying the Old Testament. Those types of encouragements are such a blessing and like reminds you, this is why I'm studying Hebrew.
[00:18:45] So I wouldn't say this book is concise, but it is a very helpful and not a long textbook. I don't know if that makes sense. It's it's it's the right amount of text, maybe. And so, maybe Learning Biblical Hebrew [00:19:00] gives you a, it gives you a bit more information. And that is really great, but Basics of Biblical Hebrew has like a sweet spot of not too much, not too little. So I like that.
[00:19:10] There's also a lot of corresponding material that goes with it. You can buy the workbook that goes with it. There's a fantastic, I keep saying that, fantastic laminated sheet with just the core charts for Hebrew that you can buy. Which is so worth the money, it's like seven, 10 bucks. I don't know what it is, but it is gold. Well-worth buying. And then you can also buy lectures, video lectures that go along with it. That's just additional money, which I don't like having to pay, but you know, is, is out there. Uh, so you're not totally stuck on your own.
[00:19:45] Tips for Learning the Biblical Languages
[00:19:45] JC Schroeder: Now in addition to introductory grammars for Greek and Hebrew, if you're looking for tips and tricks for how to just go through this process of studying Greek and Hebrew, there's a couple of helpful books out there. And what I find for [00:20:00] students as they are learning the biblical languages is that they have to learn not only the language, but they have to learn how to learn a language. And so there's two books that are out there. One is called Greek for Life, and the other is called Hebrew for Life. Th they go together. And so Greek for Life is by Ben Merkle and Rob Plumber, who authored the Beginning with New Testament Greek. And then the other is Hebrew for Life and that's by Ben Merkle and Rob Plumber, as well as Adam Howel. And so Adam Howel and Rob Plumber both work with the Daily Dose of Greek website and Daily Dose of Hebrew website. Plumber does Greek, Howel does Hebrew.
[00:20:40] And so here, as the subtitle gives for both these books, strategies for learning, retaining, and reviving New Testament Greek and biblical Hebrew. So two different books that are super, super helpful in showing you tips and tricks for learning Hebrew in a digestible way.
[00:20:59] A Word about Learning the Biblical Languages
[00:20:59] JC Schroeder: Now [00:21:00] one final thing I want to say about learning the biblical languages. First of all, you're not a lesser Christian for not knowing the biblical languages. The real reason why we want to know Greek and Hebrew is so that we can know the Lord better, that we can know what his word says, and we can see the emphases, the nuances that he is communicating in his word. And those can have tremendous impacts on our spiritual lives and on our interpretation of a passage. But we can still read and study Scripture extremely well, in English alone.
[00:21:34] But I would say we in America have been blessed with so many resources that are available to us that make learning biblical Greek and biblical Hebrew really possible and not easy, but very doable for us.
[00:21:50] There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind if you're going to go forward in learning Greek and Hebrew. First of all, do you just have the time? Some people just don't have the [00:22:00] time. If you're going to do Greek and Hebrew in the traditional cycle in nine months in two semesters for the first year introduction, you need eight to 10 hours free a week. That's a big time commitment. Not everyone can do that. So, you need to be able to factor that into your weekly schedule. Second while you need to think about, do I have the money for this? Do I have the money to buy these resources? Do I have the money to take a class? Another thing you need to consider is what's your learning style? Are you good at just like sitting down with a book and being able to pick out all the different aspects of it and then move on all by yourself, very individualistic. Or do you learn better in a community? Do you learn better in a classrooms setting. So that may help you decide, do you want to do this with, with a friend? Do you want to pay the money to take a class? You have to know yourself a little bit to know how can I make this experience possible for the best outcome.
[00:22:58] So I would just [00:23:00] encourage you, go learn the languages. Check out Daily Dose of Greek, Daily Dose of Hebrew. They have fantastic resources that are available for free. There's also a great set of free videos on YouTube called Aleph with Beth. Where they teach Hebrew in a conversational manner. They are fantastic. There's also a really great app called Biblingo. And it's a software that kind of mimics Rosetta Stone and it's really great as well.
[00:23:31] Additionally, if you are just wondering, how is this actually going to help me. One resource that you may want to check out is The Rewards of Learning Greek and Hebrew by Catherine McDowell and Philip Towner, um, which is a really neat encouragement of why Greek and Hebrew is important. And I talked with Dr. McDowell in a previous episode, and you can check that out as well, and I'll link it in the show notes as well.
[00:23:55] I would encourage you. Go learn the languages. They are so rewarding. [00:24:00] There it's so rich to, to read the word of God in its original language, the way that God has given it to us. It's a lot of work. But it is richly rewarding.
[00:24:11] That's all I have for today. Don't forget to check out my YouTube channel Bite Size Greek and Hebrew. And we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.