Read the Bible in Hebrew

This is a user-intensive way to learn Biblical Hebrew.

If you can think of yourself as a tank, and you’re ready to

Hebrew reads from right to left. Some people think that Hebrew is backward. But since Hebrew
is about 3,000 years older than English, guess which one is backward? Greek came from
Hebrew and the first Greek was also right to left. Then Greek changed into boustrophedon,
which means as an ox treads while plowing a field, right to left, left to right, right to left, and so
on, and finally Greek became left to right. Latin came from Greek. And English comes from
Latin. (F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments). All these languages are connected, and
you will often recognize English words as you learn Hebrew.
Free or Not So Free
First decide if you want to learn Hebrew for free or spend some money.

If you want free, use the chart above with an on-line resource such as Blue Letter Bible. This
link shows Genesis 1.1. You can open to the Hebrew for the verse by clicking the Tools tab to
the left of the verse number. You get the verse in English and Hebrew, plus the key root words
and their approximate translation and transliteration. Click on the Strong’s number and you get
an expanded definition of the root word plus all its appearances in the Bible.

For not so free, I recommend you buy Dr. Danny Ben Gigi’s Hebrew – English Phonetic Bible,
available at his company, Hebrew World. Dr. Ben Gigi is a native Israeli Hebrew speaker and
he taught biblical Hebrew at Arizona State University for 15 years before Hebrew World. The
transliteration is his, verse by verse, so you can trust it. Dr. Gigi does simplify the transliteration
slightly, which helps beginners. As you get better at reading Hebrew, you can adjust your
browser or screen so that you can’t see the English or transliteration, but it’s there if you need it.
I’ve heard some people say they don’t need the transliteration, but it really does help when
learning pronunciation. Here’s what Dr. Ben Gigi’s program looks like on my iPad:
Why are Root Words Important?
Root words are normally three letters. Prefixes and suffixes are added to the root to show
gender, possession, and tense, among others. So one Hebrew word with prefixes and suffixes
might translate into two or as many as six English words.

A simple example is the first word of the Bible, ‫ בראשית‬Be-re-sheet, which translates to In the
beginning. Go to the Blue Letter Bible for this verse, click on the Tools tab, then click on H7225,
the Strong’s number. There you will see that the root ‫( ראשית‬with a different transliteration)
means first, beginning, best, chief. The prefix ‫ ב‬bet means in. The is implied. So the first
Hebrew word of the Bible translates to three English words, In the beginning.

You have to be connected to the Internet to use Blue Letter Bible. If you want to be able to
study off-line, you need to spend more money. Power Bible is a CD under $10 which gives you
more information than you will probably need in this lifetime. The CD downloads to your
computer so you don’t have to keep the CD with you. For tablets (and
for smart phones if you have really good eyes), my two favorite apps are
Olive Tree in the New King James with Strong’s version and Hebrew
Bible, which also has Strong’s. Both of these can be used off-line.
These are what their icons look like in the app store and on my iPad.

If I were to start all over, I might use the Accordance Bible. It has a Bible app
which breaks down the Hebrew word more than a normal Strong’s, telling you, for
example, “second person feminine,” which is a great help when learning grammar.
It is more expensive, about $80. This is what its icon looks like.

More Resources
Google Translate is a fun and free on-line resource that’s constantly improving. You can input
an English word or phrase and translate into Hebrew or do the reverse.

To input Hebrew into your computer, you need to active the Hebrew keyboard. This is done
from Settings on an iPad. For a Windows computer, go to Control Panel, Region and
Language, Keyboards, and add the Hebrew keyboard. With a newer Windows system, this will
automatically enable right to left typing. You switch back and forth between entering English
and Hebrew by pressing Alt-Shift on the left side only of the keyboard. When you do this, you
will see the EN icon on the lower right of the screen change to HE and then back again.

If you want to follow the Torah portions which were put into place at the Great Assembly under
Ezra 2,500 years ago, which means ‫ ישוע‬Yeshua followed them, you can find a current
schedule at Torah Portions.

After I read through the Torah portions in Hebrew for one year, friends gave me a Torah scroll.
This was like a cold shower shock. It could take ten minutes just to find where I had finished
reading the last time. There are no book titles, chapter headings, or verse numbers. But my
Hebrew reading ability took a big jump the second year when I read the portions the second and
third times, first in Ben Gigi’s program and then in the scroll. By the end of the second year, I
didn’t have a problem finding my way around the scroll. Now I’m reading out of the Hebrew
Bible app shown above for the fourth time and that’s getting easy. So this program works. It
just takes effort and time on your part. If you keep the commitment, you’ll be blessed!

On the next page are screen shots of Olive Tree and Hebrew Bible, each open to Genesis 1.
Patience!
When I started reading Torah in Hebrew the first time, I felt like I was tearing my hair out. In
fact, I’m mostly bald now! I wanted to put it off, but I knew that if I just stuck with it, it would be
much easier after a year. And it was. And better the second and third years. I’m glad I didn’t
wait. You may feel like your head is overheating, but stick with it and you’ll do fine.

A support group helps. The first year I was on my own, but I knew I might quit the second year
without fellowship, so we started a Hebrew Torah group at our congregation.

Let’s Start
Here is Genesis 1.1 from Dr. Ben Gigi’s program, showing the Hebrew, the transliteration, and
the translation.

The first letter, as you see on your Hebrew chart, is ‫ ב‬bet, which here is the prefix and
preposition meaning in. The original Hebrew did not have vowels. When vowels were added to
the text to make it easier to read, they were added usually below the letters or sometimes above
and occasionally in the middle in a way that would not disturb the original text. So under the ‫ב‬
you see the vowel shva. In most cases, the right thing to do with a shva vowel is just pronounce
the sound of the consonant. Here, just say “beh.” That’s the first syllable.

The second syllable is ‫ רא‬with the tsere vowel under the ‫ ר‬resh, followed by the silent ‫ א‬aleph.
This is an example of Dr. Gigi’s transliteration simplification. Just say “re” while rolling the r.
There are resources you can look up on-line to get more into depth with these vowels, but you
would be understood by a Hebrew speaker if you follow Dr. Gigi’s simpler method.

The third and final syllable of the first word is ‫ שית‬with the chirik vowel under the ‫ ש‬shin (when
the ‫ ש‬has the dot over the right it’s pronounced shin, when the dot is over the left it’s
pronounced sin). Chirik is the ee sound. The ‫ י‬yod is not normally silent, but it is here after the
chirik. The final letter of the syllable is ‫ ת‬tav. So this syllable is pronounced sheet.

Be-re-sheet. You just read the first word of the Bible!

The rest follows the same pattern. Remember you’re a tank, growling your way through the
Torah, word by word, verse by verse, portion by portion.

More Resources
Do a search for Handy-Dandy Hebrew Grammar Chart by Shawn Madden and you’ll find the
clearest Hebrew grammar I’ve seen. You may find yourself referring to it often to see what
various prefixes and suffixes mean. For practical use, the Qatal (Perfect) and Yiqtol (Imperfect)
forms of the verbs will carry you through about 70% of verb usage.

I’ve also enjoyed various Hebrew programs, books, songs, and the daily emails from Israel365.
Treasure Hunting
I hope you find treasure in your Hebrew reading of Torah. ‫ ישוע‬says that every teacher of Torah
who is instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well
as old. Today, we are more likely instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven and need to study Torah
to find the treasures.

Feel free to write if you have comments about this plan or your progress.

‫שלום‬

Peter
www.torahinmyheart.com
[email protected]

And my home congregation for more resources