Courses

Building upon elementary knowledge of Hebrew grammar (e.g., Hebrew 1 and 2), this course further develops the student’s skill in reading and interpreting biblical Hebrew texts, with particular focus on syntactical and discourse analysis. Some exposure to Hebrew poetry will introduce the student to the interpretation of parallelism and figures of speech. Related to these topics is gaining an introductory knowledge of textual criticism.

Knowing

• To parse and translate verbs according to form and contextual use.
• To identify the case and function of nouns according to syntax and context.
• To identify the functions of particles and discourse markers.
• To explain the nature of text-critical problems. 5. To explain parallelism, metaphor, and metonymy in Hebrew poetry.

Being

• “To present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15)
• To be a mature interpreter of Scripture as taught by the Spirit (1 Cor 2:6–16)
• While unmeasurable in the context of this course, to allow the Scripture to motivate, form, and transform our faith, worship, and Christian way of life

Doing

• To read and translate Hebrew texts with intermediate skill.
• To describe grammatical and discourse options in Hebrew narrative to non-Hebrew readers of the Bible and explain the import for understanding the text.
• To describe basic poetic features in Hebrew to non-Hebrew readers of the Bible and explain the import for understanding the text.