HEB-201
Old Testament Hebrew I
Introduction to biblical Hebrew: the alphabet, basic grammar, and enough vocabulary to begin using Hebrew tools alongside your English Bible.
Topics: Biblical Hebrew, Grammar, Original-language tools
Suggested resource: Blue Letter Bible's free Hebrew interlinear, alongside a used copy of Pratico & Van Pelt's Basics of Biblical Hebrew.
Week 1: The Hebrew Alphabet and Reading Right to Left
Reading: Practical exercise — no reading assigned
Hebrew reads right to left and uses its own alphabet of consonants, with vowels traditionally added later as small marks (points) beneath and around the letters. Unlike Greek, most Hebrew words are built from a three-consonant root that carries the core meaning, with different vowel patterns and added letters producing related words — a system worth understanding early since it explains why so many Hebrew words in a concordance cluster around the same root idea.
Key terms: Hebrew alphabet, Right-to-left reading, Triliteral root system
Discussion Questions
- What Hebrew word or name are you most curious to see in its original letters?
Challenge: Learn to write the Hebrew alphabet and identify the three-consonant root of one familiar word, like shalom.
Week 2: Nouns, Verbs, and the Value of Roots
Reading: Practical exercise — no reading assigned
Once you can recognize a Hebrew root, a single concordance entry often unlocks a whole family of related words: the root behind “holy” (qadosh) is the same root behind “sanctuary” and “to sanctify,” a connection largely invisible in English translation. Hebrew verbs are built around seven basic patterns (binyanim) that shift a verb's voice and intensity, simple, intensive, causative, and so on, layered onto the same three-consonant root. You don't need to master this system in a week, only recognize that it exists and start noticing it in a Hebrew interlinear tool.
Key terms: Triliteral roots in practice, Binyanim (verb patterns), Word families
Discussion Questions
- Find one Hebrew root and trace two or three related English translations that share it.
Challenge: Look up the Hebrew root behind 'holy' (qadosh) on Blue Letter Bible and list three related words that share it.
Week 3: Reading Genesis 1:1 and the Shema in Hebrew
Reading: Genesis 1:1, 26; Deuteronomy 6:4
Close this course by working through the most foundational verses in the Hebrew Bible in their original language. Genesis 1:1 opens, “Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets” — “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Notice that “Elohim,” the Hebrew word translated “God,” is grammatically a plural noun, yet it takes a singular verb, “bara” (created, singular) — the reverse of what you'd expect if Genesis meant to describe multiple gods acting together. This is the same word behind Genesis 1:26's “Let us make man in our image,” a verse Trinitarian readers sometimes cite as an early hint of plurality in the Godhead. The Oneness and broader Jewish understanding instead reads “Elohim” as a plural of majesty or fulness, the same way a king might be addressed with plural, honorific language, consistent with the singular verb throughout Genesis 1 and with the Shema's own explicit, unqualified confession.
That confession, Deuteronomy 6:4, reads in Hebrew: “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad” — “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” The word for “one,” echad, is the same word used in Genesis 2:24 for a man and woman becoming “one flesh” — a genuine, unified oneness, not a mathematical statement about counting persons, but not multiplicity either. Working through both verses using an interlinear tool is a small but meaningful step toward reading Scripture's foundational monotheistic claims with your own eyes rather than only through a translator's or a later tradition's choices.
Key terms: Elohim's plural form with a singular verb, Genesis 1:26's 'let us' explained, The Shema's 'echad' (Deut. 6:4), Reading in the original
Discussion Questions
- How does 'Elohim' taking a singular verb throughout Genesis 1 shape how you'd answer someone who cites its plural form as evidence for multiple persons in the Godhead?
- Working through the Shema word by word, what stands out to you now that wasn't as visible in English alone?
Challenge: Translate Deuteronomy 6:4 word by word using a Hebrew interlinear, then compare your translation to three different English versions, and look up 'echad' in Genesis 2:24 as a cross-reference.
Course Exam
Five questions for review or self-testing.
Q: Which direction does Hebrew read?
Reveal Answer
Right to left.
Q: What is the 'triliteral root system'?
Reveal Answer
Most Hebrew words are built from a three-consonant root carrying the core meaning.
Q: What are 'binyanim'?
Reveal Answer
The seven basic Hebrew verb patterns that shift a verb's voice and intensity.
Q: What two foundational verses does this course conclude with in Hebrew?
Reveal Answer
Genesis 1:1 and the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Q: What Hebrew root connects 'holy,' 'sanctuary,' and 'to sanctify'?
Reveal Answer
Qadosh.