Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140895 in Books
• Published on: 1995-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 366 pages

Language Notes
Text: English, Hebrew

Customer Reviews

Good Intro Grammar - Not so good Intro Text
This is a fine intro grammar for Biblical Hebrew. Ultimately, however, that is all it is. It gives the basics and does so in a well laid out manner. Finding topics is pretty easy using either the index of the table of contents. Explanations are extraordinarily thorough - this being the primary positive trait of this book.

More advanced grammars are need for the serious student of Biblical Hebrew (see Joüon-Muraoka; Waltke-O'Connor; Gesenius, etc.). But I keep Seow at hand for quick reminders and explanations for my students.

Unfortunately, many teachers seem to think this book serves as an intro text. Seow apparantly thought by adding exercises to the end of every chapter that it could serve this purpose, as well. I disagree. The order in which concepts are presented does not facilitate quick and easy access to the Hebrew text. Seow gives all of the minutiae on a given concept before moving on. One example should suffice: verbs are not even addressed until chapter VIII, before which nouns in all their forms (geminate, segolate, mem-prefix nouns, tav-prefix nouns, etc.), adjective inflection and patterns (qatol, qatel, qatal, qall, etc.), and an intro to BDB and 'Reading Markers and Pausal Forms' have all been addressed ad nauseum.

By contrast, A First Hebrew Primer by Simon, Resnikoff, and Motzkin serves as a fantastic intro text. It's laid out in a manner which gets students into the Hebrew Scriptures much quicker. This may seem like a small thing, but increases the level of interest in the student tremendously.

A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew receives four stars because it's a pretty good elementary grammar. If you're looking for an intro text, though, please look first at A First Hebrew Primer. It will be worth your time. Then you can use Seow's book to supplement what the Primer doesn't deal with as completely.

A good grammar
This is an excellent grammar. However, it is not a do it yourself beginner's book. It requires either a good instructor, or enough of a background in Biblical Hebrew to appreciate the complexity of the grammar and the thoroughness of Seow's approach. There are a few typographical errors. Seow also has a tendency to slip important concepts in without any fanfare. But his reinforcement of the material by picking unaltered Biblical texts to demonstrate is excellent. The addition of a volume with exercises is needed. It is a textbook, therefore not a complete grammar. Gesenius is still good to have on the side.

Excellent for review, poor for introduction
Seow's introductions to noun morphology, the article, prepositions and pronouns are good. However, I found Seow's verb introductions too steep for me, a student who had no previous exposure to Hebrew or any other Semitic language.

Seow does not drill the student enough toward confidence in reading whole sentences and extended passages.

Seow provides excellent excurses about the BDB lexicon, reading markers and pausal forms, nomenclature for verbal patterns and root types, reference grammars, poetic Hebrew, and orientation to the Hebrew Bible.

I do recommend Seow's book as a review text. Because of the steep verb introductions, I do not recommend it as the main text for students who have no previous familiarity with Hebrew or any other Semitic language.