Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar

Page Kelley's "Biblical Hebrew" is loaded with lots of Hebrew scriptures to illustrate his grammatical points. If you like learning with Biblical examples, this is for you. There are exercises in each grammar chapter, plus separate Heb to Eng Vocabulary, verb tables, and glossary.

I am currently finishing up my studies in Kelly. This work book is very solid, Kelly has taken a very in-depth and detailed approach to biblical hebrew. I am a Bible and Theology Major studying under one of Oxford's finest Hebrew profs. This work book can be used by anyone and is great for teaching yourself. Just make sure you buy the Handbook with the answers too...that is a life saver. If you are planning on teaching yourself "biblical" hebrew, then Kelly is the best route you can go, in my opinion of course.

This book by Kelley is extremely detailed without being overwhelming. Learning any language can be overwhelming, but if one takes this book lesson by lesson, they will do well. I find that this makes a great companion text to "Biblical Hebrew" by Kittel et al (see my review on this book for more information).Kelley provides what Kittel does not, and vice versa. Kittel presents great lessons without getting into a mass of details that aren't yet necessary, and as a workbook, it moves you along confidently and quickly. But with learning anything, many like to know, and will definitely need to know fairly early on, not simply how something is done, but WHY, and what nuances are caused by the details. Kelley does just that by explaining point by point why things work the way they do in Hebrew. For example, this would include how vowel pointing changes and why. Kittel deals with vowel pointing, of course, and how it works grammatically, but leaves one without answers in many cases as to the systematic rules of how vowel pointing works. Also, Kittel's book does a nice job in presenting participles, but doesn't really give enough detail to help the beginner with the related nuances of participial grammar that even the beginner needs to know (e.g., what's the difference in translation between participles as adjective, as verbs, and as nouns?). Kelley explains in detail what Kittel presents generally. He gives all the answers that Kittel does not. Kittel gives a more workable workbook than does Kelley. With Kittel, you feel like you're moving along faster and so it is more encouraging (I personally went through the first half of Kittel's book thoroughly in only 2 1/2 months, along with working on a number of chapters later in the book at the same time; I could never do that with Kelley's book). Because of its great detail, it may have a somewhat discouraging effect by not allowing the student to move very quickly.What I recommend for any truly serious student of Hebrew is to invest in both Kittel's and Kelley's books. Use Kittel's book as the main course, and use Kelley's as a main supplement (you will definitely need something to go with Kittel's book). After you've gotten about half way through Kittel's book, it would then be good to look at Kelley's book systematically and find the reasons for why Hebrew is the way it is. Ultimately, Kelley's book will have to become your main text if you really plan to learn Hebrew effectively. Kelley by far gives many more exercises to hone your skills. Also, I use Kelley's book sort of like an encyclopedia to turn to for more information as I study a chapter in Kittel's workbook.I can't recommend this combination of books enough, for it truly gives many positive facets to studying Hebrew. For under $100, the serious student can be set for a long time with these two books. And one can still keep it under a hundred dollars by investing in what I believe to be the best student's vocabulary book out there for the pric

Page Kelley's grammar is the fruit of decades of experience teaching introductory biblical Hebrew. The format of the book is impeccable. The complexities of Hebrew grammar are made clear at every point. Each lesson is followed by extensive sets of exercises taken from the Hebrew Bible itself. The result is that beginning students are working with the Bible itself immediately and not artificially constructed phrases and sentences. This grammar establishes a clear program for learning Hebrew. Any student who follows that program faithfully and trusts the grammar to do its job will learn the basics of Hebrew grammar. I have used this grammar to teach my Hebrew classes and can not imagine teaching without it.

This book has helped me a great deal in learning Biblical Hebrew. The author was my professor's professor.