A Reader's Hebrew Bible
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Book Reviews of A Reader's Hebrew Bible
Book Review: Excellent Hebrew Bible for the 1st year student or more casual reader.
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on the success Zondervan had with A Reader's Greek New Testament, you knew it was only a matter of time before they'd put together a similar resource for the Hebrew Bible. To the delight of many, A Reader's Hebrew Bible was released this past March. I've been looking forward to writing this review and wanted to express a word of thanks to the folks at Zondervan for sending me a review copy. I'll be breaking this review into two parts. Part one will discuss the physical characteristics and also the packaging for this Bible. Part two will take a look at what's inside this Bible.
Let me start by talking about the physical characteristics of A Reader's Hebrew Bible. It has a very appealing look about it; one might go so far as to say it's beautiful. The binding is a light brown Italian Duo-Tone. You will find the title stamped on the front cover and the spine in silver lettering. The page edges match the lettering as they are also gilded silver. This volume measures 7.2 in. wide by 9.9 in. high by 2.1 in. deep, which makes it a bit larger than the other Hebrew Bibles I am familiar with. The paper used for this Bible is a bit thinner than the paper used in some of the other Zondervan Bibles in my library. It is slightly transparent as you're able to make out some of the text on the other side of each page. However, this in no way hinders the readability of the Hebrew text. I felt that the decision to go with this paper was probably design-related as it lends to the overall elegant look and feel of the Bible. In addition to the great look and feel of this Bible, Zondervan went the extra mile by creating great packaging for it. This Bible comes in what I would consider a presentation quality box. The front of the box is windowed to show the front cover with the title in silver lettering. The back of the box has a well laid out list of information that will be important to someone who is looking to buy this Bible.
Next, I wanted to take a look at the inside of A Reader's Hebrew Bible. There are 28 pages of worthwhile introductory material at the front of the Bible. This includes the Author's Preface, a Quick User's Guide, an Introduction, and Abbreviations & Sigla. I am very excited to note that all of the introductory material is written in English. Many of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles available in the bookstores of Bible Colleges and seminaries come from the German Bible Society. The difficulty for many American students is that the introductory material is written in German. Since most of the students are not fluent in German, they miss out on the introductory information, which will help them to make the best possible use of their new Bible. Following the introductory material is the actual Hebrew text. I really appreciate that the Hebrew text goes across the entire page, with all of the notes appearing at the bottom. This serves to make the text more readable as you don't have any notes or references in the margins, breaking up the text as you're trying to read it. I think this will be especially useful to first year students who are working on their Hebrew reading as it will minimizes the distractions on the page. When the reader comes across a word they're not quite sure about, they can refer to the notes at the bottom of the page which contain glosses and definitions of Hebrew words occurring 100 times or less and Aramaic words occurring 25 times or less. These notes will prove very useful to the 1st year student as well as the more casual reader whose Hebrew skills may be a bit out of practice.
Let me summarize by saying that I think Zondervan did a great job with A Reader's Hebrew Bible. It's a very attractive and high quality Hebrew Bible at a reasonable price. The layout and notes will be invaluable for the 1st year student or the more casual reader. It will make a great gift for students, pastors, or the layperson interested in Biblical Hebrew.
Book Review: As good as any other similar reference
Summary: 5 Stars
I've noted the reviews which indicate errors in areas such as wrong roots footnoted, questionable lexical definitions, editor is a person someone doesn't like, or comes from a school he/she doesn't like, etc. The editor's errors ultimately should not affect the rating of the text as long as it is minimal. I've never seen a Hebrew or Greek reference in which all the information was correct.
Any person using this book should certainly have memorized at least all Hebrew words used 100 times or more, and preferably 50 times or more. And no person should approach a work like this without at least two other lexicons available. I have 8. Thus, a misprint in the footnotes, or a meaning we question (a subjective issue), is not an issue.
Let's not forget that the Hebrew text itself has, by the Masoretes, a required preservation of errors. They were not allowed to fix the consonantal text, thus having to footnote alternate readings. And let's not forget that there are some "nonsense" words preserved in the Hebrew text. If it's okay to preserve otherwise fixable errors in the Word of God, then taking issue with some human error in a side reference is likely unfair. And let's not forget, most importantly, that there are errors of spelling preserved in the Hebrew consonantal text for which the Masoretes never offered corrections, and they mispointed not a few words with incorrect vowels. They preserved traditional pronunciation, not correct pronunciation.
This being said, it should be understood by anyone using a Hebrew or Greek text with references alongside, that the references will have errors, or, at least, there will be disagreement on definitions of terms on the basis of the latest information and other such reasons.
I have no issue with the infrequent names being in faded gray. Yes, they could be slightly darker, but so what. They are readable.
If we don't like the footnoting and faded text, then let's learn ALL the Hebrew words and read a standard BHS or WLC text.
I am thoroughly enjoying this work, helping me through vocabulary I'm still learning (and using my other lexicons to help) while being able to concentrate on stem and syntactical meanings often not translated into English editions. And it allows me to read in Hebrew in the pew.
For those of us who find, or think we are finding, errors, let's be helpful and forward them to the publisher for correction in later editions.
And to those who take issue with this work because of who did it or where they went to school, let's not forget that it's the integrity of the scholar, not their faith, that ultimately matters. Thayer was a NT Greek scholar, and despite being a Unitarian, had no problem being objective and saying that the NT taught a Trinitarian view. Thayer is a must for a Christian understanding of the NT Greek, yet he denied Christian doctrine. His goal was to state accurate what the Greek says, not what he wanted it to say. This is the kind of person I trust. I'd rather have an objective atheist than a subjective believer, when it comes to scholarly work.
Book Review: "Simply Elegant and Attractive"
Summary: 5 Stars
A Reader's Hebrew Bible is produced by A. Philip Brown II (PhD, Bob Jones University) and Bryan W. Smith (PhD, Bob Jones University) with Zondervan. Its designed purpose is "to facilitate the regular reading of the Scriptures in Hebrew and Aramaic." The reader assists students of the Bible by lessening invested time browsing through a lexicon, while improving and maximizing students' previous acquired skills in the target languages .RHB also "allows students to focus on learning Hebrew and Aramaic vocabulary in its literary context rather than in isolated word lists." The reader is also useful for teachers of Hebrew and Aramaic intending to "remove the necessity of creating new gloss lists when one wants to have students read different sections of the OT" (xiii). RHB provides necessary help to students to become more familiar with the Hebrew and Aramaic Texts; as well as improving (their) reading proficiency respectively.
The Book includes the authors' prefaces, a quick user's guide on how to access the Text. An informative introduction recounting the genesis of this edition is included. A section summarizing the Hebrew and Aramaic Verb Stem Abbreviations (e.g. hif = hifil, nif = nifal, pal = palal; af = afel, hishtaf= hishtafel, itpa= itpael, shaf=shafel) & Sigla (`marks words where WLC and RHB read L differently than BHS) substantiates the usefulness of RHB.
The Quick User's Guide aims to provide a quick reference to readers on how to navigate through the texts of the Jewish Bible both in its original tongues (Hebrew and Aramaic respectively). The A Reader's Hebrew Bible uses the Westminster Leningrad Codex 4.4. All words, excluding proper nouns occurring less than 100 times, are footnoted. The Glossary includes all Hebrew words, excluding proper nouns, occurring 100 times or more; whereas Aramaic words, excluding proper nouns, and those that occur less than 25 times are also footnoted. An Aramaic glossary is not preserved.
The reader contains significant glosses which are taken primarily from HALOT (Koehler, Baumgartner and Stamm's The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament) and BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon) . For example, Appendix A includes a glossary of all Hebrew words occurring 100 times or more; and all Aramaic vocabulary occurring less than 25 times.
RHB is similar to the text of Biblia Hebraicai Stuttgartensia (BHS) and Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) with minor changes. Textual criticism decision is not a priority of RHB.
What A Reader's Greek New Testament (Zondervan, 2007) does for students of NT and Greek is what A Reader's Hebrew Bible will do for students of the OT and Hebrew and Aramaic. Together students of the Bible have two enduring "twin resources" to study the Word of God in its original written texts.
A Reader's Hebrew Bible is a tool that will not disappoint you." Bible students and pastors cannot afford not to own a copy of A Reader's Hebrew Bible. RHB is user friendly, elegant, leather bound, convenient, and eye-catching.
Book Review: Essential Hebrew Tool for Intermediate Students
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a must own for any intermediate Hebrew student. It removes the excessive crutches and dangers that you often face when using an interlinear bible, but provides enough vocabulary help to encourage the student toward proficiency. It is an ideal resource for Hebrew students striving to read the text, but possessing a limited to moderate Hebrew vocabulary.
The aesthetics of the book are excellent. Like A Reader's Greek Bible before it, the book is made of beautiful Italian Duo-Tone. The Hebrew font for the book is a slightly modified, yet highly readable, version of the BibleWorks Hebrew font. The Hebrew text follows the Westminster Leningrad Codex. When minor differences between WTC and Biblia Hebraica Struttgartensia occur they are marked and can examined in Appendix B.
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The book is a reader, meant to enable students with a working knowledge of Biblical Hebrew but a limited vocabulary to increase their proficiency with the language. To that end the book works marvelously. Every Hebrew word occurring 100 times or less and every Aramaic word occurring 25 times or less is footnoted in a gloss at the bottom of the page. The footnote/gloss system is intuitive and easy to use. The gloss utilizes The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) and The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (BDB) as its primary lexical sources for the definition of the rare words.Each gloss contains the following pattern: (numerical footnote superscript) HOMONYM#, LEMMA, STEM: HALOT; BDB; ALTERNATE.
Another convenient function is that the massive amount of rare proper nouns (less than 100 and 25 again) are printed in gray but not footnoted. This helps the reader to identify that a strange word is a proper noun, while not clogging down the glosses with the severe number of proper nouns present in the Old Testament.
The RHB also has a convenient glossary containing all Hebrew lemmas with a frequency of 100 times or more in Appendix A. The definitions are again based on BDB and the Appendix is arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet.
The one negative is that the RHB does not contain a text critical apparatus. For this a student will need to consult a source like BHS.
In summary, the RHB is a great resource that should prove valuable for intermediate students in generations to come. It is an excellent companion to its Greek counterpart.
Book Review: A great resource
Summary: 5 Stars
I've got both the first and second editions of the Reader's GNT companion volume. Either is a great value for the money, but neither comes close to the quality and usefulness of the Reader's GNT published by UBS -- the real deal. So I was a bit hesitant to purchase Zondervan's Reader's Hebrew Bible.
My hesitation was overcome by the fact that I use my UBS RGNT on a daily basis for devotional use, but don't read the Hebrew text in the same way as frequently because of the need for a lexicon nearby. A reader's lexicon helps, but it's still a clunky way to read, and because Hebrew vocabulary is so much larger than NT Greek, there are few of us who will ever be able to simply read with no lexicon around. So seeing what a reader's GNT did for me, I ordered this.
I'm very pleased. It hast the same cheap binding and paper as the companion RGNT, but the fact that it's duo-tone (basically PVC plastic) does mean that despite being flimsy, it should hold up for a long time. They seem to have overcome the typeface problems present in both editions of the RGNT. This font is very easy to read. I have not found the proper names being in gray instead of black to be a problem -- they're not that light and the purpose is to make proper names used less than 100 times stand out so that the newbie doesn't waste time trying to parse them. That's the whole point: to gloss the words so the reader doesn't have to. The more you read, the more you learn, and the more often you read and learn the more Hebrew sticks in your mind.
The fact that this text is that of the Westminster edition of Leningradensis is great. They essentially cut and pasted from Bibleworks 4. There are minor variants between this and BHS/BHQ, but nothing significant and all differences are listed in the appendix. I also like the way they've dealt with Kethib-Qere readings -- something that should serve good training for the student just learning his way around the Hebrew Old Testament.
If Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft ever prints a readers edition of BHS or BHQ it will probably leave this in the dust just as the UBS RGNT leaves the Zondervan RGNT in the dust, but until then this is a great tool.