Biblical Hebrew people! What do you reasons do you give when someone asks you why they should learn Hebrew? Particularly if they can only choose one biblical language to learn (for now). There's plenty of Koine Greek advocates, but not as many BH ones. 📜 - ThreadSky

sseglenieks.bsky.social • 32 days ago

Biblical Hebrew people! What do you reasons do you give when someone asks you why they should learn Hebrew? Particularly if they can only choose one biblical language to learn (for now). There's plenty of Koine Greek advocates, but not as many BH ones. 📜

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excadthedra.bsky.social•32 days ago

In a very mercenary sense: there is considerably more of the Bible written in Hebrew than in Greek.

excadthedra.bsky.social•32 days ago

Pretty niche, but direct translations of BH are often really wooden in English—I’d say more so than in the NT—so there are plenty of times where reading a passage in Hebrew will open up possibilities for interpretation that you can’t get in a pleasant-to-read translation like NIV.

dalassa.bsky.social•30 days ago

Biblical Hebrew: vowels are for the weak

sseglenieks.bsky.social•29 days ago

Love this!

simonebatyochai.bsky.social•32 days ago

Hebrew is a deeply beautiful language, and because it's not Indo-European translations are likely to be more interpretative, and being able to see past that barrier is wonderful
It also opens up a significant number of other languages by introducing you to the Semitic language family...

simonebatyochai.bsky.social•32 days ago

- it's the gateway to Aramaic, Syriac, Mandaic, Ge'ez, Ugaritic, and eventually Akkadian - all of which are under-studied and under-translated

charlesloder.bsky.social•32 days ago

There’s just so much more to read!

beneliest.bsky.social•29 days ago

my reason for learning hebrew is that hebrew is more different from english/german than greek. translations from greek are (in my humble experience) most of the time pretty solid, but understanding the structure of hebrew grammar will open a whole new world that just gets lost in translation!

bnuyaminim.bsky.social•32 days ago

Puns. So many puns that get lost in translation.

sseglenieks.bsky.social•31 days ago

This is a fantastic and really fun reason!

dahutchison.bsky.social•32 days ago

What's one of your favorites?

bnuyaminim.bsky.social•32 days ago

In Genesis 14, a bunch of hostile armies get defeated at Dan. In the next chapter, God tells Abram his descendants will be slaves in a foreign land, "but I'm also going to execute judgment (dān) on the people they will serve". Thinking a lot about Gen 14 for a while so I'm pretty fond of that one.

thailure.bsky.social•31 days ago

Don’t wanna miss out on gems like Isaiah 28:10.

כִּ֣י צַ֤ו לָצָו֙ צַ֣ו לָצָ֔ו קַ֥ו לָקָ֖ו קַ֣ו לָקָ֑ו זְעֵ֥יר שָׁ֖ם זְעֵ֥יר שָֽׁם

julia-rosethorn.bsky.social•32 days ago

The Hebrew authors are literary geniuses on so many levels, and a lot of that can’t be observed in English translations. I also tell my students every translator has an agenda, and being able to engage in the conversation allows for more diverse readings and better understandings of the text.

sseglenieks.bsky.social•32 days ago

For what it's worth, I always encourage people to learn both. But I am definitely a Hebrew apologist. My own main 2 points are:
- more people learn Greek so there are more resources & more likely to be people around to correct bad Greek use
- OT literacy is usually lower than NT & Hebrew helps this

joanbandy.bsky.social•32 days ago

Learning either is pretty much beyond reason. Lol. Passion is probably the best motivator.

samobiwon77.bsky.social•31 days ago

Hebrew poetics & literary devices can be hard to appreciate in translation. These literary features are not exclusive to poetry & songs. Enriches all genres - narrative, prophetic writings, wisdom, etc.

mariahearing.bsky.social•32 days ago

The HB is more beautiful and interesting AND the grammar is easier

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