Biblical Hebrew resources for someone learning Modern?

[EmGeeFab]

I recently decided I want to read the Bible in Hebrew.

I've been learning modern Hebrew for about 18 months, but the Biblical vocabulary is different and the Nikud throws me off.

Do you know of a good resource for learning the Biblical vocabulary given my familiarity with modern Hebrew?

Thanks, Emily

[Speakeasy]

I recommend that you review the discussion thread below as well as Deinonysus’ log. I’m pretty sure that some other members are actively studying Biblical Hebrew. You might consider using the Search function with “biblical” as your criterion as a means of tracking down other discussions.

Best course for biblical Hebrew - LLORG - February 2019
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=10171


A Biblical Hebrew Log – LLORG – December 2019 to the present
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11820

In addition to the foregoing, it is useful to keep in the back of one’s mind that the HTLAL can, at times, be an interesting source for resource lists and just plain old interesting discussions on topics of interest to members of the LLORG, viz:

HTLAL Search Results for “Biblical Hebrew”
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/search_form.asp?cx=partner-pub-2912224114831178%3Ach0jagxs7xl&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Biblical+Hebrew%22&sa=Search&siteurl=how-to-learn-any-language.com%2Fforum%2Fsearch_form.asp&ref=how-to-learn-any-language.com%2Fforum%2Fforum_posts.asp%3FTID%3D2427%26PN%3D1&ss=6798j26081142j5

EDITED:
Tinkering.

[Deinonysus]

Vocabulary isn't the only difference. There are a few significant grammatical differences. You have probably noticed that Biblical Hebrew favors a Verb-Subject-Object word order, as opposed to Modern Hebrew which uses SVO. Another major difference is that the Modern Hebrew past and future tense conjugations are not tenses in Biblical Hebrew, but aspects (perfective and imperfective, respectively). They can be used to represent any tense. Those are two of the main differences that I'm aware of, but I'm sure there are many other differences that I'm not aware of.

I am personally starting out with The First Hebrew Primer: The Adult Beginner's Path to Biblical Hebrew, Third Edition by Simon, Resnikoff, and Motzkin. It teaches a small but important set of vocabulary: it teaches most words that are used in the Bible at least 200 times. However, because your level of Modern Hebrew is probably much higher than mine, you will probably want to start with something more advanced.

I am planning on going through A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew by C. L. Seow when I'm done with the Primer. It has a reputation for being very dense, but it is popular. With your level of Modern Hebrew you should be able to tackle it. It seems to teach a lot of vocabulary and go deep into the rabbit hole of the intricacies of Biblical Hebrew grammar. There are a couple of Memrise courses for Seow's vocabulary, and at 18 hours these courses seem to be the most comprehensive Memrise courses for Biblical Hebrew vocabulary.

I've also heard good things about Thomas O. Lambdin's Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, which was mentioned in the thread that Speakeasy linked.

You may also want to search for some threads on reddit, particularly http://www.reddit.com/r/hebrew and http://www.reddit.com/r/academicbiblical. There's a lot of good information there and that's how I decided which books to use.