Review of "A Reader's Hebrew Bible"

Thanks to Jesse Hillman for providing a review copy. A Courtesy of Zondervan



Review of A Reader's Hebrew Bible, A Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith (Zondervan, 2008). pp. 1680. $ 49.99

A Reader’s Hebrew Bible is edited by A. Philip Brown II (PhD, Bob Jones University) and Bryan W. Smith (PhD, Bob Jones University) and produced by 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 Bible 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 incorporated. 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) is contained; thus 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.(Click here for a reading sample).

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. 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.