Learn Biblical Hebrew for Free!

What you need to know first:

2008-08-29T18:49:00.000-04:00

Green's Hebrew Handbook is now a single ".pdf" file. It totals 341 pages, and is high quality.

This book is free and I don't accept donations. It is in the Public Domain in the United States of America. For more info, see Is This Copyrighted?.

This is a book. It's title is "A Handbook to Old Testament Hebrew by Samuel G. Green D.D.; Third Edition (1921) Revised by A. Lukyn Williams D.D.".

I scanned it at 600 dots-per-inch to preserve the quality of the original - especially the very essential vowel-points, which were mutilated in my earlier 200dpi version.

This new edition is printer friendly, higher quality, and weighs in at only 65MB. I know that sounds large, but it is actually a smaller file size than the old 200dpi unprintable full-color version (which was about 400MB).

I have set up the book so it can be printed at 2 pages per sheet and retain the setup of the original book (with pages facing). This accounts for a few blank pages, as there were in the original.

This book is good, but difficult. This is not a "learn Hebrew easy" thing. You can't "skim" this book. If you want to learn anything, the going will be slow and you will have to repeat some sections. But if you have an hour or two a day to invest in it, you will learn fast.

Yes, I said an hour or two a day. One lesson has taken me anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours to complete, and sometimes I have to re-read the same lesson the next day.

Notice the page links on the side of this page. "Downloads and Links" is where you want to click to get to the actual book.

Shalom!

A few more things...

2007-09-25T20:30:00.000-04:00

Here I will provide just a few pointers that I hope will aid you on your new mission.

Links

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Places where you can find the book:
Internet Archive . . . . I recommend the 65MB download as that is the original version and I haven't tested the others yet to see how they came out. I really think this site is a good host for this book.

My e-Snips page . . . . First place I uploaded the book. It is about 65MB, ".pdf" format. The website is a bit of a hassle though.

Other sites:
E-sword . . . . If you don't already know what this is, I pity you. Thus far, I don't think that they have a Tanakh with vowel points - but the Hebrew Old Testament that can be downloaded for E-Sword is still quite handy.

Comfort Israel . . . . A source where you can download Dr. Ginsburg's Bible (1894) in PDF format. Dr. Ginsburg's Bible is mentioned in Green's Hebrew Handbook (Image # 047, Page 29, Lesson XIII, Section 61) for its use of the Raphē.

Is this copyrighted?

2007-08-31T19:09:00.000-04:00

Short Answer: No, the book is not copyrighted, at least not in the United States of America.

Long Answer: According to the title page in the book, it was published in 1921. According to project Gutenberg, "Any book published anywhere before 1923 is in the public domain in the U.S." You can check it for yourself under section C.10. of the Gutenberg article "Gutenberg:Copyright FAQ".

Because I personally scanned the book, I could legally claim the images I scanned under copyright. Instead, I am releasing them into the public domain.

You can do anything with this book that you want.

You can distribute it. You can let your friends burn it onto CDs/DVDs or whatever. You can reverse-engineer it and decompile it. You can print seven million copies of it and try to sell it for $100 a page (I give no guarantee that this will work, but people are gullible sometimes). You can post it on your website or send it to friends in those obnoxious chain emails. You can create your own Learn Hebrew Program from it. You can turn it into a nice antiqueish wallpaper design and sell it across the country. I have placed no restrictions (or warranties) whatsoever upon your use of this material.

And in case you were wondering, you can also use it for Paper Mache.

The Book Title

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Verbatim from the title page is as follows:

A HANDBOOK

TO

OLD TESTAMENT HEBREW

CONTAINING
AN ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR OF
THE LANGUAGE

WITH
READING LESSONS, NOTES ON MANY SCRIPTURE PASSAGES
AND COPIOUS EXERCISES

BY THE LATE
SAMUEL G. GREEN, D.D.
AUTHOR OF
'HANDBOOK TO THE GRAMMAR OF THE GREEK TESTAMENT'

THIRD EDITION

REVISED BY A. LUKYN WILLIAMS, D.D.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

4 BOUVERIE STREET & 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON, E.C. 4

1921

Outlines

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==General Outline==

0 Introductory...000-018 Pages Start-xix.

1 Orthography....019-060 Pages 1-42

2 Etymology......061-163 Pages 43-146

3 Exercises......164-260 Pages 147-244

4 Paradigms......261-288 Pages 245-272

5 Vocabularies...289-323 Pages 273-307

6 Names..........324-326 Pages 308-310

7 Index..........327-366 Pages 311-End

==Sections Outline== (for finding references marked § in book)

ORTHOGRAPHY

019....§ 1-4

020....§ 5-9

021....§ 10

024....§ 11-12

026....§ 13-16

027....§ 17-18

028....§ 19

030....§ 20

033....§ 21-24

034....§ 25

035....§ 26-29

036....§ 30-31

038....§ 32-36

039....§ 37

040....§ 38

041....§ 39-41

042....§ 42-43

043....§ 44-48

044....§ 49-51

045....§ 52-55

046....§ 56

047....§ 57-62

048....§ 63-64

049....§ 65-68

050....§ 69-75

051....§ 76-78

052....§ 79-83

053....§ 84-86

054....§ 87-89

055....§ 90-91

056....§ 92-95

058....§ 96-98

059....§ 99

060....§ 100

ETYMOLOGY

062....§ 101-105

063....§ 106-110

064....§ 111-114

065....§ 115-122

066....§ 123-125

067....§ 126-130

068....§ 131

069....§ 132

070....§ 133-137

071....§ 138

072....§ 139-143

073....§ 144

074....§ 145-149

075....§ 150

076....§ 151-153

077....§ 154-157

078....§ 158-160

079....§ 161-162

080....§ 163-165

081....§ 166-168

082....§ 169-170

083....§ 171-174

084....§ 175-176

085....§ 177

086....§ 178-182

088....§ 183-186

089....§ 187

090....§ 188-190

091....§ 191-193

092....§ 194

093....§ 195-195

094....§ 197

095....§ 198

097....§ 199-201

098....§ 202

099....§ 203-204

100....§ 205

101....§ 206

102....§ 207-208

103....§ 209-211

106....§ 212-216

107....§ 217

109....§ 218-219

110....§ 220-222

111....§ 223-224

112....§ 225-227

113....§ 228

114....§ 229-230

115....§ 231

116....§ 232-234

118....§ 235

120....§ 236-238

121....§ 239-240

122....§ 241

123....§ 242

124....§ 243

127....§ 244

128....§ 245

132....§ 246

133....§ 247

137....§ 249

138....§ 250

139....§ 251

141....§ 252

142....§ 253

143....§ 254

144....§ 255

146....§ 256

147....§ 257-358

148....§ 259-260

149....§ 261-263

150....§ 264

151....§ 265-266

153....§ 267-268

154....§ 269-270

156....§ 271-272

160....§ 273

161....§ 274

162....§ 275

EXERCISES

165....§ 276

167....§ 277

168....§ 278

169....§ 279-282

170....§ 283-284

171....§ 285-287

172....§ 288

173....§ 289-290

174....§ 291-294

177....§ 295-297

178....§ 298

180....§ 299

181....§ 300-301

182....§ 302

183....§ 303

200....§ 304

201....§ 305

202....§ 306

204....§ 307

205....§ 308

206....§ 309

207....§ 310

209....§ 311

210....§ 312

211....§ 313

215....§ 314

217....§ 315

218....§ 316

219....§ 317

220....§ 318

221....§ 319

222....§ 320

223....§ 321

224....§ 322

226....§ 323

227....§ 324

229....§ 325

231....§ 326

232....§ 327

235....§ 328

236....§ 329

242....§ 330

243....§ 331-332

244....§ 333-334

245....§ 335-336

246....§ 337-338

247....§ 339-340

248....§ 341-342

249....§ 343

250....§ 344

251....§ 345

252....§ 346

253....§ 347-348

254....§ 349-350

255....§ 351

256....§ 352

257....§ 353

258....§ 354

259....§ 355

==Lessons Outline==

ORTHOGRAPHY

019....LESSON I. ON READING HEBREW.

021....LESSON II. THE ALPHABET.

024....LESSON III. OF THE ASPIRATES.

026....LESSON IV. OF FINAL AND 'DILATABLE' LETTERS.

027....LESSON V. OF THE LONG VOWELS.

030....LESSON VI. OF THE SHORT VOWELS.

033....LESSON VII. OF SHEVA SIMPLEX OR SIMPLE SHEVA.

035....LESSON VIII. OF SHEVA COMPOSITUM OR COMPOUND SHEVA.

038....LESSON IX. OF DAGHESH LENE AND FORTE.

041....LESSON X. OF THE QUIESCENT LETTERS.

043....LESSON XI. OF SYLLABLES.

045....LESSON XII. OF DISTINGUISHING QAMETS AND QAMETS-CHATUPH.

047....LESSON XIII. OF FURTIVE PATHACH, MAPPIQ, RAPHE, AND THE DIVISION OF LETTERS ACCORDING TO THE ORGANS OF SPEECH.

049....LESSON XIV. PECULIARITIES OF THE GUTTURALS.

049....LESSON XV. OF METHEGH, MAQQEPH, AND SLIGHT VOWELS.

051....LESSON XVI OF THE ACCENTS: DISTINCTIVES.

055....LESSON XVII. OF THE RADICALS AND SERVILES.

058....LESSON XVIII. OF QERI AND KETHIBH.

ETYMOLOGY

062....LESSON I. OF THE ARTICLE.

063....LESSON II. NOUNS: THEIR CLASSES AND GENDER.

065....LESSON III. NOUNS (CONTINUED): NUMBER.

066....LESSON IV. NOUNS (CONTINUED): CASE.

069....LESSON V. DECLENSION OF NOUNS.

071....LESSON VI. CHANGEABLE AND UNCHANGEABLE VOWELS: VOWEL CHANGES.

073....LESSON VII. DECLENSION OF NOUNS: FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD DECLENSIONS.

076....LESSON VIII. DECLENSION OF NOUNS: FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH DECLENSIONS.

078....LESSON IX. FEMININE NOUNS: IRREGULAR NOUNS.

080....LESSON X. THE PRONOMINAL SUFFIXES.

082....LESSON XI. ADJECTIVES OF QUALITY: DEGREES OF COMPARISON.

084....LESSON XII. PRONOUNS: PERSONAL.

088....LESSON XIII. PRONOUNS: DEMONSTRATIVE, INTERROGATIVE, AND RELATIVE.

090....LESSON XIV. THE VERB: GENERAL SCHEME.

093....LESSON XV. FIRST (ACTIVE) FORM: QAL.

097....LESSON XVI. THE VERB (CONTINUED): NIPHAL.

099....LESSON XVII. THE VERB (CONTINUED): PIEL AND PUAL.

101....LESSON XVIII. THE VERB (CONTINUED): HITHPAEL, HIPHIL, AND HOPHAL.

106....LESSON XIX. RECAPITULATION: HINTS FOR IDENTIFYING VERBAL FORMS.

109....LESSON XX. USE OF THE MOODS AND TENSES: JUSSIVE AND COHORTATIVE IMPERFECT: VAV CONSECUTIVE.

114....LESSON XXI. THE VERB WITH PRONOMINAL SUFFIXES.

118....LESSON XXII. SUFFIX-FORMS WITH NUN EPENTHETIC OR DEMONSTRATIVE.

120....LESSON XXIII. WEAK VERBS: VERBS WITH GUTTURALS.

127....LESSON XXIV. WEAK VERBS (CONTINUED): CONTRACTED VERBS.

132....LESSON XXV. WEAK VERBS (CONTINUED): QUIESCENT VERBS.

137....LESSON XXVI. WEAK VERBS (CONTINUED): QUIESCENT VERBS.

141....LESSON XXVII. WEAK VERBS (CONTINUED): QUIESCENT VERBS.

146....LESSON XXVIII. NOUN FORMATION: NOUNS FROM WEAK VERBS.

151....LESSON XXIX. THE NUMERALS.

156....LESSON XXX. THE PARTICLES.

EXERCISES

165....CHAPTER I. NOTES ON SYNTAX.

180....CHAPTER II. READING LESSONS, WITH NOTES.

200....CHAPTER III. SELECT PSALMS, WITH BRIEF NOTES.

210....CHAPTER IV. PASSAGES FROM JOB, PROVERBS, AND ISAIAH.

219....CHAPTER V. PASSAGES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.

229....CHAPTER VI. UNPOINTED PASSAGES.

242....CHAPTER VII. ENGLISH-HEBREW EXERCISES.

About the Author: Samuel G. Green

2007-03-22T19:23:00.001-04:00

Samuel Gosnell Green was a Baptist pastor, scholar, editor, childrens minister and educator (in math, among other subjects) who walked this earth between the dates of December 20, 1822 - September 15, 1905. He was the eldest son in a small family of nine children, and he was sent to boarding school at the age of 12 or 13. At the age of 25, he married Elizabeth Leader Collier (herself an eldest daughter), with whom he spent over 56 years of his life before she passed away on May 23, 1905. Samuel G. Green passed away less than four months later. Together, they had four children, three sons and a daughter.

In 1843, Samuel G. Green received his B.A. from the University of London, Regents Park College - where his eldest son Samuel W. Green M.A. was later a Professor of New Testament Exegesis. His degree of D.D. was an honorary degree (though well earned through his life's work) from the University of St. Andrews, bestowed in 1900.

S. G. Green's "Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek Testament" was originally published in 1870 and revised many times thence.

(edition here is 1912, revised)

Demand was soon generated for a smaller Primer or Summary which might serve as an introduction of the larger work, and so in 1894, Green published "A Brief Introduction to New Testament Greek", which also underwent revision and multiple reprints. Samuel W. Green produced a "Key to the Exercises" (which also underwent revision) to accompany this book.

(edition here is 1913 seventh impression [book] and 1912 [key])

S. G. Green published "A Handbook to Old Testament Hebrew" in 1901, which itself (is it any surprise?) also recieved revision.

(edition here is 1921, third edition)

To date, I have not found any evidence indicating a direct relation of Samuel Green to his contemporaries Thomas Sheldon Green (1800's author who published works on N.T. Greek) or William Henry Green (1800's author who published a Hebrew Grammar, and was "Professor at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, NJ"), but it is an interesting coincidence (if it is one) that they all wrote on the topic of Biblical Languages and their last names all happened to be Green.

(Green's basic family/education background information here is partially drawn from "Dictionary of National Biography" edited by Sidney Lee, available on Google Books - which is worth looking up. It contains more interesting information which I would love to just copy for you, but it is under copyright, so I will respect that.)