• Translate Genesis 1-3. You need not write out your translation. Work on the parsings that cause difficulty for you. Resources for all three chapters are available on this web page under "Genesis 1 Translation Resource," "Genesis 2 Translation Resource," and Genesis 3 Translation Reource" Be certain to utilize the lexicon by William L. Holladay (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988]) so that you increase your proficiency in its usage.


• Review Frederic Clarke Putnam, Hebrew Bible Insert: A Student's Guide (Quakertown, Pa.: Stylus Publishing, 1996). You will be required to carry this to every class and refer to it during discussions of the Hebrew text.


• For reading, you might consider doing an initial read through of our primary textbook (outside the Hebrew Bible): Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., From Exegesis to Exposition: A Practical Guide to Using Biblical Hebrew (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1998). Reading it once in the summer will not count as fulfilling the reading requirement for the course in the fall. Therefore, read it to familiarize yourself with it, not to soak it up--unless, of course, you have the time and inclination to do so.


• For those of you needing a back-to-basics review of Hebrew, you might take a look at the following two books to see if they might be of help in meeting your specific needs:
  
  
  
  1. Gary A. Long, Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Hebrew: Learning Biblical Hebrew Grammatical Concepts through English Grammar (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002). This volume helps in basic definitions of grammar so that the student becomes more proficient in the use of basic grammatical terminology. It is not a guide providing any help for developing parsing skills. If you have difficulty understanding distinctions like "perfect" and "imperfect" or "active" and "passive" or "direct object" and "adverb," Long's book will be of help. It was a required textbook last year--it will not be required this year.
  
  
  2. Peter James Silzer and Thomas John Finley, How Biblical Languages Work: A Student's Guide to Learning Hebrew and Greek (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2004). If you are having difficulty more with how Hebrew itself works (e.g., how phrases are put together, how to determine the meaning of a word, or what to do to help you learn Hebrew), this is a better volume than the previous one. This is not a required textbook.
  
  
• Begin now to find an Old Testament text consisting of 3-4 consecutive verses in the Hebrew that you would find a joy to devote your time to for the four papers required in this course. The final paper will be an exposition of your chosen text. Final approval rests with the professor and will not be given until the 2nd week of classes.
  
  
  
  1. It must not be in Genesis 1-3, Exodus 15:26, Psalms 15 and 19, or Isaiah 53:4-6.
  
  
  2. It must not be a text covered in Chisholm's outline of exercises in Chapter 10 of From Exegesis to Exposition (eliminating Genesis 2-3; Amos 5:1-17; Proverbs 5:15-23; Psalms 12 and 29).
  
  
  3. It must be from the Hebrew portions of the Old Testament (not Aramaic).
  
  
  4. It must be a non-genealogical text.

NOTE: The SIL Apparatus Font will be needed for Paper #1 in OT603. That font is available as a free download (both Mac and PC platforms are supported). Just click on the font's name at the beginning of this note. Students with Hebrew Bible software will have an easier time producing papers required in this course. I recommend BibleWorks 7.0 as the best overall Bible software containing both Greek and Hebrew modules.

Additional Hebrew Fonts: The following links provide access to websites where various Hebrew fonts might be obtained. Most require purchase of either a license or of the font itself.