The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah: A Hebrew and Aramaic Reader

Book 21 in Hebrew Bible Readers

This is a Hebrew and Aramaic reader for The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The post-exilic books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain fascinating stories. Ezra also contains both Hebrew and Aramaic passages to read. It is designed as a useful cost-efficient tool for two groups of people. First, for students learning Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic after a year’s worth of study this book and its series provide the material to grow in reading ability from the primary texts. Second, this book is designed for pastors, rabbis, scholars, and curious lay people looking to refresh their Hebrew or Aramaic, or use them in preparation for their work of study, preaching, and teaching.

The book immerses the reader in the biblical texts in order to build confidence reading these languages as quickly as possible. To achieve this, all uncommon Hebrew words that occur 80 times or fewer in the Bible and Aramaic words that occur 10 times or fewer are glossed as footnotes. This enables the reader to continue reading every passage unhindered. Therefore, the book complements traditional language grammars and is especially ideal for beginner and intermediate students learning to read Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. However, even advanced readers will appreciate the glossing of the rare words, since it saves time reading the text. In addition, unlike other readers, this book is small and light, so very easy to carry around and a pleasure to read.

Other features include:

• Biblical maps in Hebrew
• Glossary of all the words not glossed below the text
• Formatted poetry
• Qere / Ketivs marked in the margins
• Tables of Masoretic accents
• Wide margins