original language of the old testament Summary and Overview

THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The O. T. is written in Hebrew, a Shemitic tongue, differing in most respects very widely from the Japhetic or Aryan languages, to which family ours belongs. The difference is not simply in vocabulary, but in grammatical structure, and also in the manner of writing, which is from right to left, giving rise to the common saying that Hebrew books begin at the last page. It is triliteral -- i. e. its words are built up according to certain rules from roots formed of three consonants. The verb has only two tenses, the perfect and the imperfect. There is no proper declension of nouns, and only two genders, masculine and feminine. There are three numbers, singular, dual, and plural. There are no compounds, in our sense of the term; the article, conjunction, and preposition, expressed each by a single consonant, are attached directly to the word. Pronouns undergo a similar treatment, "whether they are the subject or object of verbs or dependent upon other forms of speech. Thus the Hebrew 'and from his land' is written as one word, though it embraces a conjunction, preposition, noun, and pronoun; but this is a mere aggregate, in which each element retains its separate force unchanged, not a compound, in which the several constituents combine in the expression of one idea." -- Prof. W. H. Green. Hebrew is highly figurative -- pre-eminently fitted for devotion, but by lack of precision singularly unfitted for philosophy. It was therefore just the requisite medium for an introductory revelation. The O. T. does not argue against or analyze or defend any religion in set phrase, but it fills the mind with the knowledge of the true God and inspires the heart in his service.
Also See: The Bible The Text of the Bible The Hebrew Bible The Greek New Testament The Original Language of the Bible The Original Language of the Old Testament The Original Language of the New Testament