Free Biblical Hebrew lessons

Everything you need to start reading the Hebrew Bible, taught in the biblical pronunciation. Read a lesson here, then practice it in the app.

Letters and sounds

• The Hebrew alphabetAll 22 letters with their biblical sounds and recordings
• Hebrew vowelsThe vowel marks of the Bible, with recordings
• Biblical pronunciationThe ancient sounds, compared with Modern Hebrew

Biblical Aramaic

• The most common Aramaic wordsFor the Aramaic chapters of Daniel and Ezra

Grammar

• Noun Gender & NumberMasculine/feminine, singular/plural endings.
• The Definite Article“The” is הַ on the front, and how it joins בְּ, לְ, כְּ.
• “And” and the Object Markerוְ “and” on the front of a word, and אֵת, the little word that points to the object.
• Story Verbs: וַיֹּאמֶר“And he said”: the verb form that tells every Bible story, and how to see who acts.
• Personal PronounsI, you, he, she — independent and suffixed.
• Construct Chain“The word of yəḥawwe”: how Hebrew says “the X of Y”.
• Adjectives“A great city”, “the good word”, “it is good”: where adjectives go and how they match.
• Qal PerfectBasic verb stem, completed action.
• Qal ImperfectBasic verb stem, ongoing/future action.
• Commands & Wishes“Hear!”, “Don’t!”, “Let us go”, “Let there be light”.
• Prepositions with Endings“To him” אֵלָיו, “before me” לְפָנַי, “from us” מִמֶּנּוּ.
• Seven BinyanimOverview of all 7 verb stems.
• Niphal & PielPassive and intensive stems.
• Hiphil & HophalCausative and passive-causative.
• Weak Verbs 1: Missing LettersRoots that lose their first letter: נָפַל ‎→‎ יִפֹּל, יָשַׁב ‎→‎ יֵשֵׁב, אָמַר ‎→‎ יֹאמַר.
• Pronoun EndingsRead the person attached to verbs and prepositions.
• Infinitives“To keep”, “saying”, and the doubled verbs that mean “surely”.
• Participles“Sitting”, “one who keeps”: verbs that act like adjectives.
• Who, Which, Thatאֲשֶׁר links a description to a noun; כַּאֲשֶׁר means “as”.
• Questionsהֲ for yes/no, and who, what, where, why, when, how.
• Numbers 1–10Five at a time: 1 to 5, then 6 to 10, then the two forms and the 3–10 surprise.
• Toward: ־ָהמִצְרַיְמָה “to Egypt”: the ending that means “to, toward”.
• Numbers 11 and UpFive at a time, from 11 up to 3,000, then the ages in Genesis 5 and the counts in Numbers 1, piece by piece.
• Noun Patterns: King, Kingsמֶלֶךְ “king”, מְלָכִים “kings”, אִישׁ “man”, אֲנָשִׁים “men”: find the word you know when its vowels change.
• Syllables, Sheva and the Doubling DotSplit a word into syllables, tell a said sheva from a silent one, and spot the dot that doubles a letter.
• Reading Hebrew PoetryLines in pairs: the second line says the first again, adds to it, or gives the opposite.
• Little Words: Look, Because, If, There Is“Look!”, “because”, “if”, “there is not”: the small words that steer a sentence.
• Words Hebrew Leaves UnsaidNo “is”, no “have”, no “a”: the words English adds, five verses at a time.
• To Be: הָיָה and יִהְיֶה“Was”, “will be”, “and it came to pass”, “let there be”: the verb הָיָה, five forms at a time.
• Weak Verbs 3: Last-Letter He and Aleph, and Throat LettersRoots ending in ה or א (וַיִּבֶן, וַיִּקְרָא), and how the throat letters א ה ח ע ר change the vowels.
• Weak Verbs 2: Hollow and Doubled RootsRoots with a weak middle letter (קָם, יָקוּם, וַיָּקָם) and roots with twin letters.
• Pual & HithpaelThe Piel made passive, and doing it to oneself: יֻלַּד “he was born”, וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל “and he prayed”.
• And You Shall: וְאָהַבְתָּ“And you shall love”: וְ on the past form looks ahead, to laws, promises and habits.
• My, His, Our on Plural Nouns“His sons” בָּנָיו, “our God” אֱלֹהֵינוּ: the endings on plural nouns, and the י that marks them.
• In, To, Like, From: בְּ לְ כְּ מִןבְּ “in”, לְ “to”, כְּ “like” join the front of a word, and מִן means “from”.
• Ways to Say “You”: אַתָּה and לְךָ“You” said to a man, to a woman or to many: אַתָּה “you”, לְךָ “to you”, then “your”, “you are” and the “you” inside a verb, five at a time.
• Laws and Commandments: Why Keep Themתּוֹרָה, מִצְוָה, שָׁמַר: the words for God’s laws, five at a time, and the reasons the Bible itself gives for keeping them.

Readings, word by word

• In the BeginningGenesis 1:1–3
• The First HumansGenesis 1:31 · Genesis 2:18 · Genesis 3:9
• AbrahamGenesis 12:1–2 · Genesis 22:1
• At SinaiExodus 20:2–3
• The ShemaDeuteronomy 6:4–5
• Psalm 23Psalm 23:1–3
• WisdomProverbs 1:7 · Ecclesiastes 1:2
• The ProphetsIsaiah 6:3 · Isaiah 40:8 · Jonah 1:1
• Jonah RunsJonah 1:1–3
• The StormJonah 1:4–10
• Into the SeaJonah 1:11–16
• Inside the FishJonah 2:1–11
• Nineveh TurnsJonah 3:1–10
• Jonah's AngerJonah 4:1–11
• Leaving MoabRuth 1:1–7
• Go Back, My DaughtersRuth 1:8–14
• Where You GoRuth 1:15–22
• Psalm 1Psalm 1:1–6
• Psalm 121Psalm 121:1–8
• Day OneGenesis 1:4–5
• The Burning BushExodus 3:4–6 · Exodus 3:14
• Samuel, Samuel1 Samuel 3:4–10
• The BlessingNumbers 6:24–26
• Short PsalmsPsalm 117:1–2 · Psalm 133:1
• What Is GoodMicah 6:8
• Take Your SonGenesis 22:2–8
• Through the SeaExodus 14:13–14 · Exodus 14:21–22
• Wings Like EaglesIsaiah 40:28–31
• Psalm 100Psalm 100:1–5
• The Heavens DeclarePsalm 19:2–5

Articles

• How to learn Biblical Hebrew on your ownA realistic self-study plan, in about fifteen minutes a day