When God set about to create heaven and earth-the world being then a formless waste, with darkness over the ocean and only an awesome wind sweeping over the surface of the water-God said, “Let there be light!” (Genesis1:1-3)
If you take biblical Hebrew at LSU, you won’t need an English translation like the one above. Much of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is very simple prose, and a student with just two semesters of the language can read many of the biblical stories.
Why read the Bible in Hebrew? For one thing, every translation is an interpretation. If you can read Hebrew, you can better decide for yourself what the literature means. Furthermore, even the best translation fails to convey the full meaning of the text. You can “see” so much more when you read the Bible in its original language. Finally, it is just neat to be able to read one of the world’s oldest languages. A knowledge of Hebrew helps you to imagine how people might have understood the biblical literature in ancient times, two thousand or more years ago.
Tags: bible old testament, biblical hebrew, biblical literature, darkness, lsu, prose, semesters, translation
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Related Programs
Hebrew Fall 2007 Schedule
Hebrew Winter 2008 Schedule
Hebrew Spring 2008 Schedule
Hebrew Summer 2008 Schedule
Hebrew Fall 2008 Schedule
Hebrew Winter 2009 Schedule
Hebrew Spring 2009 Schedule
HBR 1120 – Elementary Modern Hebrew I (4hrs)
HBR 1121 – Elementary Modern Hebrew II (4hrs)
HBR 2220 - Elementary Modern Hebrew (4hrs)
FOL 3930 – Experiments in Modern Language: Advanced Intermediate Hebrew (3hrs). May be repeated to a maximum of nine (9) semester hours.
BIBLICAL HEBREW
The focus of Biblical Hebrew is to learn the grammar and vocabulary of Classical Hebrew as quickly and thoroughly as possibly in order to translate the biblical text. Typically six chapters of the Bible are translated during the first year and twelve to fifteen chapters in the third-semester course. Students interested in reading post-biblical Hebrew (including Modern
HEBR-116 Hebrew Elementary Modern I
HEBR-117 Hebrew Elementary Modern II
HEBR-216 Hebrew Intermediate Modern I
HEBR-217 Hebrew Intermediate Modern II
HEBR-316 Hebrew Advanced Modern I
HEBR-317 Hebrew Advanced Modern II
HEBR-116 Hebrew Elementary Modern I
HEBR-117 Hebrew Elementary Modern II
HEBR-216 Hebrew Intermediate Modern I
HEBR-217 Hebrew Intermediate Modern II
HEBR-316 Hebrew Advanced Modern I
HEBR-317 Hebrew Advanced Modern II
Students who choose to develop their intellectual abilities in Hebrew language and literature may select two courses at the 3000 level or above from the Hebrew section of the department’s course offerings. To complete their minors, they must enroll in an appropriate capstone course. All 4000-level offerings in the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature or an independent studies course in Hebrew may serve as the capstone course for the Tier III requirement.
FSU offers a full sequence of both Modern and Biblical Hebrew, either of which can fulfill the Arts and Sciences language requirement. Hebrew can also be used to fulfill major requirements in Middle East Studies, Religion, and International Affairs. Beginning in Fall 2007, there will be a Minor in Hebrew. Both Biblical and Modern Hebrew are strongly recommended for students interested in studying Judaism as part of their undergraduate work and especially for students planning to do graduate work in Jewish Studies.
Unlike the situation with Modern and Classical Greek, Modern and Biblical Hebrew have the same basic grammatical structure and
A Hebrew minor will consist of 18 hours, at least 15 of which must be Biblical and Modern Hebrew language courses. The other 3 hours may be in any other Semitic language (Arabic, Aramaic and Syriac are currently offered at FSU). Note that courses counting toward any University language requirement cannot be counted toward the minor.
Students must demonstrate they have done some work in both Biblical and Modern Hebrew. This will normally mean that they must take at least 3 hours of Biblical Hebrew and 3 hours of Modern Hebrew (note that these do not have to be taken as
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