The First Hebrew Primer: The Adult Beginner's Path to Biblical Hebrew, Third Edition

Excellent course on learning biblical Hebrew

Great book to start out! I just started using this and know it will be a great tool in my belt.

Very thorough beginning Hebrew book.

It arrived a day late but in perfect shape...I would have preferred since it is teaching Hebrew that the publishers compiled it / bound it to open right to left ("back to front")--the Hebrew front... instead of the anglicized left to right ( ""front to back").. I assumed it was bound according to the Hebrew and didn't remove plastic seal before having it professionally spiral bound and covers laminated...disappointed...

As represented - Used so not in perfect condition - Had hand written notes from prior owner and some worn pages. Adequate for my purposes.

Great book if you want to learn how to read Biblical Hebrew.

I have used several texts (Futato, Dobson, Lambdin, etc.) and found First Hebrew Primer (3rd Edition) to be the best for serious adult self-learning of Hebrew. I have been at it for four months (now on page 87 - maybe I'm a slow learner) and continue to use this book almost exclusively. To begin with, the cost is reasonable. Secondly, it has a separate Answer Book a necessary requirement for self-teaching. Having a separate book is best because it avoids the temptation to look "nearby" to find the answer, or continually keep flipping the book around and losing one's place and thus encourages in-depth thought to the responses. Third, the text is sufficiently large and the "white space" optimum. I find the competing book by Futato to be too full of white space so that reading is actually inhibited and Lambdin's book is too dense, resulting in the same shortcoming. I learned the alphabet and pronunciation using Futato's scripture verses (RYHB - Read Your Hebrew Bible) and still use his online videos for pronunciation/verbalization along with the immersive Aleph With Beth, whose work is phenomenal. (Aleph with Beth is immersive videos, free, and absolutely unsurpassed but I find my learning style requires a complementary text so I watch the Aleph with Beth along with First Hebrew Primer.) First Hebrew Primer is not for the faint-hearted. The exercises are many, long, and tedious but I am seeing results - the vocabulary is reinforced and the forming of tenses, gender, etc. is "drummed' into you. It's "old school" rote and it works wonderfully. First Hebrew Primer (FHP) goes "over and over" the material to ensure retention. The" BH Cards" phone app is keyed to the FHP vocabulary and even has audio pronunciation.

I am writing this review particularly for self-learners. Yes! You can do it with this book.I (56 years old with 2-year seminary education) have just finished 10 chapters and found myself being able to read and understand some verses. Even in unfamiliar conjugated words, I can easily recognize the root word; therefore I can look them up in the lexicon. Of course, I am far from being fluent, but it is very encouraging and exciting to me. It certainly has made looking up the Strong's much easier and more meaningful for me. I have memorized a few favorite verses already and am looking forward to soon becoming more fluent in reading.This step-by-step and non-overwhelmingly paced program is very suitable for self-learners too. It seems that so much thinking and consideration were invested in developing this program. I imagine that Hebrew could be so complex and intimidating without expert help like this book. Also, they have made it so simple (in a very intelligent way without skipping the essential) that so far I have been able to keep up with the program without getting discouraged or quitting. I appreciate the small bite-sized chapters. If you cannot continue and stick to it, even the best textbook in the world is useless. Of course, it takes discipline and patience. But for the love of the Scripture, anything is possible. I did not take Hebrew courses. I started with aleph-beit, knowing nothing about Hebrew. I have also used a Web site called, Hebrew4Christians.com, for more basic information, some more details, and most importantly for the audio. They have audio for each letter of the aleph-beit, prayers, and some famous verses in the Scripture. Very helpful. The language comes alive when you hear it. There is an audio CD companion to this book but I have not bought it because it is a little expensive, and I was not so sure if I could stick to the program. But I may buy it soon.