Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 82:1 (Spring 2020)
Article: Short Notice
Author: Anonymous

Short Notice

Miles V. Van Pelt and Gary D. Pratico, Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary in Context: Building Competency with Words Occurring 50 Times or More. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019. Pp. xi + 132. $16.99, paper.

Retaining biblical languages can be difficult. With only so many things to do with our time, reading biblical languages often falls into the “important but not urgent” category. Those who want to keep up their knowledge of biblical languages must make time for the languages. Thankfully, we live in a golden age of language resources, and the present volume is a welcome addition. Few have the propensity—or patience—to wade perpetually through vocabulary cards. Nor is this necessarily the most natural way to learn Hebrew well. It is much more enjoyable and fruitful to read passages from Scripture.

Enter Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary in Context, which is a curated selection of 195 Hebrew readings from the OT. These selections focus on the 642 Hebrews words that occur 50 times or more. Though there is a massive amount of vocabulary in the OT, the authors encouragingly point out that if students can master these words, they will have a sufficient vocabulary to read roughly 90% of the (Hebrew portions) of the OT.

The two halves of the book provide two virtually identical lists of readings from the OT, arranged in canonical order (according to the threefold division Law, Prophets, Writings). In the first half of the book, the Hebrew texts are provided with wooden English translations. In the second half of the book, the same Hebrew texts are provided with no English translations. Proper names are set off in a gray font. Additionally, this volume contains a concise lexicon of terms used, along with an indication of the frequency of each term. It also includes a Scripture index. Much like the recent volumes from Jonathan G. Kline (e.g., Keep Up Your Biblical Hebrew in 2 Minutes a Day, 2 vols. [Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2017]), this volume from Van Pelt and Pratico fills a need, allowing students of Hebrew to read real biblical texts in order to facilitate greater knowledge of the language. It is an effective and cost-effective way to retain and increase your knowledge of Hebrew.

B.D.C.