Bible Hebrew Alphabet

For use with Isaiah 53 series. I did this in a hurry, so it doesn't include vowel pointing. Everyone has a different opinion about how ancient Hebrew should be pronounced, so here I present mine. I maintain that the letters are mouth pictures telling you how to sound the letter. Frankly today's teaching of Bible Hebrew is fraught with shortcuts, and often you are given the modern pronounciation rather than the ancient, which of course is long disputed. Problem is, soundplay is often used in Bible's Hebrew, so if you get the sound wrong you miss what God had the author intend by playing on sound. Isaiah plays on sound a lot, as does David. Lots of soundplay in Genesis, too, and in Haggai.

If you are serious about learning Bible you really should get BibleWorks software, because it has many learning tools alongside the original-language texts to make learning MUCH faster, whether in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic (version 7 now has the Peshitta, I believe). Post-exile OT has a lot of Aramaic in it, and of course the LXX is Greek OT translated by Jews for Jews who didn't speak Hebrew anymore.

The Lord and the apostles quote from both Hebrew and Greek texts, so it matters how those texts sounded and what the actual words were. You could spend three times the money, easily, for the material in BibleWorks software. I believe it's still $300 for the initial purchase at BibleWorks.com . Upgrades usually run $100-150 and you don't have to take them.

I'm still using version 5 for this video, but the upgrade to version 7 is so delicious (with Gesenius and little Kittle, much easier to use than the hardback versions), I'll upgrade.

Pastors use this software, and that's why I bought it at a local seminary years ago. Wish I had not bought the seminary books with it, they're all in the version 7 software now! Additionally, you can purchase the heftier lexicons like HALOT and Bauer Danker for about $150 more. Worth it: once you see them, you'll wonder how you ever thought Strong's was worth using (but Strong's is included too, in several versions).

I use this software every day, usually for several hours: I can prove in a few minutes what took pastors of yesteryear days or even weeks to proof. Downside: software has a very high learning curve because you can do so much with it (even make your own Bible version as an integral part of the software); but you end up saving SO much time and get so much better proof of interpretation through the fantastic search engine -- well, I better shut up now, I'm blabbering. Ciao...