messaging is not working atm. thank you for your response. Im just starting with the alphabet and hope to make the study of hebrew a life long journey.
Why not Aramaic? (Seriously.)
I appreciate the shout-out by
@Waggles but have always been quick to admit that Hebrew makes my head hurt. Decades ago I could wander down the hall to the Semitic Languages department if I ever had trouble, but there have only been a few passages where I consider Hebrew to be crucial for understanding just how the Christian translators messed it up.
I consider Hebrew to be a guttural tribal language, and it is extremely difficult to express complex ideas and nuance in Hebrew. It's been enough that I can get by with Greek, and am grateful that the LXX exists.
Consider. ONE Hebrew word can have 60 to 80 possible English words available as a selection for a gloss (synonym). The shading or nuance in English can completely render the Hebrew text to express the exact opposite of what it's trying to say. As an example, the Hebrew word for Bless is the same word as for Curse. Did Job's wife say "Curse God and die?" Or did Job's loving wife, seeing the abject suffering of her husband, say "Bless God and pass on...." ???
There is no separate Hebrew word for Enemy or Stranger. It's the same word.
The Masoretes added the spaces and vowels into their Hebrew text to fit their own theology. Certain passages contradict the LXX, and the reason the Dead Sea Scrolls ... the actual text of the DSS ... were suppressed for decades is because the DSS match the LXX more so than the Masoretic Hebrew.
Stuff like that.
Here's a fun one:
(Isaiah 22:18 KJV) He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball DISCUS into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
( Isaiah was a contemporary of the Greek Olympic Games. )
And one my favorites....
(Genesis 4:4 KJV) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect DISMAY (BEWILDERMENT) unto Abel and to his offering:
( Look it up.)
Now I appreciate your enthusiasm ( I really do). But it can be a world of hurt you're getting yourself into, and it should be done with eyes wide open. Hebrew is a non Indo-European language, and there's a reason why extremely intelligent Chinese people sound like idiots when speaking English. There is a different "mind-set" that one must adopt to think in such a language. (That's why I say it makes my head hurt - literally.)
About Aramaic, though, while Greek is the language in which the teachings of Jesus have been published in the West, when the Apostle Thomas journeyed into the Far East to spread the Gospel, the Parthian and Persian Empires spoke Aramaic, the language in which Jesus is said to have spoken. And I provide for your consideration...
The Holy Aramaic Scriptures: With a literal English translation and transliteration of The Eastern Peshitta New Testament Text, such as given in The Khabouris Codex.
www.thearamaicscriptures.com
Best regards on your journey,
Rhema