Read & Understand The Hebrew Bible

Begin by pronouncing Hebrew letters with us as they appear in Bible words, recognizing letters before reading, using the biblical font to show pronunciation you’ll use at home.

Explore the letter aleph א, its numerical value one, and its behavior: silent when without vowels and pronounced according to vowels, with examples in Bereshit and Elohim.

Explore how the Hebrew letter bet, with the gesh dot, is pronounced ba when dotted and va when undotted, and how bet and vet map to English b or v.

Explore the Hebrew letter gimel (ג), its numerical value three, and its English equivalent g pronounced as good, with examples showing recognition and pronunciation despite vowel signs.

Explore the Hebrew letter dalet, its numerical value corresponding to the English d, and its pronunciation, including how vowel signs affect its form without vowels.

Explore the Hebrew letter hey ה, its numerical value five, and how it is pronounced at beginnings or middles, while ending words remain silent with examples like ha and hi.

Explore the Hebrew letter vav (ו), its numerical value of six, and its English equivalent v, with examples showing pronunciation and usage in words.

Explore the Hebrew letter zain (zayin) with numerical value 7, its English equivalent z, and how vowel signs affect pronunciation.

Explore the Hebrew letter chet (ח), its numerical value eight, and its pronunciation from the throat with no English equivalent.

Explore the Hebrew letter tet (ט), its numerical value nine, and its English equivalent, T, with an example using the word 'Tove'.

Explain the Hebrew letter yud, its numerical value ten, and its English equivalent letter y. Mention examples of words and the pronunciation of the yud.

Explore the khaf letter (כ/ך), its value 20, its English equivalents k or c, and its final form used at word endings with pronunciation depending on the gesh.

Explore the Hebrew letter lamed (ל) in the Hebrew Bible, its numerical value 30, and its English equivalent letter l, with pronunciation cues and examples like Shuli.

Explore mem, whose numerical value is 40 and resembles the English letter m, noting its beginning, middle, final, and irregular forms and their shared pronunciation.

Explain noon, the Hebrew letter with a numerical value of 50, and its forms, the regular form for beginnings and middles and the final form at word ends, with examples.

Explore the letter Samekh ס, its numerical value of 60, and its English equivalents S or C, with examples illustrating how the letter appears in word formation.

Explore how the letter Ain has a numerical value of 70, with no direct English equivalent and often silent, pronounced according to vowel signs.

Learn the Hebrew letter pey (פ/ף), 80 value, and how the dagesh dot makes it p or f, with regular and final forms in nephesh and panay.

Explore the Hebrew letter tzadi (צ/ץ), its numeric value 90, and its two forms—regular and final—illustrating how final tzadi appears at word endings.

Explore the Hebrew letter koof (ק), its value 100, and its English equivalents k or q, demonstrated by reading examples like Vayu color and the cuv word color.

Explore the Hebrew letter resh (ר), its numerical value 200, and the English pronunciation of its equivalent letter, with examples in Hebrew words.

Explore how the Hebrew letter shin has two pronunciations, 'sheen' and 'seen,' determined by dot position: dot on the right yields 'sh,' while the left yields 's'.

Learn about the Hebrew letter tav ת, its numerical value 400 and English equivalent t, and practice reading letters and words aloud, concluding with Elohim.

Identify the four silent Hebrew letters, including aleph, hey, and vav, and learn when they remain silent or influence the preceding letter using vowel signs and dots.

Explore how Hebrew letters appear across different fonts and handwriting, learn three writing variants for key letters, and understand how the course presents one form of writing for each letter.

Discover six groups of Hebrew letters and distinguish close-looking shapes such as bet, half, noon, hey, sit, and tough. Read and pronounce them to avoid confusion and note final forms.

Discover the Hebrew alphabet, including final forms of five letters and their end-of-word use, study numerical values and vowel signs to read and pronounce biblical Hebrew, with a quiz.

Explore how the Hebrew vowel signs placed on, above, or below letters indicate pronunciation, including ah, or, ooh, and shava, and learn to read biblical Hebrew with silent letters.

Explore how biblical vowel signs render sound equivalent to 'A' across letters, showing pronunciation consistency when letters pair with the appropriate vowels. Read and pronounce the letters together as 'ah'.

Uncover how biblical vowel signs convey the 'e' sound using אֶ אֵ אֱ, and practice reading and pronouncing the examples aloud.

Explore biblical vowel signs equivalent to 'I', such as אִ, and read the examples together to learn how to pronounce them.

Learn how biblical vowel signs denote the 'o' sound with forms like אֳ and אֹ, and practice reading the example pronunciations aloud.

Learn how biblical vowel signs function as silent marks after letters, and how to read and pronounce the letters together using the vowel sign with a dot after the letter.

Explore the shava, the short e vowel sign אְ, which signals the absence of a vowel and instructs you to read the letter as written.

Explore biblical vowel signs that do not alter pronunciation, including A-mei ancient punctuation used for liturgical singing, and learn to ignore the Gesh in other letters.

Explore final examples of biblical Hebrew vowel signs and read them together to recognize each sign, with a quick quiz to test your understanding before the actual assessment.

Learn how biblical Hebrew uses letter values to count, following a chart from aleph to kaf and beyond, with first-chapter biblical examples.

Learn how to navigate the bible by understanding its structure—books, chapters, and verses—and locate specific passages using book, chapter, and verse numbers with practical examples from Genesis.

Explore key Hebrew names for God: Elohim, Adonai, and the name written with hay and vav. Learn why the name is not spoken aloud, in line with the Ten Commandments.

Explore ten words from the first book of the Bible, Genesis (Bereshit), by spelling them letter by letter, pronouncing each, and reading the whole word, then learn their meanings.

Read and translate words from Shmot שמות letter by letter, following along to understand word meanings, translation, and basic forms in the Hebrew Bible.

Read and interpret the next ten words from Devarim, letter by letter, uncovering each word's meaning and core terms such as ha, your god, the basket, milk, honey, and darkness.

Read ten words from the book show theme together and examine each word with its translation.

Explore a selection of words from Tehilim תהילים and read their translation, noting vowel-free Hebrew text and its influence on interpretation and singing.

Explore the most common Hebrew words, about a thousand, used in the Bible, focusing on verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Stay focused to feel confident as you read.

Explore the most common private names in the Hebrew Bible, such as Moshe (Moses), David, Adam, and Shlomo (Solomon), and learn to read them from right to left.

Read from right to left to explore recurring place names in the Hebrew Bible. Identify Israel, Egypt, and Canaan, and see how 'the land of' phrases frame these names.

Explore Hebrew nouns in the Bible by reading right to left and using context to distinguish meanings. Identify El as God or two, and ben as son, people, or nation.

Learn about the most common Hebrew preposition that follows a verb to mark the direct object, has no English translation, and is followed by a noun such as 'the heavens'.

Explore the most common adjectives in the Hebrew Bible and how knowing them speeds reading, with examples like Godeau means big and Kadosh (holy), read from right to left.

Discover the most common Hebrew pronouns in the Bible, including he, she, and me, and compare ancient biblical usage with modern Hebrew forms.

Explore how recurring biblical conjunctions connect ideas. See how these same words appear in modern Hebrew to help you understand both biblical and modern Hebrew.

This lecture explores recurring prepositions in the Hebrew Bible, read from right to left, showing how fnet carries both in front of and before meanings as a conjugation.

Explore the most common biblical verbs and how the vav changes tense to signal past or future, with comparisons to modern Hebrew and example forms like amal.

Learn essential Hebrew words and particles for biblical reading, including ken and its meanings, and the letter hey used to mean there or to form a question before a verb.

Read verses from the book of Yoshua, navigate chapter three verses 11, 5, and 9, with translations in extra materials; listen to the Lord your God and learn about consecration.

Explore verses from Shmuel, including a plan to sacrifice to the Lord with a heifer, and the journey of David with bread, wine, and a young goat.

Explore how King David, very old, cannot keep warm even with clothes laid over him, and how Israel seeks a beautiful young woman to bring to the king in Melakhim.

Explore Ezekiel verses, including punishment and the pledge to lead from Egypt to land flowing with milk and honey, and the call to keep Sabbath, revealing the Lord your God.

Explore verses from Jonah, where the captain urges the sleeper to call on the Lord, and the sailors fear the Lord, offer sacrifices, and vow.

Follow along with Joshua chapter 1 using arrow-marked text, verse-by-verse Hebrew and English translations, and downloadable PDF materials for independent study.

Recommend additional Hebrew learning projects for modern Hebrew, including a beginner course that teaches reading, writing, and everyday conversation, and a series called literally across Israel.