Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

On Learning Aramaic and Syriac - Part 2

For the jump to Biblical Aramaic from Biblical Hebrew, my first recommendation would be A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic, by Alger Johns. The advantage of this work is that it is relatively cheap (approximately $15.00), and there is an annotated answer key by James Jumper, also about $15.00. This kind of resource is invaluable for the student who is trying to learn on his own. The other grammars of Biblical Aramaic that are available are much more expensive, and no improvement over Johns.

As for texts of Biblical Aramaic, those would be the same as the Hebrew Bible. There are several Hebrew Bibles available. The one I generally recommend for my students is Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia. It lists for about $50.00, but can be purchased used for about half that. The advantages of BHL are first that it has a good readable font. Second, the arrangement on the page is clear and uncluttered. In my view, these are essential for the beginning student, who is trying to get used to a completely different alphabet, and to reading right to left.

After BHL, I generally recommend the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. This is the standard academic text. The font is clear, but the page is cluttered with both the Masoretic textual annotations and the text-critical apparatus (indicating variant readings and suggested alternate readings) that were provided by the editors of the text. The main text is identical to that of BHL. In paperback BHS lists at $35.00, but is available used for half that. In hardback, there are two sizes, the Editio Major, which is about a 6 x 9 page size (retail $80.00, used about $40.00), and the Editio Minor, which is the same size as the paperback. It retails for $70.00, and currently for about $50.00 used on Amazon.

After BHL and BHS, there are a number of lesser-quality texts available. Koren Publishing has a Tanakh for about $15.00. Tanakh is the standard Hebrew term for the Old Testament. Tanakh is an acronym that comes from T for Torah (law), N for Nevi'im (prophets), K for Ketuvim (writings), which make up the three parts of the Old Testament in the Hebrew canon. The American Bible Society has a number of Hebrew Bibles. One, which includes a Hebrew translation of the New Testament, costs $25.00. It is printed in a double-column format in a Modern Hebrew font. For those used to looking at the more traditional font style, it can take some getting used to. In addition, the vowels points are very small ad sometimes hard to read. They also have a Jewish Publication Society edition with Hebrew and parallel English on facing pages that runs about $18.00. Finally, they have an older text, originally published by the British and Foreign Bible Society that retails for $50.00. The Trinitarian Bible Society has a combined Hebrew Old Testament/Greek New Testament that is portable (i.e., it won't take up most of your briefcase) for about $30.00.

Finally, the student will need a dictionary. For Biblical Aramaic, any of the standard Biblical Hebrew dictionaries will have an Aramaic section devoted to the vocabulary of the Aramaic portions of the Old Testament. The most useful is that by William Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. It is fairly up-to-date and can be had for about $20.00.

Next week I will write more about Aramaic grammars (moving beyond the Old Testament) as well as dictionaries, and also begin discussing Syriac.

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