Learn Biblical Hebrew

Continuing our work in Genesis 1:1 let’s take a little deeper dive to explain some of the Hebrew grammar that we find at work in this verse. While what we are about to discuss might not make complete sense right now, what I have found is that as I run this process through more and more passages it becomes clearer and clearer to me. So don’t get to “hung up” on all the details right now, as we continue the learning process these things will make more sense. With that said, let’s dive in. We will look at two grammatical issues: prepositions and verbs.

Prepositions

The first word of the Old Testament contains what is referred to as an inseparable preposition. In the Hebrew language there are prepositions that can stand alone as their own word and there are prepositions that stand together with another word. Berēshît is one of these words. In translation they are handled pretty much the same way whether it is inseparable or not, however when the word is inseparable it may affect the spelling of the word to which it is attached. Prepositions are notoriously difficult to translate (along with participles, but that is for another lesson) because they do not always have a one-to-one word translation to equate. Typically we find we need to translate the idea. For instance, in our word berēshît the preposition “in” contains the idea of time not necessarily location. What I mean is that the translation “in the beginning” doesn’t mean “inside the beginning”, but rather “at the time of the beginning.” Many times the context will help to determine the translation. In this example it may seem obvious, but you can imagine times where it may not be so cut and dry.

Verbs

Verbs are a complex component of the language. Let me try to briefly introduce you to verbs and we will learn them as we move along. The Hebrew verbal system contains seven major “stems.” Each stem gives a certain nuance to the meaning of the verb. The seven stems are the Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hiphil, Hophal, and Hithpael. The Qal is a regular verb (meaning no special nuance to its meaning), the Niphal is the passive version of the regular verb (for example active is “John caught”, whereas passive is “John was caught” - in other words, active is when the subject does the acting and passive is when the object does the acting), Piel is an intensive verb (for example “he cried” is regular, “he sobbed” is intensive), Pual is the passive version of the intensive verb, Hiphil is a causitive verb (for example “he ran” is regular, “he caused to run” is the causitive), Hophal is the passive version of the causitive verb, and the Hithpael is a reflexive verb (for example “he washed” versus “he washed himself”). Again, don’t get hung up on all this right now, I just want to introduce you to the breadth of the system.

In Genesis 1:1 we find one verb bārā’, and as we saw last time, this verb is a Qal Perfect 3rd Person Masculine Singular verb. This is the verb form that you would find in a Hebrew lexicon (dictionary). Because it is Qal, that means that it is active and not passive, not intensive, not causitive, and not reflexive; it is simply the verb to create. Because it is Perfect, that means it is referring to action that has already happened, very similar to the English past tense. Because it is 3rd Person, the subject is either a he, she, it, or they (as opposed to an I, we, or you). Because it is Masculine, that means it is either a he, it, or they, but not a she. Because it is in the singular, it must be a he or an it.

Hopefully this was some good information to get you started on prepositions and verbs. As we move on we’ll learn more about them, but this is sufficient for now. Next time we will move on to Genesis 1:2 and run this same process to determine its translation. After a few more times, maybe we’ll all be Hebrew experts!

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