If you have trouble accessing this page, contact: Chris Dargis (cadargis@wisc.edu)
Latest revision date: 8/25/2006 (cad)
Class: MWF 1:20-2:15
Location: 119 Van Hise
Instructor: Jim Kirk
Email: jkirk@wisc.edu
Office: 1336 Van Hise Hall
Office Phone #: 262-8240
Office Hours: F 12:00-1:00 or by appointment
Welcome to Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (a.k.a. Biblical Texts)! The primary purpose of this course is to reinforce and expand your existing knowledge of Biblical Hebrew. We will work towards this goal in the best way possible, by reading Biblical Hebrew. In addition to reading texts together in class we will systematically review Biblical Hebrew grammar and continue to build vocabulary (by the end of the spring semester you should know all the Biblical Hebrew words that occur 25 times or more). Finally, we give some thought to the literary features of Biblical Hebrew narrative: how did the biblical authors artfully craft their language to create richly meaningful stories?
REQUIREMENTS:
1) Attendance is crucial for your success in this class. You are expected to come to class with all the assigned work completed and ready for active participation. If you must miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes from another student and be prepared for the next class session.
2) Weekly translation: Come to class prepared to translate from an
unmarked Hebrew text, parse all verbs, identify all forms. You may use
notes, but you may not use a prepared translation. Students will take
turns reading one- or two-verse portions of the assigned text aloud and
then translating. When a student finishes reading and translating, I
may ask a few simple grammatical questions. I will also field any
questions that arise. Then we will move onto another reader, who will
pick up where the last one left off.
To prepare for class, read the assigned text in advance (roughly 10-15
verses per day). Look up any words you don’t know. Consult BHRG or
another reference grammar if any phrases or words are unclear. Make a
note of anything you can’t figure out on your own, and ask about it in
class.
3) Every Wednesday we will begin class with a brief 10 minute quiz that will test you primarily on material covered the previous week, especially vocabulary, morphology review, translation, and other reading. See the attached schedule. The quiz will start at the beginning of the hour, so please do not be late. There will be no make-up quizzes (except at my discretion), but your lowest quiz score will be dropped.
4) Reading: A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar: This is a reference grammar, and so you should not try and memorize every detail. However, I would like you to read every assigned section more or less closely depending on the amount of detail in it. I will offer you some guidance on approaching specific sections as the semester progresses.
4) We will have a mid-term (Wed., October 18) and a final exam (Thur., Dec. 21 at 7:45 A.M.). Both exams will be cumulative. We will discuss them in more detail later in the semester.
5) Paper: You must read Shimon Bar-Efrat's Narrative Art in the Bible and write a 7-10 page analysis of the book of Ruth with respect to one of the literary features discussed in Bar-Efrat (i.e., narrator, characters, plot, time and space, stylistic devices). See the reading schedule below; the weekly quizzes will cover this reading. I have attached an additional page with more details for this assignment. The paper is due on Wednesday, November 15 (I am happy to discuss drafts, if they are brought to me by the Friday before the due-date).
6) It is important that you gain the ability early on in your study of Biblical Hebrew to read Hebrew aloud fluently. To encourage you in this you must prepare a narrative text of chapter length from Ruth or Jonah and read it for me during office hours (or by appointment). This is due by December 8 (feel free to complete the assignment earlier in the semester). A good, free, oral recording of the Hebrew Bible is available at http://www.aoal.org/hebrew_audiobible.htm.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR HEBREW DEPT. GRADUATE STUDENTS:
1) In addition to the assigned reading in BHRG, Hebrew Department
graduate students should read the cooresponding sections in
Joüon/Muraoka. We will work from BHRG in class, but please feel free to
ask me questions arising from Joüon/Muraoka outside of class.
2) Hebrew Department graduate students will meet with Prof. Miller for
an additional “4th Hour” of credit in Hebrew historical morphology.
Please contact her for more information. She will give me a grade for
this 4th hour that will be averaged in with your other grades for the
class.
EMAIL LIST:
I have set up a course email list for our use. The address is:
hebrst323-1-f06@lists.wisc.edu.
Please feel free to use this list to communicate with your fellow
students, arrange study groups, ask questions, or do anything else
related to Biblical Hebrew.
GRADING: (approximate %; GS = Graduate Students) Grading Scale:
A 93-100 (Outstanding)
Oral Reading: 10%
AB 89-92 (Exceptional)
Quizzes: 20% [GS 15%]
B 82-88 (Good)
Paper: 20% [GS 15%]
BC 79-81
Midterm Exam: 25% [GS 20%]
C 70-78 (Adequate)
Final Exam: 25% [GS 20%]
D 60-69
(Marginal)
GS “4th Hour” 20%
F 0-59
(Inadequate)
TEXTBOOKS:
Bar-Efrat, Shimon. 1997. Narrative Art in the Bible. Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press. [NAB]
Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. 1979. The New
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson.
Elliger, K. and Rudolph, W., ed. 1967-77. Biblia Hebraica
Stuttgartensia. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
Joüon, Paul and Takamitsu Muraoka. 1991. A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew.
Subsidia Biblica 14, 1-2. Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico.
Mitchel, Larry. 1984. A Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and
Aramaic. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
van der Merwe, Christo H. J., Jackie A. Naudé, and Jan H. Kroeze. 1999.
A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press. [BHRG]
Date
Topics Reading Due on Wed.
WEEK 1
9/4-8 Introduction; Start Ruth; Review Vocab (Mitchel §1-2)
Grammar: overview & terminology
Ruth BHRG §10-13; 14-16.2
WEEK 2
9/11-15 QUIZ #1 (Mitchel §3A-D; Qal Strong Verb) Orthography/Phonology;
Ruth BHRG §1-9.4; 16.3
JM §1-14; 17-33
WEEK 3
9/18-22 QUIZ #2 (Mitchel §3E-G; Niphal Strong Verb)
Accents and Massorah; Ruth BHRG §9.5-8; 16.4-5;NAB 1
JM §15-16
WEEK 4
9/25-29 QUIZ #3 (Mitchel §4A-B; Piel/Pual Strong Verb) Nominal System
1; Ruth BHRG §23-28; 16.6; NAB 2
JM §34; 86-99; 102-105
WEEK 5
10/2-6 QUIZ #4 (Mitchel §4C; Hitpael Strong Verb)
Nominal System 2
Ruth BHRG §29-35; 16.7-8;
NAB 3
JM §132-142; 148-152
WEEK 6
10/9-13 QUIZ #5 (Mitchel §4D; Hiphil/Hophal Strong Verb) Nominal System
3
Ruth BHRG §36-37; NAB 4
JM §35-39; 100-105; 143-147
WEEK 7
10/16-20 Finish Ruth; No quiz on Wed. NAB 5 (6 optional)
Fri. Oct. 20 MIDTERM EXAM
WEEK 8
10/23-27 QUIZ #6 (Mitchel §4E)
Verbal System 1: Conjugations and Stems
Start Jonah BHRG §14-17
JM §40-66
WEEK 9
10/30-11/3 QUIZ #7 (Mitchel §4F)
Verbal System 2: Syntax and Semantics
Weak Verbs: Guttural; I-Aleph; Jonah BHRG §19-22; 18.1-4
JM §111-124; 67-71; 73; 78
WEEK 10
11/6-10 QUIZ #8 (Mitchel §4G; Gutturals, I-Aleph Verbs)
Weak Verbs: III-Aleph; III-He
Jonah BHRG §18.5
JM §78-79
WEEK 11
11/13-17 QUIZ #9 (Mitchel §4H; III-Aleph; III-He Verbs)
Weak Verbs: I-Nun; I-w/y; Jonah BHRG §18.6-7
JM §72; 74-77
Wed. Nov 15 PAPER DUE
Nov. 21 CLASS CANCELLED (SBL Meeting)
WEEK 12 Jonah; No quiz on Wed.
Nov. 25 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
WEEK 13
11/27-12/1 QUIZ #10 (Mitchel §4I; I-Nun; I-w/y Verbs)
Weak Verbs: II-w/y
Jonah BHRG §18.8
JM §80-1
WEEK 14
12/4-8
QUIZ #11 (Mitchel §4J; II-w/y Verbs)
Weak Verbs: Geminate
Jonah BHRG §18.9
JM §82-85
Fri. Dec. 8 ORAL RECITATION DUE
WEEK 15
12/11-15 QUIZ #12 (Mitchel §4K; Geminate Verbs)
Dec. 21 FINAL EXAM: Thurs., Dec. 21 at 7:45 A.M.