A Look at Reader’s Version of Greek and Hebrew Bible

A few days ago I found the Reader’s Version of Greek and Hebrew Bible (HT: Tim Ricchuitti), and while I think it is a good tool, I greet such tools with mixed emotions and I would like to point out some excellent uses for it, as well as some not-so-excellent uses.

Much too often students see learning Greek and Hebrew (or any other language) as ending when one can use the proper reference tools to manage to gloss a text in the source languages.  I recognize that for many, that is really as far as you’re going to go.  That level of ability will allow you to read commentaries based on the source texts more effectively and to understand discussions of various translation and exegetical issues better.  It does not, however, constitute understanding the language in question.

Such understanding comes through a combination of studying the various aspects (morphology, grammar, syntax, and so forth, not to exclude rhetorical issues), and becoming comfortable reading the text–lots of text.  (Speaking and hearing are also very valuable wherever possible.)  To use myself as an example, I can read most Biblical texts without reference works at hand.  Normally I don’t do so–I tend to check and recheck options, because I may be simply filling in a gloss from memory rather than understanding the word or expression.  By contrast, I “read” Syriac like many folks with a couple years of Greek read Greek–with all references open and painstaking work.  I’m not sorry I spent the time getting my Syriac to this point.  It allows me to check textual references, for example, but I would not really call it “reading.”

One of my Greek teachers, with whom I spent a couple of pleasant years reading New Testament epistles, was Dr. Sakae Kubo, who also edited the Reader’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.  Dr. Kubo would emphasize to us what we should and should not do with this tool.  Its purpose was to allow us to read larger quantities of Greek, not to substitute for learning vocabulary.  And believe me, Dr. Kubo could make you wish you’d memorized your vocabulary should you choose the path of laziness!  (There is now a New Reader’s Lexicon.)

This online tool extends the vocabulary concept to grammar, giving a reader the opportunity to either check his basic knowledge of morphology or to cheat himself of the value of truly becoming proficient.  Knowing the basics of a languages morphology is even more important, in a sense, than simply knowing vocabulary, because it impacts how you understand every word.  So again, this morphology (or the morphology you find in your Logos or other Bible study software) is again a mixed blessing.  It can either help you become more proficient or it can cripple you and become a crutch.

The difference will be a matter of discipline.  Do you become dependent? Do you force yourself to actually learn once you correct yourself according to such a tool?  Only you can make sure you get the right things from a tool such as this.

There are several different modes of reading that I believe are of value to a student of Biblical languages, or of any language you are trying to learn to read:

1.  Rapid reading.  This is important for true vocabulary building as well as for building your proficiency.  It allows you to see how words relate to one another and how ideas are expressed in a particular language.  The person who works his way through a passage looking up one word at a time and consulting charts for morphology will miss this level.  Further, I believe vocabulary will always remain difficult to memorize if one has never seen it in context.  I combined extended reading in Hebrew with memorization of all words that occurred more than 5 times in the Hebrew Bible.  I don’t regret one moment spent on either activity.  Indeed there are times when I wish I’d pushed it further when I was younger!

2.  Study. In this case, rather than considering a passage read because you think you have basically “got it” you dig in study details and recheck things that you think you might know.  I know that even after writing a study guide to the book of Hebrews, for example, I still like to read a passage with all references handy.  You never know when someone else’s passing comment will give you a new insight.  This is what you practice in the early stages of Greek class.  Hopefully you will become much more effective at it over time.

3.  Memorization. I’ve seen only a few people recommend this.  I suspect more would like to, but they know people react negatively to memorization, especially in a foreign language.  My first and second year Greek teacher at Walla Walla College (now university), Lucille Knapp, required a few verses of memorization of all students.  You should have heard the complaints!  But it was a tremendous blessing.  I’ve continued the practice, though there are only a few passages that are at the top of my memory.  I tend to go to memorizing something new rather than reviewing the old.  But even so, reviewing old passages will bring them back pretty quickly.  In the meantime, I find that vocabulary items and phraseology in those passages come to mind as I read elsewhere, even after I’m pretty sure I couldn’t simply recite the entire passage.

As I said earlier, the key here is to use tools such as this to drive your learning rather than to substitute for it.  Unfortunately, having both taught Greek and Hebrew (infrequently) and tutored students, I have found that many don’t have that discipline.  My warning here is that if you don’t, you’ll make this into a crutch.