Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

 It may be asked what is the relevance of Learning Biblical Hebrew today in the age of multiple translations?

Depending on your preference you can choose a variety of texts that emphasize different aspects of the biblical hebrew text- some highlight the Bible’s roots of Judaism with particular attention to the ways the character and names of God are revealed. Other translations reflect the age we live in with gender conscious attention to the text, while others aim to give a translation of an idea rather than a straight word for word translation. At the end of the day all these materials are enriching for us and allow us to tap into some special resources that scholars have labored over for us to enjoy. However all these materials are but a reflection of the beauty of the original text. How many of us have read poetry in translation? Reading the works of Pablo Neruda or Khalid Gibran are drops of beauty, but reading their poems in the originals (even without understanding), one begins to feel the pace and rhythm that exudes from each sentence, a phenomenon difficult to capture in translation.

“Lost in Translation”
 What then do we in fact lose when we read only in translation? We have spoken about the difficulty with poetry but these problems can even extend into prose. For example when reading of Goliath’s approach to the river bed and his speech against the camp of Saul we feel the anticipation that is built up in the story- and this comes through clearly in the translations, however what we miss is how the text changes its rhythm and pace as it portrays Goliath. The very character of the Hebrew words are telling another story aside from the dual between Goliath and David- they are describing the laborious movements of Goliath in the change of rhythm, the pace of the sentences become short when Goliath is talking which gives us the impression that we are dealing with a giant slow in speech and not the agile and sharp warrior we may have envisioned otherwise.

All the more is to be gained from reading the bible in the original language.

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