Should you learn New Testament Greek or Old Testament Hebrew?

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[calvinhubbard]

I took Greek first as it was the only biblical language offered at that time. I took Hebrew when it was offered my last two semesters of undergrad work. When I went back to reading the GNT, I noticed how much the Hebrew syntactical structures were interwoven in the GNT. I've come to the conclusion that the NT was written from a Hebrew worldview in the Greek language in a Roman world and culture.

[pierreabbat]

There's also Euclid's Elements, written in early Koine. The language is almost the same as the NT and the LXX, though some words, such as σημειον, have completely different meanings.

[sardissozo]

Thank you so much for making this video. It has given me something to think and pray about. I will be taking both languages for seminary, but I was leaning towards taking Greek first because I thought it would be easier, but you brought up something very important to me. I very much want more than anything to be familiar with Hebrew both in terms of study but also in terms of reading and speaking the modern language; in fact, I would love to live in work in Israel for a while. So, the answer of what would I learn if I could only learn one language is very easy for me... I would learn Hebrew. This is so important to me but one of the few things in life I'm legitimately scared about; please pray for me. I do not want to fail at this.

[githinji]

11:49 I believe you meant that the English alphabet is consistent with the Greek alphabet...

[alexandersmith]

Great content as always. You have confirmed my thoughts concerning learning a biblical language. I chose Greek because the NT is the revelation of the death and the resurrection of Jesus, and most of my preaching is from the NT. I hope to learn Hebrew in the future, but for now, I am working on becoming proficient in Greek.

[charlespackwood]

So appreciate you. Your love for the Word of God in the original is contagious. I aspire to be a Bible nerd. Thanks again.

[chancylvania]

Id agree with the statement on morphology of Hebrew vs Greek. Hebrew has not only alot of verb forms, but those forms also have their own variations (III hey, I yod, I gutteral, etc) and this causes way more headache than the Greek morphology. In addition, Greek is very consistent in its changes. Hebrew will for some reason apply the I Nun weakness to the words that don’t actually start with a nun.

[Read-Your-Bible-Bruh]

I like your channel. Even tho I’m learning Hebrew and not Greek, your experiences and your perspective I think help

[arsynoeford]

I only just started, and it's challenging

[markelmore]

I studied both at the University of Georgia. I did attic Greek first for a year, and then started Biblical Hebrew the following year so I did 2nd year Greek and 1st year Hebrew at the same time. I did not have trouble confusing the two because they are different. Afterwards, I joined the Air Force and became an Arabic translator. Hebrew helped me learn Arabic and Arabic reinforced my Hebrew. Long story short - I had no trouble doing both at the same time because they are so different - and I’m not that sharp a guy.

[CRoadwarrior]

Since I have learned both languages, I would like to offer my observations. Since Greek characters are very similar to English characters, and even have identical alphabetical characters, I suggest learning Greek first. Once Greek has been learned well enough, then Hebrew. Hebrew is similar to Greek in many ways in how the language works, but the alphabet and characters are so different from English that it will be harder to learn it than Greek.

So Greek first, and then Hebrew. Both should be learned because of how important it is to the proper understanding of the Bible.

[chaplainpaul]

Learning languages is great, but it's only one part of understanding the world behind the text or the world of the text. Learning the culture, idioms, and allusions is just as important. I'm in seminary, and I've learned some Greek and some Hebrew, but learning about the Hittite covenants, the meanings behind the Hebrew words, the ANE culture, and the Hebrew culture have opened up Scripture - especially the teaching of Christ - for me much more than Greek. The parables and the teachings of Christ can only really be understood once a person understands the ANE and Hebrew culture. In the church today I think we miss 75% of the NT because we don't understand the OT. hint: read the book: Epic of Eden.

[rubeno]

For me Hebrew morphology is much easier than Greek morphology...

In my case I learned both at the same time but I enjoyed Hebrew more and I definitely progressed better...

Greek seemed easier in the first weeks (probably because of the similarity of vocabulary)...
But after that Hebrew became much easier and seems much more regular (yes, it has some changes with gutturals and some other letters, but they are very predictable...)

Generally Agree with what you said, but maybe it would be a little more balanced if Frank was giving his points about the languages as well :)

[jesusvdelgado]

Hey there, I do have a cuestión, ¿ why the verb εωρακεν on John 14:9 doesn't have gramatical case the second time?

[lincolnliking]

You look really healthy and leaner. Have you been prioritizing your health?

[Read-Your-Bible-Bruh]

I say this not to upset anyone. This is my opinion.

Jesus didn’t teach anything new . Everything the New Testament teaches is from the Old Testament. I am learning Hebrew so I can learn what the New Testament players were actually teaching .

God bless

[yochananzahav]

G-d spoke "Yehi Ohr" and there was light. G-d spoke hebrew to Adam, Noah, Avraham, Moses, David, and all of the prophets. The finger of G-d wrote the ten commandments in hebrew on the stone tablets. Before the greek NT and arabic quran was the hebrew Tanakh. Before jezeus and mohammed was all of the prophets of Israel. Before you learn hebrew, learn about Judaism. Judaism came first and then was "revised" by christianity and then islam and then mormonism and then...

[SaidAhmad]

Learn Hebrew first that way you’ll be able to tell how the Jewish Bible was dishonestly translated to promote a Pauline Christology. To wit:
Christian’s have cited verses from the Jewish scriptures that purport to support their religious views about Christ. Let’s take a look at just three.
1.) Genesis 12:7. In Galatians chapter 3 the claim is made that where the Hebrew scripture is referred to promises made by God to Abraham and his seed the reference to seed as Christians claim, is to Jesus, not the posterity of Abraham. The relevant Hebrew passages are Genesis 12:7 “ Unto thy seed will I give this land” and 13:16 “I will make the seed as the dust of the earth”. In Galatians Paul argues that “He does not say “seeds” as of many but as of one.” The argument is forwarded that in no place is the word for seed in the plural, so it must refer to only one person, that person being Christ. However, looking at other instances in which this word occurs in the Hebrew scripture, it never occurs in the plural that’s because as it is used here to refer to the progeny of Abraham (not the germinating part of a plant), it is a non-count noun. The author of the text was either ignorant of Hebrew, or an effort was made to deceive people based on their own ignorance of this ancient language, (probably because they were Greek!)
2.) Psalm 2:12 “kiss the son” passage. Christian translation: kiss the Sun less he be angry, and he perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.” Translation of the Psalm from the Jewish text: “Arm yourselves with purity, less he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled, but a little”. The Hebrew word for “purity” looks and is pronounced very much like the Aramaic word for son, but is not translated as such in the Christian Bible, except for its occurrence in Psalm 2:12. This word for “purity” can also be found in Psalms 18:21, & 18:25 but those occurrences are translated as “purity” in the Christian translations. While there is some Aramaic language in the Hebrew Bible, there is none, none at all, in the entirety of the Psalms. It’s all in Hebrew, so why would there be just one Aramaic word used in a text that is entirely written in Hebrew?
3.) Isaiah 53. This verse is referenced by Christians to show how Christ’s coming was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. Christ is identified as the suffering servant but this servant is clearly identified in earlier chapters of the same book. Isaiah 41: 8-9 “You, Israel are my servant, Jacob, whom I chose, the seed of Abraham, my friend. Whom I grasped from the end of the Earth, and from its nobles, I called you and I said to you, you are my servant I choose you and did not despise you.” There are loads more of this kind of blatant dishonesty in scriptural translations of the Hebrew texts.

[matttillman]

If you were to learn Biblical Hebrew, you would discover that the New Testament almost always lies somehow when it allegedly quotes the Hebrew Bible. Since the New Testament is full of lies about what the Hebrew Bible says, it seems clear that learning Greek would be a waste of time.

[doorkeeper]

HEBREW!!! OR THE TOWER OF BABBLE! GET BACK TO TRUTH.