Mitchel, Larry A., A Student’s Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: Updated Edition. Zondervan, 2017.
It’s been said that Hebrew starts out hard and gets easier, while Greek starts out easy and gets harder. While that may hold true with regard to syntax,[1] it simply does not describe the difference in vocabulary. This is perhaps why there are so many published works aimed at helping students of Biblical Hebrew with the mountain of required vocabulary. “The lexicon of Old Testament Hebrew contains some 10,000 words in all.”[2] The updated edition of Mitchel’s incredibly helpful A Student’s Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic is perhaps the finest among them.
As Mitchel points out in his introduction, most vocabulary aides are organized in a confusing manner, requiring the student to skip around in order to find the necessary information. Additionally, the word-frequency limits result in lists consisting of a vast array of lengths. Taken together, these other works often make climbing the mountain of Hebrew vocabulary even more challenging. Mitchel addresses both of these issues directly. “By…combining all MT vocabulary into one sequence of less and less frequently occurring words, and adjusting frequency ranges to keep lists reasonably short, this Student’s Vocabulary has sought to meet the pedagogical shortcomings of other available Hebrew vocabularies.”[3]
Originally published in 1984, Mitchel’s work has passed the test of four decades of use. Consequently, not much needs to be said regarding its utility. For forty years it has been an essential resource. What the updated edition brings is a cleaner and clearer format, consistent SBL style, and minor revisions throughout based on current scholarship. What has resulted is a gift to the church. As you ascend the heights of Hebrew vocabulary, take this guide with you. It will help you divide that long and arduous journey into manageable individual steps. Before you know it, you will summit the peak of 10,000 words, and be able to confidently state that Hebrew does in fact get easier and easier.
[1] What is the longest Hebrew sentence you’ve ever read? I doubt it rivals some of Paul’s sentences.
[2] Larry A. Mitchel, A Student’s Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: Updated Edition, (Zondervan, 2017), 9.
[3] Ibid, 11.
