Basics of Biblical Aramaic: Complete Grammar, Lexicon, and Annotated Text - Softcover

Van Pelt, Miles V.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310493919 ISBN 13: 9780310493914

Publisher: Zondervan Academic, 2011

Synopsis

There are 269 verses in the Old Testament written in Aramaic, not in Hebrew. Most of the verses are found in Daniel and Ezra. Basics of Biblical Aramaic follows the same easy-to-understand style found the widely-used Basics of Biblical Hebrew and includes everything you need to learn Biblical Aramaic. This book is designed for those who already have a working knowledge of Biblical Hebrew. Basics of Biblical Aramaic features: -Complete lexicon of Biblical Aramaic -Complete annotated text of all 269 Bible verses written in Aramaic -Chapter exercises -Answer key

About this title

About the Author

Miles Van Pelt (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, where he also serves as academic dean. Miles lives in Madison, Mississippi, with his wife, Laurie, and their four children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Basics of Biblical Aramaic

Complete grammar, lexicon, and annotated textBy Miles V. Van Pelt

Zondervan

Copyright © 2011 Miles V. Van Pelt
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-49391-4

Contents

1 Alphabet......................................................................12 Vowels........................................................................63 Syllabification...............................................................144 Nouns: Absolute State.........................................................205 Nouns: Determined State.......................................................266 Nouns: Construct State........................................................317 Conjunctions and Prepositions.................................................388 Pronominal Suffixes...........................................................469 Pronouns......................................................................5510 Adjectives and Numbers.......................................................6311 Adverbs and Particles........................................................7012 Introduction to Aramaic Verbs................................................7513 Peal Perfect.................................................................8214 Peal Imperfect...............................................................9115 Peal Imperative..............................................................10116 Peal Infinitive Construct....................................................10617 Peal Participle..............................................................11218 The Peil, Hithpeel, and Ithpeel Stems........................................12419 The Pael Stem................................................................13120 The Hithpaal and Ithpaal Stems...............................................13821 The Haphel Stem..............................................................14322 The Aphel, Shaphel, and Hophal Stems.........................................150CHARTS AND PARADIGMS............................................................155Absolute, Construct, and Determined Nouns.......................................157Independent Personal Pronouns...................................................157Demonstrative Pronouns/Adjectives...............................................158Pronominal Suffixes: Type 1 and Type 2 with Alternate Forms.....................158Peal Strong Verb Paradigms......................................................159Pael Strong Verb Paradigms......................................................160Haphel Strong Verb Paradigms....................................................161Summary Verb Chart: Strong Verb Diagnostics.....................................162ANNOTATED BIBLICAL ARAMAIC TEXT.................................................163Genesis 31:47 and Jeremiah 10:11................................................165Daniel 2:4b–49............................................................166Daniel 3........................................................................175Daniel 4........................................................................182Daniel 5........................................................................189Daniel 6........................................................................195Daniel 7........................................................................201Ezra 4:8-24.....................................................................206Ezra 5..........................................................................209Ezra 6:1-18.....................................................................213Ezra 7:12-26....................................................................217ARAMAIC-ENGLISH LEXICON.........................................................221

Introduction

Aramaic is the neglected biblical language. It does not enjoy the status of a classical language like Greek, nor can it boast of being the language of approximately 75 percent of the Christian Bible, as Hebrew does. But we must not allow either status or statistics to preclude our commitment to teach and study this biblical language in Bible colleges and seminaries as a regular part of training candidates for the ministry of God's word. Faithfulness in the littlest thing is no little thing (Luke 16:10a).

This grammar was not written for Aramaic scholars or for students interested in comparative Semitic grammar. Rather, the purpose and design of this grammar is to provide the average student with a working knowledge of the Aramaic language appearing in the Old Testament. It was written for those students who desire to study, teach, and preach faithfully from those portions of the Bible that appear in Aramaic.

There are, in fact, 269 verses in the Old Testament that contain Aramaic. These texts are located in Genesis 31:47 (two words), Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4b-7:28; and Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26. Though it is not uncommon to refer to the Aramaic of this corpus as "biblical" Aramaic, the official label for this dialect is Jewish Literary Aramaic. There were many other Aramaic dialects too, such as Palestinian and Egyptian Aramaic. But the single purpose of this grammar is to provide a descriptive introduction to the Jewish Literary Aramaic located in the biblical text. For this reason, all vocabulary, examples, and exercises are derived from the biblical text.

The grammatical presentation in this text follows the model of Basics of Biblical Hebrew. It begins with the alphabet and vowels, moves to the nominal system, and then progresses to the verbal system — covering first the Peal stem in each conjugation and then the derived stems in the same manner. Weak verb morphology is emphasized throughout given its ubiquity in the biblical Aramaic text. Other important features of the grammar include the following:

1. Hebrew First. It is assumed that students will have studied at least one year of biblical Hebrew before working with this grammar. The presentation of vocabulary, pace of instruction, and grammatical explanations assume this prior study. One of the benefits of studying biblical Aramaic is that it can improve your knowledge and understanding of biblical Hebrew. Thus, in many instances, Aramaic is taught in opposition to, or in comparison with, Hebrew. 2. Vocabulary. There are just over 700 different Aramaic words in the biblical text occurring just over 7,000 total times. In the vocabulary lists that appear at the end of chapters 1-17, students will memorize all 268 Aramaic words that appear four or more times in the biblical text. This will give students access to approximately 91 percent of the biblical text without significant recourse to the lexicons. Aramaic vocabulary corresponding to previously memorized Hebrew vocabulary is grouped together for ease of memorization or simple review (chapters 1, 2, and 12). When possible, grouping by semantic domain (chapters 3 and 8) or part of speech (chapters 7, 9, 10, and 11) is utilized. 3. Aramaic—English Lexicon. The lexicon that appears at the back of this textbook contains all Aramaic words that appear in the biblical text. The definitions are helpfully derived from HALOT. Students will certainly want to have their own copy of HALOT for additional morphological information and lexical analysis. 4. Exercises. At the end of each chapter (excluding chapters 1 and 12), brief exercises are provided for the student to practice and reinforce the material presented in a given chapter. All exercises are derived from the biblical text. Nothing has been "made up." When possible, the vocabulary from each chapter is utilized in that chapter's exercises. In some instances, however, the student will need to use the grammar's lexicon to complete the homework. The answer key for the exercises is located at basicsofbiblicalhebrew.com or textbookplus.zondervan.com. 5. Annotated Biblical Text. At the end of this volume there appears a complete biblical Aramaic text with annotation. This annotation is intended to reinforce the material presented in the grammar, assist with textual difficulties, and introduce students to helpful secondary resources (e.g., HALOT, Rosenthal, Jerusalmi). The selection of notes was a difficult task. Some will prefer more annotation, others less, and still others would have made different selections altogether. The current selection of notes is largely derived from my experience with students in the classroom over the past several years. I am always happy to receive feedback in this area. With a forthcoming electronic version, modification of the annotated text will be possible. Additionally, if requested, I would be willing to send out an electronic version of the annotated text so that instructors or students may customize the notes to suit their own particular needs. 6. Kethiv/Qere. The Kethiv/Qere phenomenon appears throughout the biblical Aramaic text with well over one hundred instances. To aid the beginning student, it was decided to follow the convention adopted by Accordance (BHSW4) and provide both readings. The Kethiv appears first in the text with pointing indicative of its consonantal makeup. The Qere follows the Kethiv and is identified with square brackets (e.g., [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] at Daniel 2:4). 7. Statistics. The number counts and statistics appearing throughout this grammar have been derived from Accordance (9.1, BHS-W4). No software is perfect, but none is better than Accordance. Additionally, in matters of counting, both Qere and Kethiv forms are counted independently for the sake of consistency. On a few occasions, some minor corrections were necessary. These do not account for any major statistical variance. There is one final point to make. In my opinion, learning biblical Aramaic is a four step process. First, study the grammar and work through the exercises. Second, carefully work through the annotated text included in this grammar. Third, carefully work though a biblical text without annotation, using HALOT and other secondary resources when necessary. Fourth, never stop reading the biblical Aramaic text. If you want to keep the language, then you must use it regularly. If you translate just one verse per day, five or six days per week, you will be able to read through the entire biblical Aramaic corpus each year. In the course of a regular academic semester, you may be able to accomplish the first two steps. Completion of steps three and four will normally require special determination, commitment, and accountability outside of the classroom.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0310493919
• ISBN 13: 9780310493914
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256