I want to study them. Do you guys have any recommended books, websites, sources that I could use. Where do I start?
I commend you for wanting to learn the original languages of the Bible. may God bless and encourage you in your endeavours.
I have learned and taught NT Greek but I must admit that I found it easier to learn in a classroom. There have been many advances in ways to learn biblical languages in recent years, so I would contact your favourite Bible college or seminary and ask if it has a distance education course with CDs (for pronunciation) for Introduction to NT Greek and Introduction to Biblical Hebrew.
Even though I'm an Aussie living in Australia, my first NT Greek course was a summer course at Regent College, Vancouver BC, Canada with Dr. Larry Hurtado. It was he who introduced me to John Wenham's, The Elements of New Testament Greek (Cambridge University Press, London, 1965). I have taught from this book and have found it one of the most helpful intoductions to NT Greek.
I wish that I had learned Hebrew way back when I took that introduction to NT Greek. I may be getting a wee bit too old to learn Hebrew now but I am working on my PhD in biblical studies (dissertation only).
If you took up my suggestion, which Bible College or seminary would you phone or email?
I don't know Hebrew, but I do know Greek. If you really want to learn Greek the best route is probably to study Classical Greek in a classroom setting and then learn Biblical Greek. It has some limitations but some have had success learning Greek using William Mounce's book and it might be the best option for you if you don't want to take the time to learn any Classical Greek.
__________________ Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. - G.K. Chesterton
p.s. i have said something similar to this in other threads, but it bears repeating. One of the foreost scholars of Jesus speaking Aramaic has recently changed his entire position to one whereby Jesus spoke Hebrew... that said.... 2/3 of the bible are hebrew, and much of the NT are quotes from the old (and even though often quoted from the greek LXX, the underlying mindset was Hebrew)... therefor as far as I am concerned, Hebrew (rather than Greek) should be the language one focuses on.
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Blessed is the one coming in the name of ha’shem - בּרוּךְ הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְיָ
Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling..... be glory, majesty, dominion and authority for ever. (Jude) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regardless of the position a person takes on the issue of what language Jesus was speaking in, knowledge of Greek would still be required since all the manuscripts we actually have our written in Greek. I suppose could go the extra step after translating the Greek of trying to determine what the Hebrew was but there's no way around of learning the Greek for New Testament study. In some cases such as Jesus' conversation with the Syro-Phoenician woman I'm pretty certain that he would have had to have been speaking Greek. The consensus among scholars still is that most of the time Jesus was probably speaking Aramaic.
__________________ Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. - G.K. Chesterton
but the issue still stands... whilst ever the NT which we have in Greek is filled with Hebraisms, which only make sense in Hebrew, the issue of translation becomes more difficult... sure you can translate the words, but miss the wood for the trees.
maybe what one needs really is a copy of the Hebrew old testament, a copy of the LXX (pdf versions in interlinear are freely available on the net), and decent software that can show Hebrew > Greek, Greek < Hebrew equivalent word usage...
all i can say with utmost credibility is that the words of Jesus were probably not uttered in Greek and therefore even the writers of the book had to do the best they could.
Steve
p.s. learn Hebrew... then Greek!
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Blessed is the one coming in the name of ha’shem - בּרוּךְ הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְיָ
Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling..... be glory, majesty, dominion and authority for ever. (Jude) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perhaps this is worthy of a new thread, but Could you provide some examples of the Hebraisms that only make sense in Hebrew? I have truly enjoyed my study of the Greek New Testament but the message of the Scriptures seem pretty clear in any language. This is in sharp contrast to the Quran that I have been reading lately where there are many sections that have some very, very different translations into English and in many cases none of the translations seem very intelligible. I can't tell if people are being told to kill themselves or others or their sinful desires.
__________________ Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. - G.K. Chesterton
it is not that hebraisms do not make sense in the greek, just that they are alien to it... they are phrases from the language of another culture....
a stupid example can be found in 2 John v12, where the greek is literally, speak mouth toward mouth.... a stupid choice of words, but perfectly good in hebrew.
another would be the beginning of the sermon on the mount... "and he opened his mouth and taught them saying".... i am sure he could not talk through his ear.... another good example of Hebraic thought in greek language.
not to mention the ludicrous usage of the conjunctive 'and'... a definitive Hebrew feature.
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Blessed is the one coming in the name of ha’shem - בּרוּךְ הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְיָ
Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling..... be glory, majesty, dominion and authority for ever. (Jude) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~