Biblical Hebrew Weak Verbs

I teach a Biblical Hebrew class. Most Biblical Hebrew textbooks devote multiple chapters to the study of "weak" verbs, that is verbs that have one or more guttural letters, the letters vav or he, or a second letter doubled. I believe for most English speakers who are learning to read Biblical Hebrew (not to speak it), this is unnecessarily complex. Usually, all a reader needs to do is find the three letter lexical form of the verb. Once the three letters are known, the student will either know the verb due to earlier memorization, or the student can look it up in a lexicon.

The following method for finding the three letter lexical verb form was recommended to me by my Hebrew professor at Baylor University, Dr. Edward Dalglish. Follow the flow chart, and the three letters can be identified for more than 95% of Hebrew verbs that appear in the Bible. The exceptions (several of which are identified on the chart) are well known verbs which are usually recognizable without the aid of the chart. If the chart looks a bit complex, remember that it takes the place of multiple chapters in a textbook. Also remember that this chart is for identifying verbs so they can be read - I wouldn't recommend this approach for people who are attempting to become conversational in Hebrew.

Click on the chart to see the whole thing.

Unspoken in Any Language

The Old Testament uses the divine name "Yahweh" 6828 times. This is the primary designation used for God, and is used in such important verses as "I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." at the beginning of the ten commandments. God told Moses at the burning bush that His name was "I am", and in the Hebrew language Yahweh is the third person variant of that, "He is."

Given the importance assigned to this name, it is a curiosity that the name Yahweh is virtually unspoken in any language. Religious Jews, when reading the Bible, substitute "Adonai" (meaning lord/master) for Yahweh, and when speaking about Him substitute "HaShem" (the name).

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the choice was made not to transliterate Yahweh, but to substitute "kurios"(lord/master). The New Testament continues this usage.

English language Bibles usually use "The LORD" in all capital letters for Yahweh. A bit more frequent is the appearance of Jehovah, which combines Germanic consonants (YHWH = JHVH) and the vowels in Adonai. Yahweh occasionally makes appearances in Christian songs, but this is rare.

There are even hints in the New Testament that Jesus and the High Priests may have shied away from using the name, Yahweh. The high priest asks "Are you the Christ the Son of 'the Blessed.'" Jesus answered that "you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of 'the Power.'"