Which is Harder to Learn-Biblical Hebrew or Biblical Greek?

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Has anyone here attempted to study a Biblical language? I plan on studying for an MA in Biblical Studies (either Hebrew Bible or NT) later on, and of course language study will be involved, depending on whether one chooses OT or NT focus (I’m leaning towards OT).

Anyway, I’m curious as to which language is more difficult to learn (more complex as well)-Biblical Hebrew or Biblical Greek? From my outsider perspective, it looks like Bib. Hebrew is not as difficult as Bib. Greek.

Please respond if you have actually looked into this or studied a Biblical language or two (or three). Thanks!
 
TheosisM said:
Has anyone here attempted to study a Biblical language? I plan on studying for an MA in Biblical Studies (either Hebrew Bible or NT) later on, and of course language study will be involved, depending on whether one chooses OT or NT focus (I’m leaning towards OT).

Anyway, I’m curious as to which language is more difficult to learn (more complex as well)-Biblical Hebrew or Biblical Greek? From my outsider perspective, it looks like Bib. Hebrew is not as difficult as Bib. Greek.

Please respond if you have actually looked into this or studied a Biblical language or two (or three). Thanks!
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Not even close…Greek. The rules far surpass Hebrew. Hebrew just takes awhile because of the unfamiliarity with the letters. Start now. But flash cards or a little book. Do 10 minutes a day.
 
When I was in college, I looked into both Greek and Hebrew; and I chose to study Hebrew. A hurdle for me was learning how to use a Hebrew-English dictionary. It was kind of tricky because the words are listed by their roots and not the whole word, if you know what I’m trying to say.

Greek had all kinds of rules, tons of irregular verbs, and it was generally more confusing to me. I still remember the Hebrew aleph-bet after all these years. It was worth the effort I put into it.

Oh, edit - Yes, use flash cards, a few minutes a day will get you a good start. You can buy them from Jewish book stores.
 
However, in terms of vocabulary and the like, ancient Greek should be easier to learn, since it is an Indo-European language(like English), while Hebrew is Semitic. Learning Latin(or even Russian- because of the similar alphabet) first may help with learning Greek.
 
Thanks everyone. Hebrew it is (I was pretty much leaning that way). 😛
 
I’ve taken both, and Greek is harder to me because of the grammar. Hebrew is not near as bad as you might think, the grammar is easier than Greek. It does read right to left and the script is much different, but that is not that bad to learn and get use to.

As for value, I recommend Greek due to the Greek NT and the Greek OT. Even though most of the OT was originally written in Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint is more valuable than the Masoretic Text. And another benefit with Greek is the Greek Church Fathers, lots of the Fathers wrote in Greek which makes it nice to consult their Greek texts.
 
COPLAND_3 said:
As for value, I recommend Greek due to the Greek NT and the Greek OT. Even though most of the OT was originally written in Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint is more valuable than the Masoretic Text. And another benefit with Greek is the Greek Church Fathers, lots of the Fathers wrote in Greek which makes it nice to consult their Greek texts.
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Yes, I see what you’re saying, and that’s why I was considering Greek (though I’m more interested in the OT and Hebrew). Greek just seems to make more sense, especially with the Septuagint.

Hebrew seems to be more accessible as far as independent study goes, while Greek may be better learned in courses.
 
Okay, so I had a bit of an advantage, having learned the Hebrew alphabet as a kid in Hebrew school…but even without that, I’d still venture to say that Hebrew is the easier of the two.
 
I would think it would be Biblical Hebrew considering how their alphabet is totally different than ours. The Greek alphabet is at least somewhat similar to ours, isn’t it? 🤷:confused:
 
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