SBL Educational Resources

About SBL Join SBL Donate to SBL Contact SBL Help

The Society of Biblical Literature was founded in 1880 to foster biblical scholarship.

Search SBL

SBL Member #

Forgot your Member #? >>
Join SBL >>

Partner Resources

Advertising Information >>
Exhibiting Information >>
Publishing Information >>

About SBL

The Society of Biblical Literature is the oldest and largest international scholarly membership organization in the field of biblical studies. Founded in 1880, the Society has grown to over 8,500 international members including teachers, students, religious leaders and individuals from all walks of life who share a mutual interest in the critical investigation of the Bible.

Ancient Languages

Keywords for On line Searching:
Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Syriac, Biblical Greek, Koine

Associated Journals and Organizations:
Journal of Biblical Literature
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures

SBL Program Units:
Aramaic Studies
Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics
Biblical Hebrew Poetry
Biblical Lexicography
Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
------------------------------

Sites of Interest

Omniglot: Writing Systems and Languages of the World

Wikipedia also has entries for most ancient languages, some with audio components.

Biblical Languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek):

Hebrew Alphabet: Learn how to write Hebrew characters.
Learn Biblical Hebrew: The Hebrew Bible contains books written in Classical Hebrew and certain passages written in Aramaic. Learn to read most of the Hebrew Bible here.
Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon: Find the definitions of ancient Aramaic words.
Tyndale Archive of Biblical Studies: Find help with languages in this collection of lexica for various languages related to biblical studies.
Listen to Biblical Hebrew: Biblical books listed by chapter, recorded in mp3 format.
Greek Alphabet: Learn how to write Greek characters from greekgrammar.
Learn Biblical Greek: The Christian Bible includes texts written in Koine Greek, while the Septuagint is an early translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This website includes resources from the Institute of Biblical Greek.
Listen to Biblical Greek: Biblical books listed by chapter, recorded in mp3 format.

Languages relevant to Biblical Studies:

The proceedings from the conference "Origins of Early Writing Systems" the University of Peking, October 2007. They include papers and sound recordings of the presentations at the conference.
Akkadian: Learn the language of ancient Assyrians, Akkadians and Babylonians.
PSD: The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project
The PSD is preparing an exhaustive dictionary of the Sumerian language which aims to be useful to non-specialists as well as Sumerologists.
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
Five volumes of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary are now free to the public for download. Click on the volumes with the down arrow (all volumes are in .pdf form).
Ugaritic: Learn the language of ancient Canaanites.
Beth Mardutho - The Syriac Institute Publisher of Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies and other resources including Syriac fonts.
Classical Language Instruction Project: readings of Latin and Greek prose and poetry; designed to help students learn sounds of Latin and Greek and to improve their reading skills; requires Shockwave plugin.
Ancient Sanskrit Online, by Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum
Biblical Hebrew: A Student Grammar, by John A. Cook and Robert D. Holmstedt.
Classical Greek Online, by Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum
Classical Armenian Online, by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum
Hittite Online, by Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum
Introduction to Manichaean Sogdian by P. Oktor Skjærvø
Introduction to Old Avestan by P. Oktor Skjærvø
Introduction to Old Persian by P. Oktor Skjærvø
Introduction to Sumerian Grammar by Daniel A. Foxvog / Elementary Sumerian Glossary /
Introduction to Young Avestan by P. Oktor Skjærvø
Introduction to Zoroastrianism by P. Oktor Skjærvø
Introduction to Manicheism by P. Oktor Skjærvø
Kurmanji Kurdish: A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings by W. M. Thackston
New Testament Greek Online, by Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum
Old Iranian Online, by Scott L. Harvey and Jonathan Slocum
Sorani Kurdish: A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings by W. M. Thackston
Thus Wrote Onchsheshonqy - An Introductory Grammar of Demotic (Third Edition), by Janet H. Johnson