6
Read, Read, Read
I’ve mentioned before that I worked at a fitness center while completing my graduate degrees. While there, I saw many life-changing journeys related to weight loss and overall health. I remember one particular guy well. When he began coming to the gym, he had difficulty walking because of his weight. He would get on the treadmill and use the handrails to walk for as long as he could. At the beginning, it wasn’t a long walk, but it was a start. When he first joined the gym, he came in occasionally; when you saw him, you wondered if his gym membership was worth it. Then he began to come in every day. That was when our staff knew that something was about to change. He went from needing the handrails to walking slowly without them. He then progressed to a brisk walk, and his consistent efforts culminated in him jogging periodically. Over several months, his consistency, more than the type of exercise he was doing (walking, jogging, weight training, etc.), helped him make the most progress. The key to his success was that he exercised every day. After he lost well over one hundred pounds—a significant physical change—we decided as a staff not to retake his photo for our gym computer system. We wanted him to take pride in how far he had come, enjoying the results of his daily work over those months.
Perhaps the most important practice for maintaining and increasing your facility in Biblical Hebrew is similar to this exercise success story. Read Hebrew daily. I cannot stress that enough: read it daily. From the very beginning of the learning process, it is key to develop the habit of reading the Bible in Hebrew. At first it may involve only a few minutes or a few verses—but the key is consistency. When I say “read Hebrew,” I want to be clear that in week one of your first Hebrew class, you won’t be able to read very much, if anything. However, from that day forward, you need to find yourself in the Hebrew Bible practicing whatever concept you’re learning. Over time you can increase your Hebrew fitness and spend more time actually reading and less time identifying whether a shewa is silent or vocal. The key is to develop the habit of engaging daily with the Hebrew text. In this chapter, we will discuss the practice of reading Hebrew daily, including what to read, how to read, how long to read, and how to use Hebrew while memorizing verses in English.
What to Read
One of the biggest mistakes a new Hebrew student can make is to begin reading a book of the Hebrew Bible with difficult syntax and vocabulary. Choosing the right book to read is important. If a zealous Hebrew student decides to start off by reading the Book of the Twelve (Minor Prophets) or Job, frustration and disappointment will surely result. Instead, it is better to begin with easier books, making reading more enjoyable while giving you confidence in your developing skills.
But which Old Testament books are easy to read and which ones are difficult? At least two factors contribute to a book’s difficulty: vocabulary and syntax. While vocabulary can be categorized somewhat scientifically on the basis of the frequency of vocabulary used, it is more difficult to rate a book on the basis of its style and syntax. One other factor to consider when deciding what to read in the Hebrew Bible is the length of the book. Remember what we said about generating manageable goals? It might be discouraging to begin with the Kings narratives even if the vocabulary “ease” is in the top three. Many Hebrew students begin with Jonah or Ruth because of size and (relative) ease of syntax. Even though the vocabulary in these two books is slightly more difficult, if you complete a whole book of the Hebrew Bible, your “emotion meter” will max out with excitement and joy.1
In the following chart, the first column lists books according to vocabulary alone2 and the second according to unique vocabulary.3 The third list was produced by John Wayne Coatney and uses a fairly complex (but helpful) spreadsheet and “scoring” system to rank books by both vocabulary and syntax.4
Based on these lists, I would recommend a new Hebrew learner to start reading something like Ruth, Jonah, or Deuteronomy. The vocabulary in these books is relatively easy, and the syntax is primarily narrative prose. In addition, these narratives are familiar to most who would be reading the books in Hebrew, so if you encounter some obscure vocabulary or syntax, you may be able to work through it because of your familiarity with the English text already.
How to Read
Now that you know which books to read (at least initially), what is the best way to actually read the Old Testament? As you begin (or continue) to read the Hebrew Bible, it is important to use the appropriate tools to facilitate this process. Below we discuss several categories of tools, ranging from those offering the most help to those offering the least help. Someone who has sprained an ankle needs a crutch and not necessarily a wheelchair. If you use a method that provides you too much assistance, your Hebrew skills may actually begin to erode. The goal is to consider how you can exercise your Hebrew muscles so that you can be less reliant on assistance.
Reading with an Interlinear or Reverse-Interlinear Bible
An interlinear Bible (see fig. 6.1) has the Hebrew text on one line and the English text directly below it with the English word under the Hebrew word to which it corresponds (a reverse interlinear has the English text on top).
This tool may be helpful for some but probably should be avoided by most serious Hebrew students. Interlinears are not the best method because they do not allow you to determine whether you actually know the Hebrew text since you can see the English words at the same time. For example, if you don’t know a particular word at first, it is helpful to force yourself to try to recall the word. Maybe you know it, but you just need to remember your mnemonic device to bring the meaning of the term to your mind. That momentary struggle is healthy, and without it you will not know if you have adequately memorized a word or not. If your goal is to be able to read the Hebrew Bible independently, then an interlinear will be a crutch (or a wheelchair) that will stifle your long-term progress.
One situation in which I may recommend an interlinear for a short time is when you are first beginning to translate Hebrew, maybe in the first few weeks of your first semester. Hebrew word order and syntax can be a challenge, and sometimes an interlinear can at least let you see how the Hebrew becomes English syntactically. You can see where words occur in the Hebrew sentence and how they get put together into an English translation. This is a rather restricted use of an interlinear, and you should make sure you’re not relying on the interlinear when you should be doing your own translation work. As soon as you can move beyond an interlinear, you should, but if it helps you engage with the Hebrew text, then it can be a starting place. A top-selling, user-friendly interlinear is Crossway’s Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament, shown above. Bible software like Accordance and Logos also can generate interlinear and reverse-interlinear texts.
Reading with a Diglot
A diglot version of the Bible offers the Hebrew text on one page and an English Bible translation on the facing page. Crossway, once again, has an excellent resource here. Their ESV Hebrew-English Old Testament (2015) offers the ESV on one page and BHS on the facing page (see fig. 6.2). Alternative options are the Hebrew-English Diglot Bible (American Bible Society, 2001), offering the NKJV as the English translation, and the Hebrew-English Bible (The Bible Society in Israel, 2014), which has the NASB paralleling the Hebrew text.
While giving less help than an interlinear Bible, a diglot also provides too much help for the average Hebrew student. If you are unsure of a Hebrew word, you can simply glance at the opposing page to find the meaning of the word. In addition, you also see the words in the surrounding English context that you may not want to see. In essence, then, this method gives the reader too much information (i.e., assistance).
Reading with a Reader’s Hebrew Bible
Recognizing that inexperienced readers of the Hebrew Bible are often frustrated by unfamiliar vocabulary words, several publishers are now offering a “reader’s edition” of the Hebrew Bible, with uncommon vocabulary words listed verse by verse at the bottom of each page (see fig. 6.3). Two good Hebrew reader’s editions are available. The first is Zondervan’s A Reader’s Hebrew Bible.5 This reader’s edition is based on the Westminster Leningrad Codex, and footnotes gloss definitions for vocabulary occurring fewer than one hundred times. It also gives stem-specific glosses for verbal stems (often an interpretive decision, so be aware of that), and it provides the glosses from HALOT and BDB. For verbs, the respective stems are given in the footnotes, but not full parsing. For words that occur over one hundred times, this reader’s edition offers a glossary just in case some of those words escape your memory too.
The second reader’s edition I would recommend is Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader’s Edition.6 This edition provides glosses for vocabulary occurring less than seventy times, and it parses all weak verbs. You will have to get used to the parsing nomenclature for this feature to be helpful, but once you understand the abbreviations the editors use, you will also have that information footnoted for you. This BHS reader’s edition also provides a glossary of terms that are not already glossed in the footnotes throughout the text. Either of these reader’s editions would be an excellent resource in this category.
We highly recommend that beginning students (really any student) use one of the above readers (I favor the Hendrickson edition). These readers provide just enough information to help the student without providing too much information to stifle growth. In fact, such reader’s editions often motivate students to actually use and read their Hebrew Bibles. Many professors will deter students from using a reader’s edition, and at some point you should set it aside. But if a reader’s edition can provide enough help in the early stages of your learning to get you reading your Hebrew Bible daily, then go for it.
Reading with a Reader’s Lexicon
If students don’t mind having a second print volume open alongside their Hebrew Bible, a “reader’s lexicon” can provide the necessary vocabulary help. Unlike a typical lexicon that lists words in alphabetical order according to their lexical form, a reader’s lexicon provides words according to their canonical usage. For example, as a person is reading through a particular book of the Bible, the words will be given in the chapter(s)/verse(s) in which they occur in the text. Words found in Genesis 1 are under the lexical heading for Genesis 1. Words occurring in Genesis 2 are under the lexical heading for Genesis 2, and so on.
The best Hebrew Bible reader’s lexicon available is A Reader’s Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Terry A. Armstrong, Douglas L. Busby, and Cyril F. Carr.7 Definitions (drawn from BDB) are provided for all words that occur fewer than fifty times. The authors of this volume also provide additional statistics regarding the usage of each word listed. Up to three numbers are provided as frequency data. For nouns and adjectives, the first number indicates how many times that word occurs in the book you are reading (e.g., Genesis). The second number indicates how many times that word occurs in the entire Hebrew Bible. For verbs, the first number tells you how many times the word occurs in the given stem (e.g., qal) in the book you’re reading. The second number indicates how many times the word occurs in that stem in the rest of the Hebrew Bible. The third number indicates how many times the word is used in the Hebrew Bible in all verbal stems combined.
Reading with a Lexicon or Dictionary
Using only a lexicon or dictionary may prove to be more of a challenge than you want. However, the benefits (and encouragement) of sitting down with nothing but your Hebrew Bible and a dictionary will be worth it. The hard work of flipping pages in a lexicon to get to the right word, and then scouring the word’s entry, will pay dividends that you never dreamed of. It will be slow work at first. If there is a word you don’t know, you are forced to either skip it (not ideal) or pause your reading to look up the inflected word in the dictionary. If you are just learning Hebrew, there is a slight chance that you will not be able to even find the word since you typically have to look up the lexical form of the word. Verbs are especially difficult since they often have weaknesses in the roots (gutturals, vavs, yods, geminates, etc.) that obscure the root you are trying to find in the lexicon. In the end, what began as an exercise in reading turns into an exercise in the alphabet and using a dictionary (though not a bad thing in itself). Such an approach can easily lead to disappointment and discouragement. Even so, be encouraged by the testimony of John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace”:
You must not think that I have attained or ever aimed at, a critical skill in any of these: . . . In the Hebrew, I can read the Historical Books and Psalms with tolerable ease; but, in the Prophetical and difficult parts, I am frequently obliged to have recourse to lexicons, etc. However, I know so much as to be able, with such helps as are at hand, to judge for myself the meaning of any passage I have occasion to consult.8
Because of some of these difficulties, lexicons and dictionaries are recommended for those who have a vast vocabulary and at least a couple of years of practice reading the Hebrew Bible.
Reading with Digital Texts
The ability to read the Hebrew Bible and access Hebrew resources digitally is now a reality for virtually every student. In fact, the majority of students who will continue faithfully to read their Hebrew will do so in digital format because of the ease of access and resources that link to the text. While it can be inconvenient to carry a printed edition of the Hebrew Bible, one can easily access a digital text on one’s computer, tablet, or smartphone. Currently, the smartphone has become the ubiquitous digital assistant—replacing cameras, books, wallets, and even printed Hebrew Bibles!
In addition, many digital texts have search features that mirror concordance capabilities and are linked with lexicons, parsing information, and even grammatical diagrams so that students can quickly gain assistance with the text. We realize that any digital recommendations will quickly become outdated, but we tentatively offer the following recommendations. For the computer, we recommend Accordance or Logos. For tablets and smartphones, we recommend the Olive Tree Bible Study app or the Accordance or Logos apps. Also, on tablets, Biblearc has an excellent app that provides modules for arcing, block diagramming, and discourse analysis, all similar to what’s available at their website.
One word about digital texts must be included here. Like the interlinears above, if digital texts get you reading the Hebrew Bible, then by all means use them. In order to learn Hebrew, you must read Hebrew. If the convenience of the digital texts provides the opportunity for you to read Hebrew while getting an oil change or waiting at the salon, then certainly use them. However, be aware that convenience is not the best way to learn Hebrew. We will talk more about this in the next chapter, but for now, be aware that there are some significant drawbacks to relying solely on digital Hebrew Bibles and all the bells and whistles those digital versions usually provide.
How Long to Read
In the story about the guy from the gym at the beginning of this chapter, notice that he began exercising according to his abilities. He was not physically able to exercise for long periods of time or do any sort of strenuous activity. Walking with the help of the treadmill handrails was where he began. He started slowly, but he was consistent. For newly minted Hebrew students, the key is not the amount of time they spend reading the Hebrew Bible but how consistently they read it. Often, if our goals are too lofty, we will fail to reach them. Also, we must remember that it is better to read a little every day rather than to read for an extended period of time once (or twice) a week. We would suggest reading the Hebrew Bible for at least ten minutes a day. For the beginning student this may amount to only a few verses. Over time, however, your goal should be to read Hebrew for at least thirty minutes every day. Again, don’t be discouraged by how few verses you may read in that thirty minutes. The key is consistency. Read. Read. Read. Is thirty minutes a day worth a lifetime of delight and joy in the Hebrew Bible?
What should you do while reading the text? At first, we suggest parsing all verbs (and other parts of speech, if needed), paying attention to grammar. Parsing can be tricky in Hebrew with weak verbs, but don’t get discouraged. As we mentioned above, have a lexicon on hand and refer to it if needed. Since we are trying to engage all the senses, write down the parsings in a journal or notebook. Once you can quickly parse, then the focus should be on reading longer portions. Of course, as we read the text, we should not merely focus on parsing and grammar, but we must remember that we are reading God’s holy and inspired word. If we are not reading the Bible devotionally, but merely reading as an academic exercise, the motivation for sustained, daily reading will be difficult to maintain. Ideally, we want to get to the point where we can read the Hebrew Bible similarly to the way we can read our English Bibles.
How to Use Hebrew While Memorizing Verses in English
Many people may not find it helpful or encouraging to memorize verses in Hebrew. But memorizing Bible verses is a practice that is beneficial for all believers. We are exhorted to meditate on God’s word day and night so that we will be like a tree planted by streams of water (Ps. 1:2–3). Elsewhere the psalmist speaks of storing or hiding God’s word in his heart that he might not sin against God (Ps. 119:11). We are convinced that it should be the practice of every Christian to memorize God’s word on a consistent basis—in your heart language. How then can Hebrew aid in this process?
The basic answer is to study Hebrew while you memorize verses in English. In other words, as you are considering, meditating on, repeating, and pondering the meaning of the English text (in whatever version you choose), it is also beneficial to read and analyze the Hebrew text. There are at least three main benefits to this practice.
First, it is another avenue that leads you to read the Hebrew text. In order to gain proficiency in any language, a person must repeatedly and regularly be thinking about that language.
Second, it allows you to see the translation philosophy of your preferred translation. With the English text freshly rooted into your memory, as you read over the Hebrew text, you will almost automatically compare the Hebrew original with the English translation. You will begin to see the strengths and perhaps some weaknesses of your English version. You’ll be able to see addition or omission of words between the two languages, adjustments in word order, or even how consistently the committee translated the same Hebrew term in different places.
Third, you will likely be able to memorize the English faster. The reason for this goes back to some of the things we discussed in chapter 4 (“Develop a Next-Level Memory”). The key to effective memorization is association. The more items that we can associate with a word, phrase, or verse, the more likely we are to memorize it. Former US memory champion Joshua Foer notes, “People who have more associations to hang their memories on are more likely to remember new things, which in turn means they will know more, and be able to learn more.”9 In other words, the more we know, the easier it is to know more. Taking an English verse and adding to it the Hebrew original will help the new language (Hebrew) stick and will help you memorize the verse in your heart language.
By way of example, let’s look at Deuteronomy 6:5. This verse is super familiar to many of us, but do we really know what it says, or why it says what it says? Let’s look at the ESV and MT together:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃
As we glance at the English of Deuteronomy 6:5, many of us have it (or at least a paraphrased form of it) memorized already. However, when you look at the Hebrew, we see that the initial verb is stated not as a command but rather as a vav-consecutive on a perfect (veqatal), changing the normal past, complete action of the perfect to an incomplete action. In other words, “you shall love the Lord your God” here is technically not a command but an expectation of ongoing love and devotion to Yahweh, the one true God (cf. Deut. 6:4). Much of the verse is similar from here on until we get to the final word. The ESV has “might,” but the Hebrew is “with all your מְאֹד.” For those with a basic vocabulary under your belt, you’ll know that מְאֹד means “very.” מְאֹד might be my favorite word in Hebrew, and this verse is one of the reasons why. I have to be honest with you that to this day, I’m not sure I can explain what it means to love the Lord your God with all your “veryness,” but I absolutely love the way it is worded. “You shall love the Lord your God . . . with all your veryness.” I may not be able to put that into good English, but I know even more deeply what the verse is saying.
Now, how does this help with memorizing Deuteronomy 6:5? As I mentioned before, many of us are familiar enough with this passage that we may have it memorized already. However, reading the verse in the original Hebrew brings out nuances that solidify and enhance what we already know. Now when you recite Deuteronomy 6:5, many of you may say, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your veryness.” It’s OK if people look at you funny. . . . They will know exactly what you mean!
Looking at the Hebrew text while you memorize the English provides several benefits: (1) it reinforces the Hebrew you are learning; (2) it teaches you about the translation strategy of the English version you are memorizing; and (3) it can help you to more easily memorize the Hebrew since you have another language to which you can build an association. For instance, as you seek to recall Deuteronomy 6:5, you may not have a good English word for the translation, but you remember the Hebrew and its peculiar (but glorious) nuance. This will then allow you to reconstruct the English. In the end, the more you use the Hebrew, the quicker and better you will learn it. This technique provides another method of making that happen.
- Can you envision yourself reading Hebrew daily? What would it take to make that happen?
- Which Old Testament book do you think would be best for you to start reading?
- We recommend starting with a reader’s Hebrew Bible. Do you think this tool is appropriate for you?
- What are ways in which digital tools can either help or hurt you? Write these down and reevaluate if/as you use them.
- Can you commit to read Hebrew for at least ten minutes a day? What are ways in which using Hebrew to memorize English can be beneficial?
God’s Active Memory
I grew up in North Carolina, and my family had a list of “hillbilly one-liners” that would knock your socks off! I can remember looking at my parents as a kid with my head cocked to the side as though asking them to translate what my grandmother was actually saying. Perhaps you, too, have sayings that you inherited from your grandparents or parents. In fact, all languages possess such phrases, and they are called idiomatic expressions (not to be confused with idiotic expressions!). These are unique, cultural expressions that capture an idea in a way that is not literal but very expressive within the given cultural context.
Hebrew is no exception when it comes to idiomatic expressions. The Hebrew Bible is filled with examples of how the Hebrew language communicates different ideas with unique, nonliteral turns of phrase. One that has always captured my attention is the way Scripture speaks about God remembering (זכר). Idioms used to describe God in human terms are often called anthropomorphisms (from the Greek word anthrōpos, meaning “human,” and the Greek word morphē, meaning “form”), because they are describing the transcendent God of the universe with words that take on human form and perspective. Naturally, we recognize the nonliteral nature of such idioms. However, if God does not literally forget things, what does it mean to say that God remembers? Let’s look at a few examples in the Old Testament where God is described as remembering.
Genesis 8:1
וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־נֹ֔חַ וְאֵ֤ת כָּל־הַֽחַיָּה֙ וְאֶת־כָּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִתּ֖וֹ בַּתֵּבָ֑ה וַיַּעֲבֵ֨ר אֱלֹהִ֥ים ר֙וּחַ֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיָּשֹׁ֖כּוּ הַמָּֽיִם׃
And God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him on the ark. And God caused a wind to blow upon the earth, and the waters decreased.
Exodus 2:24
וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶת־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
1 Samuel 1:19b–20a
וַיֵּ֤דַע אֶלְקָנָה֙ אֶת־חַנָּ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ וַיִּֽזְכְּרֶ֖הָ יְהוָֽה׃ וַיְהִי֙ לִתְקֻפ֣וֹת הַיָּמִ֔ים וַתַּ֥הַר חַנָּ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתִּקְרָ֤א אֶת־שְׁמוֹ֙ שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל
And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and YHWH remembered her. And in the turning of the days, Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel.
Quickly studying these three passages, we see that God’s “remembrance” of something precedes his coming action on behalf of that which he remembered. In Genesis 8:1, God remembers Noah and the animals and then acts to begin subduing the waters from the earth. In Exodus 2:24, God observes the suffering of Israel in Egypt, remembers his previous covenant with the patriarchs, and then, in the beginning of chapter 3, raises up Moses to carry out his plan of water-parting redemption! First Samuel 1:19–20 reminds us of the suffering and agony of the barren Hannah. However, God remembered Hannah, and his remembrance is portrayed in the passage as the causative force behind the miraculous birth of Samuel. The point is that God’s “remembering” is actually an idiomatic way of describing how he is preparing to act. The persons remembered are then the beneficiaries of God’s gracious plan playing out in their lives—whether it’s Noah, Israel, or Hannah. God truly has an active memory!
Interestingly, the Bible has just as much to say about what God does not remember. Jeremiah 31:34 reads, “And their sin I will remember no longer” (וּלְחַטָּאתָם לֹא אֶזְכָּר־עוֹד). Just as the act of God remembering something indicates the past motivations for his present and future action, when the Hebrew reads that God “no longer remembers,” it communicates that God is no longer allowing the past to dictate his posture going forward. This is incredibly good news when we consider the fact that God is “forgetting” our sin! The good news recorded in the book of Jeremiah is that God is no longer going to relate to us according to our past sins. This is not because God causes himself to literally forget our transgressions. Instead, God is covenanting that the day is coming when his relating to his people will be based no longer on judgment for past sin but on divine grace and forgiveness established by a new covenant.
1. Use discretion even with the size of the book. Obadiah is merely twenty-one verses long, but the vocabulary and syntax might leave you feeling like you were punched by a heavyweight prizefighter.
2. This list is based strictly on the number of words in the book that occur five hundred or more times. This data was compiled by Andrew Yates using Logos Bible Software based on the Anderson-Forbes Analyzed Text (http://amyates.blogspot.com/2015/05/old-testament-hebrew-reading-list.html).
3. For Andrew Yates’s definition of “unique vocabulary,” see his blog posts on this list: “Old Testament Hebrew Reading List,” May 18, 2015, http://amyates.blogspot.com/2015/05/old-testament-hebrew-reading-list.html; and “OT Hebrew Reading List—Part Dux,” November 21, 2016, http://amyates.blogspot.com/2016/11/ot-hebrew-reading-list-part-dux.html. He offers a printable reading plan in both PDF and spreadsheet forms if you’re a box checker like me.
4. This list is from a Facebook post by John Wayne Coatney, dated April 3, 2015 (https://m.facebook.com/groups/224415954327748?view=permalink&id=583363235099683&_rdr). This list shows a lot of promise by way of statistical analysis, but it may be slightly off as it relates to actual “ease of reading.” The statistical analysis used by Coatney includes categories for vocabulary words occurring fewer than seventy times in the Hebrew Bible, hapax legomena, unique vocabulary forms, ketiv/qere forms, and a percentage of poetry. The percentage of poetry gives this list an element of syntactical organization since poetry is generally more difficult syntactically to translate. In Coatney’s spreadsheet, each of these categories has a relative weight in the scoring and can be manipulated if you think the amount of poetry should carry more weight than unique vocabulary. So you can use this list as a starting point, but then perhaps tweak it depending on which of the analyzed categories you think would more accurately reflect the order of syntactical difficulty. I personally would begin this list with Deuteronomy, then Samuel, Ruth, and Jonah, but I don’t have any statistical data to support that conclusion.
5. A Reader’s Hebrew Bible, ed. A. Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008).
6. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader’s Edition, ed. Donald Vance, George Athas, and Yael Avrahami (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2015). This reader’s edition is hardback, so for the sake of longevity (wear and tear) this may be the preferred volume.
7. Terry A. Armstrong, Douglas L. Busby, and Cyril F. Carr, A Reader’s Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013). This lexicon was originally published in 1980 as a three-volume set. Zondervan reprinted a single-volume edition in 2013.
8. Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, in The Works of Rev. John Newton, vol. 1, 49–50, quoted in John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, updated and expanded ed. (Nashville: B&H, 2013), 104.
9. Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (New York: Penguin, 2011), 209.