SUBSIDIA BIBLICA - 27

Paul JOÜON – Takamitsu MURAOKA

A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew

2006, pp. xlvi+772

Already well known in its two-volume first edition [«Subsidia Biblica», n. 14], this is the most extensive revision yet of one of the most complete Hebrew Grammars available in English. That first edition of 1991 was, in its turn, based on the original work in French by Paul Joüon published for the first time in 1923. This edition brings the work up to the present by taking account of developments in our understanding of the Hebrew language during the intervening years. For the first time the work is presented in a single volume. Professor Muraoka hopes that this helps to make the book more attractive and the content easier to use. As with the earlier edition students of the Old Testament, Hebrew and Semitics who have a basic knowledge of Biblical Hebrew will find much useful insight and information here.

Professor Muraoka was born in Japan and educated at the Tokyo Kyoiku University in English Philology (BA 1960), Greek, Hebrew and general linguistics (MA 1962), and Hebrew and Semitic linguistics (PhD 1970) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He taught Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Ethiopic at the University of Manchester, U.K. (1970-80). He was Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching those languages (1980-91). He was Professor of Hebrew at Leiden University, The Netherlands (1991-2003). His publications include Emphatic Words and Structures in Biblical Hebrew (Jerusalem / Leiden, 1985), Modern Hebrew for Biblical Scholars (Wiesbaden, 1998), A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Chiefly of the Pentateuch and the Twelve Prophets) (Leuven, 2002). With B. Porten he also wrote, A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic (Leiden, 2003); Classical Syriac: A Basic Grammar with a Chrestomathy (Wiesbaden, 22005); as well as many other books and articles. Professor Muraoka has recently received the distinction of being elected as an Honorary Member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem (2006).