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I have found the sections on Hebrew verbs the most enlightening and correcting, e.g., that the Pi'el stem is NOT intensive. Such intenseness must be detected from a combination of the lexical verb meaning, the stem, and the text/co-text. This book also presents other up-to-date information on the forming of nouns from verbs, etc.
As others have noted, the layout and presentation is great. It really can't be presented any easier, I don't think.
One must read Gesenius, for he presents very important information across the board, including much on phonology and linguistics not covered by Waltke & O'Connor. But to stick with Gesenius will leave one in error on some points. Waltke & O'Connor, simply put, make the corrections and make studying Biblical Hebrew exciting, and even much easier to learn.
An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (IBHS) provides the students of biblical Hebrew with the most up to date and scholarly grammar written in the English language. The authors make it clear that their volume does not replace other reference grammars. Their reasoning is both honest and accurate-IBHS is not exhaustive either in treating exceptions or even in covering all matters of syntax and grammar. This grammar, however, is so well written that we can only hope that Waltke and O'Connor will see fit to complete this magnificent offering in a second volume that would treat the remaining elements of Hebrew syntax with the same excellence manifested in this work.
All other reference biblical Hebrew grammars for English language readers have been written first in another language and then translated into English. The only exhaustive reference grammar for biblical Hebrew available in the English language is the old classic, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (Oxford University Press, 1910), edited in the original German by Emil Kautzsch and in the English translation by A. E. Cowley. It is woefully out of date, however, being nearly one hundred years old. More recently, Paul Joüon's A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew was translated from French and revised by T. Muraoka (Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1996). It is more up to date, but lacks the exhaustiveness of the older grammar by Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley.
Linguistic jargon that will be encountered is well explained. This is very useful for students of O.T. studies who are not usually schooled in linguistics.
The book is also well footnoted. The footnotes may be used to get started on deeper research into particular features of grammar.
Overall, study of this book will help get the student of B.H. and O.T. over that hump from being competent to read and translate the basic narrative materials (Pentateuch, Joshua-2Kings, Ruth, Jonah) to tackling some of the more difficult translation issues in the canon.
I have found the sections on Hebrew verbs the most enlightening and correcting, e.g., that the Pi'el stem is NOT intensive. Such intenseness must be detected from a combination of the lexical verb meaning, the stem, and the text/co-text. This book also presents other up-to-date information on the forming of nouns from verbs, etc.
As others have noted, the layout and presentation is great. It really can't be presented any easier, I don't think.
One must read Gesenius, for he presents very important information across the board, including much on phonology and linguistics not covered by Waltke & O'Connor. But to stick with Gesenius will leave one in error on some points. Waltke & O'Connor, simply put, make the corrections and make studying Biblical Hebrew exciting, and even much easier to learn.
