Book Review - A Gramm ar of Biblical Hebrew (Paul Joüon and T. Muraoka, Jung Woo Kim, Trans., Seoul: Gihon, 2012)

This review essay purposes to provide major contents and comments on the recent Korean translation of the book by Jouon-Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Its translator, Jung Woo Kim explained how difficult it has been to translate this book for the last ten years by comparing his translation work to the toil of Sisyphus in the Greek myth. It should be celebrated by Korean readers interested in the usages of Hebrew language in the Bible and be expected to revive Hebrew study in Korea. This essay contains three major parts in addition to the introduction and the conclusion. The first part (chapter 2) provides the summary and outline of the book, the second part (chapter 3) reviews Jouon and Muraoka’s English version, and the third part (chapter 4) deals with Jung Woo Kim’s Korean version. The distinguished features of Jouon and Muraoka’s English version are as follows: 1) It is the most comprehensive and voluminous book on the grammar of the Biblical Hebrew, 2) It focuses mostly on the synchronic dimension of Biblical Hebrew grammar, restricting itself to reconstructing the grammar of Tiberian Hebrew scholars, thus neglecting the diachronic dimension and variations of the synchronic approach such as the northern dialect of Biblical Hebrew. The explanations by the comparison with other semitic language are not reflected sufficiently to satisfy comparative semitic scholars, 3) It provides the detailed information on the syntax of Biblical Hebrew grammar by adopting the linguistic methodology of Indo-European language. Jung Woo Kim’s Korean version would be welcomed by Korean readers and become a monumental achievement in the history of Korean Hebrew studies. First of all, it would encourage Korean scholars to standardize Korean terms on Biblical Hebrew. Second, it would stimulate students of Hebrew language to provoke greater interest in the deeper level of the Bible as well as reviving Hebrew studies in Korea.