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Biblical Hebrew language

Biblical Hebrew
Classical Hebrew
שְֹפַת כְּנַעַן‎, יְהוּדִית‎, (לָשׁוֹן) עִבְרִית‎, לְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶשׁ
Shiloach.jpg
Region Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)
Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
Hasmonean dynasty
Global (as a liturgical language for Judaism)
Era attested from the 10th century BCE; developed into Mishnaic Hebrew after the Jewish–Roman wars in the first century CE
Proto-Canaanite / Phoenician alphabet
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
Samaritan alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
hbo
smp – Samaritan Hebrew
Linguist list
hbo
  smp
Glottolog anci1244  (Ancient Hebrew)
sama1313  (Samaritan)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Biblical Hebrew (Hebrew: עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִיתIvrit Miqra'it or לְשׁוֹן הַמִּקְרָאLeshon ha-Miqra), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of Hebrew, a Canaanite Semitic language spoken by the Israelites in the area known as Israel, roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. The term "Hebrew" was not used for the language in the Bible, which was referred to as Canaanite or Judahite, but the name was used in Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts. Biblical Hebrew is attested from about the 10th century BCE, and persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period, which ended in the siege of Jerusalem (AD 70).

Biblical Hebrew eventually developed into Mishnaic Hebrew, which was spoken until the second century CE.

Biblical Hebrew is best-attested in the Hebrew Bible, the collection of Judaic religious and historical texts which reflect various stages of the Hebrew language in its consonantal skeleton, as well as a vocalic system which was added in the Middle Ages by the Masoretes. There is also some evidence of regional dialectal variation, including differences between Biblical Hebrew as spoken in the northern Kingdom of Israel and in the southern Kingdom of Judah.


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