I have previously published a post on Aramaic that provides historical background to the language and describes its relevance for biblical studies. My aim in the present post is to give an overview of resources available for the study of Biblical Aramaic, and to provide an evaluation of these resources. Prices quoted are subject to change.

Grammars

Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related, something like Spanish and Italian. Thus, Biblical Aramaic (BA) beginning grammars are designed for students who already have a working knowledge of Biblical Hebrew (BH). Because these grammars build on a student’s Hebrew knowledge, they are generally intended to teach Aramaic grammar in only one semester, rather than the usual full year. English language Aramaic grammars that I recommend include Callaham, Cook, Johns, Jumper, Schuele, Rosenthal, and Muraoka. The last five of these are small, thin volumes that are easily portable.

Callaham, Scott N. Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters: A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook. HA’ARETS. Wilmore, KY: GlossaHouse, 2021.

• Amazon price: $22.00 (paperback), $32.38 (hardcover); GlossaHouse paperback $34.99, hardcover $49.88); Logos price: $17.99 (pre-order). There is also a Chinese version.
• Number of chapters: 19
• Callaham earned his Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently Dean of the Institute of Public Theology. It is evident from his grammar that he is a careful and well-read scholar.
• An understanding of the grammar of Biblical Hebrew, such as two semesters of Hebrew grammar courses, is a prerequisite for using this book. The book starts by discussing how Biblical Aramaic is similar to and different from Biblical Hebrew, without presenting the Aramaic alphabet and vowel system or explaining how to find and use editions of the Biblical Aramaic text, because parallel knowledge of Hebrew is assumed. It is also assumed that students will be able to pronounce (read) the Aramaic words on their own.
• This grammar aims to facilitate the teaching of Biblical Aramaic by making side-by-side comparisons with Biblical Hebrew throughout the book. Throughout most of the grammar, the page on the left side explains a Hebrew grammatical concept, and the page on the right side explains the corresponding concept in Aramaic, with similarities and differences noted. This is a helpful approach, not only for learning Biblical Aramaic, but also for solidifying one’s knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.
• There are a small number of “Suggested Learning Exercises” at the end of each chapter, but these are different from the traditional homework assignments, and there are no vocabulary lists to memorize for each chapter. Callaham says this is because Bible software programs have reduced or eliminated the need to memorize paradigms and vocabulary lists. He favors an inductive approach to learning Biblical Aramaic, in which students learn to recognize vocabulary and grammatical forms through reading and working with the Aramaic text, and relating it to their knowledge of Hebrew. Because of Callaham’s inductive style, Aramaic grammar is explained from the start by citing portions of the biblical text that have vocabulary and grammatical forms which students have not been taught. Although there is a glossary in the back, it is assumed that students will have access to a Bible software program to parse and define words they cannot figure out on their own. Teachers who have a more traditional pedagogical style could create their own quizzes with paradigms and vocabulary, but that is not the way this grammar is designed.
• This grammar is printed with black, red, and blue text. The red and blue text is used for color-coding grammatical features.
• When new topics are introduced in the grammar, cross-references are provided to parallel sections in Johns, Muraoka, and Rosenthal for additional explanations.
• Callaham helpfully prints both the traditional names of Aramaic verbal stems and the letters used for these stems by Semiticists, e.g., Peal G, Pael D, Shaphel C, Haphel C.
• There is a complete glossary of Biblical Aramaic in the back of the grammar, with Biblical Hebrew cognates noted.
• Callaham has Aramaic videos lessons based on his grammar on the Daily Dose of Aramaic website. These videos are especially valuable for independent learners. However, I found it surprising that Callaham does not read (pronounce) the Aramaic text in many of the videos. (After the first several videos, Callaham started reading the text in the daily videos.) He writes in the introduction to his grammar (p. xi), “this course is free of written composition exercises and the development of speaking and listening skills.” While I agree that it is not necessary to learn Aramaic as a living language, I do find that hearing and speaking the text is part of the learning process, and is essential to developing reading skills. Of course, a professor who uses this grammar can read the Aramaic text out loud and ask students to do the same.
• This is an excellent and up-to-date grammar with many scholarly references. I recommend it with the caveat that it is different from a traditional grammar, and as such it will not fit everyone’s teaching or learning style. However, even if one uses a traditional grammar such as Johns, Callaham’s grammar will still be a valuable tool for reference.

Johns, Alger F. A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. Rev. ed. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1972.

Jumper, James N. An Annotated Answer Key to Alger Johns’s A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. Rev. ed. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2003.

• Amazon price: $13.45 (Johns); $14.99 (Jumper); Logos price: $23.99 (both Johns and Jumper); read for free on archive.org. There is also a Korean translation (WorldCat; Kyobo). Note that the Korean edition leaves some English glosses untranslated.
• Number of Lessons: 20
• Johns is an excellent introductory grammar for Biblical Aramaic, written in a traditional style. Johns is Adventist, but he doesn’t have any specifically Adventist theology in his grammar. Importantly, he has a conservative view of Daniel and Ezra, and this view comes through in both Johns’ grammar and in Jumper’s answer key.
• Johns and Jumper were both trained in Semitics. Johns studied Semitics under William Foxwell Albright, and he studied Aramaic under Joseph Fitzmyer. Thus, he is not just an OT Hebrew professor who also teaches Aramaic, but is someone whose knowledge of Aramaic is much broader and deeper than Biblical Aramaic alone.
• If you know Biblical Hebrew well, you can teach yourself Biblical Aramaic in a summer, doing a chapter of Johns a week and checking your work with the answer key. Many of the early exercises in Johns are made-up, but the later exercises will lead you through a translation of all of Aramaic Ezra. Translating the biblical text and reading the annotations in Jumper’s answer key was something that I found very helpful.

Schuele, Andreas. An Introduction to Biblical Aramaic. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

• This book comes in two sizes. The 8½ x 11 size (Amazon paperback: $30.00) has larger text that is much easier to read, but it is also a bulkier volume to carry around. The 6 x 9 size (Christianbook.com paperback: $27.99) has much smaller Aramaic text, and the pointing can be hard to read, but it is a more convenient size to carry around. There are several ebook versions: Amazon Kindle, $11.99, Christianbook.com, $12.71, and Google Play, $14.16. The book is also available on Scribd and Perlego.
• Schuele is arranged as a reference grammar, but is written at an introductory level. It can be used by itself to learn biblical Aramaic, but it is best used as a complement to Johns. Since it is more technical than Johns, students will find it helpful for providing fuller explanations for things that Johns may only explain briefly.
• Schuele’s comparative word list on pp. 93-94 is helpful.
• Includes an answer key for exercises.
• Schuele is an easy read for those who have already worked their way through another Aramaic grammar. The whole book could be read in a day or two.
• Note that Schuele does not hold to the authenticity of the book of Daniel.
• For a review of Schuele’s grammar, see Brian Davidson, Bulletin for Biblical Research, vol. 23, no. 2 (2013), 249-50, available here.

Rosenthal, Franz. A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. 7th, expanded ed. Porta Linguarum Orientalium. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006.

• Amazon price: $33.00
• Rosenthal is the best intermediate/advanced reference grammar of Biblical Aramaic.
• After working through an introductory grammar, you can continue your Aramaic study by translating all the Aramaic portions of the OT. As part of this exercise, I would recommend looking up the references in Rosenthal for each verse. This well help greatly to solidify your understanding of Aramaic grammar.
• I would recommend having Rosenthal at your side whenever you are translating biblical Aramaic, and looking up his references to each verse.
• Rosenthal is also an excellent tool to consult when doing exegetical work in biblical Aramaic.
• An earlier edition of this book is also available in a French translation as Grammaire d’araméen biblique (Amazon; WorldCat; Google Books).

Muraoka, Takamitsu. A Biblical Aramaic Reader: With an Outline Grammar. 2nd ed. Leuven: Peeters, 2020.

• Amazon price: $35.90
• The first part of this book is a nice outline of Biblical Aramaic grammar designed for students who already know Biblical Hebrew. The grammar is brief and technical, but is complete enough to be used as an introductory Aramaic grammar.
• The second part of this book consists of a verse-by-verse commentary on the grammar of Biblical Aramaic. This section is very helpful for exegesis, since Muraoka is one of the greatest biblical linguists of the modern era. He is also an evangelical Christian.
• Overall, I highly recommend this volume for the study of Biblical Aramaic.

Cook, Edward. Biblical Aramaic and Related Dialects: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

• Amazon price: $44.99 (paperback); $35.99 (Kindle); $155.85 (hardcover)
• Number of chapters: 18. The book is also organized by section numbers, which the author cites instead of citing page numbers.
• The author is an expert linguist who has studied the Aramaic language in great depth.
• The author is a professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Although Christian in name, the Bible department at Catholic University has long been a bastion of liberalism that strongly opposes the evangelical approach to Scripture.
• The book affirms, without mentioning that many capable scholars disagree, that the book of Daniel was written in the mid-second century BC. Cook writes, “Despite the setting in the Neo-Babylonian and Persian period, it is clear from internal evidence (particularly the prophetic visions of chapters 2 and 7, and the Hebrew of chapters 8–12) that the real time of composition was the 2nd century BCE against the backdrop of the Antiochene crisis (166–164 BCE)” (p. 10). The “internal evidence” to which Cook refers is the fact that the book of Daniel prophesies future events. Since it is humanly impossible to give a detailed prophecy of future events, critics must allege that the book of Daniel is a forgery written after the fact, rather than a true prophecy. Critics acknowledge that the prophetic visions of the book of Daniel describe genuine historical events through about 165 BC, and thus they date the time of composition of the book to around that year—in spite of compelling evidence that the book of Daniel was in fact written around 533 BC, at the time of the last vision in the book. Hard-hearted critics simply will not acknowledge even the possibility that the Bible may be the Word of God no matter how much evidence is presented to them.
• As a result, Cook unhelpfully classifies Biblical Aramaic (BA) as a separate dialect from Imperial Aramaic (IA)—a classification which is based purely on antibiblical theological presuppositions and which goes against centuries of earlier research on Imperial Aramaic. (Earlier critics simply extended the period of Imperial Aramaic to the mid-second century BC.) The examples and explanations throughout the book are designed to compare and contrast BA with IA, as well as with Qumran Aramaic (QA). Cook’s theological errors can lead him to make to linguistic errors, when he assumes that certain characteristics of BA must be later developments from IA instead of dialectical variations within IA.
• The grammar is highly technical, and is designed for use by linguists, rather than by the typical seminary student. The book uses terms such as SC (“suffix conjugation”) instead of “imperfect,” PC (“prefix conjugation”) instead of “perfect,” A-clause, B-clause, and TAM (“Tense Aspect Mood”). The grammar also uses letters such as G, D, C, tG, tD, etc. for labeling verbal stems. While this system of labeling verbal stems is efficient from a linguistic point of view, students may find it difficult to relate what they have learned to discussions in other grammars and commentaries of the Peal, Pael, Haphel, Aphel, etc. In addition, non-linguists will encounter a considerable amount of completely new vocabulary that differs from older or “standard” grammatical terminology. Many of the technical grammatical notes in the grammar, while helpful, are extraneous for developing the ability to read Biblical Aramaic and more properly belong in a reference grammar.
• There are no homework exercises or vocabulary lists in Chapters 1-17. Professors will have to create their own homework assignments or quizzes if using this grammar. Chapter 18 contains a selection of Aramaic readings with grammatical and lexical notes. These readings are selected from both biblical and extrabiblical Aramaic.
• The book includes a complete glossary of Biblical Aramaic.
• I believe Cook’s grammar will be useful as a reference grammar for Biblical Aramaic, due to its wealth of detailed linguistic information. Indeed, it is more like a reference grammar than an introductory/teaching grammar. People who have already been introduced to Biblical Aramaic through another grammar may want to work their way through Cook’s grammar as a means of reviewing and deepening their knowledge of Biblical Aramaic. However, many seminary students will find this grammar too technical for use as their first introduction to Aramaic, and many professors will be disappointed by the lack of homework exercises and assigned vocabulary. The antibiblical theology of Cook’s grammar also makes me hesitant to recommend it as a seminary textbook. This grammar is really designed for use in a Semitics program.

Greenspahn, Frederick E. An Introduction to Aramaic. 2nd ed. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.

• Amazon price: $47.95 (softcover); Logos price: $22.74 (English); $11.99 (Spanish); Korean version: WorldCat, Kyobo
• Number of chapters: 32; answer key in back
• Greenspahn differs from the other grammars in this list in that it is designed to be a general introduction to Aramaic, not just an introduction to Biblical Aramaic, though its focus is on Biblical Aramaic. Compared to Johns, it is a much longer introductory grammar that is designed to be part of a year-long Introduction to Aramaic course in a Semitics program, rather than a one-semester Biblical Aramaic course in a seminary program. Greenspahn’s method is, unfortunately, based on the view that the Bible is not any more special than other works of literature. He says, “With only some 200 verses of the Bible in Aramaic, there would be little reason to learn the dialect for that reason alone” (p. 1).
• Greenspahn’s grammar is liked by many Aramaicists. However, as the SBL grammar, it is heavily colored by higher criticism, and for me this ruins the book. The commentaries that he recommends for Ezra and Daniel are all critical commentaries. On p. 5, he says, “scholars are not certain about the historical reliability of biblical statements about the patriarchs.” His comments on Daniel 7 are in line with the critical interpretation of that key prophetic chapter.
• One thing that bothered me when using Greenspahn was the way he cavalierly edits the biblical text in the homework exercises. In theory, the homework exercises require the translation of the entire corpus of Biblical Aramaic, but nearly all of the biblical texts are “simplified” and “abridged” and “normalized” in order to fit the plan of Greenspahn’s grammar. To Greenspahn, the biblical text is not sacred, so there is nothing bothersome about changing it to suit his purposes. Only Daniel 7 is presented without modification.
• Greenspahn uses a different system of nomenclature for the Aramaic verbal system than most other grammars of Biblical Aramaic, which can be confusing. The system Greenspahn uses has its merits, but it is designed for comparative Semitics scholars and linguists, not for clergymen who want to learn Biblical Aramaic. It would be helpful if Greenspahn at least used the nomenclature of both systems, so that students would be able to understand other grammars, lexicons, and commentaries.
• Many of the homework exercises are too challenging for most students. Asking students to translate unpointed extrabiblical Aramaic texts and write in the correct vowels is okay for an advanced Semitics program, but not for a seminary class in Biblical Aramaic. The same could be said for the exercises which ask students to translate English sentences into Aramaic.
• In summary, this grammar has an arrogant tone, which is evident in (1) Greenspahn’s glib handling of the biblical text; (2) Greenspahn’s strident dismissal of the authenticity of Daniel, without so much as mentioning that there are many competent scholars who believe the book is authentic; (3) Greenspahn’s replacement of standard BA verbal nomenclature with the labels used by Semiticists; (4) Greenspahn’s presentation of homework exercises that are too challenging for anyone but gifted Semitics students.
• Greenspahn’s comments on Aramaic grammar are generally reliable, where they are not colored by his theology. But Johns is easier to understand and better organized.

Van Pelt, Miles V. Basics of Biblical Aramaic. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

• Amazon price: $42.98 (softcover), $83.90 (softcover + DVD lectures); Logos price: $47.99
• The second edition can be preordered (Amazon); it will be released on July 4, 2023. The new video lectures can be preordered from Zondervan.
• Number of Lessons: 22; answer key available online here
• Van Pelt’s approach is the polar opposite of Greenspahn’s and Cook’s. He says, “This book was not written for Aramaic scholars or for students interested in comparative Semitic grammar” (p. x). Van Pelt makes no attempt whatsoever to explain the place of Aramaic in the Semitic language family or the history of the Aramaic language. He calls Biblical Aramaic “Jewish Literary Aramaic,” which to me sounds too much like “Holy Ghost Greek,” as the language of the New Testament was once conceived. In reality, Biblical Aramaic belongs to the Imperial Aramaic dialect.
• Van Pelt’s grammar is popular because of the Zondervan marketing machine, but it is oversimplified for language purists. Van Pelt has a Ph.D. in Old Testament from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but was not trained as an Aramaicist or a Semiticist. Thus, his explanations are not as precise as those in other grammars, and are too dumbed-down at times. Van Pelt mentions in the preface that he received some assistance from his colleague Peter Lee, who has a Ph.D. in Semitics and Egyptian languages, but the fact that he needed help hardly gives me confidence in this grammar, and I don’t trust its technical accuracy. The Basics of Biblical Hebrew grammar coauthored by Pratico and Van Pelt has also been criticized for technical inaccuracy, such as referring to wāw-consecutives as “the converted Perfect” and “the converted Imperfect.”
• Example #1: Van Pelt unhelpfully refers to the Aramaic infinitive as the “infinitive construct,” on the assumption that this will help students who know Biblical Hebrew understand the function of the Aramaic infinitive. However, this terminology is unique to Van Pelt. Aramaic only has one infinitive, and so Aramaicists do not use the term “infinitive construct,” which is strictly a Hebrew grammar term.
• Example #2: Van Pelt does not use any diacritics or guttural markers in his transliterations, on the assumption that these will make the grammar too difficult. Many Semiticists would say that Van Pelt misrepresents the sounds of Aramaic by omitting these diacritics.
• Example #3: Van Pelt seems to treat Aramaic as a dialect of Hebrew in order to “help” students learn the language, but from a linguistic standpoint this is incorrect (p. 3).
• I would not use or recommend Van Pelt’s grammar out of concerns about its linguistic accuracy.

Ribera-Florit, Josep. Guía para el Estudio del Arameo Bíblico. 2nd edition. Madrid: Sociedad Bíblica, 2005.

• Included in select Logos libraries; see also WorldCat.
• This is an original (not translated) Spanish grammar of Biblical Aramaic. It was written by a specialist who is obviously an expert in the Aramaic language. Some students may find it too technical, but the linguistic information in the book is reliable.
• The book includes a complete glossary of Biblical Aramaic.
• The book prints the complete text of the Aramaic portions of Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia, without the text critical notes.
• This is very valuable volume for the study of Biblical Aramaic by Spanish speakers. Because if its high level of scholarship, it is also a useful reference for speakers of other languages.

Magnanini, Pietro and Pier Paolo Nava. Grammatica di aramaico biblico. Bologna: Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 2008.

• This Italian grammar of Biblical Aramaic was written by Pietro Magnanini, who has a PhD in Semitics and is a career professor of Semitic languages, with the technical assistance of Pier Paolo Nava. The two authors have also published a grammar of Biblical Hebrew in Italian. They are Catholic but not conservative vis-à-vis their date of the book of Daniel. A Spanish language review of this grammar by Ángel Urbán is available here. The Magnanini-Nava grammar is clear and concise, and is organized by paragraph numbers for use as a reference grammar. It is written like a reference grammar, without a separate section for syntax (only phonology and morphology), but it can be used as an introductory grammar. The main part of the grammar is followed by verb paradigms, the text of the entire corpus of Biblical Aramaic, and a complete glossary of Biblical Aramaic. There is also an index of verses cited. This grammar is currently available new or used from various online booksellers, such as Amazon.com, Amazon.it, and Edizioni Studio Domenicano. For library availability, see WorldCat. This book is certainly a great resource for Italian speakers, and its quality makes it a useful reference for non-Italian speakers. See also Analisi grammaticale dell´aramaico biblico by Pietro Magnanini and Alberto Maccaferri (Amazon.com, Amazon.it, and Edizioni Studio Domenicano).

Geiger, Gregor. Introduzione all’aramaico biblico. 2nd ed. Milan: Edizioni Terra Santa, 2021.

• This is an introductory grammar of Biblical Aramaic written in Italian, designed for use by students who already have some knowledge of Biblical Hebrew. The author has a Ph.D. in Hebrew from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and taught Biblical Aramaic at Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem for fifteen years before writing this grammar. The grammar is arranged in 12 chapters, with vocabulary and homework exercises. A book review by Claudio Balzaretti is available here. To obtain this volume, see Edizioni Terra Santa, Amazon.com, Google Play, and this Google Books preview.

Dammron, A. Grammaire de l’araméen biblique. Strasbourg: P. H. Heitz, 1961.

• This is an original (not translated) French language grammar of Biblical Aramaic by Alfred Dammron. It was reviewed favorably by E. Dhorme (WorldCat; JSTOR; Persée). Pierre Grelot also recommended the book, but wrote a list of corrections (JSTOR). Dammron’s Grammaire is intended to teach Biblical Aramaic grammar to students who already have some knowledge of Biblical Hebrew. The book is organized by section numbers, not chapters, and does not include homework exercises. Dammron appears to hold to the authenticity of the books of Ezra and Daniel, and he even affirms conservative dates for the reigns of Saul (1030–1011) and David (1011–972). Since this book is out of print but still copyrighted, it is difficult to obtain; HathiTrust cannot display a pdf copy. Fortunately, it is owned by 114 libraries worldwide, according to WorldCat. Readers of this book will find some of its terminology and linguistic conventions dated, and should refer to Grelot’s review for his corrections/criticisms. The French translation of Rosenthal is another useful supplement. Although Dammron’s Grammaire was published more than 60 years ago, it remains useful, as it is still the most recently published introductory grammar of Biblical Aramaic in the French language.

Bauer, Hans and Pontus Leander. Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1927.

• Bauer-Leander is a standard reference grammar of Biblical Aramaic, although it is considered somewhat dated. The book is out of print and only exists in German. Libraries that hold copies this grammar can be found on WorldCat. A pdf version may be borrowed free of charge from Archive.org or downloaded free of charge from Freimann-Sammlung Universitätsbibliothek Some of the English grammars of Biblical Aramaic incorporate insights from Bauer-Leander.

Segert, Stanislav. Altaramäische Grammatik: mit Bibliographie, Chrestomathie und Glossar. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie, 1975.

• This is a reference grammar for various dialects of ancient Aramaic, including Biblical Aramaic. It is out of print and there is no English translation. Libraries that hold copies this grammar can be found on WorldCat. It can also be borrowed free of charge from Archive.org. See also the reviews by Isbell, Naveh, Pardee, Clarke, Hopkins, and Hoftijzer.

김구원. 『성서 아람어 문법』. 서울: 비블리카 아카데미아, 2012. (Translation: Kim, Koowon. A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. Seoul: Biblica Academia, 2012.)

• This is an original (not translated) grammar of Biblical Aramaic in Korean that was published in 2012. The author has an M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. For Korean speakers who have limited knowledge of English, this grammar is probably easier to understand than the translations of Greenspahn and Johns. It has 20 chapters, with homework exercises, paradigms, and a glossary. For more information, see WorldCat, Kyobo, and the author’s Academia.edu page.

Other Grammars

• Neef, Heinz-Deiter. Arbeitsbuch Biblisch-Aramäisch. 3rd ed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018. This is the most up-to-date introductory grammar of Biblical Aramaic in German. It can be purchased from Logos, Amazon, or Mohr Siebeck. See also WorldCat and Google Books.
• Dalrymple-Hamilton, Francis. An Inductive Grammar of Biblical Aramaic with Particular Reference to Daniel 2^4b–7²⁸. Edinburgh: Edina Press, 2012. See the review by Gardner in Australian Biblical Review (Academia.edu; FBS). For library availability, see WorldCat. Dalrymple-Hamilton began his academic career later in life, but earned two doctorates and several master’s degrees. He taught Semitic languages at Sheffield and St Andrews Universities and at Princeton Seminary. Although he was a Baptist minister (like H. H. Rowley), Dalrymple-Hamilton explicitly denies the inerrancy of the book of Daniel in his grammar, and he affirms that the book of Daniel was written between 167 and 165 BC. This, in turn, affects his analysis of the language of the book of Daniel. (The doctrinal statement of his church affirms the inspiration of the Bible, but not its inerrancy; see the video of his funeral service from March 2023.) The method of learning Biblical Aramaic recommended in this grammar will be difficult for most students—Dalrymple-Hamilton says to read through Rosenthal’s reference grammar and then to read the text of Daniel 2:4b–7:28 while referring to the explanatory notes in his book. However, those who learn Biblical Aramaic through a standard introductory grammar will find this book is valuable as an aid to reading and analyzing the Aramaic text of Daniel.
• Strack, Hermann Leberecht. Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen. 6th ed. Clavis linguarum semiticarum 4. München: Beck, 1921. Strack’s grammar has been reprinted by Wipf and Stock and is available on Amazon. A digital edition is available for free on archive.org.
• Kautzsch, E. Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen. Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, 1884. For more information, see WorldCat. A pdf copy can be downloaded from archive.org or Freimann-Sammlung Universitätsbibliothek.
• Marti, Karl. Kurzgefasste Grammatik der Biblisch Aramäischen: Sprache, Literatur, Paradigmen, Texte und Glossar. 3rd ed. Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 1925. For more information, see WorldCat and this review. A pdf of the first edition can be downloaded from archive.org or Freimann-Sammlung Universitätsbibliothek. A pdf of the second edition can be downloaded from Google Books. A pdf of the third edition can be downloaded from Google Books. For a hard copy reprint (edition unclear), see Amazon.
• Qimron, Elisha. ארמית מקראית [Biblical Aramaic]. [Beersheba]: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 1993. This is a grammar of Biblical Aramaic written in Modern Hebrew. For more information, see WorldCat and Amazon.

Lexicons

• Koehler, Ludwig, and Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Translated by M. E. J. Richardson. Leiden: Brill, 2001. This work, commonly abbreviated as HALOT, is widely recognized as the standard lexicon for Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic. The Aramaic section is volume 5 of the 5-volume edition, or at the end of volume 2 of the 2-volume edition. This section reflects a high level of Aramaic scholarship and incorporates the advances in Aramaic studies that followed the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. HALOT is the primary lexicon I recommend for Biblical Aramaic. To purchase HALOT, see Amazon; Accordance; Logos. There is also a concise version of HALOT edited by William Holladay that is much less expensive (Amazon; Logos). The Aramaic volume of the German edition can be borrowed from archive.org.
• Vogt, Ernst. A Lexicon of Biblical Aramaic: Clarified by Ancient Documents. Translated and revised by J. A. Fitzmyer. Subsidia Biblica 42. Rome: Gregorian & Biblical Press, 2011. This lexicon by Vogt and Fitzmyer is an excellent supplement to HALOT. For availability, see Amazon and WorldCat.
• Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907. This work, commonly abbreviated as BDB, was the standard lexicon of Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic before the publication of HALOT. While I still use and recommend BDB for Biblical Hebrew, I generally do not refer to BDB for Biblical Aramaic. The Aramaic section contains some errors and is not as well researched as the Hebrew section. To purchase BDB, see Amazon; Christianbook; Logos; Accordance; see also archive.org for online access.
• Gzella, Holger, ed. Aramaic Dictionary. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. Volume 16 of Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Joef Fabry. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018. This is an excellent, in-depth resource that is well respected in mainstream scholarship. Note that while the linguistic information in this volume is reliable, the theological analysis will be from a critical point of view. To purchase, see Amazon; Christianbook; Logos; Accordance. For the original German edition, see Logos; Amazon.
• Swanson, James A. A Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Aramaic (Old Testament). 2nd ed. Logos Research Systems, 2001. This is a useful resource for Biblical Aramaic that is only available in Logos.
• Matheus, Frank. A Biblical Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon (GlossaHouse, 2020). This is a very concise but complete lexicon of Biblical Aramaic. Amazon price: $49.98 for hardcover; $29.99 for paperback.
• Diehl, Johannes Friedrich and Markus Witte, eds. Hebräisches und aramäisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament. 4th ed. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2021. This is a “completely revised edition” of the book by the same title that was originally edited by Georg Fohrer and published in German in 1971, with an English translation published in 1973 and a Spanish translation published in 1982. The new edition provides brief glosses for every Hebrew and Aramaic word in the Old Testament, as well as for some words that occur in related extrabiblical Hebrew and Aramaic, such as in the books of Sirach and Tobit. The Aramaic vocabulary is listed alphabetically after the Hebrew section. Presumably an English translation will be published soon. The new German edition is available on Amazon and Logos.
• Postma, F., H. J. Bosman, and R. Oosting. Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament: Hebräisch/Aramäisch-Deutsch und Hebräisch/Aramäisch-Englisch. (A Hebrew/Aramaic-English and Hebrew/Aramaic-German Lexicon of the Old Testament.) Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2009. This lexicon gives brief definitions of Aramaic and Hebrew words in German and English. It was originally made for the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible, to provide readers with brief definitions of words when hovering over a tagged text. It is only available in Logos.
• Mitchel, Larry A. A Student’s Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. Updated edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017. The Aramaic section of this book lists all the vocabulary of Biblical Aramaic, organized by frequency, with brief definitions. Amazon price: $16.99 for 2nd ed.; Logos price: $11.99 for 1st ed.. There is also a Korean-English version of the 1984 edition (WorldCat; Kyobo).
• Pratico, Gary D. and Miles V. Van Pelt. The Vocabulary Guide to Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019. The Aramaic section of this book lists all the vocabulary of Biblical Aramaic, organized by frequency, with brief definitions. Amazon price: $24.99; Logos price: $19.99.
• Most introductory grammars of Biblical Aramaic include a glossary.
• Vocabulario Arameo Bíblico: Todas las palabras arameas del Antiguo Testamento. Lenguas de la Bíblia y el Corán. Andalus Publications, 2021. This book lists all the vocabulary of Biblical Aramaic, organized by alphabetically, with brief Spanish glosses. Available on Amazon.
• The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL = “Targum Lexicon” in Logos) is the best general Aramaic lexicon. CAL covers all periods of Aramaic, not just Biblical Aramaic. CAL can be accessed online for free. The online version is more complete than the version in Logos ($0.46). For Biblical Aramaic definitions, look for the abbreviations BA^Ezra and BA^Dan (example). In the Logos version of CAL, the abbreviation is “BibAr” (also “BibArEzra” or “BibArDan”).
• Cook, Edward. Dictionary of Qumran Aramaic. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015.  This dictionary is less useful for Biblical Aramaic, since it is designed for use with Aramaic texts from Qumran; Biblical Aramaic is from an earlier period. Amazon price: $58.95; Accordance price: $49.90.
• Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim (available free here and here; for purchase in Logos and Amazon) and Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (available free here and here; for purchase in Logos and Amazon) can be used with CAL for diachronic word studies, but should not be used for translating Biblical Aramaic.

Other resources

• Bible software – (1) Both Accordance and Logos offer two different syntax trees for the entire Old Testament, including the Aramaic sections. These syntax trees will be very helpful for understanding the grammar of the text if you are weak in Aramaic. Of course, it is ideal if your knowledge of Aramaic advances to the point where you can evaluate these syntax trees critically, but for the most part the grammar is straightforward. (2) Accordance and Logos both have tagged Targumic texts. Accordance has the most complete tagging, but doesn’t provide information from CAL, like BibleWorks and Logos do. (3) Accordance and Logos also offer Syriac resources.
• Online platforms – Various online platforms are available for the study of Biblical Aramaic, most notably Jesus Spoke Aramaic and Daily Dose of Aramaic.
• Biblical Aramaic: A Reader and Handbook. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2016. (Amazon price: $34.76; Christianbook price: $31.49; Logos price: $14.99) – This volume is small enough to be easily portable, and provides a handy way to keep your biblical Aramaic fresh by reading through it periodically. The lists in the back are also handy. You can read through Biblical Aramaic using this volume for review quite quickly. You can get similar information in your Bible software or apps, but the reader is probably better for language proficiency.
• Kline, Jonathan G. Keep Up Your Biblical Aramaic in Two Minutes a Day: 365 Selections for Easy Review. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2017. (Amazon price, hardcover: $39.95; Christianbook price, imitation leather: $32.99; Accordance price: $39.90; Logos price: $29.99) – This book has the Aramaic text in parallel with an English translation, and a sort of interlinear below. If you have good Bible software, you probably don’t need this book. I find the free Daily Dose of Aramaic videos more helpful for daily review.
• Cook, John A. Aramaic Ezra and Daniel: A Handbook on the Aramaic Text. Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019. (Amazon price: $41.87). – This book provides detailed analysis and explanations of the Aramaic grammar of Ezra and Daniel. Note that although Cook is evangelical, he follows critical views of the interpretation of Ezra and Daniel, and considers the Aramaic of Daniel to have been written in the second century BC.
• Noonan, Benjamin J. Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020. (Amazon price: $28.53 Logos price: $27.99) – This book is a handy reference for the history of scholarly research and debate regarding Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic.
• Jerusalmi, Isaac. The Aramaic Sections of Ezra and Daniel: A Philological Commentary with Frequent References to Talmudic Aramaic Parallels and a Synopsis of the Regular Verb. 2nd ed. Auxiliary Materials for the Study of the Semitic Languages 7. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 1982. Available on Google Play for $30.00; see also JSTOR and Perlego (ereader). This book, written by a rabbi, was originally written (in 1966/1970) for use as a one semester graduate course in Biblical Aramaic, and was primarily intended for use by Jewish students. The book is designed to teach Biblical Aramaic inductively, proceeding verse-by-verse through all the Biblical Aramaic passages. It contains a list of many of the words in each verse, with definitions and parsings—something that Bible software now generally does better. More helpfully to the contemporary student, the book also includes verse-by-verse explanations of the grammar and orthography of Biblical Aramaic. Comparisons are made with Biblical Hebrew and Talmudic Aramaic, with the intention of using one’s knowledge of Biblical Hebrew to learn Biblical Aramaic, and to use one’s knowledge of Biblical Aramaic to learn Talmudic Aramaic. Some Syriac and Arabic parallels are also noted.
• Commentaries on Ezra and Daniel interpret the Aramaic text. It is important when studying grammatical aspects of the text to understand how possible grammatical options affect interpretation, and which of these interpretations are reasonable in the context. Many commentaries also include notes about Aramaic grammar and vocabulary. Note, however, that most of the technical commentaries are non-evangelical.
• Academic studies – There are many academic books, book sections, and journal articles written on specific issues in Biblical Aramaic, as well as on general Aramaic grammatical issues that relate to Biblical Aramaic. See, among others:
  • Andrason, Alexander and D. Allen Hutchinson. “Interjections in Biblical Aramaic: A Radial Model.” Aramaic Studies 18 (2020): 1-45. (Academia.edu; Brill; EBSCO)
  • Andrason, Alexander, Vuyisa Gysman, Hans-Christoph Lange, and Martinus Van Renssen, “The Historical Present qātēl in Biblical Aramaic.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 142.3 (2022): 547-571. (Academia.edu; Lockwood; ProQuest; EBSCO/ATLA)
  • Archer, Gleason L., Jr. “The Aramaic of the ‘Genesis Apocryphon’ Compared with the Aramaic of Daniel.” Pages 160-169 in New Perspectives on the Old Testament, edited by J. Barton Payne. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1970. (Archive.org; Archive.org)
  • Butts, Aaron Michael. “The Aramaic Šap̄ˁel in Its Semitic Context.” Aramaic Studies 16 (2018): 117-143. (Brill)
  • Carver, Daniel E. “The Past Time Uses of the Imperfect in the Aramaic of Daniel.” Aramaic Studies 19 (2021): 155-176. (Brill)
  • Kitchen K. A., “The Aramaic of Daniel.” Pages 31-79 in Notes on Some Problems in the Book of Daniel. London: Tyndale, 1965. (Archive.org)
  • Makujina, John. “Old Persian and the Marking of Narrative Sequence in Biblical Aramaic: The Possible Influence of Pasāva on Bēʾdayin and ʾĕdayin.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 72 no. 1 (2013): 85-97. (JSTOR; University of Chicago)
  • Muraoka, Takamitsu. “Three Grammatical Issues in Biblical Aramaic.” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 57 (2020): 53-58. (Peeters)
  • Noonan, Benjamin J. “A (New) Old Iranian Etymology for Biblical Aramaic ‮אֲדַרְגָּזַר‬‎.” Aramaic Studies 16 (2018): 10-19. (Brill; EBSCO)
  • Paul, Shalom. “Dan 6,8: An Aramaic Reflex of Assyrian Legal Terminology.” Biblica 65 (1984): 106-10. (JSTOR; Brill)
  • Paul, Shalom. “Gleanings from the Biblical and Talmudic Lexica in Light of Akkadian.” Pages 242-256 in Minḥah le-Naḥum: Biblical and Other Studies Presented to Nahum M. Sarna in Honour of his 70th Birthday (ed. Marc Brettler and Mihael Fishbane; JSOTSup 154; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993). (Brill; Logos; Amazon; Perlego) See p. 252 for Paul’s comments on Daniel 6:8 and 9:27.
  • Paul, Shalom M. “Deconding a ‘Joint’ Expression in Daniel 5:6, 16.” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 22 (1993): 121-127. (Archive.org; Archive.org; Brill)
  • Paul, Shalom. “Daniel 6:20: An Aramaic Calque on an Akkadian Expression.” Scriptura 87 (2004): 315-316. (Academia.edu; Brill; Scriptura)
  • Rowley, H. H. The Aramaic of the Old Testament. Oxford: Oxford, 1929. Rowley compares various forms of extrabiblical Aramaic with biblical Aramaic, showing similarities and differences. He argues strongly, though dishonestly, for a second century date of composition for the book of Daniel. (Archive.org)
  • Smelik, Willem. “A Biblical Aramaic Pastiche from the Cairo Geniza.” Aramaic Studies 9/2 (2011): 325-339. (Academia.edu; Brill; EBSCO/Atla)
  • Suchard, Benjamin D. “Biblical Hebrew יש and Biblical Aramaic איתי Followed by Non-verbal Clauses as Markers of Polarity Contrast.” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 47/1 (2021): 61-78. (Academia.edu; Leiden)
  • Suchard, Benjamin D. “The Origins of the Biblical Aramaic Reading Tradition.” Vetus Testamentum 71 (2021): 105-119. (Academia.edu; Brill)
  • Stefanovic, Zdravko. The Aramaic of Daniel in the Light of Old Aramaic. JSOTSup 129. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic, 1992. (Logos; Amazon; Google Books preview) Stefanovic’s conclusion: “The text of DA in its present form (including ch. 7) contains a significant amount of material similar to OA texts. The key desideratum coming out of this study is that the search for features in DA of an early date should be pursued more intensively in the future” (p. 108). Stefanovic is a Seventh Day Adventist, and this was his dissertation at Andrews University.
  • Wilson, Robert Dick. “The Aramaic of Daniel.” Pages 261-306 in Biblical and Theological Studies. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1912. (Archive.org)
• Critical editions of the Aramaic text will note variants in the manuscripts or ancient translations of Aramaic Ezra and Daniel.
  • BHS (Amazon; Christianbook; Logos; Accordance) is still the standard critical edition, in spite of its shortcomings.
  • BHQ includes a helpful textual commentary, but the only Aramaic fascicle available to date is Ezra and Nehemiah (Amazon; Christianbook; Logos; Accordance).
  • Kennicott is often overlooked, but very useful.
  • Also very helpful is Hans-Friedemann Richter, Daniel 2–7: Ein Apparat zum aramäischen Text, Semitica et Semitohamitica Berolinensia 8 (Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2007). This book is a verse-by-verse textual commentary on the Aramaic section of Daniel. A pdf copy can be purchased from the publisher. Hard copies are available from Amazon. See WorldCat for library listings.
  • For an analysis of variants in the Syriac Peshitta, see Richard A. Taylor, The Peshitta of Daniel, Monographs of the Peshitta Institute of Leiden. vol. 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1994). Available from Logos; Amazon; Google Books preview.
  • Shelomo Morag, The Book of Daniel: A Babylonian-Yemenite Manuscript (Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sepher, 1973). This is an important catalogue of variants in “Bab-Yem,” a fourteenth century Hebrew/Arabic diglot MS. (Archive.org)
• Audio recordings – Biblical Aramaic is a small enough corpus so that you listen to all of it in an hour or two. (1) One way to hear the Aramaic portions of the Bible read with modern Hebrew/Sephardic pronunciation is to listen to the recording of Abraham Schmueloff, which is available in various places online, such as here. (2) The best free online recordings are from the 929 Project. I have made playlists of Omer Frenkel’s reading of Ezra and Daniel in Hebrew and Aramaic on SoundCloud.
• Flashcards – The small size of the Biblical Aramaic corpus makes memorizing the entire vocabulary of Biblical Aramaic an achievable goal. With the vocabulary memorized, you will be able to sight read all the Biblical Aramaic texts. Various flashcard apps can be used to help with this. Alternatively, you can make your own physical flashcards for Aramaic.
• Comparative Semitics – (1) See my chart of Semitic phonological equivalences. A chart like this one is important for recognizing Aramaic cognates of Hebrew words. An Aramaic word and a Hebrew word that are from the same Semitic root may be spelled differently due to differences in the development of Hebrew and Aramaic phonology from Proto-Semitic (example: דְהַב in Aramaic = זָהָב in Hebrew). (2) See my chart of the Semitic verbal system. This chart will help you remember the function of Aramaic verbal stems by showing their Hebrew equivalent.

Going beyond

It is possible to gain a working knowledge of Aramaic solely by studying Biblical Aramaic. However, the biblical corpus is too small to develop expertise in the Aramaic language simply by reading and rereading Biblical Aramaic. For example, doing a word study in Aramaic usually requires researching extrabiblical usage. This the opposite of the situation for Classical Hebrew, which has a large biblical corpus and a very small extrabiblical corpus. In Aramaic, the biblical corpus is generally too small for lexical studies, but there is a huge corpus of extrabiblical Aramaic, so that our knowledge of ancient Aramaic is actually much greater than our knowledge of ancient Hebrew. There are various ways to “go beyond” Biblical Aramaic in order to become an Aramaic expert. This usually entails study in a Semitics program, although there are also online lessons and self-study options.

1. Judaic Aramaic – Studying extrabiblical Jewish texts written in various Aramaic dialects will give one the sort of exposure to a large corpus of literature that is needed to develop skill in a language. The Targumim and Midrashic literature are very helpful in this regard. For texts closer to the biblical period, one can study the Elephantine Papyri, the Aramaic texts from Qumran, and Jewish inscriptions from the Second Temple Period.
   • A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1923) is available on archive.org (here, here, and here) and on Logos.
   • James M. Lindenberger, Ancient Aramaic and Hebrew Letters, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003) is available from Amazon and Logos.
   • Takamitsu Muraoka, A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic, 2nd ed., Handbook of Oriental Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2003). The Brill edition is hardcover, which makes it expensive (Amazon), but it is even expensive as a pdf from Brill. A less expensive paperback edition was published by SBL Press in 2014 (Amazon). The first edition is available on archive.org (here and here). For library availability, see WorldCat (Brill rev. edition; SBL edition).
   • Takamitsu Muraoka, A Grammar of Qumran Aramaic, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Supplement 38 (Leuven: Peeters, 2011). For availability, see Amazon and WorldCat. This grammar follows the same format and outline as Muraoka’s Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic, which makes it easy to compare the two.
   • A Handbook of the Aramaic Scrolls from the Qumran Caves by Daniel Machiela is available for free download, although the reader should note that Machiela’s discussion of the Aramaic of Daniel overlooks key features which reflect a sixth-century Mesopotamian setting for the composition of the book, such as the use of Akkadian names and expressions.
   • Various resources are available for the study of Targumic Aramaic, such as Frank’s grammar and Cook’s glossary.
2. Syriac – Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic with a vast corpus of literature and many connections to biblical studies. Syriac is useful for textual criticism in both the OT and the NT. It is also useful for Comparative Semitics and Patristics. Syriac is still used in the liturgy of some Eastern churches. Syriac is the dialect of Aramaic that the Biblical Language Center chose for their course on learning Aramaic as a living language. There are many grammars and other resources available for the study of Syriac.
3. Imperial Aramaic – For those who wish to focus on Biblical Aramaic, the study of extrabiblical Imperial Aramaic literature (including inscriptions) is recommended.
4. Neo-Aramaic – For those who wish to learn Aramaic as a spoken language, there are various dialects of Neo-Aramaic in existence, such as Assyrian and Chaldean. But be aware that there are significant differences between Neo-Aramaic and Biblical Aramaic. For more information, see the articles on Neo-Aramaic here and here.
5. Comparative Semitics – Learning other Semitic languages besides Hebrew will also increase one’s grasp of Aramaic. The Semitic languages are closely related, so if one learns Arabic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, Ugaritic, et al. he will be able to understand how the specific grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Aramaic fits within the overall pattern of Semitic grammar and vocabulary.

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