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PricingAboutSupportThe Alphabet Then and Now
Twenty-two consonants, five final forms, and a script that shifted from paleo-Hebrew to the square letters used today.
The Same Inventory
Biblical and modern Hebrew share the same 22-letter abjad. Final forms ך ם ן ף ץ appear only at the end of a word. Matres lectionis (ה ו י, sometimes א) hint at vowels already in the unpointed text.
king (final khaf)
people (final mem)
priest (final nun)
palm of the hand (final pe)
land (final tzadi)
Square Script
The letters in a modern printed Tanakh are the Aramaic-derived square script (ketav ashuri), not the older paleo-Hebrew shapes. Torah scrolls use that square script, still without vowel points.
Begadkefat
ב ג ד כ פ ת may take a dagesh qal. In the simple system used here, בּ is b and ב is v; כּ is k and כ is kh; פּ is p and פ is f. Teaching Bibles mark this; Torah scrolls do not.
house
king
wing, edge
Read Next
Paleo-Hebrew Script
Before the square letters, Hebrew used a Canaanite linear alphabet closely related to Phoenician.
Vowels and the Masoretes
The Masoretes added niqqud so a purely consonantal Bible could be read with a stable tradition.
Cantillation Marks
Te'amim mark stress, pause, and melody. They also show how a verse is parsed.