The 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)
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
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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.