Product Description

A trio of eminent Old Testament scholars—Francis Brown, R. Driver, and Charles Briggs—spent over twenty years researching, writing, and preparing The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Since it first appeared in the early part of the twentieth century, BDB has been considered the finest and most comprehensive Hebrew lexicon available to the English-speaking student. Based upon the classic work of Wilhelm Gesenius, the "father of modern Hebrew lexicography," BDB gives not only dictionary definitions for each word, but relates each word to its Old Testament usage and categorizes its nuances of meaning. BDB's exhaustive coverage of Old Testament Hebrew words, as well as its unparalleled usage of cognate languages and the wealth of background sources consulted and quoted, render BDB and invaluable resource for all students of the Bible.
—From the publisher's preface

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9793 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1216 pages

Customer Reviews

Has been supplanted
This review is for 4 Hebrew lexicons in common use: Brown-Driver-Briggs, Koehler-Baumgartner, Holladay, and Langenscheidt.

The sizeable Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon is a development of Gesenius' historic work, and a long-time standard in English speaking countries. However, it has become dated, and now is used mostly because Hendrickson put out a cheaply constructed version keyed to Strong's concordance. Oxford's Clarendon Press edition is superior if you are required to get BDB. In addition, organizing entries by verbal root rather than alphabetically makes it difficult to use "BDB" for those without intimate knowledge of Hebrew. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

The Koehler-Baumgartner lexicon is superb and thorough, and based on the latest Hebrew and Aramaic scholarship. The authors also took into account cognates from Ugaritic and Akkadian, so users of this massive work have a goldmine of information to draw from. By massive, I mean it is over 2000 pages in 2 large volumes. This plus its $190 asking price means it might be better to let the university or seminary library bear the brunt of purchasing and housing it unless you are an Old Testament specialist.

Most readers will be best served by the work of William Holladay, a reasonably sized 426 pp lexicon based on the latest scholarship. Holladay abridged K-B by removing bibliographic references and other information most needed by specialists. It is well organized (alphabetically), and the font is clear. Entries also have references (not exhaustive) to use within the Old Testament, meaning it can be used as a poor man's OT concordance. While Holladay is manageably sized enough (9.75" x 6.875" x 1.25") to be pleasant to read and easily portable in a bookbag, it is not the smallest resource available.

Some may be tempted to go a step further for the ultimate in compactness with the Langenscheidt pocket dictionary. This item is 6" x 4" x 1" and quite lightweight - in its 1959 iteration anyway. Its definitions are limited in scope and scholarly foundation, but still, what else fits in your coat pocket?

My overall recommendation: Holladay for everyone, supplemented by Koehler-Baumgartner for those who need and can afford it.

BDB: 3 stars
K-B: 5 stars
Holladay: 5 stars
Langenscheidt: 4 stars

Good For An Antique Collection But Little Else
This is the Newest edition of the classic Hebrew dictionary that is arranged by word root. It seems that the publishers of this new edition wanted to give it the classic antique look, as it is so famous. Although the cover looks nicer than the older edition, inside it is a different story. The typeface in the inside looks like it was typed with a typewriter a century ago, and is therefore very hard to read, even to those who are familiar with Hebrew. Also, the fact that it is arranged by word root makes it harder to find the words in it. For those looking to own their first Hebrew dictionary, I recommend "The Vocabulary Guide to Biblical Hebrew" by Van Pelt and Practico. Also, for those wanting a readable version of BDB, I have found that the one included in BibleWorks is pretty readable.

Not sure
Didn't shop for this item - it was refered to me -- took a little long on shipping.