Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Don't forget Benjamin Davidson "The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee 
Lexicon", Bagster, 2nd edition 1850 (sic!), republished by 
Hendrickson, 1981. This gives a grammatical parse of every word form 
in the Hebrew Bible, arranged in alphabetical order. There is also a 
two volume grammatical analysis of all verb forms only, arranged in 
canonical order. Looking for the details, I found the following in a 
document by Murray Salisbury of SIL web-published (.pdf file) at 
InTheBeginning.org (which I downloaded and saved last year). If you 
can't find this on the web site, I can E-mail the file on request.

But I rarely use these parsing guides but rather use the electronic 
parsing based in my computer-based package, based on the Westminster 
database. That's a much quicker way to cheat at Hebrew!

Peter Kirk

(extracts from Murray Salisbury's document follow)

2. PARSING GUIDES

In the past, I have neither used nor advocated the use of parsing 
guides and analytical lexicons. However, since this list has been 
compiled with independent learners primarily in mind, the following 
tools may be useful as temporary aids. If you are a beginner, then you 
will want to read Hebrew as much as you can. (The best way to learn to 
read is to read and read and read!) The following books will help you 
to get into reading the Hebrew Bible without having to look everything 
up. The more you read, the less you will need them later on. Start 
with Ruth, Joshua, Judges (skipping chapter 5), Genesis, Samuel and 
Kings. Read one Psalm and one or two Proverbs several times over each 
week.

Beginner:

Beall, Todd S. and William A. Banks and Colin Smith, eds. Old 
Testament Parsing Guide. Vol. I: Genesis to Esther. 1986. Pp. ix+390. 
Vol. II: Job to Malachi. 1990. Pp. xii+299. (Chicago: Moody Press)

Provides verse by verse parsing in biblical order for all the verbs in 
the OT. Keyed to BDB.

Davidson, Benjamin, ed. The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon. 2nd 
ed. 1850. (Repr. 1981) Pp. 784. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Pubs.)

Lists every grammatical form of the OT in alphabetical order, parsing 
it and giving the root and a gloss. Cannot be relied upon for accuracy 
in the more difficult cases.

Owens, John Joseph. Analytical Key to the Old Testament. 1990-93. 4 
vols. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. ($219, or $60 per volume)

A verse by verse grammatical analysis of the words and phrases of the 
Hebrew Bible (BHS text) in the word order of the text, translated into 
English, and keyed to the Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew and English 
Lexicon of the Old Testament. For insoluble text-critical problems a 
variant reading may be provided; also references to Gesenius/Kautzsch 
Hebrew Grammar as needed.

3. LEXICONS

Beginner:

Brown, Francis, Samuel R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds. The New 
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon. 1907. (repr. with additions 
below). Pp. 1127. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Pubs.)

The New BDB -- unfortunately, it does not have the 1952 corrections, but it 
adds (1) coding to Strong's Concordance; (2) a 58p. index by M. A. Robinson 
reducing the difficulty that arises from BDB's primary arrangement by roots 
(and saving the need to get Einspahr, below).

**Holladay, William L., ed. A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old 
Testament. 1971. Pp. 425. (Leiden: E.J. Brill; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 
($35)

Useful for quick reference and for beginners. It is an abridged English 
translation of the 3rd ed. of KBL (Koehler/Baumgartner's lexicon in German) 
as far as the letter samekh and of the 2nd ed. for the remainder. It leaves 
out cognate language etymologies, bibliographic references, conjectural 
emendations, and most of the Scripture citations found in KBL.

Einspahr, Bruce, ed. Index to the Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon. 
Rev. ed. 1977. Pp. 456. Chicago: Moody Press. ($37)

Arranged verse by verse in the biblical order with page and section 
references to BDB, making the information in the lexicon quickly accessible 
to users who have a minimal knowledge of Hebrew.

Advanced:

*Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, eds. A Hebrew and English 
Lexicon of the Old Testament with an Appendix containing the Biblical 
Aramaic. Corrected ed. 1952. Pp. 1126. Oxford & New York: Oxford Univ. 
Press. ($35)

Abbreviated as BDB. This is the standard Hebrew lexicon; though dated, 
still arguably the best. Arranged by roots rather than alphabetically, so 
beginners will find Einspahr's companion Index (above) helpful -- or try 
the New BDB:

______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Hebrew Lexica
Author:  cierpke AT utc.campuscw.net at internet
Date:    03/04/1999 13:30


Jon:

The closest thing that we have is John Joseph Owen's Analytical Key to the 
Old Testament but is it is in no way comparable to either Zerwick/Grovensor 
or Reineker/Rogers or Rogers/ Rogers.


At 12:05 PM 4/3/99 -0500, you wrote:
>At 11:40 AM 4/3/99 -0500, Kevin W. Woodruff wrote: >>Jonathan:
>>
>>A short list of lexica and word studies. Armstrong is like Kubo for the 
>>Greek. BDB would be closest to BAGD although not as upt ot date.Koehler 
and >>Baumgardentr is like BAGD. Clines is like Liddell and Scott, 
Gensenius is >>like Thayer, holliday is an abridgment of Koehler and 
Baumgardner, botterweck >>is a lot like TDNT, DOTTE is somewhat comparable 
to colin Brown's Dictionary >>of New Testament theology, Jenni's  
comparable to Spicq.
>>
>>Hope this helps
>
>Yes, it certainly does. Your comparisons give me a much better feel for 
>what these things are, and which ones I would want to look for.
>
>Say, is there anything analogous to Zerwick & Grosvenor's Grammatical 
>Analysis?
>
>Jonathan
<snip>