Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

> I am going to be purchasing some resources for the Hebrew Bible here in a 
> couple of weeks.  My knowledge of what is out there and what is looked upon 
> as "good" is very limited.  Any ideas with what is good?  I have seen a 
> couple of Hebrew concordances on the market, which is considered a standard 
> for the Hebrew Bible, the same with resources like word study tools (like 
> TDNT for NT), is there a "standard."  Any other ideas on what would be a 
> good (and useful) addition to a Hebrew library?

Garrett,
I use my Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia constantly; I also bought 
the smaller-size edition a few years ago because it's easier to 
carry around with me.  My BHS doesn't go anywhere without my 
Holladay Lexicon (see the list that Kevin posted), and for the 
money this is about the best lexicon for reading that you'll find.  I 
also use my Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Harris, 
Archer & Waltke, Moody Press, 2 vols.) extensively, and spend a 
lot of time with Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax by Waltke 
and O'Connor (note that Kevin's list has an error in this entry; it's 
not Murphy O'Connor, the M. stands for Michael).  I have a fair 
number of other tools, but those are my core.  I scarcely use my 
Gesenius' Grammar at all any more, and I keep a fairly cheap 
edition of the Septuagint (the Zondervan parallel Greek-English one) 
nearby purely for occasional reference.  I have Wigram's 
Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance, but I almost 
never use it any more; most of my concordance searching is done 
on computer these days.  I have the Logos Library System, level 4 
(though level 3 has most everything you need for Hebrew, I got a 
special deal and wound up with a bunch more English versions that 
have never seen the light of day on my screen) and it's quite nice 
for concordance and phrase searching.  For deeper grammatical 
work it leaves a lot to be desired, so I'm currently saving my 
pistoozas to get the Hebrew Gramcord package in the near future.  
I've also been told by others on this list that BibleWorks is a very 
good package for computerized Hebrew searching etc. as well, and 
the prices between it and Logos are comparable.  I'd suggest the 
BHS, Holladay, TWOT, Waltke-O'Connor and a good computer 
program would get you off and running.  The big question involves 
how much $$$ you have to play with.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.