Biblical Hebrew Forum

["James Spinti" <JSpinti AT Eisenbrauns.com>]

I'm replying a bit late in this thread, but hope you don't mind.

The standard English lexicon right now is HALOT, known to some as KB3.
It is available in a two volume study edition for $179.95, cheaper
online.  

There are two shorter lexica--Holliday's Concise Hebrew & Aramaic
Lexicon published by Eerdmans, list $35.00 (cheaper online). Wherever
possible, he used KB3, but since it wasn't done for most words, he
referred to KB2. It is short, easy to use, but seriously lacking for
in-depth study.

A very short dictionary, just giving glosses is Karni, Dictionary of
Basic Biblical Hebrew ($19.95).

Some people have mentioned Concordances, specifically Mandelkern and
Lisowsky.  Mandelkern is out of print. Lisowsky is available for $84.99
(cheaper online). Both are quite old and their glosses are not always
dependable. I personally find Lisowsky difficult to read and my
Mandelkern is the smaller one, so I can hardly use it.

Another person mentioned Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament,
available from Moody Press for $69.99 in a one volume edition (again,
cheaper online).  It uses Strong's numbering system and is arranged as
BDB.  It gives glosses for every word, and articles for more significant
words.  It is spotty, some articles are excellent, some only fair. 

Someone else mentioned  Hoftijzer and Jongeling's Dictionary of the
North-West Semitic Inscriptions. If you are rich, get it.  It lists for
$574 and is two volumes (somewhat cheaper online).  Right now it is out
of print, but scheduled to be re-issued soon. Theoretically there is a
third edition in the works.  It is published by Brill.

As far as electronic editions- all 3 of the main ones (BibleWorks,
Accordance & Logos) offer HALOT as an add-in.  If I remember correctly,
BDB is available in all three.  For free software, I know of 2 that
include BDB--the Sword Project and e-sword.

I would encourage you to get the print edition of HALOT, but watch for
sales. I finally broke down and bought HALOT about 2 years ago, after
resisting for years and wish I hadn't waited so long.

HTH,

James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788 

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jimmy Doyle
> Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:22 PM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Lexicon Recommendations
> 
> 
> I've always used the BDB.  I remember someone on this list mentioning
> another lexicon that they considered to be superior to BDB.  
> What lexicons
> and resources are being used by members of this list?
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