Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

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Summary: Quick Review
Review: This is a standard introductory Hebrew lexicon. Includes an "Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic: Coded With the Numbering System from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance." Helpful and easy to use for those not too familiar with Hebrew.

Rating:
Summary: Quick Review
Review: This is a standard introductory Hebrew lexicon. Includes an "Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic: Coded With the Numbering System from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance." Helpful and easy to use for those not too familiar with Hebrew.

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Summary: Best Hebrew Lexicon I've used
Review: This is a wonderful resource for a student of Biblical Hebrew. I used it all the time in college and couldn't have gotten through my Hebrew classes without it. Make sure you get the index by Bruce Einspahr too.

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Summary: a classic--a must-have for every Hebrew student
Review: This is an excellent resource book. Especially helpful is the system of Strong's codes in the back.

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Summary: an oldy, but a goodie
Review: This is one of the foremost English-Hebrew lexicons available, but has come under scrutiny in recent years because it is quite dated (about 100 years old). It has been updated to include Strong's concordance numbers, which is quite silly to me because if one is utilizing the BDB regularly, then one's skills are probably far beyond the need for Strong's reference numbers. Despite updates like the inclusion of Strong's reference numbers, BDB, because of its advanced age, does not take into consideration insights which scholars have gleaned from Ugaritic findings and other extra-biblical texts (like the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.). One example is the lack of a "Hishtaphel" stem in the BDB, but which has been attested in Ugaritic literature-scholarship now believes the stem to exist in the Hebrew OT. Another problem beginners may have with this book is that each entry is arranged by its triumvirate root-a skill most beginners won't have until they reach the intermediate reading level. Again, a useful lexicon for age-old comprehensive analysis, but certain compunctions should be considered when in use.

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Summary: the only hebrew lexicon
Review: THIS LEXICON HAS BEEN THE NUMBER ONE RECOMMENDED BIBLICAL HEBREW TOOL BY ALL HEBREW EXPERTS THAT I HAVE WORKED WITH. IF YOU KNOW HOW TO READ HEBREW AND YOU LOVE TO WORK WITH THE BIBLE, YOU MUST HAVE THIS TOOL IN YOUR LIBRARY. THIS IS THE BEST HEBREW LEXICON YOU CAN BY. (NOTE ALL WORDS TO BE LOOKED UP ARE IN HEBREW)

Rating:
Summary: the only hebrew lexicon
Review: THIS LEXICON HAS BEEN THE NUMBER ONE RECOMMENDED BIBLICAL HEBREW TOOL BY ALL HEBREW EXPERTS THAT I HAVE WORKED WITH. IF YOU KNOW HOW TO READ HEBREW AND YOU LOVE TO WORK WITH THE BIBLE, YOU MUST HAVE THIS TOOL IN YOUR LIBRARY. THIS IS THE BEST HEBREW LEXICON YOU CAN BY. (NOTE ALL WORDS TO BE LOOKED UP ARE IN HEBREW)

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Summary: New edition less useful than previous edition.
Review: This lexicon is probably the most commonly used tool for Hebrew students. While dated, being based on an original work from the middle of the last century, it provides in one relatively cheap volume a handy reference guide for beginning Hebrew students. One of the highlights for beginning stucents was the added index at the back of the 1979 edition which alphabetically listed Hebrew words and provided their corresponding Strong's number and the BDB page where they are discussed. For some reason the most recent edition has removed this useful feature, leaving only the Strong's numbers, which are of little practical value for a novice student trying to find a word for the first time. Serious students should be aware of D.J.A. Clines, The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (Sheffield, 6 volumes), and beginners could find K. Feyerabend's Langenscheidt's Pocket Hebrew Dictionary more portable and easier to use, though much less thorough.

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Summary: Sound scholarship, but dated.
Review: Without a doubt Brown Driver and Briggs (BDB) is a phenomonally useful lexicon, and once one works how to work round the root-order, is more useful than alphabetically-ordered books. The price of this edition too is unbeatable. BUT BDB is a hundred years old, and scholarship has moved on. The current standard reference in English is the 3rd ed. of Koehler and Baumgartner's 'Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament'. I would recommend students to start with BDB but to check contentious words with Koehler and Baumgartner, and get a copy when they can afford to (it does cost $150-$180 in the 'economical' study edition!). Clines 'Dictionary of Classical Hebrew' at over $700 so far, with 3 or 4 volumes to be published, is for libraries only.

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Summary: Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon
Review: Without a doubt the most complete study of Biblical Hebrew I have run across in my 18 years of study. Complete, concise and clear definitions with references to scripture search as well. Cross references with Strongs Concordance so even if you don't know Hebrew you can find your word or passage in Strongs and then look for Strongs reference number at the back of BDB Lexicon to find the page for your word within the Lexicon. Will open a entire new world of study for the serious student of Hebrew.