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“The Hebrew language is peculiarly rich in religious-moral terms, though scanty enough in others. The reason is evident–it chronicled a revelation.”
John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan
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Order of Contents
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Exegetical & Theological
More Dictionaries
English to Hebrew
Special
Synonyms
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Start Here
Beginner
Holladay, William – A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, based upon the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner Buy 1988
Most Hebrew dictionaries list words according to their root, which can sometimes be difficult for the beginner to use. This dictionary includes the form of the word as it is found in Scripture, is not bulky, is easy to read and is based on modern scholarship.
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Parsing Guides
Davidson, Benjamin – The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, consisting of… every word and inflection contained in the Old Testament… with a grammatical analysis of each word Buy 1855
Most Hebrew dictionaries lay out the Hebrew words according to their roots. But how does one know what is the root of the word in question? This work fully parses out each Hebrew word. Each Hebrew word, as it is found in Scripture, is listed in alphabetical order.
Beall, Todd, Colin Smith, William Banks – Old Testament Parsing Guide Buy 2000
All the verbs, and only the verbs, of the Old Testament are fully parsed, laid out in the order of the books of the Bible (which ordering is very convenient for finding the word in question).
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Advanced
Brown, Francis, S.R. Driver & Charles Briggs – A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament 1st ed. 1906/39 Buy based on Gesenius, tr. Edward Robinson Known as Brown-Driver-Briggs
This was the best and most standard Hebrew dictionary of the older scholarship. A wealth of information. Words are listed by their roots, which can sometimes make finding words tricky; use the parsing guides above. The three editors were liberals (though this does not affect the dictionary’s usefulness much, if one ignores the J.E.P.D. references).
Koehler, Ludwig & Walter Baumgartner – The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 2 vols. Buy 2002 Brill
The best dictionary for the latest scholarship as it has advanced since Brown-Driver-Briggs, though it is terribly expensive.
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Exegetical & Theological Dictionaries on the Old Testament
Beginner
Vine, W.E. – Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words 1940 1,600 pp. Entries are in English.
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Intermediate
Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L Archer Jr., Bruce K. Waltke – Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament Buy 2003 1,152 pp. Moody Evangelical
For descriptions of these works, see the Buy link.
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Adavanced
Jenni, Ernst, Claus Westermann – Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, 3 vols. Buy 1997 Hendrickson Liberal
ed. Willem A. VanGemeren – New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 5 vols. Buy 2012 Evangelical Organized by Hebrew alphabetization
Botterweck, G. Johannes , Helmer Ringgren, Heinz-Josef Fabry – Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 15 vols. Pre Buy 2003 Eerdmans Review
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More Dictionaries
1800’s
Parkhurst, John – A Hebrew and English Lexicon 1823 8th edition
Frey, Joseph – A Hebrew and English Dictionary 1842
Lee, Samuel – A Lexicon, Hebrew, Chaldee and English, compiled from… Buxtorf, Taylor, Parkhurst and Gesenius 1844
Gesenius, William – A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament 1854 tr. Edward Robsinson
Tregelles, Samuel – Gesenius’s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures, with Additions and Corrections… 1857
Fuerst, Julius – A Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament 1867 tr. Samuel Davidson
Davies, Benjamin – Student’s Hebrew Lexicon: A Compendious and Complete Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, chiefly founded on the works of Gesenius and Furst 1872
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1900’s
Harkavy, Alexander – Students’ Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary to the Old Testament 1914 Hebrew Publishing Co.
Klein, Ernest – A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English 1987 Univ. of Haifa
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English to Hebrew
Newman, Selig – An English and Hebrew Lexicon, composed after Johnson’s Dictionary, containing 15,000 English words rendered into Biblical or Rabbinical Hebrew 1832
Robinson, Edward – An English-Hebrew Lexicon: Being a Complete Verbal Index to Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon 1877
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Special
How Hebrew Words are Translated in the KJV
Strong, James – The Hebrew Bible; with their renderings in the Authorized English Version 1890
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Synonyms
Kennedy, James – Studies in Hebrew Synonyms 1898 150 pp.
Girdlestone’s Synonyms of the Old Testament
Click on the alphabetical letters on the right side of the page. Synonyms are organized in English, alphabetically.
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“The Greek mind was abstract, the Hebrew concrete.”
John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan
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Related Pages
Old Testament Background, Survey, Authenticity & Introduction