Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

This review is for 4 Hebrew lexicons in common use: Brown-Driver-Briggs, Koehler-Baumgartner, Holladay, and Langenscheidt.

The sizeable Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon is a development of Gesenius' historic work, and a long-time standard in English speaking countries. However, it has become dated, and now is used mostly because Hendrickson put out a cheaply constructed version keyed to Strong's concordance. Oxford's Clarendon Press edition is superior if you are required to get BDB. In addition, organizing entries by verbal root rather than alphabetically makes it difficult to use "BDB" for those without intimate knowledge of Hebrew. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

The Koehler-Baumgartner lexicon is superb and thorough, and based on the latest Hebrew and Aramaic scholarship. The authors also took into account cognates from Ugaritic and Akkadian, so users of this massive work have a goldmine of information to draw from. By massive, I mean it is over 2000 pages in 2 large volumes. This plus its $190 asking price means it might be better to let the university or seminary library bear the brunt of purchasing and housing it unless you are an Old Testament specialist.

Most readers will be best served by the work of William Holladay, a reasonably sized 426 pp lexicon based on the latest scholarship. Holladay abridged K-B by removing bibliographic references and other information most needed by specialists. It is well organized (alphabetically), and the font is clear. Entries also have references (not exhaustive) to use within the Old Testament, meaning it can be used as a poor man's OT concordance. While Holladay is manageably sized enough (9.75" x 6.875" x 1.25") to be pleasant to read and easily portable in a bookbag, it is not the smallest resource available.

Some may be tempted to go a step further for the ultimate in compactness with the Langenscheidt pocket dictionary. This item is 6" x 4" x 1" and quite lightweight - in its 1959 iteration anyway. Its definitions are limited in scope and scholarly foundation, but still, what else fits in your coat pocket?

My overall recommendation: Holladay for everyone, supplemented by Koehler-Baumgartner for those who need and can afford it.

BDB: 3 stars
K-B: 5 stars
Holladay: 5 stars
Langenscheidt: 4 stars

This is the Newest edition of the classic Hebrew dictionary that is arranged by word root. It seems that the publishers of this new edition wanted to give it the classic antique look, as it is so famous. Although the cover looks nicer than the older edition, inside it is a different story. The typeface in the inside looks like it was typed with a typewriter a century ago, and is therefore very hard to read, even to those who are familiar with Hebrew. Also, the fact that it is arranged by word root makes it harder to find the words in it. For those looking to own their first Hebrew dictionary, I recommend "The Vocabulary Guide to Biblical Hebrew" by Van Pelt and Practico. Also, for those wanting a readable version of BDB, I have found that the one included in BibleWorks is pretty readable.

Didn't shop for this item - it was refered to me -- took a little long on shipping.

BDB is recommended at the end of a Hebrew primer for adults that I often consult. I agree with other reviewers that BDB requires a fundamental knowledge of Hebrew. If you already have a familiarity with Hebrew, and if you enjoy deep reading of the Tanakh, BDB is an essential resource.

As an example, I used BDB to research the etymology of the root "bet-kuf-resh". BDB led me on a fascinating journey that led me eventually to Psalms and the Shulchan Oruch! At the end of it I had a fair amount of good material for a devar torah.

I have one reservation on BDB. As with many of the older lexicons, BDB was written before the discovery of Ugaritic (i.e., prior to 1930). Study of Ugaritic etymologies has added enormously to our knowledge of obscure Hebrew words. I anxiously await the arrival of a single-volume biblical lexicon that incorporates Ugaritic!

This dictionary is an old standard, and still very helpful. It is organized by roots. This means that all words are listed under the consonantal root (usually three consonants), regardless of what additional consonants or vowels have been added at the beginning or elsewhere. When I was a beginner in Hebrew, I found this system difficult to follow. However, with practice I started to get used to which roots lost their first consonant in derived or conjugated forms, and which ones had unstable second and third consonants. Now I can use this dictionary without much difficulty.

If you are a beginner in Hebrew, this dictionary is definitely a good one to plan to get, but you would be better served initially by A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament: Based upon the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. This dictionary organizes words alphabetically rather than by roots, a feature which saves beginners a lot of frustration. As you progress, you should also consider getting a much more recent comprehensive lexicon of Biblical Hebrew, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 2 volume set. This dictionary is based on much more recent scholarship that Brown-Driver-Briggs, but it is considerably more expensive, so BDB is an economical choice for good, if not cutting edge, scholarship.

If you are advanced enough in your study of Hebrew to be using Brown-Driver-Briggs, you really should have no need for the Strong's numbers included in this edition. I find such ornaments to be no more than clutter. If you want the uncluttered edition, it is A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament.