Absolute Best Hebrew Lexicon

[brymaes]

Brethren,
I am in need of a Hebrew lexicon and would like your recommendations on the absolute best one out there, as well as some runners-up. Thanks!

 

[Romans922]

BEST = The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Unabridged 2-Volume Study Edition) by Ludwig Koehler. Brill Academic Publishers (2002), Edition: Study Gd, Hardcover

 

[Wannabee]

NIDOTTE, five volumes, is good as well.

New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis
You can get the CD on the Pradis platform.
And CBD has a damaged set on sale right now.​

 

[fredtgreco]

HALOT is the best, period. But if your Hebrew is not outstanding, then something simpler like Holladay would be in order.

Your best option, in my opinion, would be to buy Bibleworks or Logos with the HALOT addin. Perhaps more expensive, but it will save you hours looking up forms, words, etc., in order to get to the substance of the Lexicon.

 

[DMcFadden]

BEST = The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Unabridged 2-Volume Study Edition) by Ludwig Koehler. Brill Academic Publishers (2002), Edition: Study Gd, Hardcover

It is also available in the Libronix format by Logos. I would highly recommend it in either format. Depending on your use of secondary sources, it can be useful to have the old BDB (keyed to Strongs) available as well.

For quick and dirty work, I have found the Theological Wordbook by Harris, Archer, and Waltke to be VERY helpful as well. I have it and Swanson in Libronix format.

For grammars, not that you asked, Christo H.J. van der Merwe's A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar is very up-to-date (1999 Sheffield Academic Press). That, Futato's Beginning Biblical Hebrew, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, Davidson's Hebrew Syntax, Greenspahn's Introduction to Aramaic , etc. are all available on Libronix.

 

[brymaes]

Thank you, gentlemen. This is most helpful.

 

[brymaes]

For grammars, not that you asked,

Actually, that was going to be my next question! Thanks!

A related one: What is the absolute best Greek grammar?

 

[Covenant Joel]

Actually, that was going to be my next question! Thanks!

A related one: What is the absolute best Greek grammar?

Beginning Greek: Probably Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek
Intermediate: Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (and the abridged version Basics of New Testament Syntax)

 

[DMcFadden]

Actually, that was going to be my next question! Thanks!

A related one: What is the absolute best Greek grammar?

Beginning Greek: Probably Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek
Intermediate: Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (and the abridged version Basics of New Testament Syntax)

Yes to both Mounce (with some reservations) and Wallace. Wallace, btw, is also available in Libronix format for the computer. A.T. Robertson's classic from the last century (a HUGE volume) is also quite good. It and Blass-Debrunner and Funk are both available in Libronix format as well.

 

[Dieter Schneider]

Brethren,
I am in need of a Hebrew lexicon and would like your recommendations on the absolute best one out there, as well as some runners-up. Thanks!

You ought to settle for Harris, Archer and Waltke (The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)

 

[greenbaggins]

Blass-Debrunner-Funk is the absolute best reference grammar for Greek. However, for learning Greek, most seminaries these days are using Machen's book, now in a revised second edition. However, I do not like Machen. I think that in his desire to teach New Testament Greek, he avoids introducing some of the rarer forms. If you are really going to learn Greek well, then you need to learn classical Greek. NT Greek will then be as easy as falling off a log. For classical Greek, I highly recommend Anne Groton's book From Alpha to Omega, published by Focus books. This is an extremely well-laid out book, and prepares you to read anything you want in Greek. After all, though the NT is the most important thing to read in Greek, it isn't the only thing worth reading in Greek.

 

[greenbaggins]

By the way, Holladay is an excellent abridgement of HALOT. I didn't see that point brought up. I agree that it is the best lexicon. If you have it, though, you should also purchase the old stand-by Brown-Driver-Briggs, since that was the lexicon before HALOT came along.

 

[weinhold]

For grammars, not that you asked,

Actually, that was going to be my next question! Thanks!

A related one: What is the absolute best Greek grammar?

I just bought Smyth's Greek Grammar. It is the standard among classics professors at my University. Another they often mention in tandem with Smyth (because he disagrees with Smyth about participles) is Goodwin's Greek Grammar.

Both these volumes seem to be recognized as reliable and authoritative among classics departments. They concern themselves, however, with the whole of the Greek language, not simply koine. I consider this breadth an advantage, but if for some odd reason you decided to limit yourself to koine only, then I suppose it might become cumbersome.