Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon

"Based on the lexicon of William Gesenius, as translated by Edward Robinson, and edited with constant reference to the thesaurus of Gesenius as completed by E. Reodiger, and with authorized use of the German editions of Gesenius' Handweorterbuch euber das Alte Testament."

An essential tool for those using the Brown, Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, it helps you to quickly and easily find the right Hebrew word and discussion. This index lists in consonantal form every Hebrew word in the BDB, gives its general meaning, and notes the location of the entry in the Lexicon.

A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, more commonly known as Brown–Driver–Briggs or BDB (from the name of its three authors) is a standard reference for Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic, first published in 1906. It was organized by (Hebrew) alphabetical order of three letter roots, but we put in Strong numbering order. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Since it first appeared in the early part of the twentieth century, BDB has been considered the finest and most comprehensive Hebrew lexicon available to the English-speaking student. Based upon the classic work of Wilhelm Gesenius, the "father of modern Hebrew lexicography," BDB gives not only dictionary definitions for each word, but relates each word to its Old Testament usage and categorizes its nuances of meaning. BDB's exhaustive coverage of Old Testament Hebrew words, as well as its unparalleled usage of cognate languages and the wealth of background sources consulted and quoted, render BDB and invaluable resource for all students of the Bible.

All previous Biblical Hebrew lexicons have provided a modern western definition and perspective to Hebrew roots and words. This prevents the reader of the Bible from seeing the ancient authors' original intent of the passages. This is the first Biblical Hebrew lexicon that defines each Hebrew word within its original Ancient Hebrew cultural meaning. One of the major differences between the Modern Western mind and the Ancient Hebrew's is that their mind related all words and their meanings to a concrete concept. For instance, the Hebrew word "chai" is normally translated as "life", a western abstract meaning, but the original Hebrew concrete meaning of this word is the "stomach". In the Ancient Hebrew mind, a full stomach is a sign of a full "life". The Hebrew language is a root system oriented language and the lexicon is divided into sections reflecting this root system. Each word of the Hebrew Bible is grouped within its roots and is defined according to its original ancient cultural meaning. Also included in each word entry are its alternative spellings, King James translations of the word and Strong's number. Indexes are included to assist with finding a word within the lexicon according to its spelling, definition, King James translation or Strong's number.

This unique lexicon is designed especially for student use in as convenient a form for reference as possible. Ultimately based on the Christian scholarship out of which Gesenius' great Hebrew-German dictionary evolved in the early nineteenth century, it has made every effort to economize the student's time. The meaning of a Hebrew or Aramaic word has been expressed in a single English word wherever it has been found practicable, and where words occur which learned authorities did not succeed in elucidating, the rendering is in the Authorized English Version, without any indulgent speculations. Although recent generations of biblical scholarship have added much to our knowledge, more time is needed until these insights will find their way into a student's dictionary. In the meantime, this manual will be of good service to the student.