About the Author

Publisher's Description

A trio of eminent Old Testament scholars—Francis Brown, R. Driver, and Charles Briggs—spent over twenty years researching, writing, and preparing 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. —From the publisher's preface

Endorsement

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.