Product Guide for Hebrew Texts and Tools
Many of the texts and language tools discussed in this guide can be found in our heavily discounted base 'library' collections such as:
Hebrew tools can be divided into the following categories: Bibles, reverse interlinears, critical apparatuses for examining the manuscript evidence used to establish the text of the Hebrew Bible, lexicons or dictionaries, grammars (both for learning the language and for advanced reference), technical commentaries that interact heavily with the Hebrew text, and non-biblical books in Hebrew that are useful for historical and cultural study, or seeing examples of Hebrew words and phrases used outside the Bible. Logos also offers books on exegetical methods, to help the Bible interpreter use these tools, and automated addin reports to help the pastor, exegete, or translator work with the wealth of data available in their library.
Bibles
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
The primary text for study in the Hebrew is the German Bible Society’s Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Logos’ electronic edition of this classic primary text supports cantillation and is enhanced with morphological parsing and tagging from the Westminster Theological Seminary Hebrew Project as well as with an innovative presentation of the Ketiv / Qere and inline BHS word forms. (A more detailed explanation is available.)
The critical apparatus for the BHS is available in a compatible format as part of the German Bible Society's Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible product, delivered using the same Libronix Digital Library System that powers Logos Bible Software Series X.
The BHS text includes the consonantal text, vowel marks, and cantillation. It is possible to search the text ignoring or respecting the marks, allowing you the option of faster data entry while preserving the ability to perform highly specific searches.
Logos also offers the morphology found in the SESB edition (WIVU), without the critical apparatus indicators, in many of the new Logos Bible Software 4 base packages.
Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible
Logos also offers users a much-requested resource: a Hebrew-English interlinear. The first new Hebrew-English interlinear to be published in 17 years, the Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible is produced by a team of the world's top Hebrew scholars. This interlinear is an excellent tool for those learning the language (or dusting off their skills), as the interlinear lines can be re-ordered and individually displayed or hidden, thus scaling back the "helps" as your proficiency increases. The work is also based on the latest linguistic research and goes beyond what most interlinears provide by offering both a lexical gloss and a context-sensitive gloss in English.
The Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text of the Hebrew Bible and Phrase Marker Analysis
The Andersen-Forbes materials consist of 3 resources and a database. The Analyzed Text contains morphological and lexical analysis, similar to that found in the above editions of the Hebrew Bible, but also analyzes features such as genre and semantic domains. The Phrase Marker Analysis, however, goes beyond the word level and shows how phrases and clauses function together, in essence diagramming the entire Hebrew Bible with Syntax information. There is a database that allows the user to search the Hebrew bible based on these Syntax structures, and a glossary resource that defines all the terms used in the Analyzed Text and the Phrase Marker Analysis. This package represents a new trend in computerized biblical studies - the ability to work with syntax, not just morphology, when studying the Bible.
Currently available in the many of the new Logos Bible Software 4 base packages.
The Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain most of the oldest manuscripts we have of the Hebrew Bible. Logos Bible Software is currently preparing the Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls Database, which contains transcriptions of the scrolls as well as lexical and morphological tags and English glosses.
The Hebrew New Testament
Most of this guide relates to the Hebrew Bible - scriptures originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic - but Logos does offer a translation of the Greek New Testament into Modern Hebrew.
Reverse Interlinears
Reverse interlinears follow the English (or Spanish, etc.) text of a particular translation, and provide the Hebrew/Aramaic text behind the English translation for further study/comparison. This is different from a traditional interlinear, which would place the Hebrew text on the top line and follow the word order of the Hebrew text with English glosses placed beneath. Reverse interlinears make it easy to jump back and forth between an English bible and some of the Hebrew texts listed above, and allow some of the reports in Logos Bible Software 4 to report search results in Hebrew and English in parallel. While not a substitute for working directly with the Hebrew text, the Logos Bible Software reverse interlinears are far superior to the older tools used by English bible students, such as Strong's numbers (which could only help identify the lexical form of a word), since the reverse interlinears contain complete morphological analysis as well as lexical forms and inflected forms, and can link to the Hebrew texts and syntax databases for study of the Hebrew text in its proper word order.
The following Bibles have Reverse Interlinear data in many of the Logos 4 Libraries:
Lexicons
The lexical form tags in the texts discussed above can be used to execute a KeyLink to any of the lexicons or dictionaries listed below, enabling you to instantly look up the meaning of Hebrew words.
The standard Hebrew lexicon used by scholars and students today is the 5 volume set:
This is affectionately known as HALOT, HAL or KB4, and is available in a bundle with BDAG, the premier Greek lexicon for New Testament studies:
There is also an abridgement based on older editions of the Koehler-Baumgartner lexicon that is quite handy for quick reference and a popular classroom substitute for the unabridged work:
Before HALOT, the lexicon of choice was:
This is still widely used in the classroom and very frequently cited in the commentaries, and is also available in an abridgment for quick reference:
BDB is an English lexicon that traces back to the German work by Gesenius. An older translation of the Gesenius grammar by Tregelles is also available:
Looking up words in Hebrew lexicons is complicated by the fact that various lexicons follow quite different philosophies regarding how to spell the lexical forms of various Hebrew words. The Dictionary of Biblical Languages series is tremendously useful because its main entries closely follow the spellings found in BDB, but it also contains entries to look up words based on the spellings in lexicons like HALOT, so DBL can be used as a sort of index to move between the different lexicons. DBL also categorizes words by semantic domains, making it possible to find words that are related in meaning, such as synonyms.
Translators often are very interested in knowing what words are similar in meaning to the word chosen by the author of the text – knowing what words could have been used instead of a particular word can help the translator understand the choices made by the author. In addition to the lexicons based on semantic domains listed above, the following resource is available for learning about synonyms:
Often the pastor is looking for more than just information on the meaning of the word, but also wants to know how the word is used to convey theological ideas. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and the Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament are two of the tools pastors use to examine Hebrew words from theological perspectives.
For English readers who are unfamiliar with Hebrew, but want to look up individual words in Hebrew lexicons, the AMG Bible Essentials CD-ROM contains the Word Study dictionaries, which are much better than things like Strong’s because they provide the English student with much more contextual information, like helping the English reader understand where aspects of Hebrew grammar effect the meanings of words. Thus the AMG dictionaries are a good stepping stone for English readers to work up towards the more advanced lexicons.
Finally, sometimes you don’t need or want very much information. When you just want a quick gloss, in addition to the abridgements of HAL and BDB listed above, the following is available.
While not exactly a lexicon, a useful guide to help with vocabulary acquisition is also available:
A lexicon designed for reading the Hebrew and Aramaic found in the early post-biblical Jewish literature is gathering interest in the pre-publication program:
Grammars
Lexicons are brilliant study tools for working a the word level, but languages communicate on a much higher level than just individual words. To understand a language requires one to learn about grammar and syntax, to know how a language uses words together to convey meaning. The Grammars available in Logos Digital Library System can be divided into three categories: learning grammars - the types of books used in a first-year Hebrew course, reference grammars - the intermediate and advanced books that exegetes continue to use even after the initial learning phase, and advanced studies covering specific aspects of the language.
Learning Grammars
While not a grammar, there is an interesting daily devotional available to help students of Hebrew and Greek keep up with their hard-earned skills after leaving the classroom:
The first five are the most commonly cited reference grammars in commentaries and lexicons, while the last is a quick grammatical overview.
The methods used to examine the various manuscripts of the Hebrew bible, often in comparison with early translations, such as the Greek Septuagint or the Aramaic Targums, in order to determine the most accurate original text is called 'text criticism'. One of the main tools that text critics use to examine the evidence for the different readings is called a critical apparatus. These tell what manuscripts support what variant readings.
The most important critical apparatus for the study of the Hebrew Bible is the BHS apparatus found in the SESB collection.
In addition, Logos offers many tools for working with the early version (translations) of the Hebrew Bible that will be of interest to text critics. Logos offers many tools for the study of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, including a resource that lines the Greek of the Septuagint up with the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Hebrew Bible, with copious notes on the translation techniques used. Where the Septuagint doesn’t match the Hebrew text, a tentative alternate Hebrew text is also provided as a theoretical reconstruction of what the LXX translators might have been translating from:
A complete set of the Targums, the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew bible, along with lexical analysis and a companion lexicon is also available:
Logos also offers many tools for the study of the Latin translations of the Hebrew Bible, including:
For those new to the use of critical apparatuses and early translations, we offer this introduction:
Some commentaries on the Bible text interact with the Hebrew text and the grammars and the lexicons in great detail, making them useful companions for the study of the biblical languages.
The last item, the four-volume AKOT, is actually a reader - it contains the text of the Hebrew Bible with enough lexical and grammatical notes to help the intermediate student of the Hebrew language to read through the text.
Hebrew lexicons like HALOT often cite the non-biblical Hebrew for more evidence on how a given word is used. This is especially important with words that only occur once or twice in the Hebrew Bible. These texts are also often of interest for historical and theological study, in addition to their usefulness in lexical studies.
More information of Logos tools for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be found here.
In addition, many texts from Israel's neighbors, originally written in Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Ugaritic and other related languages, are available in English translations, and are considered useful for reading the Hebrew Bible in its historical and cultural setting.
The following books talk about sounds methods for biblical interpretation, including information on getting the most out of the above books.
These books will help make your Hebrew studies easier and productive.
Addin modules consist of tools and automated reports that increase the functionality of Logos Bible Software and help you get the most out of your library.