Many of the texts and language tools discussed in this guide can be found in our heavily discounted base 'library' collections such as:

• Scholar's Library: Portfolio
• Scholar's Library: Platinum
• Scholar's Library: Gold
• Scholar's Library: Silver
• Scholar's Library
• Original Languages Library

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:

• ESV English-Hebrew Reverse Interlinear of the Old Testament
• New Revised Standard Version
• King James Version
• Cambridge Paragraph Bible of the Authorized English Version (1873)
• New King James Version
• Septuagint with Logos Morphology

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:

• Koehler, Baumgartner and Stamm's Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament

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:

• BDAG/HALOT Bundle

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:

• A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Holladay)

Before HALOT, the lexicon of choice was:

• Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (BDB)

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:

• The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament

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:

• Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament

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.

• A Dictionary of Biblical Languages w/ Semantic Domains: Hebrew (OT)
• A Dictionary of Biblical Languages w/ Semantic Domains: Aramaic (OT)

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:

• Synonyms of the Old Testament - Girdlestone

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.

• Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Harris, Archer and Waltke)
• Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (3 volumes)
• The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE - 5 volumes)

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.

• AMG Bible Essentials

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.

• The Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic dictionary in the New American Standard Electronic Bible Library.
• Enhanced Strong's Lexicon 2.0

While not exactly a lexicon, a useful guide to help with vocabulary acquisition is also available:

• Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary

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:

• Dictionary of the Targumim, the talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Jastrow)

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

• Biblical Hebrew Step by Step (4 Vols.)
• Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Futato)
• The First Hebrew Primer: Textbook, Answer Book & Audio Companion
• Biblical Hebrew for Beginners
• Davidson's Introductory Hebrew Grammar, 27th Edition (James D. Martin)
• Learning Biblical Hebrew: A New Approach Using Discourse Analysis

And for Aramaic:

• An Introduction to Aramaic (Greenspahn)

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:

• More Light on the Path: Daily Scripture Readings in Hebrew and Greek

Reference Grammars

The first five are the most commonly cited reference grammars in commentaries and lexicons, while the last is a quick grammatical overview.

• A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Joüon/Muraoka)
• A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, rev. ed. (Joüon/Muraoka)
• An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Waltke/O'Connor)
• Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, 2nd English Edition (Gesenius, Kautzsch, Cowley)
• A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar (van der Merwe, Naudé and Kroeze)
• Hebrew Syntax, Third Edition (Davidson)
• Hebrew Bible Insert - A Student's Guide to the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew

Advanced Studies

• Hebrew Studies Collection (7 vols.) includes four books on the interpretation of Hebrew poetry (roughly 1/3rd of the Hebrew Bible is poetic in nature), 2 books on the linguistic dating of Hebrew texts and one book on Verbal syntax. Gathering interest in the pre-publication program.
• Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Orthography (Freedman, Forbes & Andersen)
• The Verbless Clause in Biblical Hebrew: Linguistic Approaches (Miller, et al.)
• Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew (Bodine, Revell & Greenstein)
• Linguistic Analysis of Biblical Hebrew
• A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew and other Other Syntactical Questions (Driver), The Forms of Hebrew Poetry (Gray), Two Treatises on the Accentuation of the Old Testament (Wickes) are bundled with a collection of other grammars, inclusing Nöldeke's Compedious Syriac Grammar and a number of books covering the Greek of the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible in the collection Biblical Languages: Reference Grammars and Introductions (19 volumes).
• Word order Variation in Biblical Hebrew Poetry (gathering interest on our pre-publication program)
• The BHS Helps Collection, including: A Manual of Hebrew Poetics, Spelling in the Hebrew Bible and the Massorah Gedolah. Under development.
• The Northwest Semitic Collection (gathering interest in the pre-publication program) contains 7 volumes discussing the language family that Biblical Hebrew belongs in, including 3 treatises on the Book of Job.
• Text-Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
• The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
• Topics in Hebrew and Semitic Linguistics (Blau), Biblical Hebrew in its Northwest Semitic Setting (Fassberg and Hurvitz), Biblical and Oriental Studies (2 volumes, Cassuto) are all part of the Magnes Press Hebrew Bible Collection (12 volumes) gathering interest in the pre-publication sale program.
• Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (7 volumes)
• Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, 1995-2007 (26 issues - gathering interest in the pre-publication program)

Critical Apparatuses

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.

• Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible (SESB)

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:

• The Parallel Aligned Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Texts of Jewish Scripture by Prof. Emanuel Tov

A complete set of the Targums, the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew bible, along with lexical analysis and a companion lexicon is also available:

• The Targums from the files of the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project

Logos also offers many tools for the study of the Latin translations of the Hebrew Bible, including:

• Biblia Sacra Vulgata, the Latin Vulgate

For those new to the use of critical apparatuses and early translations, we offer this introduction:

• Old Testament Textual Criticism

Technical Commentaries

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.

• International Critical Commentary (53 volumes)
• Word Biblical Commentary (58 volumes)
• New International Commentary (NICOT/NICNT 40 volumes)
• Anchor Yale Bible (84 volumes)
• The United Bible Societies' Old Testament Handbook Series (21 volumes)
• The Analytical Key to the Old Testament (Owens, AKOT)
• Hermeneia on CD-ROM 2.0 (43 volumes)
• JPS Bible and Torah Commentary
• Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel
• Forms of the Old Testament Literature Series (17 volumes)
• Continental Commentary (20 volumes - gathering interest in the pre-publication program)

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.

Non-Canonical Texts

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.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition Vol. I: 1Q1-4Q273 - Vol. II: 4Q274-11Q31
• Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts
• Semitic Inscriptions: Analyzed Texts and English Translations
• Writings from the Ancient World (16 volumes) - this series includes many transcriptions as well as translations and commentary of writings from the Ancient Near East, illuminating the world of the Hebrew Bible.

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 Context of Scripture, 3 Volumes (Hallo, Younger, et al)
• Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 1 (Lichtheim)
• Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 2 (Lichtheim)
• Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 3 (Lichtheim)
• The Amarna Letters (Moran)
• The Ugaritic Library contains English translations of the religious texts along with transliterations of the entire corpus in Ugaritic.
• Writings from the Ancient World (16 volumes)
• Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Pritchard)

Books on Exegetical Methods

The following books talk about sounds methods for biblical interpretation, including information on getting the most out of the above books.

• From Exegesis to Exposition: A Practical Guide to Using Biblical Hebrew
• Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
• Diagrammatical Analysis
• Handbook for Hebrew Exegesis
• Old Testament Hermeneutics Collection (18 Vols.). A collection of titles from Continuum that cover a wide variety of topics in Old Testament interpretation, from Rhetorical analysis and literary criticism to the use of the social sciences in biblical interpretation. Gathering interest in the pre-publication program.

Additional Resources

These books will help make your Hebrew studies easier and productive.

• The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

Addin Modules

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.

• Hebrew Pronunciation Addin:
  • Under Development, this addin will allow one to hear Hebrew words with the click of a mouse.
• Learn to Use Biblical Greek and Hebrew with Logos Bible Software.
  • This is a video lecture series that focuses on teaching how to use Logos Bible Software for studying the Bible in Greek and Hebrew.