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

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

A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament has been designed as an up-to-date working tool of modest price and compass for the student of biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. Till now, the English-speaking student of Hebrew has had to rely on expensive and complex large-scale lexicons or pocket-size glossaries.

The present work thus fills a long felt need. Though little more than one-third the size of the Brown-Driver-Briggs or the larger Koehler-Baumgartner lexicons, it offers everything the student needs to translate an Old Testament passage. It is a composite work: the first third based on the third edition of the Koehler-Baumgartner lexicon, revised by Baumgartner alone (German edition, first fascicle 1967); the second third on Baumgartner's own manuscript (as far as it was completed up to the time of his death) for the second fascicle of the German edition, as yet unpublished; and the final portion a revision of the English material in the Koehler-Baumgartner first and second editions (published in 1953 and 1958).

Additional Details

Based on the First, Second, and Third Editions of the Koehler-Baumgartner Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros
Edited by William L. Holladay
Publisher: Brill
Copyright: 2000

Holladay's lexicon has been made concise by the omission of bibliographical references, information about cognate languages, and other material intended for the specialist, as well as by a judicious trimming of the biblical citations, always with an eye to the needs of the student of biblical Hebrew. The result, in the words of William Sanford LaSor, is "a useful tool for students of the Hebrew language...carefully done and beautifully printed."

Benefits of Ownership

A fair question to ask is, "How does Holladay's lexicon compare with other Hebrew/Aramaic lexica available for Logos Bible Software? What role will it play in my library?"

The key feature of Holladay's lexicon is that it's both concise and highly reliable. Dr. Holladay is a true Hebrew scholar and his work reflects the same quality of scholarship found in a larger lexicon such as HALOT. It does not replace these larger, more thorough lexica, but it provides quick, credible information that can be digested in a moment. For busy pastors and seminary students, this provides a nice time-savings when in-depth research is not required.

Excerpt from the Editor's Introduction to the First Impression (1970)

"Two contrary classroom purposes have impelled this work, one humble, practical and rather less scholarly, the other idealistic and more scientific. The first, already alluded to, is to meet the needs of the beginning student, uncertain of the way, anxious to 'get the assignment done,' whose overriding question is simply, 'What does this word, this verse, this passage mean?' For such a student a working tool has, I trust, been provided that offers some of the riches of present-day scholarship in modest and usable compass. But the other purpose is to lead the student to ask the prior question, 'How and to what extent can we know what this work or verse or passage means?' Too rarely is the student led to ask who compiles a dictionary, and what evidence the compiler has used in drawing his conclusions. This is the central problem in defining words in a language or dialect no longer spoken; and unfortunately, in the interests of saving space, the steps by which the German work has arrived at its conclusions have in the present work been largely suppressed: namely, the evidence offered by parallel passages, cognate languages, and the consequent discussions of scholars. But it is my hope that, even truncated as the present work is, it still offers the student enough significant variations from the Revised Standard Version or from whatever other modern translation might be at hand, to prompt the student to raise the tolerance for uncertainty, and to begin to 'test everything, holding fast to what is good.'"

Praise for the Print Edition

G. Ernest Wright, Parkman Professor of Divinity (O.T.), Harvard Divinity School
"William L. Holladay's condensation of the Koehler-Baumgartner Hebrew-Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament is a most welcome tool, which I predict will be used by practically every teacher of beginning Hebrew students in the English-speaking world. All the essentials are here, including Baumgartner's work on the third edition of the original. This colume is a unique work, most welcome, characterized by sound judgment."

H. Neil Richardson, Professor of Old Testament, Boston University School of Theology
"Based upon and advancing beyond the second and third editions of the Kohler-Baumgertner Lexicon, this work fills a gap in the tools readily available to one beginning the study of the Hebrew Bible. It satisfies admirably the essential lexical needs for translating the Hebrew text, steering a middle course between a simple dictionary and a full lexicon. I recommend it with enthusiasm to all who are involved in the study of the Hebrew Bible."

Editor Biography

William L. Holladay is Professor of Old Testament at the Andover Newton Theological School. He received his B.A. degree from the University of California, and graduated (summa cum laude) with a B.D. degree from the Pacific School of Religion in 1951. His Th.D. was granted by the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, in 1958.

Holladay has contributed articles to a variety of scholarly and professional journals, including the Journal of Bible and Religion, the Journal of Biblical Literature, Vetus Testamentum, Harvard Divinity Bulletin and the Middle East Newsletter.

Sample Screenshots and Page Scans

The following entries from HALOT and Enhanced BDB are paired with the corresponding entries from the electronic edition of Holladay's lexicon to show the differences between them. Only the first screen from each of the "verbose" editions is shown, but these images make clear the concise nature of A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. The lexicon provides a very quick, easy-to-read definition for the student of Hebrew and Aramaic. (Note: Click a thumbnail to see each individual, full-size image or click "View side-by-side" for easy side-by-side comparison.)