Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament

[TheBard]

Let me start off by saying that I have not studied Hebrew so I don't know much here. I am a seminary student, but have not and likely won't study Hebrew itself any time in the near future. However, based on the little research I have done on Hebrew lexicons I find it odd that the concise HALOT isn't on Accordance. This seems like it is very useful for looking up words in a relatively short time frame and is maybe the best of any resource at doing this. Logos has this, which seems odd since Accordance seems more geared towards academics. Any thoughts here on all this?

[Brian K. Mitchell]

   

Accordance does have the Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew which is

 

 

 an abridgment of the 8-volume Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), the first volume of which appeared in 1993. The DCH was the first dictionary of the Classical Hebrew language ever to be published. Unlike other dictionaries of the ancient Hebrew language, which cover only the texts of the Hebrew Bible, either exclusively or principally, DCH records the language of all texts written in Hebrew from the earliest times down to the end of the second century CE. That is to say, it includes not only the words used in the Hebrew Bible, but also those found in the Hebrew Book of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), the Dead Sea Scrolls, and all the ancient Hebrew inscriptions. http://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=Concise+DCH   

 

 

 

While I too hope that Accordance might acquire  the concise HALOT. I think the DCH represents recent scholarship and is a very fresh tool to have. 

 

it is very useful for looking up words in a relatively short time frame

 

 

With the paper edition that is clear a big benefit, however in Accordance (or any other software) lexicon/dictionaries entries are usually just a click or two away. 

 

[Douglas Fyfe]

I think most will use BDB abridged if they want a shorter one. (included with original languages collection, as does CDCH)

 

I understand HALOT isn't cheap, but if you want HALOT, you may as well get the the full thing. If you don't need the full thing, make do with BDB or CDCH.

[Rick Bennett]

Seminaries typically assign this because it is less expensive, and easier to carry around than the full 6-volume HALOT. The condensed entries are also suitable for students.

 

However, I would recommend buying the full HALOT in electronic form (and of course in Accordance). There are no issues in size limitations, and Accordance has ways to enhance looking up the context of a word which makes it easier to navigate and hone in on specific usage in long entries. While the price may be prohibitive for students, long term you know you won't ever need to upgrade it. I have the same feelings about BDAG and its concise version.

 

From a development perspective we have done concise / abridged versions (BDB / DCH), but it is somewhat rare and in those cases we acquired the abridged versions before we could get the full versions. As of now we have no plans to acquire and develop the Concise HALOT.

 

I hope this helps. Thanks for the feedback.

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi,

IMHO, the argument for including it is that it is for beginners, and it certainly has a long history of classroom use for Hebrew 101. (Also, practically it was the only way for English students to access the scholarly standard before the price of the CDs for HALOT dropped to $179 USD, compared to the paper volumes that were over $600 for just the four Hebrew ones). Most beginning Greek students don’t use BDAG either.

Like I told John the other day, Holladay is an abridged version of different editions of HALOT. I don’t have mine (don’t know who I lent it to), but if I recall, he used the 3rd ed of HALOT up to (I don’t remember if including) the entries for ayin, and the 2nd ed after that. I mention this because Logos and BW have it, but if Acc took on the project, perhaps they could work with the publisher to update the last third of the lexicon/check it against the 3rd ed of HALOT, or, even check the whole thing against the Konzise und aktualisierte Ausgabe des Hebräischen und Aramäischen Lexikons zum Alten Testament.

Even seasoned OT/HB scholars use Holladay for rapid reading, and they know they can basically trust that the first two thirds of the lexicon reflect the 3rd edition of HALOT. If it could be updated, and you could access it in instant details with a hover of the mouse, I think HB scholars would come to Acc in droves, especially in concert with all of the syntax modules and capabilities in the works that Dr. Holmstedt mentioned,

Regards,

Michel
 

[Michel Gilbert]

Having said all this, it’s probably more realistic for Acc to wait to acquire KAHAL when it is translated into English, probably sometime in the next decade, and perhaps reconsider CHALOT in the meantime if more people speak up. I know others have also spoken in favor of Danker’s Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Realistically, it is hard to assign the full versions of HALOT or BDAG in introductory courses. But if their the abridged versions were available in Acc, I would start building my introductory courses and grammar(s) around them.

Regards,

Michel

[farcas]

DCH all the way. 

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi,

Anyone considering buying DCH or its concise version should read Anderson’s scathing criticisms of it at http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/abr/43_50_clines.pdf .

I’ve been checking DCH definitions over the past two years, and Anderson’s criticisms hold true for the entire set. DCH has its place, but given its methodological inconsistency, it has to be used with extreme caution. Practically this doesn’t matter for the most common words, but often does for the ones that occur once or a few times.

Regards,

Michel

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Hi Michel,

 

  I've read a scant few pages of Anderson at this point - very interesting indeed. Another post of yours adding to my todo list I'm going to have to try to run down the Barr papers. Seems the book (Linguisitics and Biblical Hebrew ed. Bodine) is not really easy to find though I note Logos has it. I'll have to see if my library can get it.

 

  Many thanx as always.

 

thx

D

[prainbow]

Hi Rick Bennett (if you're still with Accordance)

I've been a professor of Bible at Sioux Falls Seminary for 32 years, have read the whole Hebrew OT, and have used all the standard Hebrew lexica.

Has corporate thinking perhaps changed since you wrote in 2016 there were no plans for Accordance to acquire Holladay's CHALOT?

In summer 2018 I joined Accordance when BibleWorks went out of business.

Fortunately I kept BibleWorks on my PCs. As soon as I started using Accordance I was dismayed to find a choice between only BDB (way out of date) and Kohlenberger/Mounce (developed from an English concordance by a non-specialist in Hebraica, though Mounce is known, of course, for his Greek resources). Even though I have both programs now I find myself returning to BibleWorks again and again because it uses CHALOT as the default. I work in BibleWorks 97%+ of the time because of this strong preference, using Accordance only as a quick check. This preference won't change unless Accordance acquires a more authoritative Hebrew lexicon.

PR

[R. Mansfield]

Dr. Rainbow, welcome to the Accordance forums. Rick Bennett is no longer with us Accordance,  so Rick Mansfield will have to do :-)

 

CHALOT is something we can certainly revisit. Realistically, though, I've not heard many requests for it. Most just go for the full HALOT (if users would be interested, please speak up!). We have a good relationship with Eerdmans and can probably get an etext from them. Of course, Hebrew resources like this, as you might imagine, take longer to develop for Accordance than some works, so we'd really want to see some kind of healthy demand for it.

[Mark Allison]

Rick Bennett is no longer with us..

 

Well, he's still "with us," he just doesn't work for Accordance any more :-)

[R. Mansfield]

Good clarification.

[Fabian]

The newer one is https://www.amazon.de/aktualisierte-Hebräischen-Aramäischen-Lexikons-Testament/dp/9004099662 for the Aramaic parts there is also a new version released in Dez. 2019.

 

Or online by Brill, but this is very expensive. https://brill.com/view/db/kaho?language=de 

 

Or the Gesenius from 2013 (unfortunately they deleted the Amharic, Syriac, Pershian and the Arabic which was in the 17. Ausgabe, which has become the BDB https://www.amazon.de/Hebräisches-Aramäisches-Handwörterbuch-über-Testament/dp/3642256805/ref=pd_sbs_14_2/261-6447579-8797237?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=3642256805&pd_rd_r=cf9cf475-800a-4dc5-b168-371f61d74297&pd_rd_w=IHuN8&pd_rd_wg=0xc0Q&pf_rd_p=42bf0ad8-ce6f-4127-a2f0-106727020a41&pf_rd_r=JP2MZS1PT00G1ASJNA8P&psc=1&refRID=JP2MZS1PT00G1ASJNA8P 

 

Certainly all in German. Like the Halot is by original.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Fabian