BDAG/HALOT - Questions about "premium" lexicons
Can somebody explain to me what type of benefits the "high-end" lexicons like BDAG and HALOT offer over, for example, the "low-end" Swanson Dictionaries of Biblical Languages contained in my base package? I assume that they are fantastic resources and that their price is well justified, I'm just looking for some examples of what it is that they offer that make them so wonderful.
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Ronald,
One of the major advantages of lexicons like BDAG and HALOT is their extensive listing of citations from numerous sources. Rather than simply giving a few glosses and biblical citations they also list sources from other contemporary literature. This is even more impressive in LOGOS because many of those extrabiblical sources are available in Logos and can be instantly examined. This allows the reader to not have to arbitrarily pick the meaning that seems best to them but examine the actual usages of the words in order to make the best decision possible.
If you are going to be doing extensive work in either Greek or Hebrew (or want to do so), these are invaluable resources.
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Here are a few images to show the difference in Swanson's and BDAG.
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Terrific, thanks for the explanation and examples!
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