Top lexicons: BDAG, Louw-Nida, TLNT, HALOT, BDB
Top dictionaries: ISBE, Holman's Illustrated, IVP's "pocket" dictionaries, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
Top commentaries: NAC, Expositor's, Baker Exegetical, Tyndale, UBS Handbooks
Poll: What are your five favorite Bible dictionaries, commentaries, and lexicons?
I'm tweaking some of my prioritized Bible dictionaries, commentaries, and lexicons. What are your top 5 favorites? I'm curious to some of your favorites.
Thanks!
Nathan Parker
Visit my blog at http://focusingonthemarkministries.com
Comments
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Top lexicons: BDAG, Louw-Nida, TLNT, HALOT, BDB
Top dictionaries: ISBE, Holman's Illustrated, IVP's "pocket" dictionaries, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
Top commentaries: NAC, Expositor's, Baker Exegetical, Tyndale, UBS Handbooks
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Top lexicons: LSJ (unabridged of course, with 1996 supplement). BDAG. Louw-Nida or use whatever lexicon from the Original Languages base-package or Accordance Starter. (I don't do Hebrew.) I'm going to buy the next Edition after BDAG, probably in Accordance to use with NA29 in order to not be so distracted when doing NT studies (I have few resources there). Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (2009) by Danker: Re: Lexicons.
Top dictionaries: The one I use mostly and definitely prefer, is: New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (I have it in print as well as a Logos pre-pub order in two accounts that I've created, one for myself and the other for a friend). For convenience I sometimes use Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. For the same reason I sometimes use Eerdmans Bible Dictionary in Accordance. Those two are included in the basic base-package/collection.
Top commentaries (not necessarily whole sets):
- Baker New Testament Commentary (HK) see discussion:
How good is Kistemaker on 2 Cor 1-9 in Baker NT Commentary (1997)?
- Hermeneia,
- Interpretation, (I'm not sure how I rate all of these as they are newly acquired, the one I read by Pheme Perkins seemed quite good),
- Believer's Church Bible Commentary,
- UBS Handbook NT and Upgrade (not really a commentary),
- ICC,
- EDIT: Of course Paideia. I have Ro and Upgrade (4 vols.). (Ro is VERY good, although one user (who has both L5 and Accordance) is recommending the Interpretation volume instead: I have the Interpretation...),
- James (1999) by Richard Bauckham (printed matter),
- The Gospel According to John A Theological Commentary (1978) by Pheme Perkins (printed matter),
- EDIT2: 2 Peter Jude by Peter H. Davies: www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=PNTC-2Peter+%26amp%3B+Jude (I use it only for Jude, really good),
- Companion God A Cross-Cultural Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew by George T. Montague (printed matter),
- Berit Olam Genesis,
- Continental Commentary Isaiah 1-39 for textual matters.
Right now I'm evaluating Baker NT Commentary (HK) (probably keeping it), Interpretation (4 vols.) and a couple of Believer's Church Bible Commentary volumes. I have two Believer's Church Bible Commentary volumes since before and they are really good. I evaluated a third volume which I found bad and returned (by Ivan D. Friesen).
I have other commentaries also which are not advanced enough to be listed here, some of them are really good, like the ones on 1 Clem that I have (You can find me mentioning one of them if You do a search, the other is Worship in the Early Church: An Anthology of Historical Sources, the latter only has a very brief introduction). I also have Studies in the Form of Sirach 44-50 by Thomas R. Lee (Ph.D. thesis 1979, published by SBL in 1986).
Disclosure!
trulyergonomic.com
48G AMD octacore V9.2 Acc 120 - Baker New Testament Commentary (HK) see discussion:
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Bible Dictionaries: Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (for quick reference); Anchor Bible Dictionary (for further study).
*I'd add The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible into this mix if it was available.Commentaries (OT): Interpretation; Hermeneia / Anchor Bible / Continental (depending on which book I'm looking at).
*Interpretation is particularly good for the OT. Almost every volume is worth having. The Westminster Bible Companion OT volumes are quite good, too.Commentaries (NT): For Everyone by N.T. Wright; Interpretation; Hermeneia / Anchor Bible / Word Biblical Commentary / NIGTC (depending on which book I'm looking at; e.g., if I'm in Colossians, Dunn's NIGTC volume is where I'd go first).
*I've assumed you wanted a list of series, not individual volumes for each book of the Bible. And, just so you know, I'd add The New Interpreter's Bible into the mix for both OT and NT if it was available. Same goes for The Old Testament Library/The New Testament Library.Lexicons (OT): BDB; HALOT
Lexicons (LXX): LEH
Lexicons (NT): BDAG; Louw-Nida; TDNT (assuming you think of it as a lexicon!)
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Bible Dictionaries:
1. The Inter-Varsity Press Dictionaries (Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, etc.)
2. The New Bible Dictionary - still the best one volume Dictionary for a quick look up.
3. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
Commentaries:
1. The New International Commentary OT / NT (hands down the overall best)
2. Word Biblical Commentary
3. Pillar
I have listed Commentary sets. All sets are inconsistent, and the best commentary on a particular book may be in another set not listed, or not a set at all. For example, I would rank Cranfield's Romans in the ICC as the absolute best work done on the Book of Romans. But the ICC set as a whole is too dated to be in my top 4 or 5 sets. Though most of the newer ICC volumes would be.
Lexicons:
1. BDAG
2, HALOT
3. Louw-Nida
4. Enhanced Brown Driver Briggs
5. NIDTT - Colin Brown
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
I forgot to mention that I very much prefer: Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (3 vols.):
Adam Rao said:TDNT (assuming you think of it as a lexicon!)
Disclosure!
trulyergonomic.com
48G AMD octacore V9.2 Acc 120 -
Recently, I've been happy to make good use of BDAG, Anchor Bible Dictionary, IVP black dictionaries, Hermeneia, and JPS Tanakh commentaries,
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Thanks for all the feedback! Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Internet was out for over a week and finally got it back on recently. I've taken some of the feedback here and fine-tuned my list of prioritized books. It's been a huge help!
Nathan Parker
Visit my blog at http://focusingonthemarkministries.com
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Nathan Parker said:
Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Internet was out for over a week and finally got it back on recently.
Wow Nathan, that must have been frustrating not to be connected. Glad you have returned.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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Nathan Parker said:
Thanks for all the feedback! Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Internet was out for over a week and finally got it back on recently. I've taken some of the feedback here and fine-tuned my list of prioritized books. It's been a huge help!
Some other resources that I have prioritized (and find very useful) are:
Bruce Metzger's A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, the NET's textual notes, and IVP's Bible Background commentaries.
Edit: How could I forget to mention the Commentary on the NT use of the OT! It, too, is very good to have prioritized.
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Bruce Dunning said:
Wow Nathan, that must have been frustrating not to be connected. Glad you have returned.
It's been a nightmare but I think I'm finally getting somewhere. Found a better ISP here.
Nathan Parker
Visit my blog at http://focusingonthemarkministries.com
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Josh said:
Some other resources that I have prioritized (and find very useful) are:
Bruce Metzger's A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, the NET's textual notes, and IVP's Bible Background commentaries.
Edit: How could I forget to mention the Commentary on the NT use of the OT! It, too, is very good to have prioritized.
Forgot about those. I'll check out those as well and see if I want to prioritize any.
Nathan Parker
Visit my blog at http://focusingonthemarkministries.com
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My Prioritization is;
Lexicons
DBL Greek
DBL Hebrew
BDAG
DBL Aramaic
LSJ
Louw Nida
EDNT
Dictionaries
Concise Oxford Dictionary (Speeds up Logos being the first dictionary as entries are short)
MW Collegiate Dictionary 11thEd Merriam Websters
LBD Lexham Bible Dictionary
Easton's Bible Dictionary
NNCD Nelsons New Christian Dictionary
Nelsons New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Harpers Bible Dictionary
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
(then I have the dictionaries with more substantial entries I use when I want to do some deeper research)
Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology
New Dictionary of Biblical Theology
New Dictionary of Theology
IVP Dictionaries
Commentaries
(I own and regularly use NICNT/OT, WBC, Pillar, Tyndale and UBC in exegetical work, but I have my devotional commentaries prioritized higher as I use these to find sermon illustrations and insightful quotes once I have near finished my sermons. I find that the commentaries in the middle of my prioritization list such as NICNT/NICOT I seek out deliberatley and spend time in wheras I skim the higher listed commentaries for specific items. The exception is Baker which I have found usefull for the first point of entry into my days textual studies)
Baker New Testament Commentary
NIV Application Commentary
Preaching the Word
Boices Expositional Commentary
Life Application Commentary
Life Application Bible Commentary
Welwyn Commentary Series
A Bible Commentary in the Weslayan Tradition
Wiersbe's 'Be series'
Synonyms of the NT
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Dictionaries: 1) IVP Black Dictionaries, 2) Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, 3) New Bible Dictionary, 4) Vine's Dictionary, 5) Diccionario Teologico Ilustrado (Spanish).
Commentaries: 1) College Press, 2) PNTC, 3) Exegetical Summaries, 4) NAC, 5) Comentario Biblico Mundo Hispano (Spanish)
Lexicons: 1) Louw-Nida Lexicon, 2) Analytical Lexicon of the Greek NT, 3) Lexico Tuggy (Spanish), 4) Complete Word Study Dictionary OT & NT (Tagged as a lexicon in Logos Database), 5) Theological Lexicon of the OT & NT
I had to tweak my list too since my package changed, but if things go well I may have to re-tweak sometime next year :-)
DAL
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So far after tweaking here's my list:
Commentaries:
Life Principles Bible (Let's me see Charles Stanley's notes at a quick glance)
Analytical Bible Expositor (since I love consulting Butler)
FaithLife Study Bible (so I have a Study Bible in the mix that's going to be always up-to-date)
UBS Handbooks (Seems people on here like them, and Morris Proctor recommends them in his Academic Training. I'm wanting to dig into them more. I do need to purchase the UBS Handbook Upgrade though).
NIGTC (Seems like a good one to add for the NT)
Metzger's Textual Commentary NT
NAC (so that if I'm studying in the OT I still have another Prioritized set of commentaries to consult)
Once I purchase the entire Word Biblical I'll probably add it. I only have a handful of them right now.
Dictionaries:
AYBD (The biggie)
Eerdmans (Lots of people on here seem to like it as well)
New Bible Dictionary (got good response on here as well)
ISBE
Specialty Dictionaries:
IVP OT
IVP NT
IVP Pocket
Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (Morris Proctor recommends it)
That's Easy for You To Say (Again, Morris Recommended)
English/Spanish Dictionaries:
Webster's 11th
Webster's Thesaurus
Webster's Spanish English
Lexicons/Word Studies:
TLOT
TWOT
TDNT
BDAG
Vine's
L-N
LEH LXX
Some of these I took from the Learn to Use Greek and Hebrew vids.
Question: Do I need to Prioritize and German or Latin dictionaries when I begin studying those?
Nathan Parker
Visit my blog at http://focusingonthemarkministries.com
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New International Dictionary: Old and New Testament (9 vols.) VS. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) (1979–1995) (4 vols.)
which is better, why guys?
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Kelvin Niblett said:
NIV Application Commentary
The more I read these, the more I like them. I'm just not sure about the format.
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mike said:
The first 9 volume set is lexical dictionary…meaning it focus is on word meanings. While ISBE has some lexical value it is mostly a standard Bible dictionary…. both are considered top of or at least close to top of the pack in evangelical circles. So you question is almost like asking which is better a potato or a tomato…. both members of the nightshade family (both books on Bible study), but while one is a juicy fruit the other is a starchy vegetable. But french fries with ketchup are yummy.
-Dan
-Dan
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Josh said:
The more I read these, the more I like them. I'm just not sure about the format.
The format was a turn off for me. If I ever have extra cash to spare I'll probably go with NICOT/NT instead; though if I was rich I'd get the whole bundle of NIVACOT/NT ;-) Even though, I see some of the bridging and application somewhat redundant in some cases.
DAL
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Dan Francis said:
The first 9 volume set is lexical dictionary…meaning it focus is on word meanings. While ISBE has some lexical value it is mostly a standard Bible dictionary…. both are considered top of or at least close to top of the pack in evangelical circles. So you question is almost like asking which is better a potato or a tomato…. both members of the nightshade family (both books on Bible study), but while one is a juicy fruit the other is a starchy vegetable. But french fries with ketchup are yummy.
-Dan
-Dan
so in plain un-allegorized, the 9 vols is better than? cuz it seems juicy fruit is healthier.
I just don't want to regret my purchase..
last question, how low have you seen the 9 vols. go down to?
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mike said:
so in plain un-allegorized, the 9 vols is better than? cuz it seems juicy fruit is healthier.
I just don't want to regret my purchase..
last question, how low have you seen the 9 vols. go down to?
I don't think you would regret purchasing either of these high quality resources. Certainly both of them are very good but the New International is more extensive.
ISBE seems to go on sale quite often. As a matter of fact it would not surprise me if it doesn't go on sale again during this year's Black Friday sale. I've been waiting for the New International to go on sale myself since I only have the NT in a paper version.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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I love Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary and have it as #1 in my priorities. Great for a basic lookup as you go. And it has PICTURES! [:D]
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Carmen Gauvin-O'Donnell said:
I love Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary and have it as #1 in my priorities. Great for a basic lookup as you go. And it has PICTURES!
I've always really liked it as well and consulted it often. It's a fun dictionary.
Nathan Parker
Visit my blog at http://focusingonthemarkministries.com
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Bruce Dunning said:
I've been waiting for the New International to go on sale myself since I only have the NT in a paper version.
Well, it is on sale this month!
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Michael S. said:
Wow, Michael. This thread is almost four years old and I already had the updated NT version. But...I didn't have the OT for this set and I just ordered it. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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