Ok don't laugh… This may be a dumb question.
I am no biblical scholar, I am a 30 yr college student who just wants to understand how to read and study her Bible better. So my question is in BDAG it states
"extended Definitions are in bold roman" and "English formal equivalents are in bold italic/normal italic." Then goes on to say you can explore the equivalents within the boundaries of the definition. I want to be sure I am using BDAG correctly or whats the point of using it at all, its taken me some time to get used to but I'm starting to figure it out but this has been a hold up for me. So for example if a Definition looks like this:
③ seat of inward life, of feelings and desires, belly (but Eng. prefers the functional equivalent heart): κ. denotes the hidden, innermost recesses of the human body (=בֶּטֶן Job 15:35; Pr 18:20; 20:27, 30; Sir 19:12; 51:21), so that a variation betw. κοιλία and καρδία becomes poss.: Ac 2:30 v.l. (κοιλία and καρδία for ὀσφῦς); Rv 10:9 (v.l. καρδία) (Hab 3:16; Ps 39:9; cp. schol. on Nicander, Alexipharmaca 21 τοῦ στόματος τῆς κοιλίας, ἣν οἱ μὲν καρδίαν καλοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ δοχεῖον τῶν ἐντέρων τῆς βρώσεως [καρδία of the upper opening of the stomach: Theocr. 2, 49]; PGM 4, 3141: the κοιλία is the place where the καρδία is found). ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κ. αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος rivers of living water shall flow from the person’s heart J 7:38
Definition: seat of inward life, of feelings and desires
Translation equivalents: belly (but Eng. prefers the functional equivalent heart):
OT references: κ. denotes the hidden, innermost recesses of the human body (=בֶּטֶן Job 15:35; Pr 18:20; 20:27, 30; Sir 19:12; 51:21)
And further down subsection b: α. in an all-inclusive sense: said of God’s or Christ’s awareness about the inner life of humans γινώσκειν τὰς καρδίας (cp.
What can I use for the meaning here in English? Can I look up inward life in the dictionary to clarify the meaning? As well as belly and heart? Can I reliably and accurately look up innermost recesses in English for the OT verses? And lastly, when a text in BDAG is not bolded/italic but normal roman can I reliably take use those words/definition in English as the definition/translation of the verses cited below it?
i hope I don't sound like an idiot. I've looked into this a lot on youtube, logos, Chat gpt, grok, ect but the only resource really is BDAG itself. Maybe I don't understand how to use a lexicon properly and would really appreciate some help. I want to get past the "how to" and be able to get into the meat and potatoes to study my Bible with BDAG and HALOT as well.
Thanks!
