About the Book -- The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Complete and Unabridged Electronic Edition)

This is the most accurate and complete electronic edition of The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (BDB) in existence. It is the only electronic edition that contains not only all the elements of the printed original 1906 edition, including all instances of the cognate Semitic languages, but also its pagination. As a result it can be easily used with other indexes and reference works which have been published to date.

Varda Books' edition is also the easiest to use, and the most user-friendly edition of BDB in any format, be it print or electronic. The printed book metaphor has been retained in full--down to every page, paragraph, and glyph.  On top of it, since there's no complicated software to learn, you already know how to use the electronic edition.

Although there are more up-to-date dictionaries (especially with regard to the use of Ugaritic and Akkadian), none is as thorough as BDB in its careful reading of the Bible. ". . . practically a concordance," notes Prof. Jeffery Tigay, “[BDB] is very acute in its treatment of semantic nuances and will alert you to nuances you never suspected."

Since it first appeared in the early part of the twentieth century, BDB has been considered the finest and most comprehensive Hebrew lexicon available to the English-speaking student. BDB gives not only dictionary definitions for each word, but relates each word to its usage in the Hebrew Bible and categorizes its nuanced meanings.

Exhaustive coverage of Hebrew words, its unparalleled usage of cognate languages and the wealth of background sources consulted and quoted, has made BDB the most recommended resource for all students of the Bible.

But it's not only Bible students who can benefit by consulting it: anyone seriously engaged in the study of Hebrew can benefit as well. Unlike most other dictionaries, BDB lists words by their roots rather than in alphabetical order and in each case gives the full range of biblical usages. That is why, if you are trying to trace a word's etymology in post-biblical or modern Hebrew usage, you'd do well to consult BDB as well.

With generous permission of Hendrickson Publishers, Varda Books has added Strong's Concordance numbers to enable even those with minimal knowledge of Hebrew to be able to use this Lexicon with ease. The use of Strong's numbers makes this edition especially user-friendly and allows the reader to easily look up the meaning of almost any word in the Hebrew Bible no matter what level of language skills you have.

Adding to its usefulness, this electronic edition of BDB has been programmed to work either as a stand-alone book or interactively with Varda Books' electronic edition of The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Scholar PDF), which can be purchased separately. Now, by simply clicking on any one of 186,734 biblical reference in BDB, you'll access the BHS-based authoritative edition of the Hebrew text of Tanakh with renown JPS English translation right next to it.

Highlights of electronic edition:

Our edition of BDB retains all of the printed original's valuable features while adding the functionality that comes with the use of computers. Varda Books has:

ž         Retained printed book metaphor. . .
so you always know where you are in the book

ž         Preserved original pagination . . .
to permit you to continue using other already published excellent biblical study tools, which refer to BDB by its page number

ž         Not omitted any of the original text . . .
so you know that you use the most authoritative edition possible, however the text has been also fully corrected and updated with all changes noted in the addenda et. corrigenda in the print edition

ž         Added Strong's numbering system . . .
to allow you to expand greatly your understanding of the biblical text beyond what is normally permitted by a translation, even if your knowledge of Hebrew is minimal, 

ž         Appended the Index of all Hebrew words in BDB. . .
to permit you to find quickly any place in Lexicon

ž         Hyperlinked BDB with JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Scholar PDF) . . .
so if you purchased it, you can click on any biblical references in BDB and instantly see the Hebrew text of the biblical source, placed next to renowned JPS English translation

OTHER BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC EDITION

Easy to read

ž         The newly reset text of this edition can be magnified on your screen up to 6400%, so you can see clearly every little (but important) glyph of the text without straining your eyes

ž         The use of complex typography enhances your ability to memorize and remember

ž         Because the text has been re-formatted with complete retention of pagination, you are always on the same page as your well-used printed paper edition

Simple to navigate

ž         When you have Strong's number or know the Hebrew root you can get to any article in BDB with a maximum of only three clicks

ž         A single-click jumping action takes you from one division of the Lexicon to the next or from any page to an appended Index of all Hebrew words

ž         Sophisticated navigation mechanism within Hebrew word Index itself allows you an easy, instantaneous review of all words available to you

ž         Unlike in some other electronic editions, all Index words are laid out alphabetically

Simple and Powerful Search

Using Adobe's Free Acrobat Reader, you can search the English text for specific names, words or phrases throughout the entire BDB or on any given page.

ž         Easy to use Find command:
refine by selecting Match Whole Word Only, Match Case, or Find Backwards

ž         Word Stemming Search:*
find all search term derivatives

ž         "Sounds Like" Search:*
find alternative spellings of proper names

ž         Search using Thesaurus:*
find synonyms for the search term

ž         Proximity Option Search:*
find two separate items on the same page

ž         Set Preferences:*
control the order of your search results, determine the number of searches you want to display, and choose how highlights are displayed (by page, by word, or not at all)

ž         Refine Search using Boolean terms*

ž         Search Simultaneously the Tanakh and other PDF documents*

Copy, Paste and Share*

Copy and paste of what you have found into your word-processor; no need to retype the text.

ž         Copy English text:
use "Column Select Tool" to select exactly the text you need and re-flow it

ž         Copy Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic and other languages:
use "Graphics Select Tool" to copy and paste perfectly formatted Hebrew text (be it a single glyph or an entire page) into virtually any word-processor; no special fonts necessary

ž         Share copied non-English text:
Because you have pasted Hebrew as an image, you can send it as a part of your Word Editor's file to almost anyone else. No need to worry about "embedding" or installing properly fonts on another person's system

Print*

For your personal and scholarly needs to produce prints of a much higher quality than if you copy them directly from a printed book.

ž         Enlarge as much as your printer allows:
without the loss of quality--the result will be page-for-page the printed book version of the BDB; perfect for making personal or scholarly notes or leisurely reading of BDB when you wish for a larger size of print

ž         Print only a section of the page that you need,
so you leave plenty of space for your comments

* Applies only to Student PDF and Scholar PDF formats; does not apply to Reader PDF version.

About the Author -- The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Complete and Unabridged Electronic Edition)

Brown, F.; Driver S.; Briggs C. ---

Briggs, Charles Augustus (January 15, 1841 - 1913), American theologian and Hebrew scholar. Born in New York City, he was educated at the University of Virginia (1857-1860), graduated at the Union Theological Seminary in 1863, and studied further at the University of Berlin. He was pastor of the Presbyterian church of Roselle, New Jersey, 1869-1874, and professor of Hebrew and cognate languages in Union Theological Seminary 1874-1891. From 1880 to 1890 he was an editor of the Presbyterian Review. In 1892 he was tried for heresy by the presbytery of New York and acquitted; the general assembly, however, suspended Briggs in 1893. He was ordained a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1899. He has been awarded many honoraries degrees and is the author of many publications.

Books on Related Topics

Books on "References" Category