Biblical Hebrew

The following is a selected list of resources for research in Biblical Hebrew. For further assistance, contact Paul Frantz, Reference Librarian, at pfrantz@uoregon.edu.

Texts

• The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (REF KNIGHT BS 715 1997), a critical edition of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• The Jewish Study Bible (REF KNIGHT BS 895 .J4 2004; and REF KNIGHT BS 895 .J4 1999, the latter with both Hebrew and English), published by the Jewish Publication Society, is the best current translation into English of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• The HarperCollins Study Bible (REF KNIGHT BS 191.5 .A1 S26) and the New Oxford Annotated Bible (REF KNIGHT BS 191.5 .A1) are two other good translations -- New Revised Standard Version -- into English from the Hebrew.
• Talmud Bavli (REF KNIGHT BM 499 1993; 20 volumes), the massive collection of commentaries, discussions, supplements, and observations, relating to the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• Midrash Rabbah (REF KNIGHT BM 517 .M64 1983; 17 volumes), the exposition and explanation of passages from the Torah and from the five Megilloth (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther).

Textual Reference Works

• The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English lexicon of the Old Testament (REF KNIGHT PJ 4833 .B68) guides students in determining what meaning a particular Hebrew word is intended to convey in a specific scriptural context.
• Koehler and Baumgarten's Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (REF KNIGHT PJ 4833 .K61813; 4 volumes)
• The Even-Shoshan concordance of the Hebrew Scriptures (REF KNIGHT BS 1121 .E93) provides an alphabetic index of all the words in the Jewish Bible.
• The Anchor Bible dictionary (REF KNIGHT BS 440 .A54; 6 volumes)
• Jastrow's dictionary of the Targum, Talmudic, and Midrashic literature (REF KNIGHT PJ 5205 .J3 1996)

Hebrew Grammars

• Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (REF KNIGHT PJ 4564 .G5)
• Jouon's grammar of Biblical Hebrew (REF KNIGHT PJ 4567 .J7613; two volumes)
• Lambdin's introduction to Biblical Hebrew (Knight PH 4567 .L3)
• Waltke and O'Connor's introduction to Biblical Hebrew syntax (REF KNIGHT PJ 4707 .W35)

Encyclopedia

The second edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica (REF KNIGHT DS 102.8 .E496 2007) provides useful essays on many topics relating to Biblical Hebrew.

Commentaries

• The Anchor Bible (Knight BS 192.2 A1; many volumes]
• For commentaries on individual books of the Hebrew Scriptures, do a subject search in the UO Library Catalog. Example: Bible O T Genesis commentaries

Finding Articles in the Secondary Literature

• ATLA Religion database indexes approximately 600 religious studies journals and chapters in books, with coverage back to 1949. The full text of about 40 religious journals is included in the database.
• RAMBI: Index of Articles on Jewish Studies (1985-present) "is a selective bibliography of articles in the various fields of Jewish studies and in the study of Eretz Israel. Material listed in RAMBI is compiled from thousands of periodicals and from collections of articles - in Hebrew, Yiddish, and European languages- mainly from the holdings of the Jewish National and University Library ..." (description from RAMBI website)
• JSTOR: Electronic Journal Archive provides retrospective indexing and full-text access to core journals in Biblical Hebrew.

Finding Books

UO WorldCat offers a streamlined interface for search results that combine, into a single merged list, the collections of the UO Libraries, Summit libraries, and hundreds of other libraries worldwide. When searching in UO WorldCat, entries for items owned by the UO Libraries appear at the top of the list and include information about location and availability.