While summer is in full swing, we know it won’t be long before classes start again and it’s back to the books (if you ever even left them). What volumes will be your companions this coming school year? Below is a brief list of our top picks for Bible Reference and Biblical Languages. What are your favorites and must-haves?

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#1: Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity

Complete in one volume A-Z: Coming August 2017

Regarded as “an outstanding resource” by Craig A. Evans, the Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity A-Z shouldn’t be overlooked. Well-researched, wide-ranging, and incredibly in-depth, this unique reference work contains comprehensive research and extensive bibliographies from specialized scholars for each term in the volume, A-Z.

Expect to . . . be surprised by the new cultural details you learn about Bible times.

Don’t miss . . . the incredibly well-researched and eye-opening chapter on “Birds” written by Rozenn Bailleul-Lesuer.

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#2: Cruden’s Complete Condordance to the Old and New Testaments

By Alexander Cruden

Bible students have enjoyed Cruden’s easy-to-use format and portable size for over 250 years. While not new, this valuable reference has stood the test of time for a reason. It’s handy for fast word studies or just for finding a favorite passage, and it’s ideal for busy Bible students, teachers, and pastors who need a convenient and portable concordance.

Expect to . . . quickly locate all of the occurrences of any given word in the Bible.

Don’t miss . . . Cruden’s original notes and comments on Bible places, names, and types.

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#3: An Introduction to Reading Biblical Wisdom Texts

By Elaine Phillips

Coming August 2017

This highly accessible and engagingly written introduction to the Bible’s wisdom literature is built on a strong scholarly foundation but also aims to nurture the reader’s love for God. An Introduction to Reading Biblical Wisdom Texts is designed for undergraduate students and laypersons who are studying in confessional contexts that affirm the inspired and authoritative nature of Scripture.

Expect to . . . wrestle with the love, fear, doubt, joy, anger, and ecstasy expressed by the biblical writers.

Don’t miss . . . the engaging and highly accessible writing style the author uses to help connect scholarship and real-life experience.

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 #4: Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Updated Edition

By James Strong

An oldie but a goodie. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance deserves a place next to your Bible as one of the most valuable and versatile tools of Bible study ever developed. Students of the Bible have long used concordances to go in search of lost riches within the pages of Scripture. Few, however, make full use of the wealth of resources offered in Strong’s from doing word and thematic studies to probing the deeper meanings embedded in the original languages of the Bible.

Expect to . . . go beyond mere searches for lost verses and hone your skills by utilizing this tool’s more advanced features.

Don’t miss . . . Hebrew and Greek dictionaries that tie each word to the Greek or Hebrew root.

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#5: Biblical Aramaic: A Reader & Handbook

By Donald R. Vance, George Athas, Yael Avrahami, and Jonathan G. Kline

Biblical Aramaic: A Reader & Handbook is a “one-stop shop” for anyone who is studying Biblical Aramaic or seeking to retain the knowledge they have already acquired. A wonderful resource for both professors and students, Biblical Aramaic: A Reader & Handbook effectively empowers students to be able to read the Bible’s Aramaic texts with comprehension, ease, and enjoyment, and to sustain a solid, lasting command of the language long after their formal study has ended.

Expect to . . . be able to read the Aramaic portions of the Bible with understanding and confidence, and to maintain this ability over the long term.

Don’t miss . . . the extensive array of unique, pedagogically effective word lists, for example: All the verbs are listed by stem and type of root, by frequency of root and attested form, and more.

“I recommend it without hesitation to those looking for a reader’s aid for Biblical Aramaic. The editors are to be congratulated for a very useful tool and the publisher is to be thanked for bringing to us a work which will undoubtedly find its way to many classrooms and studies.”

—Jim West (ThD) Lecturer in Biblical and Reformation Studies,
Ming Hua Theological College, and Pastor at Petros Baptist Church

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BONUS: COMING SOON

The Complete Hebrew-Greek Bible

Coming November 2017

Hendrickson’s The Complete Hebrew-Greek Bible combines under one cover the complete text of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament. Ideal for pastors, students, scholars, and anyone else who has studied both Greek and Hebrew, this is an excellent volume for those who want a complete original-language Bible in an attractive package and at an affordable price. The Hebrew text is a beautifully typeset version of the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia, edited by Aron Dotan. The Greek New Testament is a recent typesetting of the edition produced by B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort.

Expect to . . . have the entire Bible in the original languages at your fingertips, in a portable and highly legible edition.

Don’t miss . . . the beautiful typesetting and accuracy of the Hebrew Bible text, which was produced through a painstaking reexamination of the Leningrad Codex; the fact that all New Testament quotations of and allusions to the Hebrew Bible are highlighted in the text; and the streamlined New Testament apparatus that presents the differences in wording between the Westcott-Hort edition, the 27th edition of Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece, and the Byzantine text edition prepared by Maurice Robinson and William Pierpont.