Soul Invictus

I have the New Oxford Annotated Bible, and I am enjoying its content. I had a few questions though.

1) To have a more accurate understanding of the original meanings of the words in the Bible, what is a recommended source? An example of what I mean is by using the reference of Adam. We know that this came from the Hebrew adamah...something we don't learn from the KJV. I'm looking for more study along thse lines.My interest is knowing the original or intended concepts and meanings of the texts. I'm aware of lost meanings via translation errors and whatnot and I am very interested in any research or scholarship concerning this.Sorry for the rushed post, however I'm leaving work and wanted to put this thread out there in well enough time for enough people to see it.

Thanks

Haran

I'm not sure exactly what resources you are looking for, but I'll give it a shot.

If you're looking for commentaries that deal with the original languages, the ones I've used and would suggest are:

Expositor's Bible Commentary (this is one of my favorites...there is also a CD ROM version)

Anchor Bible Commentary Series (this is just one book out of the series - 1 Samuel). It is written by Kyle P. Carter - one of the scholars who featured prominently in the recent James Ossuary debate)


If you're looking for Hebrew lexicons:

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament

Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament

Brown, Driver, Briggs (or BDB) is still considered pretty much standard Hebrew lexicon

Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Unabridged - 2 vol.) Probably the best out there, but very expensive.

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Finally, many people make the mistake of thinking that they know a language because they can look the words up in a lexicon. Grammar plays a rather large role in the meaning of a language, so I suggest learning the language. I recommend the following for learning Biblical Hebrew. It is excellent and if you really follow the excercises and stick with it, you will learn.

Biblical Hebrew Step-by-Step Vol. 1- Menahem
Mansoor

BH Step-by-Step Vol. 2

These books have lessons and exercise answer books as well. Don't forget to get them.

I don't know if this was any help or not, but these are some of the best resources I've found. I'm sure I've left something out though, so maybe someone else will present what I may have missed.

DrJim

Haran is right, you cant really get in-depth just with a lexicon, although he has listed what I think are some of the best resources.

Here are some sites that you might find useful, if you want to have a bash at teaching yourself some Hebrew without formal classes or outlay of cash to see if it is for you.

Online Hebrew Tutorial



Bible 101



Biblbical Hebrew Vocabulary

No garantee you will learn the language from these sites, but I did try the links and at least they work!