Bibliographies:


Very Brief Bibliographic Introduction to Old Testament Study

See under Bible in the Research Guide for Christianity on the Divinity Library's website for more complete information. (http://www.library.yale.edu/div/biblegde.htm)

Tools needed for various tasks:

Groundwork:
Texts - various versions
Bible dictionaries & encyclopedias - look up terms, locations, genres, etc.
Atlases
Studying the text:
Concordances - tracing word usage
Lexicons, dictionaries - meaning of words
Learning from others:
Commentaries
Library catalog (Orbis) - find books
ATLA/ATLAS Religion Database - find journal articles and chapters within books

Reference Works on Exegesis:

  • Biblical exegesis, a beginner's handbook. John H. Hayes and Carl R. Holladay. Rev. ed. Atlanta : Knox, 1987. BS476/H35 **Reference**
  • Old Testament exegesis : a primer for students and pastors. Douglas Stuart. Philadelphia : Westminster Press, c1984. BS476 S83 1984 **Reference**
  • Guides to Biblical Scholarship. Philadelphia: Fortress Press - See Call numbers beginning BS511.2 G84 **Reference** e.g., Sociological approaches to the Old Testament. Robert R. Wilson; Cultural anthropology and the Old Testament. Thomas Overholt, etc.

Texts:

  • Hebrew Bible: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia BS715 1990 **Reference**
  • Hebrew//English Bible: The NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament. Kohlenberger. BS 715
    1979 (in 4 vol.) BS1121 K65 1998 **Reference    **
  • Various Bible versions: see BS195 **Reference**

Commentaries:

One volume commentaries:

  • The Oxford Bible Commentary. John Barton and John Muddiman. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press. BS491.3 **Reference**
  • The HarperCollins Bible commentary. James L. May, ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFRancisco, 2000. BS491.2 H37 2000 **Reference**
  • The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Raymond E. Brown et al. eds. London : Geoffrey Chapman, 1995. BS491.2 **Reference**
  • The Women's Bible Commentary. Carol A. Newsom & S. H. Ringe, eds. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1998. BS491.2 **Reference**

Other commentaries (series):

  • New Interpreters Bible BS491.2 **Reference** (also stack reference copy of set; CD ROM on reserve: CDD0044)
  • Anchor Bible BS491.2 **In Reference Collection **
  • The Old Testament Library (Westminster) BS1151.2 O42: **Reference**

Reference tools:

Electronic sources:

  • Logos Bible Software: Old Testament Hebrew core collection: **In folder labeled "Local Online Resources" on desktop of library workstations**
  • Logos Bible Software: Bible texts, commentaries, concordances, etc. **In folder labeled "Local Online Resources" on desktop of library workstations** - see http://www.library.yale.edu/div/newlogos.htm for more info.
  • BibleWorks: CDD0042

Concordances:

  • NRSV Exhaustive Concordance. Bruce Metzger. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, c1991 BS425 M46 1991 **Reference**
  • The New Strong's exhaustive concordance of the Bible. James Strong. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, c1990. BS425 S86 1990 **Reference**
  • The Eerdmans analytical concordance to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Richard E. Whitaker. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Eerdmans, c1988. BS425 W48 1988 **Reference**
  • The Hebrew-English concordance to the Old Testament. John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Zondervan Pub. House, 1998. BS1121 K65 1998 **Reference**

Lexicons:

  • A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament: with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic (Brown, Driver, Briggs) PJ4833 B68 1957 (LC) **Reference**
  • Index to Brown, Driver and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon. Bruce Einspahr, Chicago: Moody Press, 1976. Oversize PJ4833 B683 E35 (LC) **Reference**
  • The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament. Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. New York : E. J. Brill, 1994-2000. PJ4833 K64 1994 (LC) **Reference**
  • A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Based upon the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. William Lee Holladay, Grand Rapids, Mich., Eerdmans, 1971. PJ4833 H6 1971 (LC) **Reference**
  • Theological wordbook of the Old Testament / R. Laird Harris, editor, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., associate editor, Bruce K. Waltke, associate editor.
    Chicago : Moody Press, c1980. BS440 T49 **Reference**

Atlases (on atlas stand in **Reference**):

  • The Macmillan Bible atlas / Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah. G2230 A2 1993
  • The Harper Concise Atlas of the Bible. Ed. James B. Pritchard. G2230 H48 1991

Dictionaries:

  • Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Botterweck and Ringgren. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans 1974. PJ4833 T5 (LC) **Reference**
  • HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco, CA : HarperSanFrancisco, 1996. BS440 H237 1996 **Reference**
Other:
  • Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament. James B. Pritchard . Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1969. Oversize BS1180 P83 1969 **Reference**
  • Old Testament pseudepigrapha. James H. Charlesworth. Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1983-1985. BS1692 1983 **Reference**
  • Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Lawrence H. Schiffman, James C. VanderKam, editors in chief. New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press, 2000. BM487 E53 2000 **Reference**

© 2005 by Yale Divinity Library. Used by permission.
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http://www.library.yale.edu/div/otbi.htm

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