Bible lexicon

A Swedish Bible Dictionary in three volumes

A Bible Lexicon is a reference work for the Bible .

Reasons for publication

Since the most recent biblical writings were written in the 2nd century AD at the latest and thus lie at least almost two millennia between the stories collected in the Bible and the present, many of the people, circumstances, terms and objects mentioned in the Old and New Testaments are today no longer necessarily familiar to every reader. Most of the peoples, places and empires mentioned there have long ceased to exist and are often hardly known to historically well-educated people. In addition, most of the events took place in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near and Middle East , the geography of which is generally not dealt with in school lessons. In addition, it is not easy to keep an overview of the approx. 3000 people treated in the Bible, especially because there are quite a few with the same name.

Structure and differences

Some Bible lexicons, such as Rienecker or the Jerusalem Bible lexicon , are primarily written for non-theological Bible readers. They explain people , places and regions , terms, objects, foods, plants and animals that appear in the context of the various books of the Bible . In such works, the use of photos is standard today, especially with regard to archaeological finds that are related to a keyword in the lexicon, as well as the representation of historical maps in order to geographically localize places and landscapes.

Other dictionaries have focused on certain aspects. Some of these are more aimed at students and theologians .

• The Archaeological Biblical Lexicon deals exclusively with the archaeological aspects of biblical terms.
• Kittel's New Testament Theological Dictionary deals with theological terms of the New Testament and explains in detail their usage as well as parallel Hebrew expressions.
• The IVP Dictionary of the New Testament deals with subject areas and describes their treatment in the various books of the New Testament. In contrast to popular scientific lexicons, it also contains extensive literature references.
• The Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible contains extensive articles on subjects and books of the New Testament and describes their history of action and interpretation. Here, too, there is detailed information on further literature. The individual articles were written by well-known authors such as NT Wright , Robert AJ Gagnon or Alister McGrath .

At www.wibilex.de, the German Bible Society has been developing a scientific Bible lexicon on the Internet since 2008 , written by German theologians and freely accessible.

Selection of Bible Lexica

• Otto Betz , Beate Ego, Werner Grimm : Calwer Bibellexikon , 2nd edition, Calwer, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-7668-3838-5 .
• Helmut Burckhardt, Fritz Grünzweig , Fritz Laubach , Gerhard Maier (eds.): The great Bibellexikon (2 volumes), SCM R. Brockhaus, 2009, ISBN 978-3-417-26300-8 .
• Walter Dietrich , Wolfgang Stegemann : Biblical Encyclopedia , 12 volumes, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1996ff, ISBN 3-17-012330-0 (Volume 1); 1998, ISBN 3-17-012334-3 (Volume 5, previously).
• Manfred Görg , Bernhard Lang (ed.): New Bible Lexicon , 3 volumes, Benziger, Zurich / Düsseldorf 1994/1996/2001, ISBN 978-3-545-23074-3 / ISBN 978-3-545-23075-0 / ISBN 978-3-545-23076-7 .
• Anton Grabner-Haider (ed.): Practical Biblical Lexicon. With the collaboration of Catholic and Protestant theologians. 1969; 14th edition Freiburg im Breisgau 1996; Reprint ("15th, updated edition") Wiesbaden 2005.
• Jacob Hamburger : Real Encyclopedia for the Bible and Talmud , KF Köhler, Leipzig 1892.
• Kurt Hennig (Ed.): Jerusalem Bibellexikon , 4th edition, Hänssler, Neuhausen / Stuttgart, 1998, ISBN 3-77512-367-9 .
  • based on Shalom M. et al .: Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance of the Bible , 1986.

English edition of the New Testament Theological Dictionary

• Gerhard Kittel (ed.), Friedrich Gerhard (ed. From volume 5): Theological dictionary for the New Testament (ThWNT, 10 volumes), W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 1957–1979, ISBN 3-417-24800-0 (reprinted unchanged the first edition published from 1933). Significant thanks to the collaboration of well-known experts such as Rudolf Bultmann , Joachim Jeremias , Otto Procksch , Gerhard von Rad , Hermann Sasse , Julius Schniewind , Hans Freiherr von Soden , Gustav Stählin , Ethelbert Stauffer and others. a. The ThWNT has also been translated into English.
• Klaus Koch , Eckart Otto , Jürgen Roloff : Reclams Bibellexikon , Reclam, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-15-010555-2
• Franz Kogler (editor), Renate Egger-Wenzel and Michael Ernst (editor): Herders Neues Bibellexikon , Freiburg im Breisgau, 2008, ISBN 9783451321504
• Daniel G. Reid: The IVP Dictionary of the New Testament , InterVarsity Press 2004, ISBN 0-8308-1787-5
  • Merging of selected articles from Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (1992), Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (1993), Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments (1997) and Dictionary of New Testament Background (2000), all InterVarsity Press
• Fritz Rienecker , Gerhard Maier , Alexander Schick, Ulrich Wendel: Lexicon for the Bible. People, history, archeology, geography and theology of the Bible , SCM R. Brockhaus, Witten 2013, ISBN 978-3-417-26550-7
• Werner H. Schmidt , Gerhard Delling : Dictionary of the Bible , Theological Publishing House, Zurich 1971, ISBN 3-7730-0031-6
• Kevin J. Vanhoozer et al .: Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005, ISBN 0-8010-2694-6 .
• Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.); Florian Faul (editor): The scientific Bible lexicon on the Internet , German Bible Society , Stuttgart, online: WiNiLex .
• Heinz Obermayer: Small Stuttgart Bible Lexicon . Revised new edition. Katholisches Bibelwerk , Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-460-30054-X .
• Watchtower Society : Insights into the Holy Scriptures , 2 volumes, Selters 1990/92, online: as part of the Watchtower online library (also in English and numerous other languages).

Web links

Wikisource: Religion and Bible Lexica  - Digital copies on the Internet

• Biblekommentare.de - Online Bible dictionary based on a translation of the "Concise Bible Dictionary" published in 1897
• Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific Bible lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.