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A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible
This combined A Reader's Greek New Testament and A Reader’s Hebrew Bible offers the following • Complete text of the Hebrew and Aramaic Bible, using the Westminister Leningrad Codex • Greek text underlying Today’s New International Version―with footnotes comparing wherever this text is different from the UBS4 text• Footnoted definitions of all Hebrew words occurring 100 times or less―twenty-five or less for Aramaic words―with context-specific glosses• Footnoted definitions of all Greek words occurring thirty times or less• Lexicons of all Hebrew words occurring more than 100 times and Greek words occurring more than thirty times• Eight pages of full-color maps separate the OT and NT sectionsIdeal for students, pastors, and instructors, A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible saves time and effort in studying the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament. By eliminating the need to look up definitions, the footnotes allow you to more quickly read the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text. Featuring fine-grain black European leather binding, A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible is a practical, attractive, and surprisingly affordable resource.
2080 pages, Leather Bound
First published April 1, 2010
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92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 9, 2012
I met N.T. Wright briefly in January at a worship symposium and asked him how to improve my Greek. He said, "Read the text, read the text, read the text."
He told me to really get the feel of the language. Don't think of Greek just as a code for English; get into the Greek itself. I asked him about reading with a diglot, but he encouraged me to check the English translation only after reading an entire Greek paragraph, and then, only as necessary.
The same holds true with Hebrew. Read the text, read the text, read the text. Reading it out loud is even better, and better still is trying to speak it to others.
Zondervan has published what is to my knowledge the only "reader's" edition of the Hebrew Bible. It's a masterpiece. The font is clear, sized perfectly, and easy to read. It uses the Leningrad Codex. It has no textual apparatus (which could be a distraction in a "reader's edition"), but instead footnotes rarely occurring vocabulary. Not counting proper nouns, editors Philip Brown and Bryan Smith footnote all words that occur less than 100 times in the Hebrew Bible. Here they give "glosses," which give the reader the basic meaning of the word. Aramaic words that occur less than 25 times are listed in the footnotes in the page on which they occur.
For readers who blank on a word that occurs, say, 150 times in the Hebrew Bible, a glossary at the back will allow them to look up even additional words.
Brown used HALOT and BDB to write the glosses.
The only thing to critique in the Hebrew reader's edition is that proper nouns, which are to appear in grey font since they're not footnoted, occasionally go missed. Brown has posted an errata list on his site, many of which have been fixed in recent printings.
Zondervan's Greek reader's New Testament has not met with such universal acclaim. It's a good resource to have on hand, to be sure, but in my view it's not as well executed as the Hebrew reader's Bible.
Rather than being based on the scholarly editions of the NA27 or UBS4, the text is "the eclectic text that underpins the Today's New International Version." The scholars who produced the TNIV, in other words, made different textual decisions in some instances than did the editors of the "Standard Text" of the NA27/UBS4. Where this is the case, a limited textual apparatus notes it. While this could be problematic for textual criticism, the text is not vastly different from the standard one, and is certainly fine for reading.
As with the Hebrew reader's edition, the Greek reader's Bible footnotes and explains words that occur less than 30 times in the Greek New Testament. One unfortunate decision is that, unlike the Hebrew, the Greek footnotes do not have the glossed word in bold. This makes navigating the footnotes more cumbersome.
Font is perhaps a personal preference. While Philip Brown did a magnificent job of typesetting the Hebrew, the Greek font leaves something to be desired. It's not the easiest Greek font I've read. It's not unreadable as fonts go, but it's thin. I got used to it after a while, so it's not unmanageable, but the font in the UBS Greek Reader's New Testament is easier to read. The latter also puts the footnoted glosses into two columns, which makes referencing them quicker.
Not long ago Zondervan combined the Hebrew and the Greek into one mammoth, leather-bound Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible. The volume is large (but how could it not be?) and impressive. It's constructed well. The binding is sewn (rejoice!), so it will last for a while.
This combination carries with it the great advantage that its user has both the Hebrew and the Greek Bibles under one cover. Now I just have to carry one geeky Bible to church rather than two! Huge benefit.
Another nice thing about this edition is that with Hebrew going from right to left and Greek from left to right, the Greek New Testament starts at the "front" and the Hebrew Bible starts at the "back," just as both would be in their separate volumes.
The introduction to each half explains well how the text is laid out, the footnoting of the vocabulary, and so on. All the glory of Brown's Hebrew edition is there, and the less-than-ideal Greek font is there in the Greek portion. One thing to add in appreciation of the Greek part, however, is that Old Testament quotations appear in bold, with their references listed at the bottom of the page. The eight pages of color maps between the two sections are a nice bonus, too.
The construction of the two Bibles combined is executed quite well. I'm happy to only have to take one original language Bible with me to church now.
**Thanks to Zondervan for the review copy of A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible. They provided me with one in the hopes of my reviewing it on my blog, but with no expectation as to the content of the review.**
He told me to really get the feel of the language. Don't think of Greek just as a code for English; get into the Greek itself. I asked him about reading with a diglot, but he encouraged me to check the English translation only after reading an entire Greek paragraph, and then, only as necessary.
The same holds true with Hebrew. Read the text, read the text, read the text. Reading it out loud is even better, and better still is trying to speak it to others.
Zondervan has published what is to my knowledge the only "reader's" edition of the Hebrew Bible. It's a masterpiece. The font is clear, sized perfectly, and easy to read. It uses the Leningrad Codex. It has no textual apparatus (which could be a distraction in a "reader's edition"), but instead footnotes rarely occurring vocabulary. Not counting proper nouns, editors Philip Brown and Bryan Smith footnote all words that occur less than 100 times in the Hebrew Bible. Here they give "glosses," which give the reader the basic meaning of the word. Aramaic words that occur less than 25 times are listed in the footnotes in the page on which they occur.
For readers who blank on a word that occurs, say, 150 times in the Hebrew Bible, a glossary at the back will allow them to look up even additional words.
Brown used HALOT and BDB to write the glosses.
The only thing to critique in the Hebrew reader's edition is that proper nouns, which are to appear in grey font since they're not footnoted, occasionally go missed. Brown has posted an errata list on his site, many of which have been fixed in recent printings.
Zondervan's Greek reader's New Testament has not met with such universal acclaim. It's a good resource to have on hand, to be sure, but in my view it's not as well executed as the Hebrew reader's Bible.
Rather than being based on the scholarly editions of the NA27 or UBS4, the text is "the eclectic text that underpins the Today's New International Version." The scholars who produced the TNIV, in other words, made different textual decisions in some instances than did the editors of the "Standard Text" of the NA27/UBS4. Where this is the case, a limited textual apparatus notes it. While this could be problematic for textual criticism, the text is not vastly different from the standard one, and is certainly fine for reading.
As with the Hebrew reader's edition, the Greek reader's Bible footnotes and explains words that occur less than 30 times in the Greek New Testament. One unfortunate decision is that, unlike the Hebrew, the Greek footnotes do not have the glossed word in bold. This makes navigating the footnotes more cumbersome.
Font is perhaps a personal preference. While Philip Brown did a magnificent job of typesetting the Hebrew, the Greek font leaves something to be desired. It's not the easiest Greek font I've read. It's not unreadable as fonts go, but it's thin. I got used to it after a while, so it's not unmanageable, but the font in the UBS Greek Reader's New Testament is easier to read. The latter also puts the footnoted glosses into two columns, which makes referencing them quicker.
Not long ago Zondervan combined the Hebrew and the Greek into one mammoth, leather-bound Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible. The volume is large (but how could it not be?) and impressive. It's constructed well. The binding is sewn (rejoice!), so it will last for a while.
This combination carries with it the great advantage that its user has both the Hebrew and the Greek Bibles under one cover. Now I just have to carry one geeky Bible to church rather than two! Huge benefit.
Another nice thing about this edition is that with Hebrew going from right to left and Greek from left to right, the Greek New Testament starts at the "front" and the Hebrew Bible starts at the "back," just as both would be in their separate volumes.
The introduction to each half explains well how the text is laid out, the footnoting of the vocabulary, and so on. All the glory of Brown's Hebrew edition is there, and the less-than-ideal Greek font is there in the Greek portion. One thing to add in appreciation of the Greek part, however, is that Old Testament quotations appear in bold, with their references listed at the bottom of the page. The eight pages of color maps between the two sections are a nice bonus, too.
The construction of the two Bibles combined is executed quite well. I'm happy to only have to take one original language Bible with me to church now.
**Thanks to Zondervan for the review copy of A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible. They provided me with one in the hopes of my reviewing it on my blog, but with no expectation as to the content of the review.**
August 30, 2020
I was very pleased to see that Zondervan has released the 2nd edition of their A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible. In a previous review, I had several complaints against the print quality of the 1st edition. Many of those complaints have been resolved with this 2nd edition. The new edition has an attractive cloth binding that feels durable and lays flat very well. Gone is the stark white onion paper; in its place, Zondervan has adopted a cream alternative. Unfortunately, this new paper is still thin and see-through, creating eyestrain with layers of text in the background. However, the cream is a major improvement over the white of the previous edition. The fonts for both testaments are attractive, but the Greek is not as nice as that of the Tyndale Greek New Testament. The Hebrew section differentiates poetry from prose, starting a new line after the atnach with poetry. Both sections use a full width, single-column format for the footnotes. This is not as easy to use as the double format column used by the BHS, UBS, and Tyndale readers.
In the first edition, I observed several instances where the footnote was misplaced or missing or where the gloss was wrong. I cannot tell from the introductions whether the mistakes in the 1st edition were fixed.
Overall, for reading aesthetics and durability, the 2nd Edition of A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible is a significant improvement. There remains room for improvement, especially with paper opacity, but it is great to see the continued effort towards improving this unique resource.
In the first edition, I observed several instances where the footnote was misplaced or missing or where the gloss was wrong. I cannot tell from the introductions whether the mistakes in the 1st edition were fixed.
Overall, for reading aesthetics and durability, the 2nd Edition of A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible is a significant improvement. There remains room for improvement, especially with paper opacity, but it is great to see the continued effort towards improving this unique resource.
May 15, 2017
I have obviously not read this in its entirety, but I have found it immensely helpful and want to encourage others to take advantage of it. I never tried to really read the Greek New Testament even while in seminary for my M. Div, but the Reader's Greek New Testament made it possible for me to do just that without being discouraged and disheartened by my limited vocabulary (words occurring less than 30 times are defined in a footnote when they appear).
Even more daunting was the idea of reading the Hebrew Bible where the vocabulary is even more vast and difficult to master. But with the vocabulary helps of the Reader's Hebrew Bible I can actually read the Hebrew Bible even though my knowledge of Hebrew is not that extensive.
Having these two resources bound together in one volume is a privilege students of Greek and Hebrew should not take for granted. I hope one day to be able to read Greek and Hebrew with out the vocabulary helps, but I don't think I would ever get there if I didn't have the helps to keep me reading in the meantime.
If you are working at learning Greek or Hebrew or both, pick up one of these volumes (or the combined volume) and start reading. You might be surprised how much more you can read with a little help.
Even more daunting was the idea of reading the Hebrew Bible where the vocabulary is even more vast and difficult to master. But with the vocabulary helps of the Reader's Hebrew Bible I can actually read the Hebrew Bible even though my knowledge of Hebrew is not that extensive.
Having these two resources bound together in one volume is a privilege students of Greek and Hebrew should not take for granted. I hope one day to be able to read Greek and Hebrew with out the vocabulary helps, but I don't think I would ever get there if I didn't have the helps to keep me reading in the meantime.
If you are working at learning Greek or Hebrew or both, pick up one of these volumes (or the combined volume) and start reading. You might be surprised how much more you can read with a little help.
December 17, 2012
The text of the Hebrew Tanakh ("Old Testament") is based on the Leningrad Codex (L). Regrettably, it contains no text-critical notes. The Greek New Testament utilizes the Greek text "underlying" the TNIV. This text, highlighted in the book's introduction, has developed via two phases. Phase I: In the mid-1980's, Edward Goodrick and John Kohlenberger III compiled the Greek text underlying the New International Version (NIV). That text deviates from the UBS 3rd Edition (UBS3) wherever the NIV translators made differing textual-critical determinations. Phase II: That same text underwent revision as Gordon Fee reviewed and analyzed the critical text of the NIV during the 1990's, adjusting it according to textual-critical determinations made by the Today's New International Version (TNIV) committee. The final product became the Greek text underlying the TNIV. This Greek text was used in 'A Reader's Greek New Testament', and has been unalterably retained in this edition. Conveniently, variations between this edition's critical Greek text and that of the UBS 4th Edition (UBS4) are footnoted in the textual apparatus, located collectively within a section also containing glosses for certain Greek terms.
But hey, the main reason to get it is Greek words used 30 times or less, and Hebrew words used 100 times or less are footnoted. This makes reading through the text easier and smoother. Plus no need to carry two books for Old and New Testament in original languages.
But hey, the main reason to get it is Greek words used 30 times or less, and Hebrew words used 100 times or less are footnoted. This makes reading through the text easier and smoother. Plus no need to carry two books for Old and New Testament in original languages.
May 6, 2015
"A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible" is a user-friendly, reader-friendly volume. It has compiled the older "A Reader's Hebrew Bible" and "A Reader's Greek New Testament" into a single, leather-bound collection. The format is the same, which means that there are almost no textual-critical notes, but instead at the bottom of each page there are lexical entries. For the Hebrew Scriptures the words used less than 100 times are defined, and in the Greek New Testament words used less than 30 times are expressed. There is also a glossary at the end of Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures for the more frequently used words.
The text is clean and easy on the eyes. The lexical notes at the bottom can be almost visually overpowering at first (definitions upon definitions). But if a reader will patiently practice using the annotations it becomes less confusing, and reading the text becomes more manageable. The size of the bound manuscript is a bit bulky. But it's worth the trade-off (bigger volume, larger print, etc.).
Since receiving my copy this last Christmas, I have enjoyed using my edition daily in morning devotions. I find my copy inviting, and this has helped me to get back into the original languages. This would be a perfect gift for your favorite seminarian, pastor, or Bible scholar. I gladly recommend this edition!
The text is clean and easy on the eyes. The lexical notes at the bottom can be almost visually overpowering at first (definitions upon definitions). But if a reader will patiently practice using the annotations it becomes less confusing, and reading the text becomes more manageable. The size of the bound manuscript is a bit bulky. But it's worth the trade-off (bigger volume, larger print, etc.).
Since receiving my copy this last Christmas, I have enjoyed using my edition daily in morning devotions. I find my copy inviting, and this has helped me to get back into the original languages. This would be a perfect gift for your favorite seminarian, pastor, or Bible scholar. I gladly recommend this edition!
January 21, 2011
Great tool for rapid reading of the text in the original languages.
August 10, 2016
I love using this bible to help build skills.
March 18, 2015
Every pastor, seminarian, or student of the Bible should own a copy.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews