OT Tools

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Please note that many of the listed books, considered particularly helpful by the author of this site, are available from Eisenbrauns. Please see Links section for more publishers. Please note that more material will be added in the future. If you have anything you wish to suggest, please email the author at webmasterATzalag.net, together with reasons why you wish to suggest them.


To find full references to the listed items where needed, simply search the Internet, or the publishers websites (Amazon in particular).


<Last updated 9/11/2007>


Contents:


Books on or relating to the history of Israel

Commentaries and works dedicated on specific biblical books (Numbers-Kings, Chronicles)

Books on or relating to ancient Near Eastern history

Useful general reference works

Recommended grammars (Hebrew, Greek, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Egyptian, Hittite)

Recommended dictionaries (Hebrew, Greek, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Egyptian, Hittite)

Concordances (Hebrew, Greek, Ugaritic)

Audio (Hebrew OT in MP3 format)


Recommended Books on or Relating to the History of Israel (not necessarily in order of importance):


J. van Seters (1983), In Search of History: Historiography in the Ancient World and the Origins of Biblical Historiography (includes excellent insights on a number of issues in history writing)

K.L. Younger (1990), Ancient Conquest Accounts: A Study in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical History writing (excellent setting of biblical material in its ancient Near Eastern context)

I. Finkelstein and N.A. Silberman (2001), The Bible Unearthed (a good introduction to a minimalist viewpoint which includes views from one of world's premier archaeologists; for a review, click here)

I. Finkelstein (1988), The Archaeology of the Israelite Settlement (an excellent introduction to the archaeology of Early Iron Age in Israel from one of world's premier arcaeologists, and the work bears directly to historical questions)

G.E. Mendenhall (2001), Ancient Israel's Faith and History (an interesting synthesis on the history of Israel in its ancient context from a viewpoint which falls between minimalist and maximalist; for a review, click here)

J.K. Hoffmeier (1997), Isrel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (a well researched work on the subject from a maximalist viewpoint)

Y. Kaufmann (1985): The Biblical Account of the Conquest of Canaan (excellent observations on the text)

M. Noth (German original 1943), The Deuteronomistic History (standard work on the subject on which most subsequent academic discussion is based)

M. Noth (German original 1943), The Chronicler's history (standard work on the subject on which most subsequent academic discussion is based)

C. Westermann (1994), Die Geschichtsbucher des Alten Testaments: Gab es ein deuteronomistisches Geschichtswerk? (an excellent and convincing challenge against the deuteronomistic history hypothesis originating from Noth)

G. Ahlström (1993), The History of Ancient Palestine (very carefully researched from a strongly critical viewpoint)

J.M. Miller and J.H. Hayes (1986), A History of ancient Israel and Judah (careful even if not extremely detailed synthesis from a classic viewpoint).

T.L. Thompson (1992), Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written and Archaeological Sources (in a number of ways very erudite and helpful book from one of the prime exponents of biblical minimalism, regardless of whether one agrees with its overall approach and conclusions; for a review, click here)

J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israel (German original 1878; the classic work on history of Israel which is still relevant as it still underlies much of OT scholarship today; English translation is also available. Get English text online in ASCII format [from Project Gutenberg])

A. Mazar (1992), Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000-586 B.C.E. (Standard work which presents the main archaeological evidence relating to the land of Israel down to the end of the Iron Age)

P. McNutt (1999), Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel. (Presents the main sociological reconstructions relating to the early history of Israel; for a review, click here)

W.G. Dever (2003), Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come from? (An excellent presentation of main archaeological evidence and previous models on the emergence of early Israel; for a review, click here)

W.G. Dever (2001), What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel (An excellent presentation of main relevant archaeological evidence from judges on in defense against current radical skeptics; for a review, click here)

K. Kitchen (2004), On the Reliability of the Old Testament (a conservative work)

I. Provan, V.P. Long, T. Longman (2004), A Biblical History of Israel (a conservative work)

P. Pitkänen (2004), Central Sanctuary and Centralization of Worship in Ancient Israel (Except for addressing the meaning and role of central sanctuary and centralization, carefully argues for a possible premonarchic date for Deuteronomy and priestly material; for further details, click here)

M.Weinfeld (2004) The Place of the Law in the Religion of Ancient Israel (convincingly argues for a premonarchic origin of priestly material)

N. Whybray (1987) The Making of the Pentateuch (beautifully demolishes the methdological foundations of classic documentary hypothesis)

The author also recommends T.S. Kuhn (1962), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and P.K. Feyerabend (1993), Against Method, in order to understand general methodological problems relating to any academic field of study. Please also see the appendix on historical reconstruction by the author of this site in Central Sanctuary


Commentaries and Works Dedicated on Specific Biblical Books (Numbers-Kings, Chronicles)

(N.B. More will be added to this list continuously)


J. Milgrom, Numbers (1990) in JPS Torah series (very careful work)

G.J. Wenham, Numbers (1981) in TOTC (a brief but very useful commentary)

G.B. Gray, Numbers (1903) in ICC series (standard source critical view on Numbers before Noth)

P.C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (1976) in NICOT series (slightly dated, but still very useful)

S.R. Driver, Deuteronomy (1901) in ICC series (still very useful)

J. Tigay, Deuteronomy (1996) in JPS Torah series (careful work)

M. Weinfeld (1972), Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (not a commentary, but a careful examination of all aspects of Deuteronomy)

G.J. McConville, Deuteronomy (2002), in Apollos Old Testament Commentary series (focuses on the theological message of the book through careful exegesis)

R. Hess, Joshua (1996) in TOTC series (contains a lot of good ANE and archaeological material relating to Joshua in concise format)

T.C. Butler, Joshua (1983) in WBC series (careful work and worth reading)

M. Ottosson, Josuaboken: En programskrift för davidisk restauration (argues for the priority of P in Joshua and includes good literary and historical observations; in Swedish with an English summary)

D.I. Block, Judges, Ruth (1999) in NAC series (careful work)

R.H. O'Connell (1996), The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges (careful work which sees the book as dating from David's time)

Y. Amit (1999) The Book of Judges: The Art of Editing (careful work)



Books on or Relating to Ancient Near Eastern History

A. Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 BC, 2 vols (a helpful overall history of the ancient Near East)



Useful General Reference Works:


The Anchor Bible Dictionary

J.M. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (a collection of essays covering the main aspects of the ancient Near East and its studies)

W.W. Hallo and K.L. Younger (ed. in chief), The Context of Scripture, 3 vols (a collection of ANE texts relating to the Old Testament)

J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (now largely replaced by the Context of Scripture, but still helpful)

J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (a basic collection of relevant pictures)

E. Stern (ed.), The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (very useful, even though now already 10 years old)

E. Myers (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East


Recommended Grammars:


Hebrew:

P. Jouon and T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (standard reference grammar)

Gesenius-Kautsch, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (older but still fully useful grammar)

G. Pratico and M. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar (considered a good starter)


Greek (OT):

Conybeare-Stock, Grammar of Septuagint Greek: with Selected Readings from the Septuagint (OK for starters, but might as well proceed based on classical Greek grammars, or launch off from New Testament Greek)


Akkadian:

D. Marcus, A Grammar of Akkadian (a good starter for self study in an inductive manner. For subsequent work, however, much more is needed)

A. Ungnad and L. Matous, Grammatik des Akkadischen (excellent concise reference tool; English translation also available)

W. von Soden, Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik (from the renowned maestro of the subject)

J. Huehnergard, A Grammar of Akkadian (a highly regarded comprehensive textbook, but long)


Ugaritic:

C. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (Slightly dated, but still very useful)

J. Tropper, Ugaritische Grammatik (very thorough; available from Ugarit Verlag [AOAT 273])


Sumerian:

J.L. Hayes, A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts (a good starter for self study)

M.L. Thomsen, The Sumerian Language (standard grammar on Sumerian)


Egyptian:

A. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar (standard, but a bit too detailed for self study, and now a bit old)

M. Collier, Middle Egyptian course: Introduction to the Ancient Egyptian Language and Script (an excellent syllabus and also suitable for self study, but apparently [unfortunately!] it has not been published. To my knowledge, it has been used in Oxford University for learning Egyptian)

J. P. Allen, Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (well regarded by by those who have used the book, and seems good to me)


Hittite:

W.H. Held, W.R. Schmalstieg & J.E. Gertz, Beginning Hittite (excellent starter for self study)

[Sturtevant below is difficult to obtain as far as I am aware]

J. Friedrich, Hethitisches Elementarbuch, 2nd ed. (much more than an elementary grammar)

O. Lauffenburger, Hittite Grammar (Inspired from Friedrich's Hethitisches Elementarbuch; available fromhttp://o.lauffenburger.free.fr/hittite_grammar.pdf. See also Lauffenburger's overall site at http://o.lauffenburger.free.fr/index_en.htm.

E.H. Sturtevant, A Comparative Grammar of the Hittite Language, 2nd ed.


Recommended Dictionaries, and Sign Lists Where Appropriate:


Hebrew:

K. Feyerabend, Langenscheidt's Pocket Hebrew Dictionary to the Old Testament (excellent for quick use)

L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament (standard major work)


Greek (OT):

J. Lust, E. Eynikel and K. Hauspie: A greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint

H.G. Liddell and R. Scott, Greek English Lexicon (standard for classical Greek)

B.A. Taylor, The Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint (help with parsing for those of us who do not read OT Greek regularly)


Akkadian:

J. Black, A. George & N. Postgate, A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (a good concise dictionary, in essence an abridgement of von Soden's Akkadisches Handwörterbuch)

W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (an essential tool for serious study, in 3 volumes)

Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (the other major Akkadian dictionary, in some 25 volumes; almost complete)

R. Labat and F. Malbran-Labat, Manuel d'Epigraphie Akkadienne (a standard sign list)

R. Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon (new 2004, with lots of information)

N. Schneider, Die Keilscriftzeichen der Wirtschaftsurkunden von Ur III (can also be used for Old Babylonian signs as very close to them; available from http://cdli.ucla.edu/tools/signlists/kwu/index.html)


Ugaritic:

C. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (contains a surprisingly good, even if somewhat dated one volume lexicon)

G. del Olmo Lete and J. Sanmartin, Diccionario de la Lengua Ugaritica (English translation by W.G. Watson now available from E.J. Brill)


Sumerian:

Pennsylvania Sumerian dictionary http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/

J. A. Halloran, Sumerian Lexicon (a very good starter; downloadable from www.sumerian.org/sumerlex.htm)

C. Mittermayer, Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte (new 2006)

For signs, see also R. Labat and F. Malbran-Labat, Manuel d'Epigraphie Akkadienne and R. Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexicon.

For more on signs, including online sign lists, see cdli.ucla.edu/sundries.html under Sign Lists


Egyptian:

R. Hannig, Die Sprache der Pharaonen: Grosses Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch 2800-950 v.Chr (an exellent standard dictionary of Middle Egyptian)


Hittite:

J. Friedrich, Kurzgefasstes Hethitisches Wörterbuch

C. Rüster and E. Neu, Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon: Inventar und Interpretation der Keilschriftzeichen aus den Bogazköy-Texten (a comprehensive sign list)

Chicago Hittite Dictionary (not yet complete)


Concordances:


A. Even-Shoshan, A New Concordance of the Bible (exhaustive and good for finding words in their contexts, but very large and heavy to handle)

G. Lisowsky, Konkordanz zum Hebräischen Alten Testament (standard regular concordance)

E. Hatch and H.A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint (standard large work)

M. Dietrich-O. Loretz, Word-List of the Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places (a concordance to KTU, the main edition of Ugaritic texts)


Online texts:

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (Oxford)

Brenton Septuagint Greek-English

Selected Hebrew (OT) texts and lexicons


Audio:

Hebrew OT in MP3 format


Software:


Bible Works (commercial)

Gramcord (commercial)

Davar (Freeware; includes BDB Hebrew lexicon, BHS, Vulgate, and a number of modern translations for the Old Testament)



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