A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature

This lexicon is excellent for word studies beyond the Strong's level and will drive you nuts if you don't know your case forms yet (I know from experience).

But all in all, this is a resource no Biblical scholar or wannabe scholar should be without. I'd recommend getting Strong's Concordance, Vine's Expository Dictionary, a Greek New Testament and this book to go along with a New American Standard Bible for the novice in Greek.

Your understanding of the New Testament and of Greek will grow by leaps and bounds with diligent study of these very basic resources - even if you don't intend to study Koine Greek professionally.


The Absolute Best Greek-English Lexicon That Money Can Buy   July 25, 2006
 12 out of 14 found this review helpful

This is the most comprehensive Lexicon of Koine Greek available. I like how for almost every word, the lexicon gives you an extensive list of how this word is used in not only the New Testament, but in some of the Christian literature of the post New Testament era.

It gives you the tense and voice and mood of words, and whether or not a verb is used passively or actively in a given verse. This is the pinnacle textbook for those who are exegeting and parsing the New Testament.

The only caveat I have is with the price. But even at $140, this book is still essential for a richly rewarding study of the New Testament for advanced students. But if you live near a seminary library, you'd almost be farther ahead to use the copy in the reference section.

But if you live in the boonies like me, this book is something you should get. You may want to buy the CD-ROM Version, it is very intuitive and easy to use, and best of all, it is run on the proprietary Libronix Digital Library System, the fastest and most seamless software engine available.


over-rated and not worth the $   August 2, 2006
 12 out of 32 found this review helpful

For much less than the price of this lexicon, one can purchase a copy of Thayer's, AND Trenchard's vocabulary guide AND a Greek concordance. Academic snobs make a big deal about how Thayer's lexicon is out of date because he did not have access to the papyri, but for 99% of New Testament words and meanings this is not an issue. Trenchard's book is actually MORE helpful, in my opinion, than this or any lexicon because he simply lists every possible meaning of each word. One way to get to the essence of a word's meaning is to look at the cognates, and Trenchard lists them all. A Greek concordance will actually print all the NT uses of a word in Greek. Bauer's lexicon is just not that helpful and is too wordy.



I spent my babys milk money for this!   March 25, 2004
 11 out of 16 found this review helpful

While attending seminary, like most theological students, I purchased Thayers Greek-English Lexicon. It was good and easy to use. But as I advanced in my studies my professors were increasingly critical of Thayer and expected us to use the more scholarly Arndt/Gingrich. So as a impoverished theological student with a wife and baby, I purchased Arndt/Gringrich with my babys milk money so I could be more scholarly.

I wish I saved my money. Do not get me wrong. It is by far the superior lexicon. Its definitions are massive and the survey of a words etymology is unsurpassed; but realistically, it has more information than this country preacher is looking for. Like detective Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, all I want is the facts.

Behind me as I write this review is my theological library. Two lexicons, Arndt/Gringrich and Thayers stand side by side. Occasionally, when I need a lexicon in my biblical studies, I always turn to Thayer. So unless you are planning on writing for a theological journal, save your babys milk money and use Thayer.


Excellent Tool/Must compare with other lexicons   October 24, 2005
 11 out of 14 found this review helpful

I actually use the BDAG 3rd Edition add on in BibleWorks 7.0 along with Kittel's TDNT and Spicq's Theological Lexicon book sets. In my software I have BDAG next to Thayer's, Liddell & Scott, Louw & Nida's Semantical Domain, United Bible Societies, and Friberg's Lexicon. I use all of them every week for sermon exegesis (except for Kittel's and Spicq's). BDAG is a great lexicon, maybe not the best...as some reviewers have said. It really depends on what you are studying. Louw & Nida's Semantical domain really helps one see the range of a word in context to other words, and BDAG doesn't do that. BDAG gives one a lot of information, but if you are not a trained scholar, it's hard to understand it all. So often I end up turning to other lexicons for more information.

There is a tendency with BDAG towards gender inclusivity in some entries, so if you are concerned about that issue, you may be happy or unhappy with that depending on your position. It's more accurate than the older editions. Just know that the gender inclusive approach is controversial and a reason why this lexicon should be compared with others. I really like to compare this lexicon with the semantical domain lexicon by Louw & Nida.

Comparing this lexicon with other lexicons is super easy in the outstanding professional grade exegetical software called BibleWorks 6.0. (See my review there). With the pass of mouse, one can see all the lexicons on a word, with BDAG being just one of several. This allows constant comparison...and that's really the best way to use this lexicon in my opinion. When you do that over and over, week after week, month after month as I do, one gets the feel for this lexicon's strength. That strength is in providing good categories for a word, citing prime examples of each category, and a relatively fair approach in controversial issues.

A nice improvement has been hyperlinks that allow one to click on BDAG citations to see their fuller context in the program. I don't think I would get the book copy of this lexicon because the software version allows you to quickly paste an entry next to other lexicons in a word document and print them out for further ease of study and note taking. How easy is that with a printed copy of the lexicon?

With a program like BibleWorks 7.0 or their competitors one can search the lemma of a word instantly to see other instances of the use/form/stem which BDAG may not mention and get a graphical analysis of useage throughout various LXX/NT writers so you can assess the word in a more general way.

Overall, BDAG turns out to be very helpful in providing a base to chase down more information on the nuance of a word's meaning for certain situations/contexts. I cannot imagine doing exegesis without it. I would only recommend you stick the $140 bucks into software that has BDAG as an add-on. It's worth the extra money.