Lexicons - Titles at Olive Tree

New Testament Greek Dictionaries / Lexicons

• A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG)
• A Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
• Greek-English Lexicon by Louw & Nida
• Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT)
• Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Abridged (TDNTA)
• Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT)
• New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology
• New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology Abridged
• Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament
• Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (ANLEX)

Learn More About the New Testament Greek Diciontaries / Lexicons Available

Olive Tree currently offers a wide variety of dictionaries. Many of these are very different from one another. These differences arise from whether they are exhaustive or not, how they choose to list words (e.g. alphabetically, topically, or by root), and how much information they provide in each entry. We currently offer the following:

• A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG) - This is the standard lexicon used by both scholars and pastors. Unlike nearly all other Greek lexicons currently available (with the notable exception of the Louw-Nida Lexicon), it attempts to define words rather than just providing suggested translations. It is also unique in that it includes not only all of the words occurring in the Greek New Testament, but also all words occurring in its textual variants, and all of the unique vocabulary used by the Apostolic Fathers.
• A Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament - Although the title would lead one to believe that this is an abridgment of BDAG, it is actually an original work drawing from a number of different sources. The definitions are accessible, relatively concise, and extremely accurate. This is a great resource for students or busy pastors since it is much easier to use than BDAG, but uses the same general methodology.
• Greek-English Lexicon by Louw & Nida - This is a unique work that arranged Greek words by semantic domains rather than alphabetically. It is not designed to allow the user to look up specific words. Instead, it is arranged so that students or translators can read about all of the vocabulary that New Testament Greek uses to discuss a particular topic such as "court procedures" or "food and condiments." In addition to these broad categories, there are also often smaller groupings of words such as "danger, risk, save, safe." This is also one of the only Greek lexicons (along with the BDAG) that attempts to define Greek words rather than simply providing glosses.
• Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) - This 10-volume set gives very thorough definitions of all New Testament words considered to be theologically significant. It is important to note that it does not cover all of the words in the Greek New Testament. In particular, words serving primarily grammatical functions, or uncommon words are often omitted. For the words that are covered, the articles are nearly exhaustive, covering etymology, use outside the Bible, use in the Old Testament, use in Rabbinic literature, use in the New Testament, and sometimes use in the early Church Fathers as well. This work assumes that its readership is extremely knowledgeable. It commonly cites primitive Indo-European roots and quotes extensively from Greek and Hebrew writings outside the Bible without offering any English translation.
• Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Abridged (TDNTA) - This is a single-volume abridgment of the TDNT. It strips down the entry for each word primarily to its Biblical uses, though uses outside the Bible are still mentioned when important. Only the Greek is referred to in each entry; no Hebrew is used. This work does not assume that the reader has an extensive knowledge of Greek, or any knowledge of Hebrew. This is an ideal resource for those who want a very solid theological dictionary, but feel that TDNT is too difficult to use.
• Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT) - This three-volume set gives entries for every word occurring in the Greek New Testament. Like TDNT, it provides more thorough entries for words deemed to be theologically significant. It does not attempt to compete directly with TDNT, but provides a different perspective in many of its articles, focusing on exegetical issues and modern scholarship. It assumes a basic familiarity with Greek, but not with Hebrew.
• New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology - This four-volume set is very similar to TDNT, though it is smaller. It gives entries, including etymology and usage outside the New Testament for theologically significant words. Since the articles are arranged under English headwords, this work is very accessible to users with little or no knowledge of Greek. Alternately, users who do know Greek can look up Greek words directly in BibleReader.
• New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology Abridged - This is a single-volume abridgment of the NIDNTT. It contains most of the same information as the full version of this work, but eliminates certain types of things which may not interest most readers, such as discussions of secondary literature and lengthy arguments for and against various interpretations (the conclusions, however, are still presented). Unlike the full version, this work is arranged alphabetically using the Greek words.
• Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament - This is the electronic version of the short dictionary that is often included at the end of Greek New Testaments printed by the United Bible Society. The entries are little more than glosses, but it does include specific entries for some irregular inflected forms and unusual glosses tied to specific passages. It is currently available bundled with the Mounce-Koivisto parsed text, and as a stand-alone dictionary. The short length of the entries is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It is ideal for students who are just beginning to read from the Greek New Testament.
• Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (ANLEX) - This lexicon is bundled with the Friberg parsed text, but can also be purchased separately. It has entries for every form of every word occurring in the New Testament. It provides morphological information for each form and a definition for each word, but often articles are not as lengthy as those in other lexicons. The fact that it contains an entry for every form of a word makes it extremely useful when paired with BibleReader's "look up" feature, even when not using a parsed Greek text.