Skip to Main Content

Biblical Studies & Ministry Guide: Theological Dictionaries

Subject Guide for Biblical Studies & Ministry Majors.

What is a lexicon?

Biblical language dictionaries and lexicons are another key resource used when writing an exegetical paper or when simply curious about the origin of a word's use in it's original language. There are a wide variety of these with some single volume resources and others spanning many books.

Each dictionary or lexicon may be ordered differently. Some are designed for you to look up your word or term in English while others are ordered alphabetically in the original language. A good place to start when you don't know how to find you work in a lexicon is by using the index. Many volumes that are in order in Greek or Hebrew will provide a subject/term index in English to further assist you in locating your word. Many also use Strong's or G.K. numbers to help you find your concept.

If you find you are having difficulty locating your word in one of these resources, feel free to ask a librarian for help!

Lexicons/Dictionaries: Where are they?

Reserve Collection


Commentaries in Reference are arranged by set/series. This means that if you are looking for the Matthew commentary by Albright you would find it shelved with the entire Anchor Bible commentary set (220.7 B582), in order of book of the Bible. These copies must remain in the library.

Main/Circulating Collection


Commentaries in Main are arranged in two different ways in the main stacks. These copies can be checked out.

      1. By set/series - The first place to look for a circulating copy of a commentary is by set. The majority of our commentaries are organized in order with their entire set. You will normally find the most complete holdings in Main available here.

      2. By individual title/volume - The final place to look for a commentary is catalogued individually according to the specific book of the Bible. For example, the third copy of the Matthew commentary by Albright can also be found with Matthew volumes from other sets (in the 226.2s).

Please note that we do not necessarily own more then the two set copies found in main and reference. You will find a copy cataloged by title/volume only if we happen to own an additional copy.