The Hebrew–English Old Testament (BHS/ESV) and Crossway’s Commitment to the Bible

I have commented before on how much I appreciate having a Hebrew–English diglot of the Old Testament. I’ve heard someone say that there are over 3,000 forms in the Hebrew Bible that only occur once. I haven’t gone through and counted, and I’m not about to try to memorize all those nonces. So if I’m going to be committed to reading Hebrew, it’s awfully useful to have a diglot–a copy of the Hebrew Bible that gives you two languages, in this case Hebrew and English, side by side.

For these reasons I am so thankful that Crossway has produced a lovely new Hebrew–English Old Testament. This is a diglot that is well bound, easy to acquire (lists for $90, Amazon has it for $55 at this writing), and is just one more way that Crossway has put the Bible in our hands.

I want to give public thanks to God for Crossway’s service to the church in the provision of the ESV, the handiest edition of which, in my opinion, is this New Classic Reference Edition, which has the words of Jesus in red in the Gospels (it’s not about the words of Jesus being more important, it’s about it being easier to find what you’re looking for).

In addition, then, to having the handiest and best bound English text available, Crossway has now given us this beautiful diglot, and I haven’t even mentioned their recent publication of the UBS Greek New Testament in top grain leather.

Nor have I mentioned the ESV Study Bible or the stunning Four Holy Gospels. Crossway is doing all they can to make God’s Word accessible to God’s people.

Praise God for Crossway’s evident commitment to the Bible, in the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic and in English translation.

May we steward the Scriptures well by setting our hearts to study, do, and teach God’s Word (Ezra 7:10).

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6 Comments

  1. I received my ESV-Hebrew diglot yesterday. It’s a bit bigger than what I expected, and I was surprised that the pages were so thin that you can see through them. But even so, I’m glad to have a diglot. I just don’t think I’ll be carrying it to church, which is what I was hoping to do whenever our pastor starts preaching OT texts.

    1. Josh,

      My sentiments exactly. Too big and pages too thin. The reason I’m bummed about the pages is b/c I wanted to use it to take notes in. Nevertheless, how can I really complain when I have what so many could never have dreamed of?

  2. One tool you didn’t mention — and you certainly didn’t intend to give a complete list — is the online ESV. I liked it a lot when I first started using it. Being able to have full-sized versions of some of the inset maps is great for study and teaching. Then . . . they added the Greek text module. Holy cow! I’m sure I haven’t seen all the Greek-English study tools on the web, but none of the others I’ve seen are as clean as theirs. Now . . . I’m hoping and praying that they add a Hebrew text module, because I’m confident that it’ll be just about the best thing going. Dr. Hamilton, if you have any strings to pull with Crossway, please do so. If any Crossway folks read this blog — PLEASE give us the Hebrew text too!

  3. My knowledge of Hebrew lags behind my knowledge of Greek. I used the great Loeb editions to improve my Greek. Now I can improve my Hebrew in a similar way. It truly is a blessing to have this resource.

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