ISBN0226039331

This is a very reliable companion to the Greek text of the New Testament &c. Lucidly written, systematic and easy to use.

Briefly, this lexicon is a scholarly lexicon. Some of the other reviews have criticized that its definitions are inappropriate for beginning students, and that is true becasuse this is the most advanced and comprehensive lexicon that does justice to the imprecisions within the greek language. More often than not, a Greek word cannot be exactly equated with an English equivalent. This lexicon does justice to the broad semantic ranges of even the most obscure Greek word. This is recommended for scholars and serious students of Koine Greek. This lexicon is also an outstanding reference for scholarly publications concerning the Greek text. There is also a version available for the Logos software suite.

I purchased the second edition of this volume when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary, back in 1989 as it was highly recommend by my Greek professor. And I used it quite a bit during seminary and even after that in my personal Bible studies.

When I began work on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT), I got the BibleWorks 7 software program. That program has several lexicons that come standard with it, and it is a lot easier to use those lexicons than to look up words in this volume. But even with that program, with wanting to be exact as possible in my translations, I would still check Baur on occasion as it contains information that is not found in BibleWorks. Most especially, this volume indicates how words were used in extra-biblical literature. And this info can be a great help in getting an idea of how a particular word was used at the time the NT was written.

For instance, I depended on information in Baur to decide how to translate the plural of "adelphos." Most lexicons give definitions like "brother, fellow Christian, fellow believer" (Friberg on BibleWorks). But Baur's lexicon indicates "The plural can also mean brothers and sisters" (p.16). It then gives specific examples of this usage in extra-biblical literature.

This concurs with what I was taught at seminary that "adelphoi" was used to refer to a group of only men and to a group of both men and women. So I decided that the best way to render this word was to use "brothers [and sisters]." This rendering indicates the term definitely includes men but might also include women (e.g., Rom 1:13).

So this lexicon can be very helpful in pinning down the exact usage of words. But it is very expensive, and I see it is now available as an add-on for BibleWorks. Given the expense of the new third edition and of the BibleWorks add-on, since I already own the second edition, I won't be getting either of these. But if you don't own a previous version and intend to do in-depth Greek word studies, then either this hardcopy version or the BibleWorks add-on would be worthwhile.

For many years, I had resisted purchasing a copy of Bauer, et al's mammoth (7 ¾" x 10 ¼" x 2 ¼")Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. Yes, it had a great deal of data. Yes, it shared insights from contemporary literature which shed light on word meaning for words used rarely in the New Testament. However, it was an absolute pain. The layout made it difficult to find what was needed, and it seemed quite easy to lose the forest for the trees in Bauer's 1st and 2nd English editions. Frankly, I preferred George Abbott-Smith's Manual Lexicon, and availed myself of Bauer at the seminary library only as needed. Now the available choices have changed, and for the better.

Bauer's 3rd English edition is a marvel. Everything the other reviewers write about its clear typeface, and intelligent use of bolding and spacing is true: it's a joy to use. A bit heavy, but it's worth it. The actual definitions as opposed to glosses are also a plus. All of this combined means that all of the data produced by scholarship is far more useable. Thank you, University of Chicago! I was willing to shell out the not insubstantial price for it, and have no remorse, it was money well spent.

Have I kicked Abbott-Smith to the curb? No. His Manual Lexicon is older (1937), but still makes use of the bulk of the papyri discoveries. He provides a quick reference for the Hebrew words underlying the Greek when that word is used in both the New Testament and the Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. He also provides numerous though not exhaustive Scripture references for each entry, making this lexicon reasonably functional as a concordance. With all this, I can still tote around Abbott-Smith (8 ¾" x 5 ¾" x 1 ¼") in my bag. It has yielded pride of place in my study, but for now at least, it's still a keeper.

Bauer: 5 stars
Abbott-Smith: 4 stars

It is the best lexicon of the Early Christian Literature (NT included) available, because its entries are characterized by excellent classification of the meanings, because it gives sound grammatical-syntactical information of the words, it gives plenty of examples with proposed renderings of specific passages, it discusses difficult cases, it refers briefly to the origin of the Early Christian Literature words and it adequately presents their contemporary extra-Biblical usage. Something else very important is the rich and updated bibliography that is provided.

In other words, it is a great improvement and expansion of the Grimm-Thayer lexical tradition, but, comparing to Grimm-Thayer, it gives lesser attention to the LXX usage and the Hebraic background of the NT words. Allow me to consider this an imperfection of the BDAG that forces the reader to buy also a LXX lexicon or a theological one (such as the TDNT abridged or the EDNT) in order to have a more spherical view of NT Greek, but I have to admit that nothing vital is missing. The second drawback is the price. Finally, a couple of times I have noticed mistakes in the etymology; but, of course, this is not an etymological dictionary, neither does it claim to be one.