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Note: The Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary is included on this site because it contains a wealth of useful information, even though it was originally designed to supplement the New Living Translation, not our Open English Translation.
Introduction to the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary
The Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary is a comprehensive Bible dictionary, including articles for each book of the Bible and all the significant people, places, and terms found therein. In addition, it contains articles on the cultural context of scripture and on important theological terms.
Asterisks
This dictionary presents terms from a variety of Bible versions. Though the New Living Translation is the primary version used, hundreds of terms appear in the dictionary that do not appear in the NLT. Dictionary entries marked with an asterisk (*) are for words that are not found in the New Living Translation but may appear in other versions such as the King James Version and Revised Standard Version.
Cross-References
Two types of cross-references are used:
• “See” references point to one or more articles that contain information considered necessary for a complete understanding of the topic in question.
• “See also” references point to one or more articles that contain information considered helpful but not essential.
Both “See” and “See also” references refer to articles by topic name. When a topic name appears in a cross-reference in quotes, the reference is to a text box that occurs within a larger article.
Abbreviations
Apocryphal Books
Add Est | Additions to Esther |
Bar | Baruch |
Bel | Bel and the Dragon |
1 Esd | 1 Esdras |
2 Esd | 2 Esdras |
Ecclus | Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) |
Jdt | Judith |
1 Macc | 1 Maccabees |
2 Macc | 2 Maccabees |
3 Macc | 3 Maccabees |
4 Macc | 4 Maccabees |
Tb | Tobit |
Wisd of Sol | Wisdom of Solomon |
Dead Sea Scrolls (Non-Canonical)
CD | Cairo Damascus Document |
1QM | War Scroll |
2QS | Manual of Discipline |
1QSa | Rule of the Congregation |
Other Writings
Dio Cassius | Dio Cassius, Roman History |
Eusebius | Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica |
Strabo | Strabo, Biography |
Tacitus | Tacitus, Histories |
Bible Versions
ASV | American Standard Version |
ERV | English Revised Version |
JB | Jerusalem Bible |
KJV | King James Version |
NASB | New American Standard Bible |
NEB | New English Bible |
NIV | New International Version |
NJB | New Jerusalem Bible |
NLT | New Living Translation |
NRSV | New Revised Standard Version |
RSV | Revised Standard Version |
REB | Revised English Bible |
TEV | Today’s English Version |
TLB | The Living Bible |
Other Abbreviations
approx. | approximately |
c. | circa—approximately |
cf. | compare |
ch, chs | chapter, chapters |
d. | died |
ed | edition, editions; editor, editors |
e.g., | for example, |
et al. | and others |
etc. | and so forth |
i.e., | that is, |
lit. | literal, literally |
LXX | Septuagint |
mg | a variant reading noted in the margin or footnote of a translation |
MS, MSS | manuscript, manuscripts |
Mt | Mountain, Mount |
MT | Masoretic Text |
NT | New Testament |
OT | Old Testament |
p, pp | page, pages |
St | Saint |
TR | Textus Receptus |
v, vv | verse, verses |
vid | Latin for “it appears [to read as such]” |
vol, vols | volume, volumes |
yr., yrs. | year, years |
Permissions for Written Works
Some of the articles in this dictionary have been adapted from other works published by Tyndale House Publishers, particularly The Origin of the Bible and Who’s Who in Christian History. In preparing several other articles, the editor, Philip Comfort, made some adaptions from his own previously published works, now no longer in print. These works are as follows: New Commentary on the Whole Bible (New Testament volume); I Am the Way; Opening the Gospel of John (with W. Hawley); The Complete Guide to Bible Versions; The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament; Early Manuscripts and Modern Translations of the New Testament; and The Inspired Word.
Contributors
General Editors
Philip W. Comfort
Walter A. Elwell
Coordinating Editor
Jeremy P. Taylor
Writers
Wallace Alcorn
Robert L. Alden
L. C. Allen
Ronald Allen
James F. Babcock
Clarence B. Bass
Barry Beitzel
W. Wilson Benton, Jr.
Gilbert Bilezikian
E. M. Blaiklock
George Blankenbaker
Gerald L. Borchert
Manfred T. Brauch
Kenneth J. Bryer
H. Douglas Buckwalter
George E. Cannon
David C. Carlson
J. Knox Chamblin
Philip W. Comfort
Roger Douglass Congdon
Mark T. Coppenger
David Cornell
John Crandall
Robert D. Culver
Peter H. Davids
Bruce A. Demarest
Carl E. DeVries
Paul H. DeVries
James C. DeYoung
Raymond B. Dillard
J. D. Douglas
James D. G. Dunn
J. J. Edwards
John Elliott
Walter A. Elwell
H. K. Farrell
Paul F. Feiler
David A. Fields
Charles L. Feinberg
Harvey E. Finley
John Fischer
Francis Foulkes
Louis Goldberg
Wesley L. Gerig
Robert Guelich
D. L. Hall
J. Gordon Harris
R. K. Harrison
Ginnie Hearn
Walter Hearn
Paul Helm
Carl Wayne Hensley
Andrew E. Hill
Harold W. Hoehner
James M. Houston
E. Margaret Howe
F. B. Huey, Jr.
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes
David K. Huttar
Edgar C. James
Jakob Jocz
Paul Kaufman
Donald Kenney
William Nigel Kerr
Eugene F. Klug
George E. Ladd
William Lane
William Sanford LaSor
F. Duane Lindsey
Robert W. Lyon
W. Harold Mare
James L. Mason
Gerald L. Mattingly
Paul K. McAlister
Jim McClanahan
Thomas E. McComiskey
J. Gordon McConville
Wayne O. McCready
Lee McDonald
Douglas J. Miller
Robert H. Mounce
W. Robert Myers
Roger Nicole
Mark R. Norton
Grant Osborne
Daniel Partner
Hazel W. Perkin
John Piippo
John Piper
Gary Pollitt
Austin H. Potts
Ralph E. Powell
James D. Price
Joe Prochaska
Anson F. Rainey
Bernard L. Ramm
Robert L. Reymond
Arthur Rupprecht
William S. Sailer
Stuart D. Sacks
J. Julius Scott, Jr.
Jack B. Scott
A. Selander
H. LaVern Schafer
Norman Shepherd
John W. Sider
Moises Silva
Elmer B. Smick
Albert J. Smith
Ralph L. Smith
Klyne R. Snodgrass
Robert H. Stein
Stephen S. Taylor
John Arthur Thompson
J. G. S. S. Thomson
William B. Tolar
William Travis
George Allen Turner
Willem A. VanGemeren
Gerard Van Groningen
David E. Van Reken
Howard F. Vos
Victor L. Walter
Bruce K. Waltke
David W. Wead
Marsha Wegner
Morris A. Weigelt
Gordon J. Wenham
R. E. O. White
William White, Jr.
Luder G. Whitlock, Jr.
Michael Wilcock
Fred M. Williams III
John P. Williams
R. Milton Winter
Herbert M. Wolf
Marten H. Woudstra
R. K. McGregor Wright
Warren C. Young
Ronald F. Youngblood