new international

Bible
Dictionary

J.D. Douglas

Revising Editor

Merril C. Tenney

General Editor

Contents

Revising Editor’s Preface

Preface to First Edition

Contributors and Editors

Abbreviations

General Abbreviations

Books of the Bible

Apocrypha

Bible Versions, Periodicals, Reference Books, and Other Sources

Revising Editor’s Preface

For more than two decades The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary has been a best-seller. During that period, however, more background information has become available. Archaeological excavations have been carried out on biblical sites. New books have been written to enhance our understanding of the Bible. A further dimension was added with the publication of the New International Version of the Bible.

These developments are reflected in this revision. The revision has been so thorough, in fact, that the dictionary merits a new name: The New International Dictionary of the Bible. There is, for example, a completely new entry on archaeology, and, where necessary, notes have been added to the individual entries dealing with particular sites.

More emphasis has been placed on bibliography. To all the articles on biblical books are appended some suggestions for further reading. So, too, with most of the longer articles. Some entries call for bibliography more than others, hence the apparent anomaly that sees none attached to a sizable entry, but, for exceptional reasons, finds one in a shorter entry.

This revision is based on the NIV, but there are frequent comparisons with the KJV. Other versions—notably JB, NASB, NEB, and RSV—have been cited where it was considered helpful. While the spelling of places and personal names follows NIV usage, preference is occasionally given to the KJV rendering in order to avoid ...