A Bible dictionary is a reference work containing encyclopedic entries related to the Bible, typically concerning people, places, customs, doctrine and Biblical criticism. Bible dictionaries can be scholarly or popular in tone.
The first dictionary of the Bible in English was the Christian Dictionarie (1612) of Thomas Wilson.[1]
| Year | Title | Editor | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1722 | Dictionnaire historique, critique, chronologique, géographique et littéral de la Bible[2] | Augustin Calmet | English translation (1732, 3 vols.) as An historical, critical, geographical, chronological and etymological dictionary of the Holy Bible, by John Colson and Samuel d'Oyly.[3] | |
| 1769 | A Dictionary of the Holy Bible[4] | John Brown of Haddington | Welsh translation by James Rhys Jones as Geiriadur Beiblaidd, 1869–70.[5] | |
| 1770 | Vollständiges Biblisches Wörterbuch | Jacob Christof Beck[6] | ||
| 1779 | A Dictionary of the Bible[7] [8] | Alexander Macbean | ||
| 1784–5 | Scripture Lexicon[9] | Peter Oliver: might be Peter Oliver, or a Birmingham preacher of the same name according to James Darling, Cyclopaedia bibliographica. | ||
| From 1797 | Dictionary of the Bible, translation from Calmet[10] | Anonymous, Charles Taylor | Later as Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, American edition enlarged by Edward Robinson.[11] |
| Year | Title | Editor | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1804 | Dictionary of the Bible[12] | James Wood | ||
| 1805–08 | Geiriadur Ysgrythyrol[13] | Thomas Charles | 4 vols. | |
| 1810 | Dictionary of the Holy Bible[14] | Miles Martindale | 2 vols. | |
| 1815 | A Theological, Biblical, Ecclesiastical Dictionary[15] | John Robinson | ||
| 1816 | Biblical Cyclopædia[16] | William Jones | ||
| 1817 | The Diamond Pocket Dictionary of the Holy Bible[17] [18] | William Gurney | The 1829 American edition by Archibald Alexander comments that the book was found to be an abridgement of Brown's work; and Alexander made a fresh version.[19] Welsh translation 1835 by Isaac Jones.[20] | |
| 1831 | Theological and Biblical Dictionary[21] | Richard Watson | Based on conservative authorities. | |
| 1833 | Dictionary of the Holy Bible | Edward Robinson | ||
| 1837 | Complete Index and Concise Dictionary of the Holy Bible[22] | John Barr | ||
| 1840 | Biblical and Theological Dictionary[23] | Samuel Green | ||
| ?–1843 | The Bible Cyclopædia[24] | William Goodhugh William Cooke Taylor | 2 vols. | |
| 1845 | Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature[25] | John Kitto | 2 vols. An abridged version was made by James Taylor, as the Popular Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature (1854).[26] | |
| 1845–53 | A Biblical Dictionary[27] | James Austin Bastow | 3 Vols. | |
| 1847 | The People's Dictionary of the Bible[28] [29] | John Relly Beard | ||
| 1847 | A Concise Dictionary of the Holy Bible[30] | James Covel | ||
| 1848 | Biblical Cyclopaedia[31] | John Eadie | ||
| 1851 | A Biblical and Theological Dictionary, illustrative of the Old and New Testament[32] | John Farrar | ||
| 1854 | A Bible Dictionary[33] | Samuel Bulfinch Emmons | ||
| 1856 | A Dictionary of the most important names, objects, and terms found in the Holy Scriptures[34] | Howard Malcom | ||
| 1863 | Smith's Bible Dictionary | William Smith | A Concise Dictionary of the Bible for the Use of Families and Students (1865) was abridged from this work by William Aldis Wright.[35] | |
| 1864–83 | Geiriadur Beiblaidd a Duwinyddol[36] | John Jones | 3 vols. | |
| 1866 | Imperial Bible Dictionary[37] | Patrick Fairbairn | ||
| 1866 | Treasury of Bible Knowledge[38] | John Ayre | ||
| 1867–81 | Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature[39] | James Strong and John McClintock | 10 vols. | |
| 1867 | Smith's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible[40] | Samuel Weed Barnum | ||
| 1870 | The Household Bible Dictionary[41] | James Aitken Wylie | ||
| 1870 | Beeton's Bible Dictionary[42] | Samuel Orchart Beeton | ||
| 1871 | A Bible dictionary for the use of all readers and students of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the books of the Apocrypha[43] | Charles Boutell | Reissued as Haydn's Bible Dictionary (1879), named for Joseph Timothy Haydn.[44] | |
| 1885 | Cursus Scripturæ Sacræ[45] | Karl Josef Rudolph Cornely et al. | ||
| 1894 | The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual[46] | Robert Hunter | As Cassell's Concise Bible Dictionary (1901) | |
| 1894–1912 | Dictionnaire de la Bible[47] | Fulcran Vigouroux | ||
| 1897 | Easton's Bible Dictionary | Matthew George Easton | ||
| 1898–1904 | Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible | James Hastings | 5 vols. | |
| 1899–1903 | Encyclopaedia Biblica[48] | Thomas Kelly Cheyne J. Sutherland Black | 4 vols. |
| Year | Title | Editor | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes's Bible Encyclopedia, Biographical, Geographical, Historical and Doctrinal | 1903 | Charles Randall Barnes[49] | ||
| Standard Bible Dictionary | 1909 | Melancthon Williams Jacobus, Jr.[50] | ||
| Temple Dictionary of the Bible | 1910 | William Ewing and John Ebenezer Honeyman Thomson[51] | ||
| Universal Bible Dictionary | 1914 | Augustus Robert Buckland and Arthur Lukyn Williams[52] | ||
| International Standard Bible Encyclopedia | 1915 | James Orr | ||
| A New Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible | 1922 | Selah Merrill[53] | ||
| The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopaedia and Scriptural Dictionary | 1922 | Samuel Fallows[54] | ||
| Theological Word Book of the Bible | 1951 | Alan Richardson | ||
| Harper's Bible Dictionary | 1952 | Madeleine S. and J. Lane Miller | ||
| The New Bible Dictionary | 1962 | J. D. Douglas | Second Edition 1982, Third Edition 1996 | |
| Dictionary of the Bible | 1965 | John L. McKenzie, SJ | ||
| The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible | 1970 | Henry Snyder Gehman | ||
| LDS Bible Dictionary | 1979 | |||
| Harper's Bible Dictionary | 1985 | Paul J. Achtemeier | ||
| The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary | 1987 | Allen C. Myers | ||
| Anchor Bible Dictionary | 1992 | |||
| Oxford Dictionary of the Bible | 1996 | W. R. F. Browning | 2nd Edition 2009 |