Akkadian Lexicon Companion for Biblical Hebrew Etymological, Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalence
The work of Professor Hayim Tawil contributes to the study of the Hebrew Bible and its language at its highest level. His expertise in the Bible, its language, and in the world of the Ancient Near East is apparent from this important study. Many idioms and expressions from the Book of Books find their elucidation in Professor Tawil s explications. --Dr. Moshe Bar Asher, Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language   Winner of the Israel Prize in 1993Since the decipherment of cuneiform in the 19th century, Bible scholars have searched the Akkadian texts for cognates to Biblical Hebrew lexemes. In the 20th century, their search was substantially facilitated by the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD) and Von Soden s Akkadisches Handwoerterbuch (Ahw). But the 21st century promises to usher in a new age for the critical utilization of the comparative lexical evidence, thanks to Hayim Tawil s Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew. Tawil has systematically combed the standard dictionaries of Akkadian (and occasionally, Ugaritic) to list every potential or proposed cognate to the Biblical Hebrew lexicon. Individual studies, widely scattered in the periodical and monographic literature, have also been adduced. The author has organized the material according to such categories as idiomatic usage, phraseology, sequencing and denotation. The result is an impressive demonstration of the extent to which the languages in question illuminate each other and of the limits of the comparisons. --William W. Hallo, The William M. Laffan Professor Emeritus of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature, Yale UniversityI can only admire the immense amount of labor you are expending on this project…I view your project as rather unique, as I am not familiar with anyone who has endeavored to undertake what you are about here. And what I find especially significant and helpful is that you do not confine your interest to etymological equivalents but also embrace semantic and idiomatic relationships. This certainly enhances the usefulness of your work. While the prodigious amount of data you have assembled will appeal primarily to Hebrew Bible and/or East Semitic scholars, I think anyone with some knowledge with biblical Hebrew and Akkadian would want to consult this Lexical Companion from time to time in connection with linguistic interpretation in their own work.- --Dr. George M. Landes, Professor Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary