This work was first intended to be merely a faithful translation of the second edition of Dr. van den Born’s excellent “Bijbels Woordenboek” (Roermond 1954-1957) in the manner of the latter’s  French translation, “Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la Bible” (Turnhout 1960). However, it was soon felt that, despite the great merits of the Dutch Biblical dictionary, a more or less free adaptation, rather than a strict translation of this work would prove more  useful to the English reader. Permission for such an English adaptation of his work was generously granted by Dr. van den Born.