His first major work, published in 1965, was a monumental monograph, La royauté de Yahwé dans la poésie et le culte de l'ancien Israël. In 1969, he was appointed professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he taught the comparative grammar of Semitic languages, the history of ancient Near Eastern religions and institutions and other things. He was head of the Department of Oriental and Slavonic studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven from 1978 to 1984. He directed the publication of the Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique and the Studia Phoenicia series. He also published Semitic Languages. Outline of a Comparative Grammar and dealt extensively with Old Aramaic dialects and history, in particular in his Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics and in The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion. Referring to the last work, a reviewer noted that it "embodies the accumulated insights of one of the greatest Semitic scholars of our time". He was awarded a doctorate honoris causa by the Lund University in 2003. Although he retired in 1995, he continues teaching and doing research mainly in Aramaic and Phoenician studies.
Works
The WorldCat database lists over a hundred publications by Edward Lipiński in his various fields of expertise. A complete bibliography was published by The Enigma Press. Here is a short list of his major publications:
La Royauté de Yahwé dans la poésie et le culte de l'ancien Israël, Paleis der Academiën, Brussel 1965, 560 pp. ; second edition, Brussel 1968.
Le Poème royal du Psaume LXXXIX, 1-5.20-38, J. Gabalda et Cie, Paris 1967, 110 pp.
Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics I –IV, Leuven University Press, Peeters & Oriëntalistiek, Leuven 1975, 1994, 2010, 2016, 240 pp., 273 pp., XX + 308 pp., XVI + 286 pp.
Author of volumes 1, 5 and 6 of Studia Paulo Naster Oblata: Orientalia antiqua published 1982 Peeters Publishers
, Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique, Brepols, Turnhout 1992, XXII + 502 p., 14 colour pls.
Dieux et déesses de l'univers phénicien et punique, Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies, Leuven 1995, 536 p.
Semitic languages: outline of a comparative grammar, 2000.
Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar, Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies, Leuven 1997, 756 pp.; 2nd ed., Leuven 2001, 780 pp.
The Aramaeans: their ancient history, culture, religion, 2001.
The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion, Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies, Leuven 2000, 697 pp.
Itineraria Phoenicia, Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies, Leuven 2004, XXVI+ 622 pp.
On the Skirts of Canaan in the Iron Age. Historical and Topographical Researches, Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies, Leuven 2006, 484 pp.
Prawo bliskowschodnie w starożytności. Wprowadzenie historyczne, Wydawnictwo KUL, Lublin 2009, 492 pp.
Resheph. A Syro-Canaanite Deity, Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies, Leuven 2009, 297 pp.
