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Tools for Your Bible Study
1) Study Bibles – In the previous page I provided you a list of Bible Translations for your convenience. A study Bible will be very helpful to you when you are ready to take studying the Bible to the next level. Study Bibles contain explanations, introductions, outlines, cross references, and study notes. A good study Bible has a concordance, maps, and a topical index.
A) Special Bibles – Topical Bibles organize Scripture in special areas of interest, such as Salvation, Marriage, or Prayer.
1. Nave’s Topical Bible – Hendrickson Publishers
2. Topical Analysis of the Bible – Baker Book House Company
B) Interlinear Bibles – compare original language (Hebrew or Greek) to modern language.
2) Bible Dictionaries – Defines Scripture words and gives some background information about the word. Look up words you don’t understand, such as “grace”, “redemption”, or “faith”.
A) New Unger’s Dictionary – Moody Press
B) Holman Bible Dictionary – Broadman & Holman
C) Zondervan Pictorial – Zondervan
D) Dictionary of the Bible – Eerdmans
E) New Illustrated Bible Dictionary – Nelson
1.) Expository Dictionaries - give you more detailed meanings and explanations of Old and New Testament words.
a) Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary - Nelson
3) Concordances – A concordance helps you look up any word in the Bible. It gives and alphabetical listing of key words, names, and topics, plus a list of verses that contain that word.
A) Strong’s Exhaustive – Thomas Nelson Publishers
B) NAS Exhaustive – Broadman & Holman Publishers
C) NIV Exhaustive – Zondervan Publishers
4) Bible Commentaries – should only be used after you have first studied the Bible for yourself. After you have determined what the passage of text means to you and how it applies to you then list any questions you may have. Afterwards, you can read the Bible commentaries to see how Bible scholars explain it. The Bible commentary you choose should be written by scholars with many years of study and explanations.
It is IMPORTANT to remember that commentaries are a group of scholarly individuals' or one scholarly individual's opinion and interpretation. You Do Not Always have to agree with another’s opinion and interpretation but your disagreement should be supported by Scripture Illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
A) One Volume Bible Commentaries – are convenient because everything is in one book and easy to carry.
1. New Bible Commentary – Eerdman
2. Wycliffe Bible Commentary – Moody
3. Matthew Henry’s Commentary – Zondervan
B) Two Volume Bible Commentaries – may contain a great deal more detail and explanations good for home libraries.
1. Bible Knowledge Commentary – Nelson
This is the Bible commentary I use and I highly recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary when another scholar’s opinion might be helpful.
2. Bible Exposition Commentary – Victor Books
3. Zondervan Commentary – Zondervan
5) Bible Handbooks – will give you an overview of background information, customs of that time, and history.
A) Halley’s Bible Handbook – Zondervan
B) New Unger’s Bible Handbook – Moody
C) Holman Bible Handbook – Broadman & Holman
6) Bible Atlases, Maps, and Time Lines – Atlases will be helpful to locate on a map geography where Bible events took place. A time line will help you locate in history when Bible events took place.
A) Moody Bible Atlas – Moody
B) Atlas of Bible Lands – Broadman & Holman
C) NIV Atlas of the Bible – Zondervan
7) Bible Software – allows all of the Bible Tools listed above to be contained conveniently on a computer disk. Bible software can be conveniently accessed and used on any computer as long as licensed validation permits. Bible software is the tool for the 21st century Bible scholar who is very comfortable and dependent on using the computer for its convenience and power.
A) Scholars Library Series X (PC and Mac) – Logos Bible Software
B) PC Study Bible (PC) – BibleSoft
C) Quick Verse (PC and PDA) – Quick Verse
D) Bible Works – BibleWorks, LLC
E) Accordance (Mac) – OakSoft
It seems like a lot but lets keep in mind that your salvation and personal growth is relying and dependent on the amount of your effort to study the Bible with your mind and your heart. The ultimate goal is to know God. The benefits will be to enjoy and love God, to know God’s Word, and to understand His Word.
It is important that we learn direction in our lives, become pure and holy, and Obey the Commandments of God. We should turn to the Bible to find comfort and hope, and to let God expose our innermost thoughts and desires if found sinful, to provide opportunity to repent and change.
You have to start somewhere so start with picking the Bible translation to fit your needs. Use a Bible dictionary to lookup meanings of words. Use a Concordance to lookup every Scripture verse to get a full understanding of that word. You are now on your way to scholarly Bible study with goal in mind, to know God. Peace!
Minister George Condry
(Jeremiah 3:15)
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