Study With Me: Resources for Bible Study



This Study With Me series is meant to show you that any regular person can study the Bible for themselves. With that being said, I know that I own a lot more study resources than most regular people. There are a couple of reasons for this: one is that my husband was a Bible college student and we still have his Bible college books. The other reason is simply that I love books and I pick up second-hand copies of good books wherever and whenever I can. More on that later. 

Let's talk about resources. When looking for resources to help in studying, there are a few things to keep in mind that will best help us learn about the context of  the Bible.

1. Just the Facts. If we are studying the Bible to find out for ourselves what it says, we are not looking for someone else's ideas, opinions, interpretations, or doctrines. These are things that might be interesting to consider later on, after we have already studied a passage, but first we are looking for information to help us understand what the Bible is actually saying. This is why I don't include commentaries in my go-to resources. Instead, I look for information based on historical facts, ancient literature, and archaeological discoveries.

2. History.  We are so far removed from the times of the Bible! Learning about the historical setting of the Bible is a great help in understanding it.

3. Culture.  Living in the U.S.A., I know that the culture that surrounds me is very different from the culture of the people the Bible was originally written to. So if I'm going to understand the Bible, I need to try to understand the culture of the Bible.

4. Language. Although the Bible has been translated into many languages to allow many different people to read it, the translations are never going to fully get across the meaning of the original writings. That's just the way languages work. So it would greatly benefit our understanding to study what the words and phrases meant in the Biblical languages. And the Bible uses other "languages" besides Hebrew and Greek. This ties into culture as well, but both the Hebrew and Greek scriptures use a significant amount of language that has to do with agriculture, calendars, the Temple, and the holy days. Learning how all of these things work and recognizing the words and phrases that correspond to them gives even more meaning to what we are reading in the Bible. 

So now that we know what we're looking for, where do we find it?

Online Resources

BibleGateway.com, BlueLetterBible.org, and BibleHub.com are all great online resources, but the one with the most features is definitely BibleHub.com. It has many different Bible translations to choose from, including the Interlinear Bible which has the Hebrew or Greek, the English, and the Strong's Concordance number for every word. Each word can be clicked on for cross references, word studies, and definitions from dictionaries and lexicons. There is also a convenient BibleHub app for your phone. BibleHub is a wonderful tool, and I use it every time I study.

Logos is a Bible software that was developed for pastors, and there is a free basic package that anyone can download or access online. I am only just getting familiar with this because my computer is very slow and I wasn't aware that I can use Logos online without downloading it! The free version actually looks like it has quite a few resources, and also gives you the ability to take notes alongside your Bible reading (although I prefer to take notes by hand). You can find it at logos.com/basic.

A Bible study software that is similar to Logos, and free to download, is e-Sword. This one also has a lot of really helpful features, but I haven't been able to use it much on my slow computer. Maybe you will have more success! E-Sword can be downloaded at e-sword.net. 

BibleProject is a collection of short, online, illustrated videos about the Bible that tell the story of the Bible in a unique way. There are overview videos on each book of the Bible, a series on how to read the Bible, and videos on themes, words, and sections of the Bible. Their videos can be found on YouTube or BibleProject.com.

JewishEncyclopedia.com has a huge amount of information on Biblical history from a Jewish perspective. 

Scholarly articles on specific subjects can be searched for on JSTOR.org and Google Scholar.

Study Bibles

Study Bibles really aren't my favorite resource because most of them contain a lot of commentary. There are a few exceptions, however. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible by Zondervan is one of the main resources that I use when I study. It is full of charts, maps, notes, articles, and photos that give cultural background information based on archaeology and historic literature. I have also read good reviews on the Archaeological Study Bible also by Zondervan.

Concordances, Bible Dictionaries, Lexicons, Bible Handbooks, and Bible Atlases

All of these books are great resources for Bible study! Many Bible dictionaries and lexicons use the Strong's Concordance numbers to identify and catalogue the words, so having a Strong's on hand is very useful. (Of course, you can find this online also). Keep in mind, though, that Strong's is not a dictionary or lexicon. It is a concordance. It tells us how the words were translated in the King James Version and where these words are found in the Bible. So if you're looking for the meaning of a word, it's best to consult a dictionary or lexicon.

Bible handbooks and atlases usually contain a lot of the information we're looking for when we study, like maps, charts, topical information, and introductions to books of the Bible.

Other Books

Books about Biblical culture, language, agriculture, the Temple, the holy days, etc. can be so helpful in understanding the Bible. I am always on the lookout for good books about the Bible! Thrift shops, used book stores, library sales, estate sales, and discount book websites are all great places to look for these kinds of books. I have found most of my Bible books this way. I also answer, "A book!" when I'm asked what I would like as a gift. Here are just a few from my collection of books about the Bible:

I hope you find some of these resources helpful! In my next post we will be looking at some study methods and I'll tell you what works best for me.

Shalom!

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