Bible Word Study Tools

Doing word studies is one of the basic skills for studying the Bible. I have gone over a few things about this skill in a previous post. Today I would like to get a few of these tools into your hands so that you can begin to work with them.

Electronic Word Study Tools

There are many apps and websites where you can use Strong’s Dictionary and other resources for free. Some of the paid options will have both.

Here are my recommendations for ‘electronic’ Bible word study tools.

Tecarta Bible

https://tecartabible.com/home

I have found the Tecarta Bible App to be particularly helpful. It was recommended to me by a friend years ago. I have it on my phone and iPad and use it often, their website is also very helpful.

The Strong’s dictionary in Tecarta includes the Brown-Driver-Briggs (OT) and Thayer’s (NT) definitions to Hebrew and Greek words.

When I downloaded this app I was able to get Strong’s for free, and have chosen to purchase a couple other helps from them since. The web app will let you use Strong’s for free.

Blue Letter Bible

blueletterbible.org

Blue letter bible is a resource that has encouraged many in their Study of God’s word over the years. They have many helpful tools included in the platform: Strong’s, Thayer’s, and Brown-Driver-Briggs. Along with other helps like Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, and Matthew Henry’s commentary.

The interface of the web app can present a bit of learning curve, though after a few minutes you should be well on your way to some great Bible study.

E-Sword

e-sword.net

For the PC there is no free tool that can compare to what E-Sword offers. This app will give you access to MANY tools and resources that will not only get you started but will also take you deep into Bible study (all at an unbeatable price: free)

E-sword also has paid iOS and MacOS apps that I think are worth the money. They currently have no official Android app.

If you use this app and find it helpful, please consider donating to the continued development of this tool.

Logos Bible Software

logos.com

At the other end of the price spectrum is Logos Bible Software. This study tool system is anything but free, though it currently offers the broadest catalog for study tools, and it you are starting from scratch you may be able to build a library with them digitally for less than physical books.

I have used the software for several years now and it has been invaluable in sermon and lesson preparation.

You can start with around 40 resources for free (Logos 9 basic), including Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Matthew Henry’s Concise commentary and a couple Bible dictionaries. Though you will have to pay some more to get Strong’s or Vine’s Dictionary.

Your Turn

Start looking into the word meanings of significant words in your bible reading time tonight or tomorrow morning.

Pick a tool from the list above, and give it a try.

If you already use a tool that I didn’t mention above, leave me a comment so that I can check it out.

Comparing Scripture with Scripture

Treasure Hunt

The thrill of discovery. This is why we all love a good treasure hunt, word-search puzzle, or Sudoku game. We LOVE making connections and seeing things in other contexts. Our brains are hardwired to reward us when we make these connections.

Our study time in God’s word is the greatest of great Treasure Hunts. With time and a few helpful tools, we can make connections and unearth treasures that will enrich our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Cross References

One of the best, if not the best tools we have for Bible Study are cross-references. These are references that preachers, teachers, bible publishers, and book authors supply to aid in the study of a particular passage or topic.

The best ones though are the ones you find yourself. After years of reading your bible, I’m sure you’ve seen connections that didn’t make it into the center column of your Bible.

Where to Find Cross References

Center-Column References

The easiest place to find cross-references, if you have a center-column reference bible is right there next to the words of Scripture. Not all cross-reference systems are created equally, but they are an excellent place to start. I have found almost every reference bible I have owned to be helpful.

Concordance

Many Bibles have some kind of concordance in the back. This can be helpful if you are looking into a particular topic or you know at least a word or two of the verse you are trying to find.

“The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge”

This single volume of my library is the most important to me. I have the physical book and don’t consider an electronic Bible study platform complete if they don’t offer it (and preferably include it for free, the original is now in the public domain).

The value of this resource is the number and quality of references. It lists references in the context of the verse, making it very space conscious. And it will most often catch both related verses and sources for quotations.

How to Use Cross References

The use of cross-references will depend on your tool, but most will have an indicator next to the word or phrase that points you to the center column for the references. In “The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge” you would look up the verse in the text then find related references in line with the text of the verse.

Read the Related Verse

It’s a simple as that. Find the reference, look up the verse, connections made. The power of this tool isn’t in complexity but in connection. Being able to connect a quote with its scriptural source can give some valuable context, and finding other usages of the same word or places where the topic is mentioned will bring depth to your study of God’s Word.

Look at the Context.

There is a real danger in using cross-references without consulting the context. In fact, unless I know the passage well, I will not use a reference in preaching or teaching unless I have reread the context to make sure I am staying true to the Bible in how I use it.

Demonstration

This week I was reading in Luke 19, and verses 45 and 46 jumped out at me.

45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Luke 19:45–46

I knew this account was in at least one of the other gospels but I couldn’t remember for sure which one, and I thought there were at least one of the gospel accounts that mentioned Jesus cleansing the temple earlier in His ministry.

So, I went to my center column and found a note mentioning Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; and John 2:13-17.

Matthew and Mark record the same event as Luke, but John recorded the first cleansing. Nothing had changed in how the Jews treated God’s “house of prayer” from the first year of Jesus’ ministry to the last.

The center column also mentioned what passages Jesus was quoting in His rebuke. Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 are the sources. I’ll leave it to you to study these passages for further insights.

I give this illustration to show that without even having to open another tool or search google for anything cross-references can be helpful in gaining insight into a biblical account, quotation, or topic.

There are many more buried treasures waiting to be uncovered as you faithfully search the scriptures.

Your Turn

Tomorrow morning in your Bible reading time, pay attention to the cross-references in your Bible if you have them. Take a minute to look up a few of them and get an idea of what they are saying in context.

If you don’t have a reference bible, look at E-Sword for the computer or Tecarta Bible online. Both of these resources (and many others) have some cross-references to help get you started.

Don’t leave the treasure buried. Record any thoughts that you have in a notebook or bible note on your phone where you can find them easily to help you in your future study.

In the Comments let me know some connections you’ve found in cross-references.

Observation – Part 2: Structure

When most of us reading this blog pick up a bible to read or study that Bible will be in English. For many, many people that will be the only exposure to God’s word.

Don’t worry there is a lot you can glean from scripture in observing the structure that is presented in English.

Literary Structure

In grammar, you learned about paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and clauses. This knowledge is the core understanding you will need in observing the structure within a Bible book.

Bible Study Methods give this list for Units of Structure:

We should be able to recognize each of these in a Bible passage.

The Phrase — Grammar: A group of two or more associated words, not containing a subject and predicate. One example is the prepositional phrase.
The Clause — Grammar: A group of terms, including a subject and predicate, and sometimes one or more phrases, constituting a partial (or whole) unit of thought and expression.
The Sentence — Grammar: A group of words containing subject and predicate. There are declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences, or a single word, in the case of the simple imperative. A sentence must contain a complete thought.
The Paragraph — Grammer: A group of sentences constituting a unit of thought and expression. The paragraph develops a point or subject. In modern English the paragraph is much more clearly defined than it is in the Bible.
A Segment — In Bible study it is a group of paragraphs constituting a unit of thought, or developing a thought.
A Division — In Bible study, some books have divisions. This is a group of segments constituting a larger unit of thought or subject matter.
The Book — This is a Bible division. The Bible contains 66 books in all, each of them written for a specific purpose at a given time. Some are history, some are prophecy, some are for instruction, some are poetry. Each book of the Bible has its own characteristics.

We will be spending more time with some of these units in the weeks to come. For today, let’s focus on how we can refine our focus and understanding of a passage through the simplified structure of a sentence.

Structure Within a Paragraph

(Grammar Police: What follows will be a very simplified approach to grammar meant to give a wide group of people the tools they need to get into Bible study. I know I’m missing things. Please leave me a comment below on anything that might further clarify these points.)

A paragraph is “A group of sentences constituting a unit of thought and expression. The paragraph develops a point or subject.” These sentences all have two main parts: the Subject Part and the Predicate Part.

Subject Part

A Subject “…is a word or group of words which name the person or thing about whom or which the statement is made. In its simplest form, it consists of a noun or a pronoun.”

The Subject Part includes the words that belong to the subject, such as adjectives.

Predicate Part

A predicate “… is a word or group of words which make a statement about the subject. In its simplest form, it consists of a verb alone.”

The Predicate Part includes all the words that belong to the predicate, such as adverbs. We will also consider the Object of the sentence (direct or indirect object) to be a part of the predicate part.

Illustrations

If you’re like any of the classes I’ve taught in this, you’re thinking; “This is way too hard. I’m going to skip to next week.” Please don’t do that. This concept is simpler in action.

Here are a couple of illustrations to get you started. If you have any questions please send me a message through the contact page on this website.

Philippians 1:3

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,”

The simple subject and predicate of this sentence is “I thank”

The subject part is “I” and the predicate part is “thank my God upon every remembrance of you,”

Philippians 1:15

“Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:”

The simple subject and predicate of this sentence is “some preach”

The subject part is “Some indeed” and the predicate part is “preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:”

Your Turn

Give it a Try

Use a blank piece of paper to note the simple subject and predicate of other sentences in Philippians 1.

Brush up on your grammar skills

Take a few minutes to find answers to some of your questions that have come up as you’ve read this post. There are some great free tools online to help in understanding grammar.

Keep it Simple

Don’t overthink all this. Understanding grammar is a step on the path of understanding scripture, it is not an end in itself.

Note: Quotes and concepts drawn from “Bible Study Methods” by Burton Brush. Used with permission.

Observation – Part 1: Terms

The last couple of Bible Study Methods posts have set the stage for us to get down to doing some actual Bible Study. Remember, we study God’s Word to gain understanding as we seek God. We read and study to know God.

How can we Understand the Bible?

As with any form of study we’ll need to look at each of the components of the material we study.

The four main components of any Biblical passage are:

Terms — This covers words and their meanings.
Structure — This includes sentences, paragraphs, segments, and books. This consists of the relations and interrelations between terms, or more specifically, the grammatical construction of the text.
Literary form — That would be prose, poetry, allegory, etc.
Atmosphere — This means the underlying tone, mood, or spirit of a passage. This requires that we become familiar with various kinds of background information.

We’ll look look at each of these as we go along. Today let’s start with Terms.

Observation of Terms

“A term is a given word as it is used in a given context.”

Routine Terms

These are terms whose meanings are obvious. There is usually no need to do a word study in these cases. It may be good to look up some of these words on occasion, but for the most part, the translation has done the work for us.

Non-Routine Terms

These are terms that need a little more attention. They are the terms that you’re not as familiar with, or that you notice are significant to the meaning of the passage. There are tools for each of these cases.

The temptation I’ve seen with many bible students to run to one of the extremes. Some will look up every word and try to force out deep spiritual truth, even trying to change the message of a passage based on a routine word. Others will simply assume they understand the meaning of all the words and neglect word study altogether.

Try to fall in the middle of these. I try to do a few more word studies than I feel like I need to do. I will often restudy a word that I have studied in the past just to make sure I have a proper understanding. But I avoid correcting the translation. We are blessed to have a very good one!

How to do a Word Study

Tools

The two main tools that I recommend to begin with are an English Dictionary and Strong’s Concordance.

An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster

This is an excellent resource. Though Published in 1828, it carries a broad definition set and is a great tool for teachers and writers even today. I regularly use this dictionary, along with a couple of others, in Bible lesson and sermon preparation.

This dictionary is available for free in Esword as well as many other computer and smartphone apps. There is an online version that can be used at http://webstersdictionary1828.com (though with some minor adaptations for the web)

Strong’s Concordance and Dictionary

“A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible”

This is the Bible study tool that I default to. It is great for a deeper meaning of the word with the acknowledgment that the word has been translated from another language.

Every Bible study software system or app that I am aware of offers Strong’s Dictionary, and many of them offer it for free.

Techniques

Usually, these studies can be done with the click of a button. The challenge comes in carefully reading of the definitions.

There may be many Synonyms for a word you look up in the English dictionary so be careful to look for the definition that fits the context.

When looking a word up in Strong’s Dictionary you’ll see the Hebrew or Greek word spelled out a couple of different ways, followed by any root words that it may have, the definition is between these and the “:— “ symbols. After these symbols is a list of how that word is translated in the King James Version.

Notice the image below of G80 from Strong’s Dictionary.

The Red marked portion is the Greek word and its root word. The Blue is the definition. The Green is how it is used in the KJV.

Results

Now that you know how to beginning understanding these terms: Use the results correctly. I hope and pray that you will grow in your understanding of Scripture and through it your walk with God will flourish.

However, there are some dangers that need to be avoided. The main thing you can do to avoid these is to keep the context in mind when processing your findings. You won’t be unearthing new information, just gaining a greater understanding of what’s there.

Your Turn

I hope you’ve been reading Philippians.

Reread Philippians chapter one and note 10 non routine words to study. Using the tools given above, study those words to gain a greater understanding.

Share some of your findings in the comments below.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or run into any problems.

Note: Quotes and concepts drawn from “Bible Study Methods” by Burton Brush. Used with permission.

Bible Study Overview

Sherlock Holmes was a fascinating character to me as a child and young teen. I would try to solve the mysteries before the book revealed the answers, and I had very discouraging results at first. But Sherlock, man, he could solve a crime. He would see the facts of what had happened (however improbable) and work his way back to the perpetrator.

Did you know that Sherlock Holmes is a champion of the method we use for Bible Study?

The Inductive Method

Inductive Bible study takes that Word of God, as it is, and studies it from there.

We study the Words (terms), Sentences, and Paragraphs to get a feel for what the passage is saying, then draw conclusions.

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” 
Deuteronomy 4:2

Three facts about the Inductive Method

It is scientific in Approach
Its Process Consists of Analysis
Its Purpose is to Discover

The Deductive Method

The deductive method is a perfectly legitimate method for Bible Study, but it is only appropriate for certain kinds of studies. It’s common for someone’s personal Bible study plan to switch back and forth between inductive and deductive bible study.

Deductive study has limitations.

“8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.” 
Isaiah 55:8–9

By nature deductive study starts with a conclusion and seeks to support that conclusion. This can be a dangerous way to handle God’s word. If we approach scripture strictly through deductive study we risk imposing our assumptions into scripture.

Deductive study is sometimes used for topical, and doctrinal studies. It can be helpful if used carefully. However, deductive study can lead to a tunnel vision where we only see the verse that showed up in our search results without its context. This can lead to a feeling that our conclusions have been validated before we even start the study.

Many have used dissected portions of scripture to support beliefs that are simply not taught in God’s word.

In summary:

The Deductive Method (You speak to the Bible.)

The Inductive Method (The Bible speaks to you.)

How does Inductive Bible Study Work?

Some of the more prominent characteristics of inductive study are seen as follows:

1. It lets the Bible text or passage speak for itself.

We start with the simple question: “What does it say?” This keeps us from trying to force our ideas into the Bible. We can freely learn from the mind of God.

2. It observes first, then it interprets and applies.

When observation is first false results are significantly less likely.

3. It analyzes what the Bible says (content), and how it says it (form or structure).

Context is key. We will look at each word and the structure in which it is used. (Don’t worry, this is simpler than you might think.)

4. It is aware of explicit and implied Truths.

Inductive study will start with the plain text of the Bible, but no-one has studied every deep truth of scripture. Those deep truths are our goal.

5. In it, original, firsthand study holds a prominent place.

You need a firsthand understanding of Scripture. When this is taught as a Bible institute course, all commentaries are restricted at this point. It’s not that those who wrote them don’t have something to teach us. We want to learn from the Bible first.

Your Turn

You can start today!

Begin by reading the book of Philippians. Sit down with just the Bible. Remove other distractions and read Philippians straight through. Then tomorrow read it again.

We’re going to be spending a lot more time in this beloved book, get familiar with it.