The Concordance
A concordance is an assemblage of every word in the Bible in alphabetical order with all of its locations. The Strong's Concordance also links you to the original Hebrew or Greek word and gives the definition of that word. This better allows you to know what the author really meant when he wrote that scripture.
Let's say we want to know where to find the verse "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have ever lasting life."
First we will pick a word to look up- “world.”
In the alphabetical listing we find that the word "world" is listed 249 times. This means that in 249 verses the translators translated a Greek or Hebrew word into the English word "world."
Forty-six of these are in the Old Testament.
In the 203 New Testament occurrences, three different Greek words (represented by three different numbers; 165, 2889, and 3625) were translated into the word "world."
By reading the part of each verse listed we find that the one we want is John 3:16.
“World” in this verse is number 2889. We turn to the Greek Lexicon in the back and find that this "world" is κόσμος or in the English alphabet; kosmos. It means:
1) An apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government
2) Ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars, 'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of the heavens. (1 Peter 3:3)
3) The world, the universe
4) The circle of the earth, the earth
5) The inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family
6) The ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ
7) World affairs, the aggregate of things earthly
a) The whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ.
8) Any aggregate or general collection of particulars of any sort.
a) The Gentiles as contrasted to the Jews (Rom. 11:12 etc)
b) Of believers only, John 1:29; 3:16; 3:17; 6:33; 12:47 1 Cor. 4:9; 2 Cor. 5:19
Strong’s comes in several translations of the Bible now, not just the KJV.
Thompson Chain Reference Bible
This is the Bible required by many Bible colleges. It is King James.
Down the sides of each page are two columns with numbers and scriptures. The scriptures take you to other scriptures on the same subject as the adjoining verses.
The numbers take you to a supplement in the back that lists scriptures by subjects. Before this supplement is a table of contents that lists all the different subjects so you can look up which ever one you need. These numbers correspond to the numbers in the Strong's Concordance.
The Thompson Chain also has a concordance (not as complete as Strong's), maps, charts about the life of Christ and other prominent Bible characters, summaries of each book in the Bible, and an archeological supplement.
Dickson Bible
In the front is a very good dictionary with scripture references. In the back, the concordance also gives a definition. It has in-verse definitions also. It has “the life of…” outline pages, a chart of tables and measures, a timeline and synopsis of each book and chapter, maps, and other helps.
Currently out of print, it can be found on the used book market or there are similar study Bibles available if you know what to look for.
(The Bible on the cover of the print version of this book is my mother's Dickson she won in a contest when she was a teenager.)
Center Reference
These Bibles have a column down the middle of the page with small numbers or letters followed by definitions of words in the corresponding scripture and sometimes other verses on the same subjects.
Cambridge is a good brand for this type of Bible.
Bible dictionary
This is a dictionary specific to giving you the Biblical definitions of words and terms.
Comparative Bible
This is a Bible that has more than one translation of the Bible in the same book. It will have one translation in one column and another right next to that. These are good for Bible studies. They have from two to twelve different versions. Occasionally you can find one with two different languages to aid those learning a new tongue (i.e. Spanish/English)
Many websites offer this same feature.
Interlinear Bible
These Bibles contain the Greek or Hebrew text with the direct, word for word English translation immediately below each word.
Bible Atlas
This is a book of maps, pictures and information about the biblical region of the world (modern day Palestine/Israel). They usually have different maps of the same area marked for different time periods. For example, one map may be marked for the time of Moses and the next for the time of David.
Chronological Bibles
These are Bibles rearranged so that the scriptures are in the order they were written in. “Canonical” or normal order is roughly chronological until the prophets.
A chronological Bible puts the prophets in the middle of Kings and Chronicles where they actually lived, and blends Kings and Chronicles into one account instead of two accounts of the same time period. This is more like reading a story or novel and many find it easier to follow what’s going on.
Footnotes and Commentaries
These are the opinions of human scholars. They can be very helpful in understanding the scripture, especially the historical context, but you must keep in mind that they are just opinions and not cannon Bible.
That is what this blog is; a commentary on the Scripture, my opinions. ALWAYS take the plain Scripture over my writing.