Bible Dictionary or Bible Encyclopaedia
Since the Bible was written in cultures that no longer exist, it is difficult for us to hear the Scriptures as the first intended audiences would have heard them. Naturally, this can play an important role in understanding. How did the original audience comprehend what was written? That, as we will see in the next lesson, is a pivotal question. Many individuals, events, and nations referred to in the Bible are completely unknown to most readers. There are some excellent helps along this line to assist in gaining some of the original audiences’ perspective. At the very least they enable us to participate, to a small degree, in the culture in which the Bible was produced and come to some understanding of the times in which it was written. Some very good Bible encyclopaedias and dictionaries are: Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, and The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.
Concordances
A concordance is an alphabetical list of the words used in the Bible with their immediate contexts. This tool allows you to see exactly where the word or words in question are located in the Bible. Having this ability lets you find a verse’s location in the Bible. For example, if you are trying to remember a verse but you can only remember a word or two from the verse, you can look up the words in a concordance and find the verse.
