Tools For The Diligent Student


So many Christians have given up trying to understand the Bible because they've bought into Satan's lie, that they aren't smart enough to understand it. Satan adds further interference when creating so many different interpretations to Biblical passages so that people will think, "What's the point of reading the Bible if anyone can come up with their own interpretation? How do I know if my interpretation is the right interpretation?" Besides the fact that The Holy Spirit interprets for us the meaning of God's Word, the internet is overflowing with excellent study tools for Biblical research, examining the original source-text, allowing the Bible to speak for itself. From all that I've discovered so far, these three websites seem to be on the cutting edge.

The Blue Letter Bible is the entire Bible complete with dictionary aids, verse by verse parallel translations with over a dozen other translations in English, Latin, Greek or Hebrew. (See example for John 3:16) Each verse is linked to countless textual or audio notes and commentary from countless authors and expositors. But my personal favorite feature found at The Blue Letter Bible is the Concordance & Hebrew/Greek Lexicon. Each and every word found in the entire Bible is directly linked to the original Hebrew word or Greek word. (See example for John 3:16) Each Hebrew or Greek word has a link to the Strong's definition. When the link is clicked, it takes you to a thorough exhaustive study of that word, with a complete definition and a complete listing of every single appearance of that particular word found in the entire Bible. There's even an audio clip of someone audibly pronouncing the word so you can actually here the original word pronounced.

The Online Parallel Bible is the entire Bible complete with an excellent search tool which enables you to search the entire Bible by any word, any phrase, any chapter, verse or combination. Type in any word or phrase, and it will display every single verse in the entire Bible that contains that word or phrase. Then, when you click on a specified verse, it opens up a new window with that verse displayed in nearly 20 different English translations. (See example for John 3:16) You can navigate through the entire parallel Bible this way, looking one verse at a time, or click on your preferred translation, and it will open up that verse's entire chapter in that particular translation. Also included are concordances, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps and charts.

The only little issue I have with the Blue Letter Bible and the Online Parallel Bible is that they don't include in their resources, a copy of The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition. I suppose it's a copyright issue, otherwise I'm sure both resources would include it. However, an online copy of The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition with Parallel Translations can be found at BibleGateway.com. Each chapter of each book of the Bible is linked. Click on the link and it will take you to that chapter. Once displayed, you can narrow your page to a single verse or broaden your page to several chapters by typing the Biblical references in the search bar. You can also switch to different translations. There are presently 42 English translations to choose from as well as 68 translations in other languages besides English. You can switch back and forth to those other translations or you can add up to 5 translations, side by side. (See example for John 3:16)