Ezra 7:10, Nehemiah 8:8, Acts 17:11
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
One of the great gifts available to the contemporary Bible reader is access to the accumulated wisdom of two thousand years of Christian scholarship. The commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, and study tools available today — many of them free or inexpensive — represent the life's work of thousands of faithful scholars who devoted themselves to understanding and explaining Scripture.
Using these resources is not a sign of weak faith or insufficient Bible knowledge — it is wisdom. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
Bible Translations
The first tool every Bible student needs is a good translation. Key choices:
Word-for-word translations (most literal): English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Bible (NASB). Best for detailed study.
Dynamic equivalence translations (thought-for-thought): New International Version (NIV), New Living Translation (NLT). More readable; good for devotional reading.
Paraphrases (very free): The Message, The Living Bible. Helpful for getting a fresh sense of a familiar passage; not reliable for detailed study.
Using two or three translations in parallel often reveals nuances invisible in any single translation.
Commentaries
A commentary is a systematic explanation of a biblical book, working through the text passage by passage (or verse by verse), explaining the meaning, addressing difficulties, and connecting the passage to the rest of Scripture.
One-volume Bible commentaries — cover the whole Bible in one volume, useful for quick reference. Examples: the ESV Study Bible notes, the New Bible Commentary.
Series commentaries — multi-volume sets covering individual books in depth. Ranges from popular (accessible to non-specialists) to technical (requiring knowledge of Greek and Hebrew).
Good starting point series: the Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (accessible), the Pillar New Testament Commentary (scholarly but readable).
Concordances, Lexicons, and Bible Dictionaries
A concordance lists every occurrence of every word in the Bible, enabling you to find all the passages where a word appears. Strong's Concordance includes the original Hebrew and Greek words.
A Bible dictionary provides background articles on biblical persons, places, theological concepts, and historical context. The Illustrated Bible Dictionary and the New Bible Dictionary are highly regarded.
A Bible atlas shows the geography of biblical events — where cities were located, distances between places, terrain. Geography often illuminates narrative significantly.
Digital Tools
Bible software (Logos, Accordance) and websites (BibleGateway, BlueLetterBible) put enormous resources at the fingertips of anyone with internet access. BibleHub allows parallel reading of dozens of translations and links to commentaries and lexicons.