Tools for Bible Study

I work in the Bible, Reference, and Study Resources department of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Just a few weeks ago I heard this helpful breakdown of the types of reference products available for Bible Study.

If the title of the product uses the word:

• Handbook: it's an overview of each book of the Bible, in canonical order (the order the books are in in your Bible).
• Dictionary: it's word-focused and in alphabetical order.
• Encyclopedia: it's topic- and phrase-focused and also in alphabetical order.

Other types of Bible reference books include:

• Topical Bible: organized alphabetically by topic, a list of all the scriptures that apply to popular study topics.
• Commentary: A book-by-book and sometimes even verse-by-verse explanation of the meanings behind Bible texts.
• Concordance: A complete list of every word in the Bible, as well as where and how it's used (the popular Strong's concordance also shows the Greek and Hebrew words behind the English translation).
• Manners and Customs or Life and Times: Understand how Bible people lived and discover the smallest details of life in Bible times (like what they wore and ate, how they worshipped, and what types of homes, job, transportation, plants, and animals existed in Bible times).

Hope this is helpful! Since I'd never heard this kind of breakdown before, even as close as I am to the production of these products, it felt like a "best kept secret" of the Bible scholar world. I wanted to share it with all of you so you'd be in the know! Happy studying!