Great Resource Books

I wanted to share more about some of the books I love.  These books are what I would call reference books, most are resource books that aid in the study of the Word.  I usually go first to great online resources, which I posted about recently.  But sometimes it is nice to hold the book in your hands and, of course, add sticky notes to important pages! [FYI: clicking on the book titles below will bring you to the Amazon.com page for that book.]

The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.  I love, love, love this book!  This has both Strong’s Concordance which presents, in alphabetical order, the appearance of words in the Bible.   This way you can find, for example, all the occurrences of the word “love”.   And you can search for the words in their original language or in English.  Strong’s is the standard for original language study.  This edition of Strong’s includes Vine’s Complete Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.  It is a veritable cornucopia of information!!  Thank you to my Sweetie, who got this for my birthday last year!

The New Matthew Henry Commentary.  This is printed in “updated language” which differs from the online version available at Biblegateway.com and I find the reading much easier!

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary.  The publisher calls it a visual journey through the Bible – it is one of the few resource books I have with pictures in it and it really packs a lot of information into one book.  Want to see a picture of the turban the High Priests would wear?  Well this is the place to find it!  😉

The IVP Bible Background Commentary New Testament and The IVP Bible Background Commentary Old Testament.  These commentaries give the cultural background information – they put the words of the Bible into context of the time period, the language spoken, and the customs and practices of the day.  Maps and profiles of important figures are also included.  It is easy to search – like the New Matthew Henry, you look up the information about a scripture or passage in the order that the verses appear in the Bible.  There are some neat pictures in these books too.

Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews.  This is the only book in this group that is not a Bible study aid.  Here’s what the publisher had to say: “From Christianity to Islam to Humanism to Marxism to the New Age to Postmodernism, Understanding the Times provides Christians with a readable, comprehensive treatment of the most significant religious worldviews operating in Western Civilization.”   This book follows the same pattern for each chapter in order to facilitate comparisons between the worldviews.  In addition, some great charts break things down easily so you can get the general overview.  We should all be more aware of the strong influences of other religions and philosophies in this age – educating our children about other schools of thought will enable them to see the wisdom of the LORD.

Next Friday I will share about the last group – kid’s books.  This post will include more books about kids than books for kids.  Today, I hope you found something helpful in this survey of my bookshelf!

Tell me, what are your favorite Bible Resources?

Hugs,

Britta ~ justAgirl…just like you!