MY 15 BEST BIBLICAL RESOURCES
- Jewish Bible, JPS Hebrew-English
- King James Life Application Study Bible
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
- The Brown-Driver-Bridges Hebrew and Eglish Lexikon
- Interlinear Greek-English New Testament
- Young’s Literal Translation
- The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha
- Bible Gateway and Bible Hub
- E-sword
- Mac Software
- Franklin Electronics
- Nehemia’s wall
- Free Scripture Card site
- MOSAIC HOUSE
- Biblical Foundations Academy
Which Bible to read?
We all have our favourites and below I’ll share mine with you.
I think that any Bible is better than no Bible and the following Bibles are just a guideline and a few of my favourite Bibles and books from my bookshelf as well as links to some of my favourite sites.
Jewish Bible
Jewish Bibles don’t contain the gospels and other books from the New Testament but it is good to remember that the Jewish Bible (re-labeled Old Testament by Christianity) is the authority on the history of the Jewish people and their relationship with GOD. Jesus is of Jewish heritage that is traced all the way back to King David’s lineage. Jesus’ teachings are based on the Jewish Bible and He quotes extensively from the Scripture from the prophets of old.
JPS Hebrew-English
The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakah is an obvious choice because it has the Hebrew verses alongside the English translation.
King James Life Application Study Bible
For beginners, I like the King James version Life Application Study Bible from Tyndale House Publications because it has handy commentary on each page. And even though I don’t necessarily agree with all the commentary, overall for beginners the commentary is helpful to understand events in the context of the history and culture of the Jewish nation.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
Strong’s Concordance contains a Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary of the Jewish Bible (named Old Testament by Christians) and a Greek Dictionary of the New Testament. It is truly exhaustive because every word and every reference in the King James version is indexed. I like this version because it has slightly larger print.
The Brown-Driver-Bridges Hebrew and English Lexikon.
The Lexikon provides not only dictionary definitions for each word, but it relates to how each word is used in the Old Testament, and it categorises the nuances of meaning for each word.
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament
The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by Jay P. Green claims to be the only complete interlinear Bible available in English. It is keyed to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. It contains the complete Hebrew and Greek texts with a direct English rendering below each word as well as the Literal Translation of the Bible in the outside column. It’s a lot of fun, this one!
Young’s Literal Translation
The Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible is another of my favourites. I really like the language of Young’s Literal because it is a strictly literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts.
Various King James versions
I started off with an authorised 1611 translation of the King James Bible and an original version. At the moment, I use an authorised King James Version copyright 1984 by the Zondervan Corporation.
The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha
I also have in my library the Oxford Annotated Apocrypha. I enjoyed reading the Apocrypha. The word Apocrypha means hidden and generally contains 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, (also titled Ecclesiasticus), Barach, The Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Additions to Daniel, The Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees which were written by Jewish people between 300 and 100 B.C.
The books accepted as inspired that are included in the Catholic Bible are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch.
It is my understanding that Jewish people don’t recognise these books as being canonical. I don’t think that Jesus or the apostles ever quoted from the apocryphal books.
Bible Gateway and Biblehub
Bible Gateway.com and Biblehub.com are great for research on the web. With options to look at parallel and linear bibles, listen to sermons, search topics, search the Strong’s, look at the Hebrew words and look words up in the Lexicon.
Sample Various Bible Translations copyright Bible Hub
On both Bible gateway and Biblehub, many of the commercial versions of the Bible can be lined up aside or below each other to see the various translations.
Commentary
Commentary is provided for most Bible verses on both Biblehub and Bible gateway which helps when more background is needed to understand a verse fully.
Audio
Bible gateway provides options to listen to the Bible in various translations.
E Sword
For many years I used the free Bible software eSword and was very happy with this. At some stage I switched to a mac and couldn’t get used to the online mac version of esword. I now have both mac as well as PC and intend to start using eSword again.
Mac software
On and off I use MacSword which is a free & open-source application. It contains many different bible translations in different languages, devotionals, commentaries, dictionaries and lexicons.
Franklin
I own a small electronic device by Franklin which facilitates the finding of Bible verses. Nowadays with the smart phones it should be easy enough to find any Bible reference on a smart phone.
To understand Scripture better
To understand Scripture better we listen to Biblical scholar Nehemia Gordon when he interviews ‘Hebrew Voices.’ Nehemia is a Karaite Jew and what I like about Karaite Judaism or Karaism (also spelt Qaraite Judaism or Qaraism), (/ˈkærə.aɪt/ or /ˈkærə.ɪzəm/; Hebrew: יהדות קראית), is that it means, “Readers of the Hebrew Scriptures.” Kataite Judaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority.
This practice is similar to my belief of Sola Scripture, where God’s Word, and not a religious leader, denomination or church, is considered the authority.
Free Scripture Card Site
In gratitude, I developed www.liveforeverhowto.net which is a free Scripture card website. From this site you can send free Scripture cards to your friends and family.
MOSAIC HOUSE – Scripture Cards for various occasions
At Mimi’s Original Scripture & Inspirational Card House, you can buy hard copies of Scripture Cards. These are the same verses that helped me through medical emergencies and other calamities in my life and brought me hope, comfort, blessings, healing, peace, prosperity, love and joy.
Best option – Learn Hebrew
Our best option to understand GOD’s Word fully is to learn Hebrew and find out for ourself what the prophets of old really said. You can check out Biblical Foundations Academy where Keith Johnson is offering a Biblical Hebrew Audio Course for people who are interested in learning Hebrew.
Above I’ve listed some of the resources that I use when reading Scripture or listening to God’s Word or for research when I write my books.
I’d love to hear about your best and favourite Biblical resources.
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