 | Q12 : Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible |
| Q12 : Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible |
| Q12 : Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible I wanted to ask your opinion of the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (in any of the available translations). I heard that this is a dispensationally oriented Bible with many good language helps in the back of the Bible. Have you used this Bible? |
| A12 : by Tony Garland Yes, I have used this study bible by Spiros Zodhiates. It is available both in the King James (KJV) and New American Standard (NASB) translations. It has far fewer study notes than the other study bibles I mentioned previously, but the notes it does have are indeed dispensational in their understanding of Scripture. The main strength of the Key Word Study bibles is they make it easier for people who do not know Greek or Hebrew to study the meaning of the Greek or Hebrew words behind the English translation. Within each verse, the most significant words appear with the associated Strong's number over them (as well as indicators of the tense/voice/mood of verbs). The back of the study bible contains several study aids which are keyed to the Strong's numbers in the main text: So the bible is much like having several different books all combined
into one:
As you might guess, this approach is very useful for people who want to
look at the Hebrew and Greek words behind the English text. The only
weakness I'm aware of (which is hardly a criticism) is that not every word in
every verse is marked with the Strong's number. Sometimes, a word that you
are interested in is not one they happened to "key" with a Strong's number so
you can't look it up in the Bible. (That is when you are forced into going to an
Exhaustive Concordance for the KJV or NASB and finding it there.) But for
a single bible, it is probably unmatched in providing a means to learn more
about Hebrew and Greek words for those who have not studied the languages
directly.
As for the KJV or NASB translation--they are both excellent translations
for bible study. Personally, I have more confidence in the Greek texts
which contributed to the KJV (the Majority Text) than the manuscripts below the
NASB (the critical or Alexandrian texts). But both are great translations
and neither one will lead you astray. I think the NASB does a better job
of translating individual words from Greek to English, but I think the KJV/NKJV
has the better Greek text behind it. In the end, a student who is not
going to learn Greek himself is probably best served by having both
KJV/NKJV and NASB and looking at both in passages where deep study is
involved. The Key Word Study bible is available in both of these
translations.
Another Bible I should mention which is excellent for study of the
original languages (short of learning to read Hebrew and Greek directly) is
The Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green and published by Hendrickson
publishers. This is somewhat like the Key Word Study Bible except it
gives the Strong's number for every word in both OT and NT. It also shows
the actual Greek and Hebrew, along with the KJV and the author's Literal Version
(LITV) translation.
So each verse has four
lines:
The negatives of this particular Bible is that it is
a bit unwieldy. You can get it either as a multivolume set or as a single book,
but in 8.5 x 11" format and tiny print. It does not include the Strong's
dictionary or lexicons--so you need them separately. Neither does it include a
concordance nor any Scripture cross-references.
As you can see, every Bible has various trade-offs
and it all depends on what you are trying to emphasize in your studies. I
think that two of the most fruitful areas of study are Scripture cross
references and word studies. The Key Word Study Bible will give you both of
these with a minimum of extra commentary to "spin" your
thinking.
One last resource I'll mention since we are on the
topic of detailed Bible Study: the
New Treasury of Scripture Knowledgea
by Jerome Smith. In my opinion, this is an absolute must have. It
contains some 500,000 cross references to related passages of Scripture.
So it is like a "reference Bible" but much more meaty. If I was stuck on a
desert island and could only choose three books, they would be (in
order):
All of these are also available in digital format
within computer study packages, such as www.logos.com.
If you have a specific question I haven't addressed
in my musing on study Bibles, please let me know and I'll try to address
it.
Links Mentioned Above a - See http://www.bestbookdeal.com/booksearch?country=US&search=TTL&string=New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. |