IBS-18 Word Study Using the Blue Letter Bible

 

The Big Idea: How to use the Blue Letter Bible online for a Word Study 

There are several Bible Resources online. Some are free and some become expensive as you add features. For the average Christian, Blue Letter Bible is a free powerful tool that you can use both on and offline. It is also available as an app through Apple and Google Play.

Review what a Word Study is and how to do it in the previous post, IBS-16. Understand that the goal is not to review every word in your passage, but choose repetitive words and significant words in the passage.

Blue Letter Bible

1. From the opening page of the Blue Letter Bible online, put in the Bible reference. It is important to note these guidelines do not apply to the app.  Hit the Green search. If you are studying in the NASB or ESV choose that in the dropdown menu.

2. The verse opens. Hover over the tools icon and a menu will give you options. Choose interlinear;  it will give you each word with Strong’s Numbers.

3. Words and phrases of the verse go line by line with the Strong’s number. You can see the tense or grammatical position of it, and even find a sound icon for pronunciation.  Click now on the Strong’s number.

 4. There are a few useful things on this new view. You have the number of times it is used in the Bible, an outline how it is used, the Strong’s Definition and other Biblical resources that help define and understand it. 

5. Jump down on this page to the section called Concordance Results. There you will see each occurrence of this Hebrew or Greek Word with entire verses listed.

6. Here you have the opportunity to see how many times your word occurs in the book or chapter you are studying. You can see how it may be translated into another English word in some passages. All of these clues areuseful to understanding the word used here. 

If the author of the book has written more books, such as the Apostle Paul, you can compare how Paul uses the word in his other writings. The same goes for the Apostle John, Moses of the Old Testament, etc.

 Sometimes a word occurs in only one place in the Bible. One can check their use outside the Bible which can prove useful. Understand this unique word cannot be the key to a new theology or doctrinal understanding. Always go back to the context and where this concept occurs in other parts of Scripture. 

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This is eighteenth in a series called Practical Starter Guide for Inductive Bible Study.
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Reflect:

1. Do you prefer to use online tools or hard copy books? What is the advantage/disadvantage of each?

2. Practice with a word to use for a word study, such as 2 Peter 3:9, looking for the word patient. What do you learn about the patience of God through this?