Everyone Can Study The Greek & Hebrew
Anyone that is serious about studying the Bible has at one time or another wondered what the original Hebrew or Greek text really said. For me the desire started when I wanted to get a better understanding of a section of scripture I was studying. I started reading through different translations of the verses (NKJV, NIV, NASB, ESV, etc…) and found that some were the same and some were very different. That sparked my curiosity even further. Which one was right? So I sought out to find a simple solution for a untrained person like myself. I found the answer in using a Greek/Hebrew Interlinear Bible.
Using this great tool I’ve been able to understand many verses and chapters correctly. That’s what we’re after when we are studying the Bible, we just want to know what it really says.
So here is how it works. You need to get yourself a copy of the Greek/Hebrew/English interlinear Bible ($50) and a copy of Strong’s exhaustive concordance ($12). I’ve put Amazon product links to both of them below.
Take the Interlinear Bible and find the verse you want to look up. Once you do you will see that each word in English is in line with the Greek or Hebrew word. Over the Greek or Hebrew word there is a number. Take that number and go over to the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Strong’s Concordance orders the Greek and Hebrew words by number making it easy to find. Once you locate it you will find the definition of the word. You can also use the concordance to find all the other places in the Bible that this exact word you are looking up is used. That can help you understand the true meaning of each verse and every word in that verse.
I hope this helps. I’ve found it to be a very useful tool.
Buy these books at Amazon:
Also, check out http://www.blueletterbible.com and eSword free software is a great tool to have as well.
I hesitate to comment, because I could come across as a “seminary snob” (just finished a seminary degree), but my training there makes me want to raise one caution about what you advocate here.
Interlinear Bibles and Strong’s have their uses, but they can also lead to significant misconceptions. Languages are not like secret codes, with a one-to-one correspondence between a word in one language and its translation in another. More importantly, all the meanings of a word in one language are not necessarily in play in any given context. A common error I hear in sermons all the time is that word X in Hebrew, according to Strong’s, can also mean Y or Z, and then the meaning of Y and Z are imported into the text being studied.
A moment’s reflection about our own language will make this fallacy apparent. Take an English word like “run.” It has a wide variety of meanings in our English dictionaries. For example, it can mean “to move quickly on foot” but also “the production of mucus from the nose.” Now if we read the sentence “he ran faster than his opponent and so won the race,” would it be proper to infer that the winning runner also had snot coming from his nose? Of course not, but this is what we do if we take what a Greek or Hebrew word means in a certain context and import meanings from other contexts.
I don’t mean this to discourage you or your readers from learning more about the original languages of the Bible. Just wanted to caution you about an easy error that has led to some amusing statements at the most harmless and some outright heresy at the most extreme.
Thanks for the links. I’ve been wanting to do this because I’ve learned so much about the real meaning/context of scripture when I have been taught the original greek/hebrew words, but I just haven’t done it on my own — yet!
@Mark – Thanks for your comments and I agree with what you are saying. I didn’t mean that this method could be used to effectively re translate everything in scripture. In my own use it has proven to be very effective when I use it in conjunction with different translations of the Bible.
That’s cool, ramsay. The biggest thing I warn people about is assuming that all the definitions under a work in the Strong’s lexicon apply to every instance of the word in the Bible, or that because a word means something in one place that meaning can be imported into another place. Just doesn’t work that way.
The picture of the T-shirt is a play on words….
I do not know how an obscene pun or play on words furthers the gospel??
Your humor must not be misconstrued even by the wicked and carnal. No appearance of evil.??.
The women I run with, charge $$ extra to “do it Greek style.” I doubt that was your intention?
@Richard
When did sex become evil?