5 Simple Steps Using Online Free Bible Study Tools To Understand Bible Verses
- walkingbibles7
- Jun 1, 2021
- 6 min read
Maybe you think that bible studying is too hard or out of reach, but really, let us show you that you can do your own daily bible study online free of charge! Today, there are many effective and useful Online Free Bible Study Tools, if only more Christians know how to make full use of them.
We want to share a free online bible study too which we think is really helpful towards understanding bible verses: the Blue Letter Bible! Mainly, we like to use this website for looking at the Hebrew or Greek words in any particular verse of the bible! It is a really useful function, plus, it is available on mobile too (Click here for the one in Apple App Store)!
Here's a quick guide on how to use it to check a particular word in a verse! We will be using Isaiah 53:10, on which we shared about the Guilt Offering just a few days ago. This guide will show you how easy it is to use online Bible Study Tools to empower our understanding of bible verses!
Before you start thinking that bible study is not for you, please bear with us and we hope you will see the importance and the ease of applying such a method. Anyone can study the Word of God!
How understanding the language used affects understanding the Bible
Why do we even look at the Greek or Hebrew?
In the English language, we are very accustomed to our grammar and semantic (meaning of words) rules. Hence, for example when we call a man "a chicken", we understand that we are not really saying that the man is a fat bird that can't fly, we are saying that that man is timid. Similarly, there are certain words in Hebrew and Greek that may have certain connotations or meanings that are attached to it on top of its literal meaning. Using the "Interlinear" function on the Blue Letter Bible allows us to get a better understanding of a particular word or context.
In the case of Isaiah 53:10, "offering for sin" is actually the exact word for "Guilt Offering", which was a Offering that was instituted in Leviticus. It led to the beautiful revelation of Jesus being our eternal Guilt Offering, and further, from Leviticus, we see that Jesus has also died so that we can have a clear conscience!
The bible is filled with such wonderful secrets waiting to be realized. God has gifted us many ways to connect and to converse with Him, but His Word is the one sure way that has been constant throughout the generations. We would like to share one simple avenue of opening up the richness of His Word. It is not the only way, nor is it for everyone, but we pray that this guide would help someone see the beauty and depth of the Word of God that is with us.
5 Simple Steps To Understanding The Bible (in new ways)
Using blueletterbible.org
Step 1: You can search for the particular bible verse by the Book, Chapter and Verse as shown in the picture.
Step 2: Hover your cursor over the "Tools" button that is next to your chosen verse. And choose "Interlinear".
Step 3: You can now see the words that were used in the original language. Focus on the word/s that you are interested in and click on its link under "Strong's".
At this point, it would be good for us to explain some things about what we have done so far. The option for "Interlinear" is actually for you to be able to see the direct translation of short phrases or words from Hebrew to the English words that you are reading (Reverse-Interlinear would be the reverse). The group of letters under the "Strong's" column is the indexed quotation for the particular word or phrase in Hebrew/Greek (in this case, Hebrew). It is also the counterpart of the English word or phrase you are reading. For the example below, what we read as "an offering for sin" is a translation of the Hebrew word "āšām", which is indexed as "h817".
Step 4: Studying the specific word. Click on the Index (e.g. h817) to see information on the word.
Now this is where things may start to look overwhelming with all the information on one page, but really, we only need to look at some portions which are relevant in helping us further our understanding (of course if you are interested, do check out all the available functions and share with us what you found useful!). Here are 3 things which we usually look out for:
1) KJV Translation Count
This information tells you how the word is being translated in other parts of the bible, for this case, in the King James version. In the case of "āšām", you can see that somewhere else it is also used as "trespass offering". In fact, it is used much more in the text as "trespass offering" than "an offering for sin".
2) Outline of Biblical Usage
In short, this is a really useful overview of the meanings of the word across its usage in the bible and also translations from scholarly sources (like Strong, Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon). For our use, it is already very useful to be able to grasp the general consensus of the usage of the word.
3) Concordance results using KJV
This is perhaps one of the most useful and informative part of your study. What better way to understand the word than to see it being used in different contexts! This part of the page, shows you all the different verses in which the same exact Hebrew word is used, and how it is used. For example, you will realize from the very first quotation, "...thou shouldest have brought guiltiness(H817) upon us.", that the word "āšām" is also used as the word "guilt" itself. The same word for "trespass offering" is the same word used for "guilt". Even in this, there is a revelation to be expounded on but we shall dive into this in another article, let us move on with our study of Isaiah 53 for now.
Scrolling a little further down on the page, you would see the verse in our Guilt Offering article, Leviticus 5:6, in which "āšām" is used as "trespass offering".
Step 5: Pray about it, ask the Lord, and get ready for a harvest!
Honestly, this step should be done throughout the whole process, because studying the bible should not be academic: it is a conversation with the Lord! God Himself shall be your teacher if you are willing to listen! Also, in this last step, after understanding the different contexts in which the word is used, you can check back to your original verse and see if God is showing you a new mystery.
The word "āšām" is translated, 34 out of 46 times in the KJV translation, as the "Trespass Offering". The word itself and its occurrences suggests a strong relation to the specific offering stated in Leviticus. Let the bible interpret the bible. I think Isaiah, being a man of God and also a Jew from the tribe of Judah, would have known very well about the Trespass Offering in their tradition (note: there is more than one kind of offering, and each has its distinct own name in Hebrew).
Conclusion
You can read our thoughts on the Guilt Offering in Isaiah 53:10 and its part 2 here. For this post, we would like to round up this guide with a little verse:
"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2
In present times, we have access to technology that has allowed education to be accessible to the masses. More than just worldly education, let us be educated in the Word of God. From here, we hope you see that you can do bible study online free, and drink from the well of Life for yourself! We pray that this guide will open up new ways in which you see the Word of God, and open up new doors for revelations in His Word. His Word is unlimited, full of wonders and nourishment for the soul. Can't wait for your harvests! Share it with us!
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