• Jewish Scripture: Tanakh
  Tanakh is an acronym for the Jewish Bible. The term is formed from three consonants, each of which stands for a portion of Jewish scripture (the Hebrew alphabet is consonantal; it does not include vowels). The "T" represents the Torah, or instruction, and includes the first five books of the Bible. The "N" stands for "Nevi'im" or prophets, and includes the early historical books (Joshua-Kings) and the classical prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets). The "K" represents "Ketuvim" or writings, and includes the wisdom literature (e.g., Psalms, Proverbs) and some later historical works (Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles).

   

  Earliest Texts of Tanakh

  Rollover the scrolls to the left of each title to learn about the text and to view bibliographic references of a single text, or use the arrows in the pop-up windows to view the descriptions in sequence.

   

  	Biblical Manuscripts among the Dead Sea Scrolls (Q)		The Masoretic Text (MT)
  	The Samaritan Pentateuch ()		The Septuagint (LXX)

   

  Modern Versions of Tanakh

   

  Tanakh

   
  Online Resources

  • Hebrew-English Tanakh - presents the Masoretic text and the JPS 1917 translation; hosted by Mechon Mamre, a small group of observant Jewish Torah scholars living in Israel.
    
    
  • Olive Tree Bible Software - English, Greek, Hebrew and other versions of the Bible for cell phones and pda's.
    
    

   
• Christian Scripture: The Old and New Testaments
  
  

  Earliest Texts of the Christian Scriptures

   

  	Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament		Greek manuscripts of the New Testament
  	The Vulgate		Other Versions

   

  Important Tranlsations of the Medieval and Reformation Periods

  	Wycliffite Bible		Tyndale's Bible
  	Coverdale Bible		Matthew's Bible
  	Taverner's Bible		Great Bible
  	Geneva Bible		Bishops' Bible
  	Rheims-Douay		King James Versions (KJV)

   

  Modern Versions of the Christian Scriptures

  	American Standard Version (ASV)		Contemporary English Version
  	Jerusalem Bible		Living Bible
  	New American Bible (NAB)		New American Standard Bible (NASB)
  	New English Bible		New International Version (NIV)
  	New Jerusalem Bible		New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
  	Revised English Bible		Revised Standard Version (RSV)
  	Textus Receptus		Today's English Version (TEV), or the Good News Bible

   

  Online Resources

   

  For searchable Bibles (= electronic concordances), see the Concordances section below.

   

  Electronic Bibles
  
  

  • Barry Bandstra's NRSV - text, not searchable except by book, hosted by a Religion Professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
    
    
  • Bible.org's New English Translation (NET) - an evangelical translation, with supplementary study aids.
    
    
  • Cross Country Software's Online Bible - free for Christian missionaries, low cost for others.
    
    
  • e-Sword Bible Study Software - free downloads for various versions; searchable texts, hosted by born-again Christian Rick Meyers.
    
    
  • KJV/RSV Parallel Frames - hosted by the Electronic Text Center at the Univeristy of Virginia library.
    
    
  • Logos Bible Software's Electronic Bible Library - includes the NASB, KJV and ASV.
    
    
  • New American Bible - hosted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; searchable only by book.
    
    
  • New Testament Gateway - hosted by Dr. Mark Goodacre of the University of Birmingham; excellent supplementary resources as well as searchable text.
    
    
  • Olive Tree Bible Software - English, Greek, Hebrew and other versions of the Bible for cell phones and pda's.
    
    
  • Online Bible - the starters pack has the Authorized Version; for a fee, you can get a CD with additional versions and a subscription to access online updates.
    
    
  • Religious Texts - includes the KJV and the RSV, among others; from the Humanities Text Initiative at the University of Michigan.

   

   

• Islam: The Qur'an and the Hadith

  The Qur'an

  The Hadith

  Online Resources

  • Qur'an Recitation - by Sheikh Mohammed Jibreel, recorded UK 2003.
    
    
  • English Translations of the Holy Qur'an - an annotated bibliography hosted by A. R. Kidwai.
    
    
  • Abdullah Yusuf Ali Translation - hosted by the Muslim Student association at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

   

• Duke Papyrus Archive
• Jewish Apocrypha
• Jewish Pseudepigrapha
• Christian Apocrypha: Gospels
• Christian Apocrypha: Acts of the Apostles
• Christian Apocrypha: Apocalypses
• Christian Pseudepigrapha
• Gnostic Texts and Resources
• Fathers of the Church

Aland, Kurt, ed.  Synopsis of the Four Gospels, English edition.  New York: United Bible Societies, 1982.

 

Funk, Robert W.  New Gospel Parallels.  Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985.

 

Miller, Robert J.  The Complete Gospels.  Sonoma, California: Polebridge, 1994.

 

Online Texts & Tools

• Gospel, and Gospel-Paul Parallels - hosted at the University of Toronto.
  
  
• Gospel Parallels - a handy chart-format of parallels, based on Aland's 13th edition; choose a portion of the gospel account to open the chart, then click on the link next to each parallel to open synoptic ASV versions of the passages from BibleGateway.com.
  
  
• PC-Shareware Gospel Parallels - a low-cost program that allows you to compare the gospels in the KJV, RSV or NIV versions.
  
  

A concordance is a list of every word that occurs in a given corpus (e.g., the Bible), along with citations for every place in that corpus that the word occurs. When selecting a concordance, be sure to choose the version that corresponds to the particular version or translation of scripture that you are working with. If you are using the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of scripture, be sure to choose the NRSV concordance; if you are using the New American Bible (NAB; the Catholic Study Bible version), be sure to find the NAB concordance.

 

Darton, Michael, ed.  Modern Concordance to the New Testament, ed. Michael Darton.  Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1976.

 

Hartdegen, Stephen J., ed.  Nelson's Complete Concordance of the New American Bible.  Nashville: T. Nelson, 1977. [recommended for the NAB or Catholic Study Bible]

 

Kassis, Hanna E.  A Concordance of the Quran.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

 

Kohlenberger, John R., III.  The NRSV Concordance Unabridged.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1991. [recommended for the NRSV edition]

 

Metzger, Bruce M. and Isobel M. Metzger.  The Oxford Concise Concordance to the Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.

 

Strong, James.  The Exhaustive Concordance, student edition.  Nashville, Tennessee: T. Nelson, 1984.

 

Young, Robert.  Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible.  Nashville: T. Nelson, 1982.

 

Online Texts & Tools

• All-in-One Biblical Resources Search - an excellent resource hosted by Dr. Mark Goodacre of the University of Birmingham.
  
  
• ARTFL Project Multi-lingual Bibles - searchable versions including the Vulgate and Martin Luther's German translation. From The Project for American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language (ARTFL), a cooperative enterprise of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Chicago.
  
  
• Bible Database Advanced Bible Search - searchable Bibles and Bible downloads from born-again Christians Christopher Fraley and Brent Maurer.
  
  
• BibleGateway.com - includes a wide range of translations and versions; a ministry of Gospel Communications.
  
  
• Blue Letter Bible - currently indexes the KJV of 1769, but plans to include others soon; a Christian evangelical resource.
  
  
• Crosswalk.com - features various translations including the NRSV and the Vulgate, with supplementary resources favoring materials from ministries like Focus on the Family.
  
  
• HTML Bible - John Hurt's downloadable and searchable resources (KJV, Parallel New Testament and Nestle's Greek New Testament).
  
  
• NIV Bible - the searchable New International Version, hosted by the International Bible Society.
  
  
• Old Testament Gateway - hosted at Tabor College, Victoria, Australia.
  
  
• The Unbound Bible - search the Bible by chapter/verse or by word, hosted at Biola University, and evangelical Christian institution.
  
  
• Also, see the various versions of scriptural texts in the pop-up windows above for their respective online concordances.

Scriptural Commentaries

A scriptural commentary is a discussion of a biblical book or of the Bible as a whole. If its focus is one book, it usually includes an introduction to the book and a verse-by-verse analysis of the book. If its focus is all of scripture (e.g., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary or The Women's Bible Commentary), it will focus on the most salient features of the book. Commentaries are usually published in series, and can emphasize the beliefs of particular religious denominations.

Ali, Maulana Muhammad.  The Holy Quran: Arabic Text, English Translation and Commentary.  Columbus, Ohio: Ahmadiyyah Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore, Inc., 1995.

 

Anchor Bible Commentaries [separate volumes on each biblical book; recommended].

 

Barton, John and John Muddiman, eds.  The Oxford Bible Commentary.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

 

Black, Matthew, ed.  Peake's Commentary on the Bible.  New York: I. Nelson, 1962.

 

Brown, Raymond E., S. S.  The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke.  Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1977. [recommended for the infancy narratives]

 

Brown, Raymond E., S. S.  The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave.  New York: Doubleday, 1994. [recommended for the passion narratives]

 

Brown, Raymond E., et al., eds.  The Jerome Biblical Commentary.  Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

 

Brown, Raymond E., et al., eds.  The New Jerome Biblical Commentary.  Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1990.

 

Eiselen, Frederick Carl et al., eds.  The Abingdon Bible Commentary.  New York: Abingdon Press, 1929.

 

Hermeneia Commentaries [separate volumes on each biblical book; recommended, particularly for graduate students]

 

Laymon, Charles M., ed.  The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible.  Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971.

 

Neil, William.  Harper's Bible Commentary.  New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

 

Newsom, Carol A. and Sharon H. Ringe, eds.  The Women's Bible Commentary.  Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1992.

 

Strack, Hermann L. and Paul Billerbeck.  Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, 6 vols.  Munich: C. H. Beck'sche, 1978-1982; original 1926-1961.

Dictionaries of Scripture

Dictionaries of scripture define terms that occur in scripture. The entries can be quite extensive, and the longest include bibliographic references. Dictionaries can therefore be a useful place to begin your research.

 

General Dictionaries

Achtemeier, Paul J., ed.  The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary.  San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.

 

Crim, Keith.  The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible.  Nashville: Abingdon, 1976.

 

Hastings, James, ed.  Dictionary of the Bible.  New York: Scribner, 1963.

 

Freedman, David Noel et al., eds.  The Anchor Bible Dictionary.  New York : Doubleday, 1992. [recommended]

 

McKenzie, John L.  Dictionary of the Bible.  Milwaukee: Bruce, 1965.

 

van der Toorn, Karel, Bob Becking and Pieter W. van der Horst, eds.  Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD).  Leiden/New York: E. J. Brill, 1995. [recommended]

Theological Dictionaries

Botterweck, G. Johannes and Helmer Ringgren, eds.  Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, rev. ed., trans. John T. Willis.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1974-1980; German original.

 

Brown, Colin, ed.  The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology.  Exeter, Devon: Paternoster, 1975-1978; German original.

 

Kittel, Gerhard, ed.  Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1964; German original.

 

Léon-Dufour, X., ed.  Dictionary of Biblical Theology , 2d ed.  New York: Descile, 1967; French original.

 

Richardson, Alan.  A Theological Word Book of the Bible.  New York: Macmillan, 1951.

 

Ancillary Dictionaries

Hammond, N. G. L. and H. H. Scullard.  The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2d ed.  Oxford: Clarendon, 1970.

Scripture Encyclopedias

Scriptural encyclopedias provide background information related to the politics, geography, socio-economic circumstances and terminology associated with scriptural books. Entries include bibliographic references, and therefore provide a useful place to begin your research.

Scriptural Encyclopedias

Bimson, John J., ed.  Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places: Towns and Cities, Countries and States, Archaeology and Topography.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1995.

 

Collins, John J., Bernard McGinn and Stephen J. Stein, eds.  The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, 3 vols.  New York: Continuum, 1998.

 

Pauly, August Freidrich von.  Paulys RealEncyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, ed. G. Wissowa.  Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1894-1972.

 

Zielger, Konrat and Walther Sontheimer.  Der Kleine Pauly, 5 vols.   Stuttgart: A. Druckenmüller, 1962-1975.

Ancillary Encyclopedias

Avi-Yonah, Michael, ed.  Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land.  Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1975-1978.

 

Bauer, Johannes B., ed.  Encyclopedia of Biblical Theology: The Complete Sacramentum Verbi.  New York: Crossroad, 1981; original 1970.

 

Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin.  The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Active New Religions, Sects, and Cults.  New York: Rosen, 1998.

 

Bunson, Margaret.  The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt.  New York: Facts on File Publications, 1991.

 

Cotterell, Arthur, ed.  The Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations.   New York: Mayflower, 1980.

 

Harrison, R. K., ed.  Encyclopedia of Biblical and Christian Ethics.   Nashville: T. Nelson, 1992.

 

Lewis, James R.  The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions.  Amherst, New York: Prometheus, 1998.

 

Melton, J. Gordon.  The Encyclopedia of American Religions.   Wilmington, North Carolina: McGrath, 1978.

 

Meyers, Eric M., ed.  The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Prepared Under the Auspices of the American Schools of Oriental Research.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

 

Newby, Gordon D.   A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam.  Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2002.

 

Schiffman, Lawrence H. and James C. VanderKam, eds.   Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2 vols.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

 

van Lent, J. and H.-U. Qureshi, comps.  The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, ed. P. J. Bearman.  New York: E. J. Brill, 1995-.

 

Wigoder, Geoffrey, ed.  The Encyclopaedia of Judaism.  New York: Macmillan, 1989.

 

Zeyl, Donald J., ed.  Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy.  Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1997.

Indexes & Databases

Periodical indexes and databases provide fast access to bibliographic references on topics you may be studying. The computerized databases in particular can speed your initial research dramatically: you enter your subject, and the database searches for all articles and books published in a given time frame. You can then print your references and determine whether our library has the resources.

• ATLA Religion Index, available as one of many online databases organized by discipline on the Oscar site. Open the database, enter your search criteria and find dozens of articles related to your topic in the major religious studies and biblical periodicals. The other databases may also be useful, depending upon your topic.
  
  
• Academic Search Elite (Ebsco Host) - Provides the full text of articles from over 1,260 journals covering the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education, and much more. Available directly here or in the Oscar list of electronic databases.
  
  
• Expanded Academic Index - Available from the main Oscar menu, this database covers a wider range of journals than the WinSPIRS Religion Index.
  
  
• Academic Info, Religion: Subject Index - an annotated directory of internet resources for the academic study of religion.
  
  
• American Religion Data Archive (ARDA) - maintained by the Purdue University Department of Sociology and Anthropology, this database provides results of nationwide surveys of the general population, of religious groups, and of religious professionals on questions regarding religion.
  
  
• North American Jewish Data Bank - established by the City University of New York's Center for Jewish Studies and the United Jewish Communities to serve as a repository for computer-based population and survey data on Jewish communities in the United States and Canada.
  
  
• Orradre Library Government Documents Department Electronic Internet Resources - a comprehensive list of online resources for research involving legislation, the branches of government, elections, etc.

Abstracts

One of the best shortcuts for finding and comprehending relevant sources is a journal of abstracts in the field. These journals survey all recently published articles in the discipline, providing not only complete bibliographic records but also summaries or abstracts of the articles.There are two resources of this kind for biblical studies:

• New Testament Abstracts - This journal, published three times a year, provides abstracts or summaries of articles and books published in New Testament Studies. These abstracts are much more useful than the mere bibliographic record provided in the WebSPIRS Religion Index, in that they alert you to the thesis and conclusions of a given work.
  
  
• Old Testament Abstracts - Like New Testament Abstracts, except for the range of biblical books it covers.

Handbooks for Exegesis

A variety of handbooks are available to help one learn how to analyze and study scripture.

Conzelmann, H. and A. Lindemann.  Interpreting the New Testament: An Introduction to the Principles and Methods of New Testament Exegesis.  Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1988; German original, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1985.

 

Fitzmyer, Joseph A.  An Introductory Bibliography for the Study of Scripture, 3d ed.  Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1990.

 

Harrington, Daniel J.  Interpreting the New Testament: A Practical Guide.  Wilmington, Delaware: M. Glazier, 1979.

 

Hayes, John H. and Carl R. Holladay.  Biblical Exegesis, A Beginner's Handbook, rev. ed.  Atlanta: Knox, 1987.

 

Kaiser, Otto and Werner G. Kümmel.  Exegetical Method: A Student's Handbook, trans. E. V. N. Goetschius and M. J. O'Connell.   New York: Seabury Press, 1981.

 

Marrow, Stanley B.  Basic Tools of Biblical Exegesis: A Student's Manual, Subsidia Biblica 2.  Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1978.

 

Soulen, Richard N. and R. Kendall Soulen.  Handbook of Biblical Criticism, 3d rev. ed.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.

Original Language Resources

The standard tools for research in the original languages include some of the same types of resources listed above, plus grammars and grammatical analyses. The resources are arranged below by language; rolling over the scroll reveals the sources in a pop-up window.

 

		Akkadian		Arabic		Aramaic
		Armenian		Assyrian		Coptic
		Ethiopic		French		German
		Greek, Classical		Greek, Septuagint		Greek, New Testament
		Greek, Patristic		Hebrew, Biblical		Hebrew, Rabbinic
		Hebrew, Modern		Latin, Classical		Latin, Patristic
		Sumerian		Syriac		Ugaritic

Pronunciation Guides for Lectors

Biblical names for places and people were originally Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Persian, Egyptian and Latin, and sometimes can be hard to pronounce for people who haven't studied those languages. The following pocketbooks and online tools are helpful for lectors who have to read these names on a regular basis:

 

Online Tools & Apps

 

These alphabetically organized lists embed audio files so you can hear how to pronounce biblical names and foreign terms.

• Biblical Pronunciations (iPhone, Android)


• BibleSpeak (online)


• Net Ministries Biblical Words Pronunciation Guide (online)

 

 

Pocketbooks

 

Staudacher, Joseph M.  Lector's Guide to Biblical Pronunciations, Updated.  Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001.

 

Scott-Craig, T. S. K.  A Guide to Pronouncing Biblical Names.   Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Morehouse, 1982.