Educational
What’s in the Archaeological Study Bible?
8April 26, 2013
When I first heard about the Archaeological Study Bible, I wasn’t sure what to think. My initial thought was how could there be an entire Bible devoted to archaeological study? And honestly, how could a study Bible devoted to archaeological study not be a snoozer? So, I got a copy of the Archaeological Study Bible and began looking through it. Wow, was I impressed (and wrong)!
The Archaeological Study Bible is a great resource. There are 520 articles covering five main categories: Archaeological Sites, Cultural and Historical Notes, Ancient Peoples and Lands, the Reliability of the Bible, and Ancient Texts and Artifacts. The Bible Study App enriches the Archaeological Study Bible. As you read through your Bible, the split screen and resource guide keep you synced with your reading.
Here’s an example of an article on the Zealots and Essenes (screenshots from an iPad):
Also included are almost 500 full-color photographs throughout the text. Here’s two examples:
Throughout the text there are detailed charts like this one:
At the end of the Archaeological Study Bible there are several maps that help you get an idea of the placement of biblical events:
The authors of the Archaeological Study Bible also included detailed book introductions for every book of the Bible. Other study tools include a glossary, extensive concordance and several indexes to help you find articles relevant to your study.
The Bible Study App enhances this resource when articles reference other articles within the Archaeological Study Bible. By tapping or clicking on the hyperlink, you can go directly to the related article, view in the Split Window, or view it in a Popup screen.
As you can see, you can spend hours learning the historical background of the Bible and the settings in which biblical events took place. The articles and pictures will give you insights into the Bible and make you feel like you could have been there.
You can get the Archaeological Study Bible for 50% off the regular price now through April 29th. I hope you enjoy this resource as much as I am.
Using a Concordance in The Bible Study App
0April 17, 2013
The Olive Tree Concordance is a great resource to use within The Bible Study App to enhance your study and we have several good ones available with the ESV, NKJV and KJV translations. Why should you use a concordance in The Bible Study App? Read below to see what a concordance can do for you.
Screenshots are taken from The Bible Study App running on Windows.
Dictionary Look up
As you read along in your Bible or other resource, you can highlight a word and select “Look Up” from the menu of options. Immediately The Bible Study App searches your library for resources related to your selected word.
Click on the Olive Tree Concordance from the list of articles to see the entry for the selected word. Similar to a traditional concordance, the Olive Tree concordance gives you a listing of all the other places in the Bible where that word is used. The Bible Study App goes beyond the traditional concordance by creating hyperlinks for all the verse references, so as you click on one, a pop up window will take you to the Bible text, making a word study quick and easy.
Strong’s Numbering
You may have noticed that there is a number listed next to each verse reference in the concordance. This is the Strong’s number for your selected word. Strong’s numbers represent the word in the original language that was translated into your English word.
For example, when you look up “mercy,” you will get a different Strong’s number for the Hebrew words raḥam and ḥânan which are both translated as mercy in English, but have different meanings in Hebrew. When you tap or click on the Strong’s number h7356, the search will bring up all of the verse references in the Bible that contain the Hebrew word raḥam.
Strong’s Dictionary
In addition to the Strong’s Numbers, you will also receive access to the Strong’s Dictionary when you purchase the Olive Tree concordances. Next to each Strong’s Number in the concordance is a hyperlink to the “Dictionary.” When you tap or click on “Dictionary” a pop up will provide the original language definition. For example, when selecting “Dictionary” for h7356 (raḥam) the entry is:
h7356. רַחַם raḥam; from 7355; compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden: — bowels, compassion, damsel, tender love, (great, tender) mercy, pity, womb.
AV (44)- mercy 30, compassion 4, womb 4, bowels 2, pity 2, damsel 1, tender love 1; n m
The dictionary information tells me that raḥam comes from the Hebrew root word with the Strong’s number h7355. I can find the dictionary information for the root word if I click or tap on h7355. The dictionary entry also gives a definition for raḥam and lists the occurrences of the word and how it is translated. There are 44 instances of the Hebrew word in the Bible, 30 of which are translated as “mercy,” four are translated “compassion,” and so on.
As you can see, the Olive Tree Concordances are much more than a list of cross references for each word in the Bible. With dictionary information tied to the original language, these resources are valuable tools for Bible study. Each concordance comes with a copy of the Bible in the selected translation.
Head to our online store to check out these new offerings from Olive Tree!
Hints for Using the Word Biblical Commentary in the Bible Study App
10April 12, 2013
Using the WBC in the Bible Study App
If you saw our last article on the Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) you will know that this is a hefty commentary series. Because of the vast information included in WBC, it presents some challenges for usage in a mobile platform. Each section of commentary in WBC (covering a range of verses) is further divided into a number of sub-sections which each approach the entire set of verses from different perspectives like “Bibliography”, “Translation” and more. As I mentioned before, each of these sub-sections covers the entire range of verses for the section. If we were to attach a Bible verse location to all of them, there would be no way to distinguish in the verse chooser between the sub-sections and you’d be given multiple results for every location.
To avoid this problem, only the translation section is tied to a Bible verse location. This means that if you select a verse in the verse chooser, you will be taken to that verse in the translation sub-section of the appropriate section in the commentary.
Why the Resource Guide Makes WBC Even More Awesome
The best way to use WBC in the Bible Study app is with the Resource Guide. Each of the sub-sections has been individually tagged based on content, meaning that if you have a particular Bible passage open in the main window, the Resource Guide will display the commentary notes for that passage in the WBC for each of the subsections.
Using it with the Resource Guide like this makes it easy to drill down to one sub-section, then jump back up quickly and then back down to another sub-section on the same passage.
More Tips for Using WBC
When using WBC in your main window, you have the option to switch the Go To menu from grid view to list view. The list view will give you access to the full table of contents as outlined in the table of contents at the beginning of each printed volume. This is the recommended method of navigating from point to point in our version of WBC.
One more note on the WBC, if you have your main window and split window set up to track along with each other, moving the text in the other window will take you back to beginning of that section in the commentary. You can turn off the setting that sets windows to follow one another, which is recommended when using the WBC alongside another text.
As you can see, the Word Biblical Commentary is a massive collection of great resources enhanced by The Bible Study App. Right now, the entire 59 Volume set is on sale for $299.99. The sale price for the Word Biblical Commentary set is available now through the end of the day Monday, April 15. Be sure to check it out!
Do you have any tips on using the Word Biblical Commentary? How have you used it to enhance your Bible Study?
NKJV with Strong’s Quick Tips
0April 10, 2013
Originally created by Dr. James Strong (1822-1894), the Strong’s Concordance matches every word in the King James Bible to the word it came from in the original Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. This system has been adapted to work with the NKJV translation of the Bible and has proven to be an invaluable resource that is used extensively by pastors, seminary students and scholars of the Bible.
The great thing about Strong’s tagged Bibles in The Bible Study App is that you don’t need to be a scholar to use one, and yet, after a few uses, you’ll feel like a scholar. Here are some quick tips for using Strong’s tagged Bibles in The Bible Study App:
Strong’s Pop-Ups
Open the NKJV Bible with Strong’s and you’ll see that some words are a slightly different color. Tapping or clicking on those words will pop-up the Strong’s information for that word. These pop-ups contain a wealth of information, including:
- The Strong’s number (beginning with either a “g” or an “h”) for that word.
- A short definition for that word.
- An outlined list of the different meanings for that word in the original language.
- Often you will also find that another Strong’s number is included as a link. These can be similar words that you can compare or other words from which your current word selection derives its meaning.
You can also go to your settings in the The Bible Study App and turn on the setting to show Strong’s Numbers (Settings – Advanced Settings – Display and Copy Settings). The numbers for the words will appear in the Bible text. Tapping on the number will also bring up the Strong’s pop-up.
Look-Up Options
At the bottom of the Strong’s pop-up, there are two buttons that perform “look-ups” or searches based on the Strong’s number or the word in its original language.
Look-up by Strong’s Number
The first button contains the Strong’s number for your word. Clicking or tapping on this button will perform a search in your library for articles containing this Strong’s number.
Look-up by Original Language
The second button contains the word in its original language. Clicking or tapping on this word will perform a search in your library for articles about the word in its original language.
Using the Search Function
Strong’s tagged Bibles can quickly create a very accurate concordance. By entering the Strong’s number into the search bar at the top right of the The Bible Study App, you can easily find all of the places within the Bible where that specific word is used. This is different than searching for the word in its English form. In the original language, there is more than one word that can be translated as the word love, for example. Searching by the Strong’s number will find only the specific cases where the word agápē is translated as love, not one of the other forms of the word “love.” Secondly, when you have a Strong’s pop-up open, you can select the word as it appears in its original language form, like αγάπη, and copy and paste it into your search bar to find all of the places in the Greek text were this Greek word appears.
The NKJV with Strong’s is an excellent resource for diving deeper into the biblical text. It offers insight into the original languages of Scripture without requiring you to have any formal training in Greek or Hebrew. This week the New King James Version with Strong’s Numbering is 50% Off through April 15. Be sure to check out this great resource!
How Large is the Word Biblical Commentary?
11April 10, 2013
How large is the Word Biblical Commentary? One department worked out the calculation for how tall the stack of physical books would stand if we stacked them on top of each other. Eight feet. Almost as tall as Goliath.
Eight feet!
To make our point, we thought we’d take these photos to show you what you’re not carting around in your backpack by buying the Word Biblical Commentary through The Bible Study App by Olive Tree! We also did a sneaky little calculation for you. If you bought each volume of the commentary set individually for $49.99, you’d spend $2949.41!
To top it off, this is a widely-acclaimed commentary set written by leading scholars. Each individual volume offers detailed analysis of the text in the framework of biblical theology. This is an exceptional resource for pastors, professors, students, and everyone who loves studying God’s Word.
Right now, the entire 59 Volume set is on sale for $299.99. The sale price for the Word Biblical Commentary set is available now through the end of the day Monday, April 15. Grab this awesome commentary set while you can!
Introducing Paideia
2Olive Tree just released Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament for The Bible Study app. According to the series foreward, the commentary series was named “Paideia”, which is Greek for “education”, to reflect:
(2) the fact that the New Testament texts as literary unities are shaped by the educational categories and ideas of their ancient writers and readers; and
(3) the pedagogical aims of the texts themselves—their central aim being not simply to impart information but to form the theological convictions and moral habits of their readers.
Although this series is intentionally aimed at “MA students in religious and theological studies programs, seminarians, and upper-divisional undergraduates” the authors do not go into so much theological detail as to leave the rest of us lost in a sea of research.
Paideia is also different in that the series is not a “verse-by-verse” commentary, but rather looks at the final form of the Biblical text in large units of thought.
As such, each commentary is broken out into three sections:
(1) introductory matters
(2) tracing the train of thought
(3) theological issues
Paideia also has several maps, photos, and charts that help make the biblical text more accessible to those without original language, biblical and extra-biblical historical backgrounds and preparation.
Here are a few Examples:
The Paideia commentaries are even more powerful with The Bible Study App. Use the split window to read your chosen Bible translation on one side of the screen while the corresponding Paideia commentary will sync with your reading in your split window. Or, use the pop-out windows to view the content separately. If you are using the Windows 7 app, this is especially helpful if you have two monitors.
Like what you see? Right now, you can get the 10 volume Paideia commentary set for 50% off the regular price through May 6th.
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