What are the best study bibles, bible guides, and dictionaries out there? I’d prefer for the study bibles to list ones that are KJV or NIV but most except for the New Living Translation is fine with me. Also I don’t mind books based on liberal theology.
I don’t know what the “best” is, but a pretty exhaustive line-by-line commentary is available in tThe Anchor Bible. Of course, it’s immensely long, with a minimum of one volume per book, and often several.
I have the four evangelist volumes of the Pelican Bible Commentaries, which is sorta a cit-rate version of the above – one volume per evangelist. They take the entire gospel apart, line by line, and comment on it. I’ve read through all four, which I found an interesting and enlihghtening experience.
I don’t recommend Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible. After you work your way through the commentaries I list above, you feel as if you’ve been spoiled, and that the Good Doctor simply bit off more than he could chew. His book(s) is a good read, but it’s extremely selective in what he decides to comment on.
Strong’s concordance is a must have. (though I believe it’s online now as well) I recall the Scofield reference bible as being very popular among the people I grew up around as well.
For historical background, I recommend Asimov’s Guide to the Bible.
As a non-believer, especially as one whose background was Jewish, Dr Ike brought a fresh look to the Bible. Commentary was no longer confined to True Believers nor, as happened later, the aggressive atheists. He took it at face value and said, “If it happened it happened here and this is the cultural background surrounding it.”
Took a Bible class led by my pastor. One member was a parishioner’s husband, who is Jewish. At his synagogue he was in a similar group that met weekly. They started at the beginning and, after 26 years, they were halfway through “Numbers.” The fourth freakin’ book.
With a shrug he said, “Sometimes we spend a class on a single word.”
Good lord, I love people who are willing to devote so much time to study anything that deeply. 