Vine's Expository Dictionary
A Great Resource For Students Of The Bible
Theologians and non-theologians alike can expand their study of scripture by using the Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary.
Serious biblical students will find the Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary to be an invaluable resource. This dictionary is suitable for students well versed in biblical languages, as well as individuals who may have little or no theological training.
W.E. Vine, a theologian and expert on biblical languages, published his first biblical dictionary in the late 1930's. Since that time he has published many biblical resources including that of Vine's Concise Dictionary of Biblical Words, Vine's Learn New Testament Greek and various biblical commentaries.
Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament:
The original language of the Jewish people was Hebrew. Much of the Old Testament is a record of God's relationship with Israel (the Jews); thus, these books were written mostly in Hebrew and Aramaic. The semantics of the Hebrew and Aramaic languages are much different than that of English. Consequently, in the translation of the bible, many English words may not accurately describe or express the meaning in which the author intended. For this reason, Vine's can be a great source for further exploration of Old Testament biblical text.
Expository Dictionary of the New Testament:
Written mostly in Greek, the New Testament provides rich teachings and instruction from the subject of its text, that is Jesus Christ. As with Hebrew and Aramaic, Greek words also have a variety of meanings in the English language. Thus, Vine's has provided a great resource to New Testament students in its expository dictionary of the New Testament.
How To Use the Dictionary:
Most study bibles include a bible concordance. This is usually the core of a student's biblical studies. In studying the text of scripture, one may choose to study via a keyword. Maybe one wants to learn more about baptism. One can then go to their concordance and look up the word baptism. The concordance will then provide references to scriptures that include the word baptism. Nonetheless, although the word baptism may be used in all of these scriptures, the original transcript may have used different words for baptism in the text. Baptism or baptize may have been translated from the Greek word baptisma (a noun) meaning "immersion, submersion and emergence", or from the word baptismos meaning "a ceremonial washing of articles". Thus you can see how a study of the original text and its meaning can help one to better understand the scriptures.
In using the dictionary you can simply look up the word baptism/baptize and explore the definitions. Vine's has provided references to scriptures that contain the Greek word in its original text. If you have a Strong's concordance it is even simpler as Vine's is keyed to Strong's reference numbers.
Bible students everywhere are thankful to scholars who have taken years to translate and interpret the bible. There are various versions and even student applications of the bible to help one better understand its meaning. Nonetheless, nothing is more helpful then being able to study the scripture from the text in which it was originally written. Realistically, however, most individuals will never have the opportunity to study in depth the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic languages. For this cause, Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary affords one the opportunity to study word origin without the benefit of knowing the language in which it was written.
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words; by W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, Jr.; Thomas Nelson Publishers
