Have you ever read the Bible and thought, “Wait… what did I just read?” Or maybe you’ve read a verse that felt powerful, but you weren’t quite sure what it actually meant? You’re not alone—and that’s exactly why using tools to study the Bible can make a HUGE difference.
Think about it like this: the Bible was written thousands of years ago, in languages most of us don’t speak, in cultures that are completely different from our own. It’s rich, it’s beautiful, and it’s life-changing—and it is also deep. And sometimes, when we read it without help, we can miss the layers.
Using tools doesn’t make the Bible harder—it actually makes it clearer. Bible study tools give you the ability to slow down and really SEE what’s going on. They help you understand the world of the Bible, the way people thought, the significance of certain words or actions. And they give you confidence, because you’re no longer guessing about what something means—you’re learning to read it with understanding.
Imagine trying to build a house with just your hands. You might manage to stack a few things together, but it wouldn’t be solid. Now imagine doing it with the right tools. You’d build something strong, something lasting. That’s what Bible study tools do—they help you build a deeper, stronger relationship with Scripture.
And here’s the best part: these tools aren’t just for Bible scholars or pastors. They’re for you. Whether you’re brand new to faith or have been reading the Bible for years, using tools helps you ask better questions which is how you become a more engaged and demanding reader. Tools also help you wrestle with the hard parts of the text, and discover new insights you might’ve missed before.
They can turn your time in God’s Word from a quick skim into a meaningful encounter and that’s what we want when we read the Word of God. They turn confusion into clarity, and sometimes, they turn a verse you’ve read a hundred times into brand new revelation.
So if you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or just want to go deeper in your walk with God, know this: you don’t have to do it alone. There are tools designed to help you—and using them isn’t about being “more spiritual” or “more academic.” It’s about being more engaged, more curious, and more open to what God is saying.
The Bible is alive, and every time you open it, there’s something waiting for you. The right tools just help you see it more clearly.
And at this point, you’re probably wondering, who is this woman talking to you. Hello, I’m Pavielle and this is The Purpose Collective, a space where we allow God to develop us and deliver us so that we can discover our destiny and purpose in Him.
Here’s where we’re going in this episode. We’re going to:
- Explore 3 different tools to study the Bible; they can also be used for reading as well
- We will look at why each tool can be useful, and
- I’ll give some examples of how they can be used
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Why Study the Bible
As a refresher, I want to reiterate that studying the Bible is the process of engaging with the scriptures to learn, understand, and APPLY them. Application is a major theme of studying the Bible. Lets keep this in mind as we explore the tools.
Tools to Study the Bible
Here are my top three tools.
1. Study Bible
A regular Bible usually contains the scriptures in the normal canonized order from Genesis to Revelation. A study Bible, on the other hand, has the scriptures along with additional elements that make it easier to dive deeper into God’s word. Some of the additional elements are things like tools for life application like commentary, maps, charts, concordance, and study notes.
Here are some tips for finding a good study bible:
- Make sure it’s a translation of the Bible that you actually like. Most Study
Here are some great study Bibles to start with:
- For a general Study Bible, I recommend the Tony Evans Study Bible. Tony Evans
- For Men: I recommend the Every Man’s Study Bible. This Bible is rated extremely high. It’s a New Living Translation (NLT) which means it’s an easier to read thought-for-thought translation. But here’s what makes this Bible stand out:
- It taunts itself as being a Bible for every battle every man faces and is designed to help every man develop a fuller, richer relationship with Jesus by understanding what the Scriptures have to say about the challenges men face.
- Some of its features include:
- Thousands of notes on topics just for men, including courage, temptation, image, leadership, and pride.
- Profiles of great and not-so-great men of the Bible.
- Fifty topics that give men insight into the Bible’s vital message.
- Advice from the pros, book intros, one-sentence book summaries, charts, relationship notes, and an index that’s organized by topic.
- For Women: I recommend the She Reads Truth. The main goal of this Bible is to to help you read and understand Scripture for yourself. It’s a CSB translation which is also an easier to read thought-for-thought translation. Some features of this Bible that I want to highlight are:
- It has detailed book introductions which is helpful when you are trying to establish context for who wrote the book and the overall theme of the books message.
- It also has 189 devotionals, full-color timelines, maps, and charts, along with wide margins for journaling and note-taking. They have this Bible in hardcover, imitation leather, and cloth, so you have options.
- For Children: I recommend The Adventure Bible. It uses the NIV translation so it makes the text very easy to read for children. I found out about this Bible from the director of my church’s kid’s ministry. She is a former in school educator and has built an amazing kid’s ministry with an engaging curriculum. Here’s what children love about this Bible:
- They love that it has a Full-color design throughout the entire Bible.
- It has articles and illustrations that describe what life was like in ancient days.
- It highlights great verses to memorize.
- They also like the book introductions, the dictionary that helps them look up tricky words, and the color map that helps them locate places in the Bile
Alright, let’s move on to the next bible tool that I recommend which is a bible dictionary.
3. Bible Dictionary
A Bible dictionary is a reference book that has explanations, definitions, and background information on names, places, customs, concepts, and terms that are found in the Bible. It’s like a specialized encyclopedia that’s focused entirely on Scripture. Here’s what you can typically find in a Bible dictionary:
People – when it comes to people, a Bible dictionary will have who they were, what their roles were in the Bible, and their significance. For example, it will say that Mary is the mother of Jesus.
Places – when it comes to places, a Bible dictionary will outline where the place is located and their historical or biblical importance; think “Jerusalem,” “Bethlehem,” “Mount Sinai). So if you ever run across a place in the Bible and you want to know more about it, a Bible dictionary will shed some light. As an example, I looked up Mount Carmel in my Bible dictionary. Here’s what it said: “In 1 Kings 18:19 the scene of the confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The mountain is near the Mediterranean coast of Palestine between the Plain of Acco to the north and the Plain of Sharon to the south. It is frequently mentioned in the Bible as a place of great beauty and fertility.
Concepts & Terms – when it comes to concepts and terms, a Bible dictionary will have definitions of theological, cultural, or historical concepts like covenant, atonement, scribe. I looked up the word scribe in my Bible dictionary and it says a scribe is a, “[p]erson trained in writing skills and used to …
Objects – when it comes to objects, a Bible dictionary will have descriptions of items that were used in biblical times. For example: ark of the covenant, tabernacle, altar.
Biblical customs – when it comes to biblical customs, a Bible dictionary will have explanations of ancient practices and rituals. One that stands out to me are the feasts and festivals which were regular religious celebrations held in remembrance of God’s great acts of salvation in the history of His people. A Bible dictionary will break down the different feasts and festivals, which is great for studying.
As a new or seasoned Bible scholar, I don’t think you can go wrong with having a Bible dictionary in your Bible toolkit.
I personally use the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. I’m a visual learner so any opportunity where I can have pictures, I want pictures lol. I love this version because it’s easy to follow and it has around 700 full-color photos, maps, reconstructions, and charts. I’m lowkey like a kid in a candy story when I use it. I also love that it has summary definitions at the beginning of each entry that provides a quick take on that particular word. It’s an excellent guide to things we need to know about the Bible.
My only issue with it, and this may be the case for other Bible dictionaries, I’m not sure, but my issue is for some of the listings, it does not cite to where the word, name, place, etc is found in scripture. Now this isn’t a huge deal because I can just go over to OpenBible to see where the word is used in scripture.
But that’s it for this study tool.
3. Bible Concordance
The last study tool I’ll share in this episode is a concordance. A Bible concordance is kind of like an index for the Bible because it has an alphabetical list of words from the Bible and the scriptures and passages where they appear.
It helps you find where specific words or topics appear in the Bible by listing them alphabetically along with the verses where they occur. There are two main types of concordances: exhaustive and concise.
An Exhaustive Concordance lists every single occurrence of a word in the Bible. A famous one is Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, which also assigns numbers (Strong’s numbers) to original Hebrew and Greek words for deeper study. A Concise or Abridged Concordance gives a shorter list, usually covering only the most significant or commonly used words.
Here are some some ways that a concorandce can be beneficial for you:
- you can use it to help you find specific verses where a certain word was used
- You can use it to study how a word is used throughout Scripture
- This next one is my personal favorite, but you can use a concordance to dig into the original meanings of words in Hebrew or Greek.
A free and easy concordance to use is the Interlinear Greek Concordance on the Blue Letter Bible App. It’s an exhaustive concordance so it has every occurrence of . Here’s an example of how to use it. We’re going to look up definition of the original Greek word that was translated to the word grace in 2 Corinthians 12:9. That verse in the NKJV says, “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Once we open up the app, we want to select the testament at the top where our verse is. I have no idea where the app will open once you download it but you want to get to the screen that lets you search for a verse. If a verse is already populating on your screen, then all you have to do it tap on the verse at the top of your screen at it’ll get you to where you can select a new verse. We’re in second Corinthians, so I’m going to select NT for New Testament. Then 2 Corinthians and twelve for the chapter.
Once the chapter is selected, all of the verses for that chapter will populate. From there, just scroll down to the verse you want, then tap on it. From there, select interlinear/concordance and it’s now going to show you each word or phrase separated into its own section based on the Greek word that word or phrase was translated from. The New Testament was originally written in Greek so we see Greek words here.
Now we’re gonna scroll down to find the word for grace which is the Greek word Charis (khardis). Once we tap on that Greek word, we get to see its definition which gives us more insight into what God means when he uses the word grace in this particular verse. If you scroll down a bit more, you will also be able to see how many times this word was used, the context for which it was used, and where it was used.
Pretty neat right? I thought so too lol.
So here’s the takeaway: the Bible isn’t something we’re meant to just skim through—it’s something we’re meant to dig into. And like anything worth digging into, it helps to have the right tools.
When you use tools to study the Bible, you’re not making it more complicated—you’re making it more meaningful. You’re slowing down, asking the right questions, and letting God’s Word speak more clearly into your life.
Whether you’re reading one verse or an entire chapter, studying with the right mindset and support turns reading into revelation. It deepens your understanding, strengthens your faith, and connects the dots between what’s on the page and what’s happening in your life.
So don’t be intimidated. Don’t feel like you need to figure it all out on your own. Just start with curiosity, stay open, and let God meet you in the process.
Because the Bible is more than just a book—it’s a conversation. And the better we listen, the more clearly we’ll hear Him speak.
Alright, we only have a couple more episodes in this series, so I’ll see you in the next one.
Want More?
If you enjoyed this episode, then you may also enjoy the episode of the show about the fear of success and how it hinders purpose or this episode detailing what to expect when operating in your purpose.
Resources Mentioned
- Tony Evans Study Bible
- Every Mans Study Bible
- Blue Letter Bible App – Interlinear Greek Concordance
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Disclaimer: If you happen to purchase anything I recommend in this or any of my communications, it’s likely I’ll receive some kind of affiliate compensation. Still, I only recommend things that I truly believe in and have personally experienced. If you ever have an issue with anything I recommend, please let me know. My goal is to help you thrive in your purpose. — Pavielle