The Bible

For those who are new to scripture study, the scriptures themselves can seem intimidating. There's a whole lot of tiny print in the scripture sets! But never fear, there are some terrific tools that will bring great enjoyment as you "feast" upon the word of the Lord.

First of all, know that there are many different versions of the scriptures that you can purchase. The Bible, for example, has been translated over and over again. As a result, if you walked into a Christian bookstore, you'd find many different options to choose among.

For Latter-day Saints, we use the King James version of the Bible. And not just any King James version, put out by any publisher, but the King James version published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Why? Because there are some really cool study tools that comes with the church's published version of the Bible.

If you open to the beginning of the Bible (the church's King James version), you will notice some great features. First of all, there is the dedicatory page to the actual individual King James - the individual who requested the translation. These two pages demonstrate the enthusiasm of the translation team for their project. This portion reminds me just how precious the scriptures are. Just think about it - there are those in the world who have not yet heard of the Christ, nor have His words. What a privilege we have the scriptures. No wonder it is so important to share the good news of the gospel! This dedicatory page reminds me of this.

Following the Dedicatory page, comes "The Names and Order of All the Books of the Old and New Testament." This is a handy page to find the page numbers for each book in the Old and the New Testament. It also lists the additional goodies found in the Appendix: the Topical Guide, Bible Dictionary, Joseph Smith Translation (JST), the Gazetteer, and the Maps.

Flip over the page and you'll find a page entitled, "Explanation Concerning Abbreviations." This will help you become more and more familiar with the various cross-references and tools to help your study.

After the Abbreviations page, you get into the actual scriptures. As you begin reading, make sure you notice the footnote comments at the bottom of each page. They link to other verses you'll want to check out. Some of these will suggest you look up other scriptural verses found in other locations in the scriptures. But some footnote markings will contain a reference to a fuller verse in the back of the Bible, found in the Appendix section titled "Joseph Smith Translation." (Remember that handy-dandy page called, "The Names and Order of the All the Books of the Old and New Testament"? Under the Appendix listed at the bottom of that page, you'll find the page number for the Joseph Smith Translation.)

I suggest each time there is a reference to a JST verse that you look it up. The changes were inspired and greatly clarify the original intent of the verse (i.e. note the footnote for Genesis 19:31).

Finally, I would suggest that you become familiar with all the tools in the Bible's Appendix. The Topical Guide is a great help if you want to study gospel topics, such as "Faith" or "Joy." Simply flip to the Topical Guide and look up the terms alphabetically. The Bible Dictionary gives a terrific history and information about hundreds of Bible terms and names. And the Gazetteer is an easy way to find a Biblical city on the map. Simply look up the city or locale's name and it will tell you the map number and quadrant to look in.

Indeed, for those who are new to scripture study, the scriptures themselves might seem intimidating. But for those familiar with the terrific tools found, for example, in the church's King James version of the Bible, the word of the Lord becomes a "feast" indeed. To purchase your own copy, go here to buy it at wholesale price.