Logos is my preferred source of electronic books. I’ve used it for 20 years. You can download the basic reader engine free, and then buy books/packages, as I did for the first 19 years, or you can buy the full thing, which includes a number of books, but also useful databases and features. See my previous posts and how-to videos on Logos here and here.
Logos has a new year’s sale running with some useful basic stuff, some of which I quote regularly. Each of the volumes below is listed on that linked page, sometimes without previews. Consequently, the links below will take you to Amazon for previews, NOT Logos. (Per my boilerplate at the bottom of every post, I am an Amazon associate, and may receive a percentage of any Amazon purchases made through these links.)
Bible translations
On why translations differ, see my article here. More generally on LDS and the Bible, my page here.
ESV, NRSV, KJV, NIV translations for $4.99 each. I don’t recommend the NIV, because it cheats (here for an LDS perspective, here for more length), but it’s useful to have for comparisons.
Study Bibles Notes
On Study Bibles, see the LDS article here. These are notes/essays only, not the translation. Each can be linked in Logos to any translation and scrolled together, so there are no worries about the NIV part of the NIV Cultural Backgrounds.
- The Jewish Study Bible (first edition, not second. Highly recommended)
- The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Highly recommended)
- ESV Literary Study Bible
Bibles with Translation and Notes
NET Bible (notes and translation, also available online at NetBible.org)
Geneva Bible (notes AND translation. This one is historical, from 1560)
Interpreting Scripture
The Hermeneutical Spiral- A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
Original Language resources
Logos allows you to jump directly from English in a Bible translation to a lexical resource talking about the underlying language. (See the link to my two Logos posts above.) This is an excellent feature. But what will you link to?
- Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
- At Education Week, I told people never use Strong’s Concordance for understanding the meaning of Greek or Hebrew words! Use Mounce instead. Mounce is cheap and accessible, and solves many of the problems of Strong’s.
The five resources below differ from each other in approach, bias, and accessibility. With the latter, they assume some familiarity with basic Hebrew or Greek grammatical terminology. That said, they can be used profitably if you’re willing to do some work. They are much better than Mounce in length and data (which is why scholars don’t really use Mounce), but also more technical and more expensive.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament or TDNT (one volume, abridged down from 12. This is older, and had some real issues with their approach.)
Theological Lexicon of the New Testament or TLNT (three volumes. Doesn’t cover every Greek word)
Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament or TLOT (three volumes. Doesn’t cover every Hebrew word)
New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis or NIDNTTE (2nd ed, 5 volumes. Evangelical.)
New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis or NIDOTTE (five volumes, Evangelical.)
Again, see my previous posts and how-to videos on Logos here and here.
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