Often customers will request that we make the now-classic Vine’s Expository Dictionary available for the Accordance Library. It’s not that we have anything against Vine’s but truthfully, it’s a bit outdated. Moreover, we actually carry a title that rightfully claims to be “A Modern Replacement for the Classic Vine’s Expository Dictionary.” I’m referring of course to Stephen Renn’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words. As this title comes with every Accordance 11 Collection except the Starter and Original Languages, you may have this title already and simply not know much about it.
Renn’s Expository Dictionary takes key Bible words and offers explanations of their nuanced meanings from the Hebrew and Greek. In the old Vine’s Dictionary, sometimes information from the original languages was provided to the readers, and sometimes it was left out. In Renn’s Dictionary Hebrew and Greek words are always provided, both in original form as well as transliteration. This opens up the resource to be used by anyone, regardless of whether a person has studied Greek and Hebrew or has not (or perhaps is just a bit rusty). Strong’s Numbers are included, which allows the Accordance user to search for a specific Hebrew or Greek word in any English translation keyed to the underlying biblical languages.
Click on the image above to see a Windows screenshot of
Renn’s Expository Dictionary.
What else separates Renn’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words? There is a helpful interpretive distinction that comes across as Renn attempts to focus on how words are related intertextually between the Old and New Testaments. As stated in the introduction:
While there are a number of excellent Old and New Testament dictionaries on the market, this volume offers unique features that will enhance the reader’s understanding of the whole of Scripture-in particular, the relationship between the Testaments. The dictionary is organized into entries by English word, with each main entry divided into Old Testament and New Testament words. However, the “Additional Notes” sections set this dictionary apart from others. These notes explain how the theme, concept, or doctrine shaped by the Hebrew terminology is fulfilled in the Greek vocabulary of the New Testament, especially in relation to the consummation of God’s plan of salvation through the person of Christ. In short, the reader has not so much a “word study” as an analysis of a redemptive-historical theme—a “motif study”—that has its origins in the Old Testament and finds its completion in the New Testament.
As already mentioned, Stephen Renn’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words is available for all but the Accordance 11 Starter and Original Languages Collections. If you only have one of these packages, this resource makes an excellent addition to your Accordance Library. It’s also a way to incorporate a modern expository dictionary of Bible words to the titles you might be carrying in Accordance Mobile. I’ve found it an excellent quick resource to use on my iPhone (see screenshot on the left).
Through Monday, February 1, Renn’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words is discounted 40% at the very low price of $11.90! If you don’t already have this extremely helpful resource in your Accordance toolbelt, now is the perfect time to add it!