Essential Bible Study Resources for Women

Ready to dig deeper into your Bible study time? Here is a roundup of the best Bible study tools that I recommend to other women.

Use Your Bible as Your Main Source of Information

In school or any type of research-based career, you have to back up your information with other sources. You can’t just state something as a fact unless it comes directly from the primary source. It’s a best practice that if you can’t access the primary source, you need to find reliable secondary sources to confirm the information.

Right now, if you were to do a Google search on something, you’ll probably be referred to Wikipedia (which isn’t a great place to base your facts on since anyone can submit info to that platform).

It used to be that books were the place to go, however, nowadays anyone can self-publish a book so you need to research those sources as well. When we were younger, it was simpler to find a reputable source. You went to the library and headed to the rows of encyclopedias.

When I was creating my Bible timelines, I had to weed through a ton of information and discern what I thought were the best resources to corroborate the material I was teaching. While I’m not perfect, I hope there are no mistakes in what I put out, but I do my best to research these materials down to the last detail (fact-checking them like crazy).

When it comes to your own personal study, I encourage you to also do research yourself, but your number one source should be the Bible. Everything else should be a supplement that must be tested against its teachings.

Here are a few tools I use to better understand what I’m reading in my Bible.

Maps for Biblical Reference Points

Because I’m a visual learner, I need to know where these things happened and maps are great for understanding the precise location of many Biblical events. We may not know exactly where everyone’s house was located or the tomb they were buried in, but the Bible helps us get pretty close when we learn about the names and locations of old cities and civilizations using a Biblical atlas. As a matter of fact, many Bibles include them in the back too!

Commentaries from Biblical Scholars

There are so many of these types of books where professors and scholars have researched possible meanings for every verse in the Bible using cultural research, archeological finds, and original language studies. Because none of these are actual Biblical texts, I like to have a few to compare and contrast. For example, here are the bestsellers in this genre:

Chronological Guides to the Bible

As I have said, I’m a fan of organizing information, and here are a few resources and studies that inspired me to create my own Biblical timelines based on the chronological order of events.

The Story (Selections from the New International Version)

Seamless Bible Study Workbook by Angie Smith

Word Studies

When you look into different Bible translations, it can seem that two different versions that should be saying the same thing sounds completely different.

That’s when it’s good to see what the original Hebrew or Greek words used were. Then you can find the closest English translation to that specific word and come to your own conclusion on the most accurate definition.

Other word studies include Bible dictionaries and concordances. These are great tools to have on hand. For example:

Cultural Background Research

Sometimes we get to a passage in scripture that seems to contradict what we believe about God from something we read earlier. In order to understand a little better why God acted in a certain way or gave a certain command, it’s good to remember that he was speaking to specific people in a specific time period that can be studied.

While I do believe Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, you can’t ignore that there are cultural references in the pages of the Bible that are there because of the context at that time. Here are a few that can give you some insight into living in Bible times: