Bible Dictionaries

The Study Dictionary from Bible.org

Simultaneously Search the following resources

  • International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
  • Easton's Bible Dictionary (EBD)
  • Smith's Bible Dictionary (SBD)
  • Strong's Dictionary of Greek and Hebrew Words
  • Relevant Maps
  • Definition of the word - click link at bottom of page (referred to as "Word Study") - very nice.

Enter Search Term

Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Hint: You may need to check alphabetic index for specific terms. E.g., a search for "temple" does not yield an article in ISBE, but under "T" you will find "Temple, A1" and Temple, A2" with lengthy articles.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

CARM Theological Dictionary

Articles are well written. Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM) has compiled a small but useful collection of theological terms (like amillenialism, antinomianism, Arianism, Calvinism, Sola Fide, etc.). These terms are not generally found in Bible dictionaries.

Charles Spurgeon's Illustration Collection

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

From the author of Strong’s Concordance and the result of the culminating efforts of two hundred editors, and was originally in 12-volumes entitled the Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature without doubt one of the largest Bible reference works ever published in the English language. Begun in 1853 under the editorship of James Strong and John McLintock, this massive reference work contains more than 31,000 articles and 17,000,000 words, along with hundreds of pages of bibliographic material and thousands of illustrations.

Described as the most gigantic literary enterprise of its age, the Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature aims to put into a single reference work the accumulated knowledge of all previous biblical scholarship. It quickly became the one of the best-selling Bible reference works of all time, and remains one of the largest reference works ever published. These volumes contain detailed articles on biblical, historical, and theological topics, including sixteen pages on the Tower of Babel, fifteen pages on David, thirty-three pages on marriage, and the longest article on Mormonism ever to appear in a reference work—before or since.

The Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature also includes thousands of bibliographic articles on individuals whose lives appear in no other reference work and nowhere else in print. That makes the Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature a vital tool for historians of American Christianity, as well as for scholars attempting to understand the nineteenth century origins of current topics in biblical and theological studies.

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Contains over 40 million words in nearly 40,000 articles

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old Testament

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Holman's Bible Dictionary

This is a more modern dictionary with crisp, succinct definitions.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

King James Dictionary

Lists more than 6,500 words whose definitions have changed since 1611.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia

Nave's Topical Bible

Torrey's Topical Textbook

Lists more than 20,000 topics with Bible references. Excellent resource to prepare a Bible study on a specific topic.

Trench's Synonyms of the New Testament

Vine's Expository Dictionary of the NT

This is the old standby classic resource for Greek word studies.

See also: Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

Many definitions have Biblical references. Excellent English dictionary

Web Bible Encyclopedia

Enter search term in box below to retrieve "hits" but note that not all "hits" are specific for the "web encyclopedia" so is not quite as helpful as searches in the preceding dictionaries (but there are pictures and maps with some of the definitions). This site is also developing a "WEB BIBLE", using the KJV with links from "key words" in the text to specific definitions of those words. To get an idea of how it might be useful when it is fully developed go to WEB BIBLE and under "Old Testament" select Genesis & chapter 15. Click on "Abram" (in blue) (then click Abraham) for the linked definition.

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