This post is all about Word Bible Study: what it is, its pros and cons, resources to use, how to do it, and an example of putting it into practice.

Do you struggle with engaging in the biblical text? Are you worried about taking verses or words out of context? Do you miss the meaning of a verse because you don’t understand a key word? Or do you just want to go deeper into the text, making the most out of your Bible study time? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, a Bible Word Study might be right for you.

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A Biblical Word study involves exploring a word’s original language and context to uncover its full meaning and nuances. By doing a Bible word study, you will get a closer understanding of what the author was conveying and the intention of God behind his holy word.

Benefits of doing a word Bible Study

A word Bible study is a great way to dig deeper into the word of God and understand the meaning behind a verse or verses. One of the problems with our modern translations of the Bible is that they are translations. They take the original Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew language and translate it into the language we understand. But some things get lost in translation.

For instance, you’ve probably heard that four different Hebrew words are translated as “love” in our English Bible. “Agape” refers to the love God has for us, “eros” refers to a physical love, usually between husband and wife. “Philia” is an affectionate love shared between friends, and “storge” is a familial love. Knowing which form of love is used in a verse may help you understand the meaning more.

Cons of Bible Word Studies

It can be easy for people to pull out the meaning of a word (sometimes incorrectly) and change the meaning of the verse based on what they think the word means. This is one exegetical fallacy of doing a Bible word study. And this is one of the reasons you want to ensure you are looking at the word in the context of the verse you are studying.

One way this can happen is by using an English dictionary to find the meaning of a word. Since the Bible was originally written in English, however, this can cause misinterpretation of the passage. Another way this common mistake can happen is by using the wrong definition of the Greek word, or finding the incorrect Greek word in General.

In order to avoid this common pitfall of word Bible studies, cross-referencing and rereading the passage are essential steps in doing a word study.

Below, I will share the steps of a word Bible study to help you avoid common mistakes.

Resources for a Word Bible study

In order to do a good word Bible study, you will need a Bible dictionary. This is different than a regular dictionary because it looks specifically at the word’s meaning in the original language. Although there are many great dictionaries out there, I find that using a couple of online resources is the best way to do this type of Bible study.

BibleHub is a great resource for doing word studies because it has Strong’s dictionary integrated into it. And How to Faith a Life does a great video showing you exactly how to use it.

Blue Letter Bible is another online resource with Strong’s integrated into it. Iron Sheep is a great YouTube channel that gives a tutorial showing you how to do a word study.

Steps of a word Bible study

1. Read the passage in context
2. Compare different translations
3. Find the Greek or Hebrew word
4. Look at the Original definition
5. Compare cross-references for the word
6. Read the passage in context

Read the passage in context

If you are reading just a verse or two at a time and you find a word that you think you would like to study a little deeper, the first step is to read that verse in context. The first questions you should be asking yourself are “what book am I reading and who wrote it? Who was it written to? What are the key themes of this book?”. Knowing the answers to these questions builds your contextual knowledge of the verse so that you don’t misinterpret the original meaning.

Next, you want to read the verse in its context or the surrounding passage. It isn’t enough to read the verse directly before and after, you want to read the full section. This is usually whatever is included in the heading.

Related post: Verse Mapping For Beginners – Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

Compare different translations

When doing a word study, it can be useful to compare different translations of the verse to see how the word has been translated. This will give you a broad overview of what the word means in its context.

Find the greek or Hebrew word

Now, onto the meat and potatoes of a Biblical word study. You will want to look at the word in its original Greek or Hebrew. To do this, use BibleHub or Blue Letter Bible to find the Strong’s reference number and go directly to the definition of the word.

Look at the original definition

Looking at the original definition of the word you are studying can give you insight into understanding the verse better. However, some words may have multiple definitions. Instead of picking and choosing which definition you like the most, see how the word is used in other cases.

Compare cross-references for the word

Cross-referencing is simply looking at other places the word or phrase is used in the Bible. This can be helpful when a word has multiple definitions and you want to find the author’s original intended meaning. Cross-referencing can also be great if you want to explore the word or concept further by researching other instances it is found.

Read the passage in Context {again}

Once you have done all the work to find out the word’s meaning, read the passage in context again. This will help ensure that you are not misinterpreting the original intended meaning of the passage or verse. It will also help you solidify what you’ve learned about the meaning of the word and its use in context.

Extra credit for your Word Bible study

If after doing these steps, you still want to dig a little deeper, consider looking at commentaries to see what others have to say about the verse you are studying. I love using enduring word Bible commentary, as well as BibleHub’s option of parallel commentaries.

Putting it into practice

Now that you know the basic steps of how to do a Bible Word study, we will walk through the process together. To do this, we’re going to look at a famous verse.

Philippians 4:8 has so many great words that you can also study along with.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

To start off, I am going to look at the word “think.” But you can look at any of the words in this verse if you want to go deeper and follow along.

Step 1 – read the passage in context

In order to read the verse in it’s original context, I am going to look at the headings in the text. Although this may differ depending on the translation you are reading, it is usually enough to understand the context of the verse. If you feel like you need to read even more of the surrounding passage, that’s great too! For this verse, I will be reading Philippians 4:4-9.

From reading this section, Paul is talking about not being anxious but instead focusing on the good things found in Christ. And these things are spoken of in the verse we are researching.

Step 2 – compare different translations

For comparing different translations, I am going to use Blue Letter Bible because I can easily compare all translations. I simply type in the verse reference and when I click on the verse, there are 6 different tabs up top. One of them says “Bibles” and this is where I can find the different translations.

I typically don’t read all of the translations (because my brain could never remember that many anyway). Instead, what I do is look for translations that fall on both the dynamic and formal equivalent spectrum.

So, for the word “think,” most translations use that same word. But a couple of other ways it is translated include “dwell, focus your thoughts, and keep your minds.”

Step 3 – Find the Greek word

Although the general consensus for translating this word is “think” I am still going to look up the Greek word. However, if you are doing a Word study and most versions translate the word the same, it’s safe to assume that the Greek or Hebrew definition is very similar to the translation.

For looking up the Greek, I am going to use the Interlinear tab in Blue Letter Bible. This breaks down the verse word by word, comparing the English (KJV) with Stong’s and the original Greek. I scroll down to the word “think” and click on the stongs number (G3049), which will outline the Biblical usage and show me the definition.

Step 4 – Look at the original definition

Now that I have found the Greek word, I can see that Stong’s definition is “to take an inventory, to calculate, to reason, reckon, suppose, or think.”

Step 5 – Compare cross-references for the word

If I scroll down to the bottom of the page, I can see a list of concordance results. This is every time this word is used in the New Testament. This can be helpful for some cases, but what I am interested in is the “cross-reference” section on the main page of Blue Letter Bible with my verse. This will give me a few examples where the word or phase is used in a similar context.

For example, Mark 11:31 used the same word and translates it as “reasoned”, and Romans 3:28 translates it as “concluded”. There are a total of 41 cases where this word is used in the New Testament, and it is most often used to convey a deep thinking about the situation.

Step 6 – read the passage in context again

Now that I have dug deep into this word, I can go back and read it in the context of the full passage. So I will read Philippians 4:4-9 again, this time with the understanding from my Bible Word study.

Now I can see that although we are not to be anxious about anything, we should instead think deeply or calculate or reason the good things that Paul tells us in this verse. In other words, I need to take an inventory of my life and see if there are true, noble, and admirable things. I need to dwell on those things which come from Christ.

Making the Word Bible study your own

Doing a Word Bible Study can be so helpful when it comes to understanding the meaning of the text. By following these simple steps – reading in context, comparing translations, and examining original definitions – you’ll gain fresh insights into familiar verses and uncover layers of meaning that enrich your Bible time.

If you want to try it out yourself, feel free to pick one of the attributes mentioned in Philippians 4:8 that you think you should think about some more.

Let me know in the comments below which word you chose to study and how it affects your understanding of the Bible.

This post gave you the tools you needed to do a Bible Word study to deepen your relationship with God.