Vine's Expository Dictionary
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Vine's Expository Dictionary is a reference guide to Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek words for English readers. (Some versions of the work contain only Greek word definitions.)
It explains King James Version the meaning of the original Greek with the added dimension of the context of the Greek word. For example: In English, the Bible uses only one word for "love," but in New Testament Greek there are four (two being used most often). So Vine's fills the gap between the Bible in English and the original New Testament Greek.
Vine's also provides the definition of a word (as used in the King James Version) more accurately than an English dictionary, because it expands the Greek use of the word. For example, the word, "godliness" in 1 Tim. 2:2 is defined in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary as "1: Divine 2: pious, devout -", but in Vines, it is defined as " 'to be devout,' denotes that piety which characterized by a Godward attitude, does that which is well-pleasing to Him." So we have a fuller meaning of the word by seeing how the word is used in the NT.
Vine's can be used with Strong's Concordance. Every word is numbered with the equivalent Strong's number so you can use it more efficiently.
[edit] External links
- Antioch's Online Dictionary
- eBible Search and Study Tool for Vine's Dictionary
- MF Norwegian School of Theology Online Dictionary
- Tim Greenwood's Online Dictionary
The Vine's Expository Dictionary is not really keyed to the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible; it is keyed to the English Version (1881-1885), which most closely approximates the ASV 1901 (American Standard Version). Vine's often tells what the KJV has by means of a parenthesis (AV). In this way it is usable and compatible secondarily to the KJV version. An example is "CROWD" entry, where the ASV 1901 renders "gathering a crowd" (Acts 17:5) whereas the AV (=KJV) renders gathered a "company."
Therefore, I would recommend using the ASV 1901 as the primary key to looking up a Vine NT word in English, then relating that information to the KJV.