Grasping God's Word, Fourth Edition: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible

A Proven Approach to Help You Interpret and Understand the BibleGrasping God's Word has proven itself in classrooms across the country as an invaluable help to students who want to learn how to read, interpret, and apply the Bible for themselves. This book will equip you with a five-step Interpretive Journey that will help you make sense of any passage in the Bible. It will also guide you through all the different genres found in the Bible to help you learn the specifics of how to best approach each one.Filling the gap between approaches that are too simple and others that are too technical, this book starts by equipping readers with general principles of interpretation, then moves on to apply those principles to specific genres and contexts.Features include:Proven in classrooms across the countryHands-on exercises to guide students through the interpretation processEmphasis on real-life applicationSupplemented by a website for professors providing extensive teaching materialsAccompanying workbook, video lectures, laminated study guide (sold separately)This fourth edition includes revised chapters on word studies and Bible translations, updated illustrations, cultural references, bibliography, and assignments. This book is the ideal resource for anyone looking for a step-by-step guide that will teach them how to accurately and faithfully interpret the Bible.Review'A wonderfully user-friendly book for serious readers who desire to journey into the world of the Bible.' -- KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School 'A clear, accurate, engaging, and balanced introduction to interpreting and applying God's Word.' -- MARK L. STRAUSS, Bethel Seminary 'Excellent, practical, and accurate, it leads students from the most fundamental building blocks of interpretation . . . through all the essential processes.' -- CRAIG S. KEENER, Asbury Theological Seminary About the AuthorJ. Scott Duvall (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament at Ouachita Baptist University. He is the coauthor of Grasping God?s Word, Journey into God?s Word, Preaching God?s Word, and God?s Relational Presence, and author of The Heart of Revelation and Revelation in the Teach the Text Commentary series. He teaches and preaches frequently in local churches.J. Daniel Hays (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is dean of the Pruet School of Christian Studies and professor of Old Testament at Ouachita Baptist University. He is the author of From Every People and Nation, The Message of the Prophets, The Temple and the Tabernacle, and A Christian?s Guide to Evidence for the Bible: 101 Proofs from History and Archaeology. He has coauthored or coedited Grasping God?s Word; Journey into God?s Word; Preaching God?s Word; The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary; Jeremiah and Lamentations; The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology; and God?s Relational Presence: The Cohesive Center of Biblical Theology. He teaches adult Sunday School at his local church in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and also speaks both regionally and internationally.