HE HOLY GHOST orchid, seen on the book’s cover, is God’s own picture of his superintendence over the Holy Bible. This uncanny image is God’s reminder that we are to look at the Bible and study it, “…not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” 1 Cor. 2:13.
God’s word has provided its own method for comparing spiritual things with spiritual things through its built-in dictionary. Read the Bible along with Barry Goddard, from Genesis to Revelation, and see the definitions for the words in the King James Bible. (Parallelisms also occur in the Greek and Hebrew texts, as well as in all pure vernacular Bibles. They do not occur in corrupt versions such as the NIV, NKJV, NASB, HCSB, ESV, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, The Message, The Amplified Bible, the New Living Translation, or corrupt foreign editions.)
Robert Loweth (1710-1787) was just one among many who have observed and written about the Bible’s own built-in dictionary. As Bishop of London and Professor of poetry at Oxford, Loweth observed that the Bible had parallelisms which reiterated God’s thoughts.
Fellow Englishman, Barry Goddard of Nottingham, England, carries on the British tradition. He brings to the Holy Bible his well-trained eye. He admits choosing, as a youth, the English dictionary as his favorite textbook. His reverence for his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his awe and trembling at the “holy scriptures” bring a respect for each and every word. This heartfelt love of the Lord and respect for and attention to the Bible’s details allowed the abiding Holy Ghost to illuminate to him many marvelous parallelisms seen in this volume. As Mr. Goddard would say, “All the glory goes to the Lord.”
Goddard wrote about the Bible’s built-in dictionary even before my books, In Awe of Thy Word and The Language of the King James Bible, taught readers just how to find this dictionary for themselves. After reading my books, Goddard changed his methodology. He originally found synonyms by using Wigrim’s The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament and The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament. The reader will observe that this edition still retains these various English translations of Greek and Hebrew words. In this much enlarged second and third edition he limits himself to using only the English Bible for all new material. Therefore, in this second and third edition, the reader will see a mixture of contextual and non-contextual ‘definitions.’
Goddard’s definitions define words much as a regular dictionary does. For instance: 1.) It defines words using several other words, and 2.) It provides words that merely shed some light on the term in question, since no two words are absolutely identical in meaning and tone.
God included his own built-in dictionary so that he, not man, would determine just what he means. The rich vocabulary of synonyms affords many advantages.
1.) It expands the reader’s vocabulary and thereby enhances the reader’s ability to ‘think,’ since words are the tools used for thinking.
2.) Words having parallel meanings bring their own rhythm, pace, emphasis, and rhyming sounds, making them fitly framed together in their given context. The Bible is an orchestra of sounds; its words are music for the mind and spirit.
3.) The huge storehouse in the English vocabulary was built from numerous languages (Latin, Greek, Gothic, Germanic, and Hebrew etc.). (This is why English has become the international language of the 21st century. Nearly 2 billion of the 6 billion people in the world can speak English as either a first or second language.) Therefore the Bible’s multi-language vocabulary and cross-language built-in dictionary makes it a perfect tool to bring non-native speakers gently from the words they recognizes from their own language on to a full understanding of English and its other language basis.
Begin reading along with Barry Goddard in the New Testament. Go from Matthew to Revelation. Then, begin the longer journey through the Old Testament with him. Seeing the definitions Goddard points to will encourage you to tread more slowly and look more closely at parallelisms in the Bible.
I have learned much from this volume and I trust that you will also. The Bible is an unfathomable mine, showing us the mind of God. We have scarcely touched the surface in demonstrating the riches in God’s word. Using other methods, including those demonstrated in the first chapters of In Awe of Thy Word and The Language of the King James Bible, I continue to proceed in my own edition of the Bible’s built-in dictionary. I have no anticipated date as yet for its release. Try the methods, described in In Awe of Thy Word, for finding the dictionary, and let us know the definitions you find, so that we can share them with others. We are truly indebted to Barry Goddard for his untiring labors and for bringing this work forward at this time.
It must always be remembered that we read the Bible to learn of and draw nearer to our beloved Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. His name is called, The Word of God. It is not an academic exercise. Only he can open the scriptures to us. “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures…” (Luke 24:45).
Jesus even said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matt. 11:25, 26).” The Father will hide God’s wisdom from those who esteem themselves “wise and prudent.” My books, In Awe of Thy Word, chapter 26, and New Age Bible Versions, Appendix C, explain the Bible’s own criteria for being understood. It is a heart issue, not a head issue.
About the Cover…
OR THE INVISIBLE THINGS of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Rom. 1:20
“AND THE HOLY GHOST descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon” Jesus Christ (Luke 3:22). “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13).
The Holy Ghost orchid, peristeria elata, depicts clearly the Holy Ghost descending over an open Holy Bible, the word of God. By it we understand that he superintends over the book and his abiding presence will, “Lead me in thy truth and teach me” Ps. 25:5.
The King James Bible’s Built-In Dictionary is one of the ways he teaches. “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?...For precept must be upon precept; precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with...another tongue will he speak …” Isa. 28:11. He’s still speaking.
Riplinger KJV Materials
KJV Authors
