Study a Passage with the Exegetical Guide

Note: This feature is available to all users.

Note: This video was made using an older version of the software.

Accessing the Exegetical Guide

Generate an Exegetical guide from the Guides menu.

1. Click Guides / Workflows > Exegetical Guide:

   

   Note: By default, the Exegetical Guide is pinned to the top of the Guides menu. You can also access it under the Guides section of the Guides menu.

2. Type a passage in the reference box and press Enter.
   

   

Using the Exegetical Guide

Scroll through the sections available in the Exegetical Guide until you find relevant ones for your study. You can add additional guide sections by clicking Add at the top right of the Guide and selecting the sections you want to see. The sections and information available will depend on your Verbum package and purchased resources.

Below is a brief description of commonly used sections. However, you can find a full description of how each section works by hovering over the section with your mouse and then hovering over the on the far right side. Clicking the will open the Verbum Help Center.

Textual Variants

The Textual Variants section provides access to text-critical information on the verse or passage you are studying. This includes links to textual commentaries, apparatuses, and original language texts in your Library.

Click one of these links to open the resource to the relevant passage.

Grammars

The Grammars section lists articles from original language grammars that mention the passage you are studying. The Exegetical Guide groups these articles by subject area. To look at grammars relating to a particular subject, click it and select an article.

Grammatical Construction

The Grammatical Constructions section shows interesting grammatical features in your passage. Hover over a construction to see what it means, and click the “search for …” link in any section to find other occurrences of this particular construction in the biblical text.

Visualizations

The Visualizations section shows resources in your Library that depict the structure of the biblical text. 

Word by Word

The Word by Word section offers details (covering grammar, morphology, sense, and syntax) about each word in the passage. Click a word in a verse to go to the information about that word. Hover over an entry to get more details and click an entry to get more information, such as from a lexicon.

Important Words

The Important Words section pulls data from all Verbum commentary resources (not just those in your library) to expose words with a high frequency of references. In other words, if commentaries typically discuss this word, it will appear in the Important Words section.

Words are ranked based on importance.

Commentaries

The Commentaries Section provides a list of commentaries from your library that contain information on the passage you’re studying.

Ancient Literature

The Ancient Literature section shows related texts in the literature surrounding the Bible: Ancient Near-Eastern, Hellenistic, and other Jewish Source materials, among others.

Results are grouped by their relationship to the text of Scripture:

• Citation – An explicit reference to Scripture with a citation formula (e.g. “It is written,” or “the Lord says,” or “the prophet says,” or something along those lines).
• Quotation – A direct reference to Scripture, largely matching the wording of the canonical source but without a quotation formula.
• Allusion – An indirect but intentional reference to Scripture that was likely intended to invoke memory of the Scripture.
• Echo – A verbal parallel that evokes or recalls Scripture for the reader, but likely without authorial intention to reproduce exact words.
• Historical – A specific historical referent shared with Scripture.
• Topical – A general referent in common with Scripture, but not exactly the same word or phrase.
• Lexical – A word or phrase that could be useful for lexical studies, but with no intertextual reference intended.

Note: The Exegetical Guide requires an internet connection.

Skip ahead to:

• Access the Exegetical Guide
• Use the Exegetical Guide

Access the Exegetical Guide

You can open an Exegetical Guide in context or open a blank Exegetical Guide.

In Context: the Insights Panel

If you’re already viewing the passage you want to study in your Bible, double tap any verse to show the Insights Panel. You can drag the blue handles of your selection to increase or decrease your selection.

Note: Learn more about the Insights Panel.

Blank Guide: More Items or Tools & Guides

This is the best place to start if you’re not currently viewing the passage you want to study. You can open a blank guide from either the More Items Menu on mobile or the Guides & Tools menu on tablet.

More Items Menu

Expand the More Items Menu and tap Exegetical Guide.

Guides & Tools

On iPad, you can also tap the Guides & Tools icon and choose Exegetical Guide.

However you open a blank Exegetical Guide, change the passage you want to study in the input field or with the visual verse picker .

Use the Exegetical Guide

The mobile Exegetical Guide features four sections. It pulls from your own resources, so your results will be customized to your library.

1. Apparatuses: access critical apparatus resources to view textual variants in your passage.
2. Grammars: examine grammatical constructions in your passage from original language grammars in your library.
3. Visualizations: view resources from your library that visually diagram the text, exposing the structure of your passage and helping you understand how the words and clauses relate to each other.
4. Word by Word: preview lexical analysis of the individual words in your passage, including lemma, root, morph, and other significant word-level information. Linked lexicons and Bible dictionaries provide one-tap access to more detailed analysis.

To interact with any surfaced resource, tap the linked resource, word, or reference.