How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 7–Word and Concept Studies
In God’s wisdom, he chose to give us his Word in a book shaped by words. Words often carry a range of meanings, dependent on the context. If I say “trunk,” many different images may come to mind: (1) the main woody stem of a tree, (2) the torso of a person or animal’s...How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 6–Argument Tracing
When interpreting Scripture, we observe carefully by considering how a passage is communicated. We have already established the literary units and text hierarchy (step 2) and assessed clause and text grammar (step 5). So, we are ready to finish tracing the literary...How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 5–Clause and Text Grammar
With step 5 of the interpretive process we move from “Text” to “Observation,” and we consider a series of issues related to how a passage is communicated. Our initial goal is to assess the makeup and relationship of words, phrases, clauses, and larger text units. In...How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 4–Translation
According to the Wycliffe Global Alliance, only 2,932 of the approximately 7,000 languages have at least some of the bible; this leaves 3,955 languages without access to Scripture. Because “faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17),...How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 3—Text Criticism
For all their care and attention to detail, the scribes who copied and recopied the Hebrew Bible were not perfect. Errors in copying did occur. Poor memory, impaired judgment, mishearing, and errors of sight or misunderstanding caused the best-intentioned scribes to...How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Genre and Literary Units
For the Church has initiated their blogs summarizing portions from my book, How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament. Following the introductory post, part 1 summarizes step one in the exegetical process––Genre. Understanding genre is critical for rightly...How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 2—Literary Units and Text Hierarchy
Step #2 – Literary Units and Text Heirarchy Determining the Boundaries of a Text After genre, the next step in your exegesis is to determine the limits of the passage that you are studying. The limits of the passage could be a quotation, a paragraph, a story, a song,...Creating a Text Hierarchy in the Hebrew Old Testament
Biblearc.com is my top tool for visually tracking a biblical author’s flow-of-thought in order to determine a text’s boundaries, structure, and main idea. I use Biblearc.com’s phrasing module to create what I call a TEXT HIERARCHY of the...Interpreting Scripture and the Day of the Lord
DeRouchie, Jason S. “Interpreting Scripture: A General Introduction” and “The Day of the Lord,” The Gospel Coalition, 23 September 2020, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/interpreting-scripture-a-general-introduction/ and...DeRouchie’s Audio & Video Sites
with Tom Kelby & Jason DeRouchie
Where DeRouchie serves as Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology
Where DeRouchie Serves as Content Developer and Global Trainer
