Bible Dictionary -- An LDS Study Reference That Connects All Five Volumes

Standard Bible dictionaries are useful, but they stop at the biblical text. For Latter-day Saints, that leaves out half the picture. The Bible Dictionary tool adds Restoration context to every entry, connecting biblical terms to the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

Consider the entry for Melchizedek. A conventional dictionary will tell you he was a king of Salem who blessed Abraham, citing Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. It might mention the epistle to the Hebrews, where Paul argues that Christ's priesthood follows the order of Melchizedek rather than Aaron. But the Latter-day Saint Bible Dictionary goes further. It connects Melchizedek to Alma 13, where Alma teaches that Melchizedek's people "did establish peace in the land" through faith and repentance, and that Melchizedek himself "did preach repentance unto his people." It also connects to Doctrine and Covenants 107, which explains that the higher priesthood was originally called "the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God" but was renamed after Melchizedek "out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being" (D&C 107:3-4). Suddenly a two-verse figure from Genesis becomes a central character in the theology of priesthood.

The tool also surfaces connections that are easy to miss. Looking up "baptism" brings you not only to Matthew 3 and Acts 2 but to 2 Nephi 31, where Nephi offers one of the most detailed explanations of the doctrine of baptism anywhere in scripture. Looking up "Zion" takes you from the Psalms to Moses 7, where Enoch's city is taken up to heaven, and then to D&C 97, where the Lord describes the latter-day Zion as "the pure in heart."

For weekly Come Follow Me study, the Bible Dictionary is indispensable. When you encounter an unfamiliar name, place, or concept in your reading, looking it up here gives you not just a definition but a web of cross-references that spans the entire canon. It turns isolated terms into entry points for deeper study.

This is the kind of reference tool that rewards repeated use. The more you consult it, the more you begin to see the connections yourself, even before you look them up.