Biblical authors seized imagery drawn from everyday life and redeployed it in the service of divine revelation. But today’s readers are not familiar with many of these once-common illustrations. The distance in time, place, and culture between the Bible’s first recipients and people today often mutes the rhetorical impact of such images. Students of the Bible need someone to explain both the meaning and significance of the imagery found in the biblical text.

The Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery provides the kind of assistance today’s readers need. Entries explain images that correspond to a cultural artifact from the biblical world (such as arrow or sandal), a component of natural history (such as fox or fig tree), a named place (such as Mount Sinai or Nazareth), or a component of the Promised Land’s physical geography (such as mountain or wilderness) Each entry contains a description of the element or image, examples of how the image is used in the biblical text, and appropriate full-color photographs and maps that further illustrate the ideas presented.

Students of Scripture will find the Zodervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery a fascinating and inspiring portal to the biblical world.