Ok, I have the TSK... which is a book that I do use. Is the NTSK worth adding another book to my library? What's your recommendation? I go back and forth on this... as to whether I need it or not.....
INTRODUCTION
The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge has been designed for the ordinary Bible reader. As I have worked on the references and notes to this new edition, I have kept in mind several very ordinary Christian laymen and laywomen who helped me at the start of my Christian life. While this book is very simple to use, its contents are inexhaustible. It will provide the fullest help available on nearly every verse in the Bible. At several places I have provided notes of a more scholarly nature because the passage involved has been misunderstood by many interpreters or particular religious movements. It has been my purpose to help Bible students understand such verses at the verse where the difficulty arises. See, for example, the note on John 1:1.The original Treasury was developed from the references in the Reverend Thomas Scott’s Commentary, supplemented by the references in the center column of the English Polyglot Bible. The pages of the Treasury were designed to match the page content of editions of the Polyglot Bible in English published by Samuel Bagster and Sons of London. The effort to match the paging of this particular edition of the Bible led to what have been some unfortunate features in all former editions, most especially the tiny print in the Psalms and elsewhere, where the references are cramped into three columns on a page. In some portions of Scripture, where the number of cross-references to be adduced were few, the rest of the page was taken up with explanatory notes on the passages. Most of these notes have been retained. Additional notes have been provided where it was thought helpful, many from the Comprehensive Bible, the source of most of the original Treasury notes. Examples of these include notes at Genesis 38:21, Exodus 40:2, and Judges 9:54. I have modified a few of the original notes of the Treasury to reflect a more accurate understanding of Bible prophecy. Notes at Ezekiel 48:4, Daniel 2:44, and Micah 4:4 reflect such modification. I have written a number of new notes for this edition. These are identified under the Subject Index entry “Notes written for this edition.” In this new edition, Roman numerals are no longer used, as they were in all former editions, to designate Bible chapter numbers.The chapter headnotes have been expanded and given in greater detail. For the most part these were taken directly from Scott’s Commentary, rarely supplemented by the headnotes in Matthew Poole’s Commentary. I expanded the headnotes for Leviticus, chapter 19, and Deuteronomy, chapter 28. I modified the headnotes for several of the chapters of Zechariah to reflect a more accurate, consistent, literal view of prophetic interpretation. These headnotes are of much assistance in locating the subject matter of a chapter. Frequently I recall that a particular incident is mentioned in a book of the Bible, but I may not be able to think of a specific word used in the account, and therefore cannot use Strong’s Concordance to locate the desired passage. The headnotes efficiently direct my attention to the passage sought.Thomas Scott was the original compiler of the cross-references in The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. I have adhered closely to Scott’s original intent as expressed in the following quotes from his Preface Postscript:
“In numerous instances the references are entirely original, and in almost all many are so.”
I have added many original references to those of the original Treasury, and still more from the Commentary Wholly Biblical, Robert Young’s Concise Critical Comments, and The New Testament with Fuller References. “In some of the original references, the Author’s idea [i.e., Scott’s] may not at once be perceived by the reader: but, if the several places referred to be consulted, it will generally appear.”I have remarked on this problem in the next section, “How to Use This Book.” “He has sometimes proceeded by way of contrast, that the reader, by comparing the opposite characters or conduct of the persons mentioned, may more clearly perceive the excellency or evil of the case in question.”I have extended this feature in some places (1 S 25:17; 2 K 5:13) with additional references, and have used a special symbol (◐) to indicate contrast.
“Or by comparing the different language of Scripture, used on the same subject, he may more readily see the true interpretation, especially on controverted subjects; or at least be better enabled to judge for himself.”I have attempted to advance the doctrine of private judgment (Ga 1:8n) and the perspicuity of Scripture (Is 8:20n) to this very purpose. Controversial subjects have not been shunned. Scripture evidence for valid alternative doctrinal or interpretative positions has been marshalled. The false doctrines held by those of Arian and Unitarian persuasion have been carefully addressed, particularly the doctrinal positions of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Some pains have likewise been taken, even on those parts of Scripture which chiefly consist of names, to point out other passages, in which the same persons or places are mentioned; and to mark the difference in spelling the same name, or the different names for the same person or place which occur in different parts, and the different places and persons called by the same name. Sometimes the unlearned reader is perplexed or misled by these variations; and this part of the references often contains all, which even the most learned know upon the subject, especially in the genealogies.”
This feature of the original Treasury has been extended to the point that the Treasury is now exhaustively complete on these matters, with an accuracy surpassing, in some places, that of Strong’s Concordance and other standard reference sources. The literal meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek names is given. The meanings were taken largely from Young’s Concise Critical Comments, the tables of such names in volume three of The Commentary Wholly Biblical, supplemented by occasional reference to the definitions from several dictionaries of Bible names, particularly the dictionary revised and edited by Philip Schaff, “Comprehensive Bible Helps,” in the Funk and Wagnalls edition of Wilmore’s New Analytical Reference Bible (Copyright 1891, 1910, 1918). This information is readily accessed by means of the complete Index to the names in Scripture at the end of this volume.
“The meaning of scriptural phrases may also be often fixed, by comparing the several places where they are used. This is the intent of many sets of references; while others refer to the doctrine or promise inculcated in the passage, and tend to establish a scriptural interpretation.”
Doctrinal topics have been carefully referenced, indexed, and expanded, utilizing the excellent material found in Charles Simmons’ A Scripture Manual and other standard sources. Bible promises have been indexed and expanded, using Samuel Clark’s Precious Bible Promises. Bible references to prayer have been expanded and indexed, using Philip Watters’ work, The Prayers of the Bible. References to unfulfilled Bible prophecy have been made more complete by a thorough study of George N. H. Peters’ The Theocratic Kingdom of our Lord Jesus, the Christ. The precise extent to which this is so may be determined by examining the subject index entries under this author’s name. I have expanded the references which relate to prophetic subjects. Reference to Isaiah 55:3, Matthew 5:5, and Luke 21:36 will furnish a sampling of the extent to which this has been done.On important themes of practical and contemporary interest, forward and backward referencing has been increased. Passages of practical (Hab 2:20, 1 Co 15:55), prophetic (Am 9:14, 15, Lk 21:36), and doctrinal (Am 3:6, Mt 24:45, 28:19) significance have been so referenced. Thus, at Amos 3:6 will be found many references not supplied before to the other passages in Scripture which treat the same themes, which themselves (in the Treasury) contain a cross-reference to Amos 3:6.Figures of speech are identified. I believe this edition of The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge contains the most comprehensive listing and identification of the figures of speech in the Bible ever produced in English.The “Preface to the Treasury Bible” supplies the following important explanation not found in any current printings of The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: “To preserve the distinction between the Various Readings [from the A.V.] and the editorial remarks and explanations which occur, the word “or” in the one case is printed in italics, with a small o; in the other in Roman, with a capital O: thus, Ge 4:13, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. or, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven.” In Ge 19:1, it is said, “And there came two angels. Or rather, ‘the two angels came.’ ”I have adhered to this principle as far as possible. When adding alternative translations not provided by the A.V. translators, such as those I have adduced from Young’s Literal Translation and its accompanying Concise Critical Comments, I have introduced the alternative rendering by an unitalicized “or.” “When the references illustrate the whole verse, the italic words are not printed, because not required.”This feature has been eliminated. All sets of reference passages in this new edition of the Treasury are keyed to the appropriate words of the text of the Authorized Version, eliminating the ambiguity present in the original system.Thomas Scott used the words “see on” to indicate a passage where a more complete set of references was collected. I have restored many instances of this feature which were inadvertently deleted or inconsistently retained in the original editions of the Treasury. I have expanded this most helpful feature by using the symbol “+” in many more places. Thomas Scott’s system is thus left intact. It may be distinguished from mine by the two different markings for essentially the same feature.Cross-references have an advantage over chain references in that all the references are presented at one location, and with the new system of symbols introduced to this edition of the Treasury, the relative clarity, significance, or relationships of the references is presented at a single glance to the reader.Studying all the references given for a text, then the references which that text can lead to, and so forth, will enable the careful student of Scripture to consider all the material in the Bible which relates to the subject or passage being studied.Frequently in Bible study the student will want to know, “But what does the rest of Scripture have to say on this matter?” The only resource which can provide an answer will often be found to be the Treasury. No combination of additional Bible study tools quite duplicates the content of The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. At many places in the Bible the Treasury will be found more complete. Almost always it will have far more cross-references than any other source or combination of sources.Scott comments, “The degree of labor and attention, which has been used to render the printing of the references correct, cannot easily be conceived: yet probably some errors still remain.” I have found five errors in Scott’s London Edition that were corrected in the original Treasury; four errors in the London Edition that were corrected in the American edition; twenty-eight errors in the London edition, which I corrected in this new edition of the Treasury during my typing and proofreading of the manuscript. Something over 4,000 corrections involving unjustifiable changes and deletions from Scott’s original references, and no less than 680 actual printing errors in the current edition of the original Treasury—459 from the Old Testament, 221 from the New Testament—have been found and corrected for this new edition of the Treasury. This new edition, therefore, is the most accurate collection of these extensive references available.
Jerome H. Smith, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: The Most Complete Listing of Cross References Available Anywhere- Every Verse, Every Theme, Every Important Word (Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson, 1992).
INTRODUCTION .... “In numerous instances the references are entirely original, and in almost all many are so.” .... This feature of the original Treasury has been extended to the point that the Treasury is now exhaustively complete on these matters, with an accuracy surpassing, in some places, that of Strong’s Concordance and other standard reference sources. The literal meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek names is given. The meanings were taken largely from Young’s Concise Critical Comments, the tables of such names in volume three of The Commentary Wholly Biblical, supplemented by occasional reference to the definitions from several dictionaries of Bible names, particularly the dictionary revised and edited by Philip Schaff, “Comprehensive Bible Helps,” in the Funk and Wagnalls edition of Wilmore’s New Analytical Reference Bible (Copyright 1891, 1910, 1918). This information is readily accessed by means of the complete Index to the names in Scripture at the end of this volume. .....
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Very good argument! Thanks for sharing!
No problem, i checked when you asked because I have both. I must have bought it in a library set/package because I do not remember buying it.
You have convinced me to purchase NTSK. I appreciate you taking time to answer me. Thanks again!
Well, I hope you find it to be a valuable resource for you.
I'm a preaching pastor. NTSK is one of the few books that is ALWAYS open in my study layout. Hint: if you DON'T link the NTSK to your Bible, then you can zip through cross-references quickly and click the milestone in the NTSK to go back to your primary text.
Read your own responses here and you’ll know what to do: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/214651.aspx
DAL
