Discovery Journal Study Tools

Each Discovery Journal has a unique theme that focuses on a specific passage of Scripture with the goal of equipping young people with the study skills they will need to be lifelong students of God’s Word.

Navigate & Explore Lessons

Each lesson is divided into two sections, Navigate and Explore. The Navigate section begins the study portion of the Discovery Journal. You can complete this section in about twenty minutes. The Explore section takes the lesson even deeper.

Summer Study Participants:

All students registered for the Summer Study who are interested in participating in the National Bible Bee Competition should complete both the Navigate and Explore sections of the current year’s Discovery Journal. You should memorize the memory passages from both the Navigate and Explore sections and study all lesson material if you choose to prepare for the National Bible Bee Competition Qualifying Test. See your dashboard for more information.

Independent Study:

Students and families may choose to use the Discovery Journal study as a personal Bible study, as part of school work, or in family devotions, but not be registered as participants for the Summer Study. This is a great option for families or individuals that would like to complete the study at another time of the year or who are interested in studying Discovery Journal studies from previous years. Adults are encouraged to complete the Senior Edition.

The Discovery Journal is designed to be an eight-week study in which you complete one lesson a day (Monday–Friday) but you may choose to complete the lessons in a different format. Here are some ideas:

  • Complete only the Navigate section of each lesson (8 weeks)
  • Complete both the Navigate and Explore sections of each lesson (8 weeks)
  • Complete the Navigate and Explore sections on alternating days (16 weeks)

Study Resources

The following resources are recommended to be used in the study of the Discovery Journal: Strong’s Concordance, Easton’s Bible Dictionary, and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. All of these resources can be found online at blueletterbible.org for free. Blue Letter Bible provides a tutorial here.

Junior and Senior Word Studies

Original language word studies in the Discovery Journal may have these components: English word and reference, Strong’s number, Hebrew word (transliteration), and meaning.

How to complete a word study:

1. Search for the reference using Blue Letter Bible.

Example: Psalm 29:2

2. Hover over the Tools button and select Interlinear.

3. Scroll down the list until you see the word or phrase containing the word that you are looking for.

Example: Worship

4. Find its Strong’s number. Write down the Strong’s number in the Word Study box.

Example: H7812

5. Click on the Strong’s number.

6. The original language (Hebrew or Greek transliteration) word is located in the top left corner. Write down the original language word in the Word Study box.

Example: saha

7. Scroll down to find the meaning under Strong’s Definitions. Write down the Strong’s definition in the Word Study box, but do not include the words that follow the colon. In this case, you would exclude “:—bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.”

Example: a primitive root; to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God):

How to complete an advanced search:

When doing a word search, there are times when you may want to limit the search to specific sections, books, or chapters of the Bible. You can do that by using the advance search option at Blue Letter Bible. Near the top right of the page in the Search the Bible box, type in the word you are studying, then click on Advanced Options. This will give you options to limit your search.