Biblebro Rating	Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible	Quality
77%
Doctrine:	(7/10)	Pentacostal
Notes:	(8/10)	35,000 Notes
References:	(8/10)	KJV & NKJV

Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible

Author: Finis Jennings Dake, however there have been updates, and I can’t find the names of those who have added or edited the study notes.  Information on Dake’s personal life can be found at Wikipedia and Dake.com.

Study Note’s Information

(8/10)

Year published: 1963.

Website: www.dake.com

Versions: KJV, NKJV

Price: $20-$100 (depending on the size of the book ordered)

There are over 35,000 study notes that took 7 years to complete.  It is said that Dake spent over 100,000 hours in study for preparation for this book.  How did he calculate that, by a stop watch?  Most verses have study notes, and the study notes are longer than the bible itself.  That is good, because the explanations are usually lengthy and detailed.  On the bad side, Dake has a lot of redundant notes that only repeat what the bible has already said, like the notes for Ezra 9:5 which just restate everything the verse said and gives no more insight.  Notes for Exodus 1:7 points 2 and 3 are identical, which is something Dake overlooked.  Am I the first person to read all the study notes and find these typos?  It’s also got quite a few typos, but nothing too bad.  Overall, the notes are great quality.

Doctrine

(7/10)

Denomination: Pentecostal.

Beliefs: Healing and other spiritual gifts are for today; one can gain salvation and lose salvation; God has not picked certain people to go to heaven or hell, but gives them the choice; men existed prior to Adam before a flood destroyed the world while Lucifer was the leader of earth and rebelled against God; The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are 3 separate people (not the same person).

Agenda: There are times when Dake would try to prove points and it made me feel that he had been in a lot of debates.  Some things he would make several points on throughout the reference bible were: hell and the grave are not the same, God has a spiritual body with all the parts of a human, the Anglo Saxons (white folks) are not Jews from the separated 10 tribes of Israel who are now the Jews replacement, healing and forgiveness go hand in hand, and much more.

References

(8/10)

Dake rarely makes a note without providing a reference.  There are probably 10x as many reference verses as there are study notes; probably near half a million.  The great thing is that if you don’t agree with a study note, you can see his reference verses and judge for yourself what is right.  The book makes good use of Hebrew and Greek with Strong’s Concordance.  Here’s an example of a bad reference: The note on 2Chronicles 9:28 incorrectly uses Deuteronomy 17:17 as a reference when it should refer to Deuteronomy 17:16 (1 verse off, but still wrong).  Sometimes there are so many references to one point that it feels pointless to check them all; nevertheless, I checked them and came to find that not all of the references given in those huge reference piles are applicable to what Dake is referring to, though most of the time they are.  If you buy the book, there are maps and other diagrams, such as Dake’s “Plan of the Ages” chart that maps out the beginning to the end of time with pictures and reference verses.  If you buy Dake’s as an app from Olivetree.com, then those extra things won’t be included.

My Recommendation

I’ve read the whole Dake’s Reference Bible and really do think highly of it.  It gives a lot of good insight and clarity to the bible that most study bibles don’t offer.  I don’t agree with every point made, but it has changed my mind on a lot of different topics.  I don’t think I would recommend this to new Christians.  It’s for anyone who wants to dig in deep to the bible and understand more AND have their beliefs challenged with some good references.