A concordance is a helpful tool when doing a word study.Strong’s includes Hebrew and Greek dictionaries at the back of the concordance, allowing you to easily look up the meaning of the original word behind every word in the Bible. The Old Testament (Hebrew) words are numbered 0001-8674 the New Testament (Greek) words are numbered 0001-5624. In Strong’s, for example, each English word is assigned a number that corresponds to the original Greek or Hebrew word. A parallel Bible, such as the KJV-NIV, will usually have two concordances in the back-one for the KJV and one for the NIV.Ī good concordance will also help with original language study. A concordance for the NASB will not help you find much in the ESV, simply because those two translations use different English words. Next to the Exodus 15:3 entry, for example, is the phrase “The Lord is a w.” (the w being an abbreviation for the word warrior).Ĭoncordances are translation-specific that is, different concordances are based on different translations of the Bible. Next to each reference is a short phrase from the verse containing the word. For example, in the concordance of the NIV Study Bible, below the word warrior are the references Exodus 15:3 1 Chronicles 28:3 and Proverbs 16:32. Underneath each word entry, you will see a listing of references where the word occurs. You can also buy paper copies of most concordances.
Several Bible concordances are found online and are available to use free of charge. The classic exhaustive Bible concordance is Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
If a concordance contains all the words in the Bible (including a, an, and the!), it is called an “exhaustive” concordance. Longer, more thorough concordances, such as Young’s Analytical Concordance, are available separately. Most Bible publishers place a short concordance among the back pages of the Bible.
If you can remember just one word in a verse, you can often find what you’re looking for. A Bible concordance is useful in locating passages in the Bible. A concordance contains an alphabetical index of words used in the Bible and the main Bible references where the word occurs. A Bible concordance can be a helpful tool for studying the Bible.