How to find stuff in the Bible

In a volume as large as the Bible, how does one go about finding a word or phrase? Many Bibles have a concordance in the back which provides a convenient way to search for words. These concordances, while helpful, don't index every single word in the Bible.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and How It Works

For that, you need Strong's exhaustive concordance of the Bible. Let's say you wanted to find every occurrence of the word warning in the Bible. Just go to the W's and locate warning in Strong's concordance.

On the left are the books, chapters, and verses where the word can be found. In the middle is a snippet of the verse where the letter W, in italics, stands for the word itself. On the right are numbers, which are referred to as Strong's numbers.

Hebrew and Greek Strong’s Numbers

Strong's numbers are assigned to each root word of the original biblical language. In this example, we can see that the Hebrew word translated as warning in Jeremiah 6 .10 is assigned number 5749. However, in Ezekiel 3 .17, the word translated warning comes from a different Hebrew word with Strong's number 2094.

In the back of Strong's concordance are two dictionaries, one for Hebrew words and the other for Greek words. Unlike a normal dictionary where the words are listed in alphabetical order, the Strong's dictionary is listed in the numerical order of the Strong's numbering system.

Using Strong’s with the Correct Testament and Translation

It's important to be aware that the Strong's numbers begin at 1 in both the Hebrew and Greek dictionaries. Notice that the last entry is Colossians 1 .28 and the Strong's number is 3560. If you had looked up 3560 in the Hebrew dictionary, you'd find the number, but it would have been the wrong word.

Just remember that Strong's numbers for Old Testament words are found in the Hebrew dictionary and numbers for New Testament words are found in the Greek dictionary. It's important to note that Strong's is an index of the King James Bible.

Therefore, if you attempt to look up a word in Strong's that you remember from the NIV, New King James Version, or some other translation, you may not find what you're looking for. Strong's numbers are used by tons of Bible study apps and websites.

Whether you are studying the old-fashioned way or online, knowing how to use Strong's will make it lots easier for you to find stuff in the Bible.