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Feed Yourself™ 
Lesson Twelve

By Glenn Davis

How To Use A Concordance

Note: even if you do not usually watch the videos, you may want to watch this one for the illustrations.

"When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments." 2 Tim. 4:13

This week, we will explore how to use a concordance effectively.  After the Bible, a good concordance is the best Bible Study tool.  An exhaustive concordance will list every word used in the Bible in alphabetical order.  If you are looking for a verse and only remember a few words, you can find the verse.  To see all the verses that deal with a specific topic, look up the words associated with that topic.  We will learn how to use both an exhaustive physical concordance and a free online version.  Both have advantages.

The Bible Study techniques we will study in future lessons will use the skills you learn here.  Be sure to understand this lesson well.

When searching for a verse, remember as many words as possible, then start with the least common word.  For example, let's say we want to find out who said: "God is Light."  If we look up the word "God," we find 4,125 references [in the KJV], the vast majority of which have nothing to do with what we want to find.  If we look up the word "light," we find 309 references.  If we determine the verse is in the New Testament, we're down to 94 references to check.  Of course, if we use a computer Bible search program, instead of a physical concordance, we can type in the entire phrase "God is Light" and get 13 references. If we put our search term in quotation marks, we tell the program we want an exact match with those words in that order. We then have limited our references down to 1!  There is only one place in the Bible where it specifically says God Is Light, and that is in 1 John 1:5.

For this lesson, I will use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.  If you use the King James Version [KJV], this is a remarkable concordance.  You can discover a wealth of information about the original Hebrew and Greek words without knowing Hebrew or Greek!  It is not hard once you know how.  For those who do not use the KJV, the easiest way to use the features of Strong's [and complete this lesson] is to look up the verse in your version and then look it up in the KJV.

A good way to do this is with www.biblegateway.com, which I used earlier.  Search for your words in the version you are used to, then, after you find the verse, switch to the King James Version to see which word they used.  You now have the word you need for the SEC [Strong's Exhaustive Concordance].

Physical Concordance

Let's start with how Strong's Exhaustive Concordance works.  Then we will look at practical applications.  If you don't have one, don't rush out and buy one [unless you have the extra money and like physical books, like me], because I will also show you how to use a free version on your computer.

In the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance [SEC], every word has a reference, a short phrase to help identify the verse, and a number.  If you have a physical copy of the SEC, look up the word "light" and find 1 John 1:5.  This is the entry you should see:

1Jo 1:5  declare unto you, that God is l   5457.

"1 Jo 1:5" is, of course, the reference you can use to look up the full verse.

"Declare unto you, that God is l" is the phrase to help you identify the verse.  This phrase will give you a good idea whether this is the verse you want without having to look it up. "l" stands for "light," the word you are looking up, so there is no need to repeat it.

"5457" is the number that relates to the Greek word, which is translated "light" in this verse.  It is in italics to show that it is a Greek word [i.e. New Testament].  Hebrew word [Old Testament] numbers are in regular print.  If you do have a copy of the SEC before you, quickly scan the numbers for the other verses with "light" in the New Testament.  You will discover about 10 different Greek words translated as "light!"

Let's go one step further.  In the back of the SEC, there are two sections.  One section is for Hebrew words, and one section is for Greek words.  Hint:  if you look up a word and the definition does not make sense, make sure you are in the right section.  It is easy to get mixed up and look up a Greek word in the Hebrew section, or vice versa.

Since our number "5457" is in italics, we know it is a Greek word.  To find the Greek word, simply look up the number in the Greek section.  This is what you should see:

5457.  [the word as spelled in Greek]  phoe, foce;  from an obsol. [Greek word] phao     [to shine or make manifest, espec. by rays;  comp. 5316, 5346];  luminousness [in the widest application, nat. or artificial, abstr. or concr., lit. or fig.]: - fire, light

How do we understand this?

First, we have the identifying number [5457].

Second, we have the word as spelled in Greek.

Third, we have how the Greek word would be spelled in English - called transliteration [phoe].

Fourth, we have the phonetic key, i.e. how it would be pronounced in English [foce].

Fifth, we have where this word comes from, i.e. it developed from an obsolete Greek word [phao] which meant "to shine or make manifest, especially by rays."  A word study [as we will see later] should include the related words identified with the numbers 5316 and 5346.

Sixth, the definition is "luminousness" in its widest possible sense.  It can refer to natural or artificial light.  It can be used in an abstract sense or a concrete sense.  It may also be literal or figurative.

Finally, after the dash, come all the ways this word is translated in the KJV.  In this case, it is sometimes translated as "fire" and sometimes as "light."  This means that if we want to find other verses that contain this same Greek word, we would have to look up both "fire" and "light" and search for number 5457.

Sometimes you will also see a "+" sign.  This means that more than one word was combined to make the English word.

Online Concordance

Now let's look at using a free version on the Internet.  [Note: This site has a lot of ads and ad pop-ups that can be frustrating, but it is the "price" of free.  They need to make their money too.]

1.  Go to http://www.biblestudytools.com/concordances/strongs-exhaustive-concordance/. [Also, on the Bible Resources page.]

2.  At the top of the page, there is a search bar.

3.  Enter our word "light" and then press search.  You will see that there are 235 results [Which don't appear to me to be in any order other than the verses which use the word the most coming first].

4.  Now type in "God is light" and search again.  This time, you will find there are only 8 results.

5.  Scroll down to the 1 John 1:5 reference.

6.  Click on the 1 John 1:5 reference.  This will take you to a page with this verse by itself.

7.  All the words which are in blue are words on which you can click to find the original Greek word used.  [If you don't see any words in blue, click on the gear icon and make sure the "Strong's Numbers" is turned on. If that doesn't work, check to make sure you are in the King James Version, as it won't work with other versions.] Click on the word "light."

8.  Now you have a lot of information about our word "light," which is used in 1 John 1:5.  [If you have a pop-up blocker, you will have to allow pop-ups in order to see it.] You have the same information that we found in the physical SEC, plus more.  In addition to the regular SEC information, you can see an expanded definition; you can click on the speaker to hear what the word sounds like; you can see that this word is used 70 times in the New Testament [68 times it is translated "light" and 2 times "fire"], you can see which books it is used in and how many times it is used in each book; finally, if you click on one of the books, it will list every verse in that book in which our word is used.

You may have noticed that the word count is "70," but the verse count is "59."  The difference is that some verses use the word more than once.

If you enter a word or phrase and the search results show a list of words instead of a list of verses where the word is used, go back to the first page and enter your word or phrase there.

Word of warning:  Like in English, a word can have several different meanings.  Just because a word CAN mean something does not mean it DOES mean that in the verse you are studying. We are not free to pick any definition we happen to like.  Studying context will help determine the best meaning in that verse.  Also, looking up the verse in different translations to see how different Bible scholars translated the word can be helpful.  This is easy to do in online programs like Bible Gateway or Bible Hub.  [Bible Hub also has a Strongs Concordance.]

Week Twelve Project

1.  Practice using the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.  These assignments are based on the Internet version.  If you are using a physical SEC, then simply record the following information about each word:  Is it Hebrew or Greek, word number, definition, and list the different ways the word is translated.

Day One:  Search for "lord is my shepherd."  Select Ps 23:1.  Record the following information for the words "LORD," "Shepherd," and "Want:"  Definition, number of times the word is used, the different words which are used to translate it, how it is translated most often, and what part of speech it is.  Write down anything that you learned about the verse that you did not know before.

Days Two - Six:  Each day, select one verse from the Book you did a Book Survey on and look up two to three words from that verse, recording the same information that you did in day one.  Write down anything that you learned about the verse that you did not know before.

Day Seven:  Select a verse from the Old Testament and do the same.

2.  Continue with your daily reading program.

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Reference Works Used In This Course:

Bible Study Methods by Mrs. Shirley Davis

The International Inductive Study Bible by Harvest House Publishers

Effective Bible Study by Howard F. Vos, Zondervan

How To Understand Your Bible by T. Norton Sterrett, IVP

How To Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur, Harvest House

Independent Bible Study by Irving L. Jensen, Moody

How To Study The Bible For Yourself by Tim LaHaye, Harvest House

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