How to use a Strong’s Concordance

Introduction

The Strong’s concordance is a very useful tool for studying the scriptures. You can find the Strong’s Concordance in most any Bible bookstore. It takes every single word of the King James Version and lists where each word can be found in the scriptures. It is useful for locating Scripture verses that you know the words to, but don’t know the book, chapter and verse.

For example, let’s say that you know of a verse that says our hairs are numbered. You could look up the word “numbered” in a Strong’s Concordance and it would give you a listing of all the verses that contain the word “numbered“. You would then find Matthew 10:30, where Jesus said that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered“.

Also beside each verse reference there is a number. That number represents a Hebrew word (if in the Old Testament) or Greek word (if in the New Testament). In the back of the book it lists Hebrew and Greek words used to translate the bible into English. Each has a number beside them so that we may only need to know the number to locate a Greek or Hebrew word.

This number is called a Strong number. Then we can do a word study by reading the meaning of the original word. Whenever a number is referred to in the Strong’s concordance, you can look up the number for yourself in the Strong’s Lexicon or other lexicons that use Strong’s numbers to verify everything.

One thing to keep in mind is that while the Strong’s Concordance is fairly reliable in its lexicon definitions, it is relying on 19th century scholarship. One of the best ways to determine the true meaning of a word is look up that word in a Hebrew or Greek Lexicon to see how it was translated in various places (See below). Also, Hebrew especially has various verb forms, tenses and stems that can have different meanings. The Strong’s Lexicon doesn’t do much to address this, but others (such as the Brown Driver Briggs that the online concordance uses) have more detailed definitions for each verb stem.

In order to make a proper interpretation of the Biblical text one must view the text from an ancient Hebrew’s perspective rather than from our modern western perspective. Even if you do not know Hebrew there are resources available to assist you in your studies of the Hebrew text behind the English translation.

Some of the resources you will need are an English translation of the Bible (such as the King James Version) and a concordance with Strong’s dictionary keyed to the translation you are using such as the Strong’s Concise concordance.

To demonstrate this study process let us research the word “rejoice” as found in the King James Version. To begin we look up the word “rejoice” in the concordance. Below is an example of what you will see in the concordance (the verses listed below are only a portion of what is actually found in the concordance). The left column is a portion of the verse containing the word “rejoice” (identified as “r “). The middle column is the verse location and the right column identifies the Strong’s number assigned to the Hebrew word translated as “rejoice” in that verse.

REJOICE (192)

1523. lwg guwl {44x}, a primitive root; properly to spin round (under the influence of any violent emotion), i.e. usually rejoice, or (as crying) fear:- rejoice {27x}, glad {10x}, joyful {4x}, joy {2x}, delight {1x}.
1524. lyg giyl {10x}, from 1523; a revolution (of time, i.e. an age); also joy:- rejoice {3x}, jou {3x}, gladness {2x}, exceedingly {1x}, of your sort {1x}.
4885. swsm masows {17x}, from 7797; delight, concrete (the cause or object) or abstract (the feeling):- joy {12x} mirth {3x}, rejoice {2x}.
5937. zle alaz {16x}, a primitive root; to jump for joy i.e. exult:- rejoice {12x}, triumph {2x}, joyful {2x}.
5947. zyle alliyz {7x}, from 5937; exultant:- rejoice {4x}, joyous {3x}.
7442. Nnr ranan {52x}, a primitive root; properly to creak (or emit a stridulous sound), i.e. to shout (usually for joy):- sing {20x}, rejoice {11x}, sing aloud {4x}, shout {4x}, shout for joy {3x}, sing for joy {2x}, crieth {2x}, cry out {2x}, shout aloud {1x}, misc. {3x}.
7797. sws suws {27x}, a primitive root; to be bright, i.e. cheerful:- rejoice {20x}, glad {4x}, greatly {1x}, joy {1x}, mirth {1x}.
8055. xms samach {152x}, a primitive root; probably to brighten up i.e. (figurativly) be blithe or gleesome:- rejoice {95x}, glad {45x}, joy {5x}, joyful {2x}, merry {2x}, misc. {3x}.
8056. xms sameach {23x}, from 8055; blithe or gleeful:- rejoice {11x}, glad {4x}, joyful {3x}, merry {3x}, merrily {1x}, merryhearted {1x}.
8057. hxms simchah {94x}, from 8056; blithesomeness or glee (religious or festival):- joy {44x}, gladness {31x}, mirth {8x}, rejoice {3x}, rejoicing {2x}, misc. {6x}.

We now have a more concrete Hebraic understanding of these Hebrew words as seen below.

Notice that the Hebrew word “simchah” (#8057) is derived from “sameach” (#8056) which in turn is derived from “samach” (#8055) being the primitive root to the other two. All three of these words have the three letters S, M and Ch in common, the original root and all three will be related in meaning. Therefore we can see that a “religious festival” is a “bright” time and a time of blithe or glee. We also find a similar relationship between “guwl” (#1523) and “giyl” (#1524), both meaning to go around in a circle.

We can now do a study on the actual Hebrew words themselves. If we wanted to study the Hebrew word “guwl” (#1523) we can look up every place in the Bible where this occurs. To do this we look at the dictionary entry for this Hebrew word and write down all translations for this word; rejoice, glad, joyful, delight. The number in brackets after each word tells you how many times this Hebrew word is translated with that English word. For example, the Hebrew word “guwl” is translated as “joyful” 4 times. We can go back into the concordance and look up the word “joyful” and scan down the right column looking for the 4 times the number 1523 appears in the abbreviated example below.

JOYFUL (25)

We can now look up the verses above containing the word “guwl” (#1523) and read them interjecting our new understanding of the Hebrew word behind the English translation.

Psalm 35:9 And my soul shall “spin around” in the LORD: It shall rejoice in his salvation.

Psalm 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion “spin around” in their King.

Isaiah 49:13 Sing, O heavens; and “spin around”, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall “spin around” in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Tips

1) Italics in most translations do not indicate emphasis but omission. The italicized words do not occur in the Hebrew text but rather were added by the translators in an attempt to clarify the meanings. Try reading a text without the italicized words to get the force of the original text.

2) The personal name of God, Jehovah, or more properly, Yahweh, is normally translated “LORD,” with each letter capitalized. Adonai, the term of respect, “Lord,” or as we would say, “sir,” is spelled “Lord” with only the first letter capitalized. The generic name for God, “Elohim,” is always translated, “God.” Note, for instance, the translations of Genesis 1 and 2 and the careful distinction made in the use of the names of God.

3) All except a small portion of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4 to 7:28 and Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26 were evidently recorded in the Chaldean (or Aramaic) language. It is closely related to Hebrew, but different.

4) If you are looking for a more comprehensive explanation of a Hebrew or Greek word, you can buy a Greek or Hebrew Lexicon.

5) Nowadays a lot of Bible software is available that makes use of the Strong Numbers.

A good internet site is: http://blueletterbible.org