I was handed a Strong’s concordance as a gift when I was a young believer. Apparently, the one I have was dropped on the floor at the distribution centre where my friend worked and was either sold-off cheap or given to him free. If you’ve seen this book, any version of it, you’ll know that dropping one could easily cause some damage. This book is big!
Why is it so big? Well, it lists every single word in the Bible, every time it occurs, and gives next to it a short excerpt of the sentence in which that word is found. I had to ask what ‘exhaustive’ meant when I was given my copy of Strong’s. It means just as I’ve said – it lists every single word without exception. That’s right, even ‘if’, ‘it’, ‘and’, ‘but’ etc. I can’t say that I’ve personally done a study of those words right through and in fact I don’t know a great use for them myself, but exhaustive must be exhaustive I suppose.
Apart from the Bible this book has to be the one that comes off the bookshelf most often for me. It has a number of uses as a study aid, and those uses, in my opinion, are suited to both the very serious student and the person who just can’t quite remember where it says “ …”
As well as listing every single word with every single reference it also gives the original Hebrew and Greek words and their meanings in an equally exhaustive dictionary at the back. A glance at a word in the dictionary will also give you a list of all other words in our English Authorized Version that that particular Greek/Hebrew word is translated into.
It is a truly remarkable work of patience and skill. This study aid has been for me a regular source of help, enlightenment and inspiration in study. Thank you Mr Strong!
P.S. This work, like so many other excellent study aids, is fashioned around the Authorized Version of the Bible. It can be used to a fair extent with other Versions but not with the same accuracy and harmony it has in its marriage with the A.V.
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Related Reading ~ Article: How To Use Your Strong’s Concordance
