English-Strong's Indexer

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English-Strong's Indexer

Open the English-Strong's Indexer by selecting English-Strong's Indexer on the Search menu, or press Ctrl+F2, or click the English-Strong's Indexer button on the Search toolbar.

 

The English-Strong's Indexer (ESI) is an analytical concordance tool that shows which Greek or Hebrew words the King James translators translated into a given English word. It can also be used to show all of the English translations that come from a given Strong's number. The ESI only uses the KJV because the KJV is the only text in SwordSearcher that is indexed by Strong's numbers.

 

The ESI offers functionality similar to the Young's Analytical Concordance. If you only want to search the Bible for Strong's numbers, see the topic on the King James Version with Strong's Links.

 

Sample English-Strong's Indexer, showing New Testament index of GREATLY

Sample English-Strong's Indexer, showing New Testament index of GREATLY

 

In this example, the word "greatly" has been indexed in the New Testament. The results show each Strong's Number for every Greek word that was translated to "greatly" in the KJV, and a sample of verses for each Strong's Number. Also shown is the Strong's Lexicon gloss for the Greek word.

 

You can limit your search to the Old or New Testaments quickly using these buttons on the toolbar, or specify any custom range you wish:

 

 

Here is a breakdown of the result data, shown from a portion of the results from a search for "greatly:"

 

Strong's number, word, and how many times this word was translated into the given English word.

Strong's lexicon gloss of the Strong's number.

(This is a sample screen shot. These links are not active in the help file.)

(This is a sample screen shot. These links are not active in the help file.)

Breakdown of each English phrase containing the given English word, and how many times that phrase was used for this Strong's number, with example verses linked.

 

Each heading and phrase break-down has an additional pop-up menu that can be invoked with the three-line button, which makes it easy to see more information in the form of Bible searches in Verse Lists:

 

Sample context menu from an ESI heading.

Sample context menu from an ESI heading.

 

Right-click anywhere else in the text area for additional options:

 

Sample ESI right-click menu

Sample ESI right-click menu

 

 

The Load All as a Bible Search item is a quick way to change your search to a normal Bible search with results shown in a complete Verse List. Using the KJVSL will also show all of the associated Strong's links for the search.

 

Click the Settings icon on the toolbar or right-click menu to customize the content of the ESI search results and search:

 

Sample ESI settings window.

Sample ESI settings window.

 

 

By default, English text is matched using find all word forms (English stemming). This means that a search for love will also find loveth, loves, etc. Disable this to have more precise search results.

 

Invoking the ESI from a Strong's dictionary entry

 

 

Here's a handy way to see a breakdown of all of the English words/phrases coming from a Strong's word. From the SGreek or SHebrew book modules (the Strong's lexicons), click load in ESI.

 

Sample ESI from Strong's number.

Sample ESI from Strong's number.

 

You can also just type a Strong's number into the ESI search box.

 

Additional tips and information

 

ESI searches support most of SwordSearcher's Advanced Search Expression syntax.

The ESI works best with single words, defaults to a Boolean "OR" search when you type multiple words, but you can also specify phrases using "quotes like this".

ESI searches work a little differently from normal Bible searches, because they match at the translated phrase level. And:

The search results in the ESI are algorithmically generated based on the Strong's number tagging in the King James Bible module. Any English text preceding a Strong's number is considered to be a phrase "translated from" that Strong's number. This is not technically perfect in terms of translation; a phrase is not necessarily a translation of the Strong's number. Also, Strong's numbers are root forms of the Greek or Hebrew words (lemma). You should keep this in mind while using the ESI.

You should familiarize yourself with the KJVSL module as well.

While the ESI can provide interesting information and facilitate the investigation of claims regarding original languages, it cannot be used as a "re-translation tool." Strong's lexicon glosses are not infallible, English translations of Greek and Hebrew words are not interchangeable, and a translation is based on much more than a mere lexicon gloss. Meaning comes from context, not just dictionaries.