Understanding Concordances:

Why do we use a concordance?

1. A concordance is a valuable tool for researching a particular word and its usage in other passages of Scripture.

   • Over the past few years, I have developed a keen interest in the geographical settings mentioned in Scripture. This experience has enhanced my familiarity with the text and deepened my understanding of the culture. While I was reading about Joshua and his spies near Jericho, I decided to take advantage of my Concordance to explore other instances where Jericho was mentioned in Scripture. In the book of Nehemiah, it is revealed that certain men from Jericho played a role in the construction of a portion of the sheep gate. (Nehemiah 3:2) Then, we see Jesus and His disciples make their way to Jericho, where they encounter Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1–10). This insight helped me gain a better understanding of the location and the people there.

2. A concordance is a useful tool for quickly finding the frequency of any word's use in the Bible.

3. A concordance is helpful when you want to do a word study.

   • The initial step in conducting a word study is to look at the Greek or Hebrew translation of the word. Each word in the concordance is assigned a corresponding number. This number links to the numbers found at the back of the index, which provide the Greek or Hebrew equivalents.