Maybe you have seen or read from a King James version of the Bible and noticed small numbers next to words or short phrases throughout the text?  Have you wondered what they are and how they can be used?  These are called Strong's numbers and they are associated with the  concordance of the same name originally published in 1890.  Dr. James Strong did something extraordinary in a time before computers.  Dr. Strong assigned a number to each and every word in the King James Bible directly relating it to it’s Hebrew or Greek counterpart.  Let us look at this more closely.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

As an example let us study the word 'created'.  Dr. Strong counted each and every occurrence of the word throughout the Old Testament.  Note that the Old Testament and the New Testament were placed in separate concordances because the Old Testament was originally in the Hebrew language while the New Testament was in the Greek. So counting each occurrence of 'created' Dr. Strong found exactly 33 times the word was used. He then cross-referenced the original Hebrew word which in this case is בּרא or transliterated bârâ'.  He then assigned a unique number <H1254> to this word bârâ'. The “H” represents that this is a part of his Hebrew concordance while a New Testament Strong’s number will be proceeded by a “G” representing the Greek.

We must think about the Strong number being specifically attached to the original manuscript word. In our example, <H1254> is most specifically designated to the Hebrew word bârâ'. You may ask what this means or why is it important. This is a good example of the benefits computer power can bring to our word studies. Dr. Strong realized that the word 'create' and 'created' were derived from the same original Hebrew word… so 'create' is also assigned to <H1254>. The power of a computer version of Strong’s concordance allows us to search upon every instance of <H1254> within the Old Testament text. We find that the word bârâ' was in the original text a total of 53 times. So <H1254>, the Hebrew word bârâ', was translated 33 times 'created', 8 times 'create', 3 times 'creator', twice as 'choose', 'cut', and 'make', and then once each translated to the English words 'createth', 'dispatch', 'done', and 'fat'.

This is all much easier done by your personal computer but the book versions work the same. You would need to spend more time manually flipping through the pages however. I hope you can see that this could be very helpful to you in understanding original word meanings by taking note of how it was used elsewhere in the text. Part of every Strong’s is also a dictionary that will define each assigned word. Here is the definition from our example:

<H1254>
bârâ'
A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): - choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

Any word researched reveals the original root word, it's definition, and every other occurrence in scripture of that word. Additionally, it can be determined if a word was translated identically or differently elsewhere in the scriptures.

Versions of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible can be found online relatively easy. If you would like an online version you may consider one of the free Bible software applications I have reviewed here. If you would like a physical copy they are found inexpensively at most bookstores or Amazon online.

This has been one of the best helps in my study of the scripture. You may consider using several resources.  I have found that to be best for myself. Instead of relying on one source I keep several translations of the Bible on hand along with Strong’s Concordance. Beside Strong’s I also cross reference Vine’s Bible Dictionary or another by Thayer.