Bible Concordances: Different Types and When To Use Them

When I first started studying the Bible I bought the first Bible Concordance I was recommended–an Exhaustive Concordance. Honestly, it made exhausted and I didn’t like using it, until I discovered other types of Bible concordances.

There are three types of Bible concordances: compact, complete, and exhaustive. A compact concordance will list specific words and popular verses. While the complete and exhaustive concordances will add more words and references.

To determine which type of concordance will best suit your needs in studying the Bible, let’s take a look at what is included in each type and when they come in handy most. After all, not all concordances are created equal.

Compact Concordance

In general, a bible concordance is a resource tool used in Bible study that lists words in the Bible and verses where they are used. A compact concordance will only list the most significant words and most significant verses containing those words in the Bible.

In other words, they will list the most frequent, popular, or important words found in the Bible and only the key verses where they are found. This can be helpful if you are a new believer wanting to study the Bible for the first time.

This is typically what you will find in the back of your Bibles, especially study Bibles. Though there are also compact concordances sold by major Christian publishers. Though, I would recommend just using what’s in the back of your study Bible (if you have one) as that is sufficient as a compact concordance.

Compact concordances are very helpful for new Christians wanting to study the Bible for the first time. It’s a great for beginners starting studying the Bible with a concordance without being overwhelmed like I was.

A compact concordance can be helpful if you want to find a particular verse in the Bible, but only recall some of the words. Or if you are wanting to see what major passages reference a particular word. For deeper study, you may want to consider a complete Concordance.

Complete Concordance

What’s the difference between a compact concordance and a complete concordance? A compact concordance lists only the most significant words and most important verses. A complete concordance however, will list every reference for those significant words.

As such a complete concordance is usually a separate resource. A complete concordance may also contain all significant words and not just the main ones. They do, however, leave the smaller words like articles (the, a, an), prepositions (for, beside), etc.

A Complete Concordance is streamlined and practical, a perfect resource for personal Bible study.

A complete concordance can be useful in doing a study on a particular word or topic in the Bible. Simply, search for the word in the concordance and you will have a list of every verse containing that word.

I would recommend everyone have a complete concordance, as they are a great resource for personal Bible study. They are more complete than a compact concordance, but not as overwhelming as an exhaustive concordance. They are practical and streamlined.

Exhaustive Concordance

An exhaustive concordance is very different than a complete concordance. There are two main differences between the two:

• An exhaustive concordance contains every word and every reference to that word in the entire bible.
• An exhaustive concordance will also include a dictionary in the back with the original Hebrew or Greek words (more on that later).

What makes an exhaustive concordance so unique is that it is depth. Not only do exhaustive concordances include significant words, but they also include insignificant words. Every little “a”, “the” is accounted for.

That means you can go to an exhaustive concordance and figure out how many times the word “but” is used in a particular translation. That’s crazy. The most popular exhaustive concordance is called the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.

Exhaustive concordances are useful if you want to find definitions of familiar or important words, to see translations of original words in English, or trace an original Greek or English word to find its general meaning.

Exhaustive concordances are best if you are highly interested in doing in-depth word studies of the Bible or if you are a huge fan of the inductive Bible study method. If you are here is a complete step-by-step walkthrough of the inductive Bible study method with an example.

Different Sections of A Concordance

One of the biggest differences you’ll notice about an exhaustive concordance consists of two different sections. These two sections are:

• The Concordance: This section is the part that lists the words in alphabetical order, verses where that word is found, and a reference number to look up that word in the dictionary.
• The Dictionaries: Behind the first section is the dictionaries. There is both a Hebrew-Aramaic dictionary and a Greek dictionary.

Exhaustive concordances are big books simply because there are a lot of words and references in the Bible. But having the concordance broken into these two sections makes it easier to navigate and use.

Strongs vs. Youngs Concordance

When considering getting concordance there are two that you will hear recommend all the time. These are Strong’s Concordance and Young’s Concordance.

Strong’s Concordance was first published in 1890 by Dr. James Strong. It is considered an exhaustive concordance and utilizes a comprehensive numbering system for Greek and Hebrew words and their definitions that helps readers do an in-depth study.

Young’s Concordance is a complete concordance rather than an exhaustive one. It was first published in 1879 and takes the words of the Bible and organizes them in alphabetical order under the respective original language words.

Let’s quickly look at some pros and cons of each:

	Pros	Cons
Strong’s Concordance	Widely Accepted Exhaustive Resource Availability	Limited Definitions Simplified Lexicon
Young’s Concordance	Literal Approach English Definitions	Less Widely Used Limited Coverage

Both Strong’s Concordance and Young’s Concordance have their strengths and weaknesses. And the choice between them will often depend on the need and use of the user.

The different types of concordances provide different functions. An exhaustive concordance contains every word and every verse in the Bible. However, a complete concordance or a concise concordance is a little more selective. Regardless, a concordance can be a handy Bible study tool.