| name | strongs-analysis |
| description | Trace a King James Bible word back to its Hebrew/Greek lemma and sense using Strong's Concordance. Use for KJV word-work — when the English word may flatten the original (one English 'love' over four Greek words; 'soul' over nephesh; 'lovingkindness' over chesed), or when the user asks what an OT/NT word means underneath. The Hebrew/Greek companion to webster-analysis. |
| user-invokable | true |
| argument-hint | [KJV verse reference, or a word/Strong's number to look up] |
Strong's Concordance Analysis (Hebrew/Greek)
Why Strong's?
The King James Bible is 1611 English laid over Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament). The English often flattens the original: one English "love" stands over four distinct Greek words; "soul" carries the Hebrew nephesh (a whole living being, not a disembodied part); "lovingkindness" and "mercy" both render chesed (covenant loyalty). Strong's Concordance (James Strong, 1890) is the standard bridge — it keys every KJV word to a numbered Hebrew (H####) or Greek (G####) lemma, usable without knowing the languages.
This is the original-language counterpart to webster-analysis. Webster 1828 tells you how an early Saint read the English word; Strong's tells you what the Hebrew or Greek underneath was. For KJV study, the two together are far richer than either alone.
When to Use It
- The canon walks (OT/NT): the primary use case — tracing a load-bearing word in a chapter note back to its lemma, the way the Book-of-Mormon walk leaned on Webster 1828.
- Words English flattens: "love" (G25 agapáō / G5368 philéō), "soul" (H5315 nephesh / G5590 psychḗ), "lovingkindness / mercy" (H2617 chesed), "world" (G2889 kósmos / G165 aiṓn).
- A repeated word that seems to carry weight — check whether the same English word is actually the same original word across the occurrences (often it isn't).
- A KJV word that reads oddly — the original may be more concrete or specific than the English suggests.
How to Use It (three tools)
Start at the verse: strongs_for_verse
Given a reference, returns the verse text plus its word-by-word tagging — which KJV word carries which Strong's number, with a brief gloss. This is usually the entry point.
strongs_for_verse("John 3:16")
→ loved → G25 agapáō (to love); world → G2889 kósmos; begotten → G3439 monogenḗs (unique) …
The book may be a full name, abbreviation, or alias ("Jn", "Ps", "Song of Solomon", "1 Jn"). KJV only.
Drill into a number: strongs_define
Given H####/G####, returns the lemma + transliteration, Strong's 1890 definition + KJV-usage gloss + derivation, and the modern STEPBible (BDB / Abbott-Smith) gloss side by side.
strongs_define("H2617") → chêçêd — kindness; covenant loyalty; "lovingkindness, mercy" …
Reverse lookup: strongs_search
Given a KJV English word, returns the Strong's number(s) behind it across the canon (the reverse of for_verse).
strongs_search("charity") → G26 agápē, G1654 eleēmosynē …
A worked example
- 1 Corinthians 13 — KJV "charity"
strongs_search("charity") → G26 agápēstrongs_define("G26") → the self-giving, covenant love — the same word behind "God is love" (1 John 4:8) and "God so loved the world" (the verb G25 in John 3:16)- Insight: KJV "charity" isn't almsgiving — it's agápē, the pure love of Christ (the exact move Moroni 7:47 makes in English). The original ties 1 Cor 13, 1 John 4, and John 3:16 into one thread the English partly hides.
Patterns to Watch For
| Pattern | Example |
|---|
| One English word, several originals | "love" → G25 agapáō vs G5368 philéō (John 21 trades them deliberately) |
| More concrete than the English | "soul" → nephesh / psychḗ = the whole living being, not a part |
| Covenant weight flattened | "mercy / lovingkindness" → chesed (loyal, covenant love) |
| Tagged function words | H853 'eth (the untranslated direct-object marker) — usually skip in word-work, but it shows the grammar |
Caveats (important)
- A gloss is a starting point, not doctrine. Strong's glosses; it does not exegete. A one-word gloss can mislead — read the fuller definition (and the STEPBible layer), and for anything load-bearing, the verse in context.
- Occasional odd primary senses. The modern layer picks one primary sense per number; a few read strangely (e.g. a proper-noun sense for a common verb). When a gloss surprises you, that's the signal to read the full
strongs_define entry, not to trust the one-liner.
- KJV only.
strongs_for_verse does not cover the Restoration text — use webster_define + gospel_get there.
Pairing with webster-analysis
For a KJV word, run both: webster_define for the 1611/1828 English sense the early Saints read, and strongs_for_verse / strongs_define for the Hebrew/Greek underneath. The English shift and the original-language sense often point the same direction — and where they diverge, that gap is usually where the study lives.
The Model Tool
Like Webster 1828, Strong's returns something discrete and authoritative that you then reason about in context. It enriches deep reading; it doesn't replace it. The insight is the starting point — follow it into the scriptures and see where it leads.
