Search the Septuagint in E-Sword

This Instructable will not have a wide audience, but will be very useful to those who have a need for it.

e-Sword Bible software is free at: http://www.e-sword.net It is a fine Bible study program with many features. See my earlier Instructable titled "Setting Up and Using e-Sword."

e-Sword allows searching all occurrences of a Greek (New Testament) or Hebrew (Old Testament) term. See portions of my earlier Instructable "Learn New Testament Greek" for the Search procedure.

In the graphic I have searched a New Testament Greek module for the word translated "world" in John 3:16. Its Strong's Number is G2889. 152 occurrences of it were found in the New Testament.

It is always helpful to see how the Old Testament uses a word of interest from the New Testament. Hebrew has a word for "world." Most of us would simply find a word in the Old Testament for "world" through an English version, determine the Strong's Number for it and search it. The KJV+ module would work just fine for that. The graphic shows the HOT+ (Hebrew Old Testament with Strong's Numbers) module at Genesis 1:1. The word for "earth" (a synonym for "world") is number H776.

Many of us have never heard of the Septuagint, frequently abbreviated LXX ("70" for the seventy translators who worked on it). It is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament from a century or two before Christ. It was done because many Jews scattered around the world no longer spoke Hebrew as their first language. The Septuagint (Septuaginta in Latin) was often the Bible for Jews and Christians in the First Century. New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are most often from the Septuagint or something very close to it. Further, the vocabulary of the New Testament, particularly in Greek, is heavily indebted to the usage of those words in the Septuagint.

One Greek word in the Septuagint may translate several different but similar words from the Hebrew text. The result is that studying a New Testament (Greek) word by means of tools tied to the Hebrew text can give incomplete results or can be like comparing apples to oranges. A way of finding all Septuagint passages that use a particular Greek word and studying those is a very desirable way to proceed.

The graphic shows a page from the Hatch - Redpath concordance to the Septuagint. This is a relatively expensive tool that allows the user to find all occurrences of a particular Greek word in the Septuagint. This is a good tool, but now there is an easier way anyone can use. No knowledge of Greek is required.

Someone has produced an e-Sword Septuagint module keyed to Strong's Numbers. It is available free of charge at: http://www.esnips.com/doc/25ca2504-6cea-4036-90e7-5c69f5b6ddab/LXX+ Download and unzip it. Drop the unzipped file into the e-Sword folder in Program Files within your C Drive on your Windows computer.

I was interested in the word "restoration" in Acts 3:21. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. From the graphic you can see that it is Strong's Number G605. "G" is for Greek. Again, the English module KJV+ would have worked for this step, too.

Click on the LXX+ tab to open the Septuagint with Strong's Numbers. Just to bring up some text in the window, arbitrarily select any Old Testament passage. Genesis 1:1 works just fine. Note the gray tab for LXX+ is the active Bible version tab.

Pull down the Search box. (See the binocular at the upper left corner of the "LXX+ Bible Search" window.) Enter the numerical digits of the Strong's Number you wish to search without the "G." Click on Search and then on Accept. Thirty occurrences were found.

I really wanted to search G605, but an earlier search of it yielded no results. The noun form of the word does not occur in the Septuagint. If you go back to the graphic in Step 6, you see that G605 is related to G600. I searched for G600, which is the verb form of the same word ("Restore" rather than "restoration.")

Unless you can read the Septuagint in Greek, you will want to examine the search results in an English version. I have selected the English Standard Version (ESV). Note the gray tab. After you click on Accept in the Search box, the results will appear in the little window between the two small binoculars with arrows. Clicking on one of the small binoculars will move the result displayed forward or backward one passage. You can also pull down the window and click on a reference to a passage. The display window will jump to that passage.

In Genesis 40:13 Joseph is interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker. He had to tell the baker that he would be hanged, but he told the cupbearer that after three days he would be restored to his former position in the Pharaoh's service.

You can now search the entire Septuagint to see the Old Testament use of the exact word used in a particular New Testament passage.