Question: Factbook and searches

I'd like to know if it's possible using a Bible or basic search to get equivalent passage list results as seen in Factbook. The general subject I'm working on right now is "Creation." The results I'm getting using different tools to look into this subject (I'm purposely trying to use a generic word - not "Topic" or "Theme" or "Target" or "Mentioning Text").

In Bible browser, I get 194 passages for Preaching Themes: Creation (ESV); 70 Mentioning texts for God created heavens and the earth; 126 Topics: Creation; 49 Target: Creation; and 4 Target: Creation of the world.

In Factbook, if I type in Creation, it lets me pick Creation as a Theme; and I get 158 passages. So that number doesn't even match "Preaching Themes" in the Bible browser.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of all this. But it doesn't give me much confidence that any 1 set of resulting passages would be all-inclusive. Thus I wondered: Is there a basic or Bible search I could enter that would yield the same 158 passages as Factbook returns? Obviously, not a search of the Factbook - a search of the ESV.

Thanks, as always,

Donnie

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Comments

Andrew Batishko

Doing a search for {Section <PreachingTheme Creation>} doesn't match up with the 158 passages listed in Factbook due to how search works. If I do a Bible search in the ESV using the search above, I get 2,722 results. This is so large because a Bible search only returns results that are no larger than a single verse. So, the single passage in Factbook of Gen 5:1-32 will have 32 results in a Bible search. Do the search using a basic search is closer, with 208 results, but it still larger because basic searches can not return results that cross chapter boundaries. There are likely a couple of references that span multiple chapters. So, the search should be the same results as the list, even though the counts are different.

Mark Barnes

But it doesn't give me much confidence that any 1 set of resulting passages would be all-inclusive.

If you want all-inclusive, remember you can export to a Passage List from Bible Browser, Factbook, an SSG and a Topic Guide. If you want you can merge them together, and then use that to filter a Bible or perform a search.

If you want to see how different ways of presenting the same data can lead to different results, compare the "Passages" section in the Factbook to the SSG. The SSG uses your Bible's pericope headings to present the same data, which gives a different count.