Word Occurrence Count w/References

Eric Bryant
Eric Bryant Member Posts: 1
edited November 21 in English Forum

Coming over from QuickVerse and something that I like is to search for a Word, like love, and have it give me a word count that the word love occurs X times in the Bible, Y times in the Old Testament, Z times in the New Testament. It's got to be easier than I think? Thank you for any help on this!

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  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,682

    Welcome Eric,

    I'm not sure what you expect from a word like "love" as the number of occurrences will vary markedly from translation to translation as it can come from  different original language words. Then there is the noun and the verb!

    So l'll suggest a Bible Word Study (Guides menu) on "love", and look at the Greek Word section and the Hebrew Word section. Click on different parts of the ring to get results for an original language word. You can change the translation if you click Settings in the header (hover to see it).

    The Textual Searches section has links to searches in your top 5 (or so) bibles

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,003 ✭✭✭

    As Dave says, "word counts" are only viable concepts when based upon the OLs, but even when using the OLs as your starting point, there are a few occasions where it is simply unclear how often a word occurs in Scripture (although it can be narrowed down very closely). This is because there are quite a number of places, particularly in the OT, where it isn't perfectly clear which root/lemma is being employed by the writer in a given verse. In Hebrew, various letters get shuffled in and out of the root in order to arrive at a given inflected form, and the result of this process can make it unclear which triliteral (3-letter) root was the lemma (i.e. the "starting point").

    Fortunately, most such cases will be noted in a good textual commentary, such as is found in the NET Bible. Likewise, good lexicons, such as DBLH and DBLG, will usually note disputed occurences and provide a reference link to the other possible options.

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  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 32,489

    An alternative approach is to use the Concordance Tool - and choose whether you want the entire Bible, OT, NT or some other passage range

  • Simon’s Brother
    Simon’s Brother Member Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭

    I understand what you are asking Eric. I remember many years ago being taught to do what your asking as one of the initial tasks in a Word Study. I was a user of Quickverse when it originally came out and was owned by Parsons and its creator Craig Rairdin. Maybe that’s where  I learnt that. But Bible software has come along way and you can do more powerful, insightful and accurate Word Studies based on the original languages without knowing them. I recommend taking a look at this page  as a starting point.

    https://www.logos.com/how-to/bible-word-study

    This is also a great blog to take a look at to help you learn how to use Logos to do Word Studies.

    https://blog.logos.com/how-to-do-bible-word-studies-a-fool-proof-guide/

  • Coming over from QuickVerse and something that I like is to search for a Word, like love, and have it give me a word count that the word love occurs X times in the Bible, Y times in the Old Testament, Z times in the New Testament. It's got to be easier than I think?

    Welcome [:D]

    One idea is Bible Search for Love (e.g. ESVCE Bible has 802 results in 706 verses)

    Charting Bible search results can show results per Book (Column) plus Chart Type can be changed: e.g. Bar (Partitioned)

    Some more ideas are Bible Browser, Bible Word Study (BWS), and Analytical Lexicons (various usage counts: e.g. Louw-Nida semantic domain 25.43 for verb ἀγαπάω has 202 occurrences in New Testament and Early Church Fathers)

    Bible Browser has many choices for Love: Clicking sense to love (care) has Bible Browser results in Old and New Testament (with count by Book):

     

    BWS includes link for Sermon Starter Guide, which has Factbook links.

    Note: Bible Sense Lexicon extended concept of Louw-Nida semantic domains in the New Testament to the Old Testament.

    Keep Smiling [:)]