search on Bible Sense Lexicon

Layman here…

I (think ) understand the value of looking at Senses using the Bible Sense Lexicon. This is one of my go-to resource when I’m doing a topic study.

Two advantages as I see it:

(i) Lemmas can have different meanings, so better to pick Sense instead of Lemma

(ii) Get verses from the entire Bible instead of limiting to only one of the Testaments depending on whether the lemma is Hebrew or Greek.

One disadvantage as I see it:

(i) Errors in assigning the right sense by the authors of BSL.

Please let me know if there are other issues I have to keep in mind as I use this tool.

Here is an example of one possible error…I’m in James 1:2 in ESV,

(i) I right click the word “Steadfastness”

(ii) I pick the sense on the left side of the Context menu (it is “Steadfast endurance”)

(iii) I pick Bible Sense Lexicon available on the right side of the Context menu which opens up BSL

(iv) I run a search for the selected Sense.

This should give me all the verses with the same sense, be it in the OT or in the NT, correct? I get 46 results in 43 verses, BUT all are in the NT. I feel like there has to be some mistake somewhere because I don’t see why “Steadfast endurance” is just a NT concept. I’ve seen such behavior where all of my search results are in just one Testament even though I don’t expect that concept to be illustrated by God exclusively in just one Testament. I don’t have more examples to share right now unfortunately.

Am I doing something wrong? Any pointers are much appreciated.

Is BSL wrong? Or Have they simply assigned some nearby Sense to OT verses and is that the reason why no OT verses show up? If so, is there a way for me to catch these OT verses?

Here is one approach that comes to my mind as I am writing this. Find the NT lemma underlying “steadfastness”. Search for the verses in the OT with the same lemma using the Septuagint (I’ve never used the Septuagint, so I don’t know how to perform this step). Read some of these verses that show up in the search results to identify a verse with the lemma that has the same Sense as that of the “Steadfastness” in James 1:2. Find out what Sense that BSL has assigned to this lemma. Run a search for this alternate Sense to identify the OT verses with the same Sense as in

Please let me know the flaws in my approach and please suggest a better approach that you use in such situations.

Thank you very much.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

MJ. Smith

Start exploring the other senses of "steadfast"

To be steadfast has only Hebrew examples
to stay with (steadfast) has only Greek examples
steadfastness conceived of as steadiness has only Greek examples
steadfastness conceived of a firmness has only Greek examples
Steadfast endurance has only Greek examples

Therefore, I would assume that there is a fundamental difference in the semantic domains of the Greek and Hebrew for "steadfast"

So I would run a BWS on the English word steadfast and pick some Hebrew examples to see what sense they are assigned:

I discover that a whole lot of the "steadfasts" in the OT are "steadfast love" i.e. a subtype of love which is rather separate from the Greek examples above.

You can work through the other BWS examples on your own. You actually chose a great example of the usefulness of the BSL. Because of the common word "steadfast" in the English translation, you conflated two rather separate ideas.

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1260630#Comment_1260630

Thank you MJ for the detailed answer.

First, I referenced the wrong verse. The steadfastness is in James 1:3 and not James 1:2.

Second, the reason for my belated response is that I have been working a bunch on this issue, and trying to understand the differences between BSL, LN, and BDAG.

BSL has it tagged as: steadfast endurance — the power to withstand hardship or stress; especially the inward fortitude necessary
LN has it tagged as: 25.174 ὑπομονή, ῆς f : capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances—‘endurance, being able to endure.’
BDAG has it tagged as: ① the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty, patience, endurance, fortitude, steadfastness, perseverance...esp. as they are shown in the enduring of toil and suffering.

After having combed through all the verses listed unless the 3 classifications, I came to the conclusion that BDAG does the best job of classifying it correctly. I know it is really one data point, but I can see why people on the Forum keep pointing out BDAG is the way to go. It has now become my #1 prioritized Greek Lexicon!

Start exploring the other senses of "steadfast"

To be steadfast has only Hebrew examples

to stay with (steadfast) has only Greek examples

steadfastness conceived of as steadiness has only Greek examples

steadfastness conceived of a firmness has only Greek examples

Steadfast endurance has only Greek examples

Therefore, I would assume that there is a fundamental difference in the semantic domains of the Greek and Hebrew for "steadfast"

Thanks for the tip to just enter “steadfast” and see all related Senses. That was really helpful how BSL populates related Senses. I went through the others and they didn’t really match up with “steadfast (endurance)”.

I see the Lexham Analytical Lexicon (LAL) has Hebrew equivalent from the LXX. I checked them out and nothing popped.

I still find it puzzling that the OT doesn’t go into this concept.

So I would run a BWS on the English word steadfast and pick some Hebrew examples to see what sense they are assigned:

I discover that a whole lot of the "steadfasts" in the OT are "steadfast love" i.e. a subtype of love which is rather separate from the Greek examples above.

You can work through the other BWS examples on your own.

This is a good idea. Thank you. I went through the list and didn’t really find anything that matched up nicely with steadfast endurance.

You actually chose a great example of the usefulness of the BSL. Because of the common word "steadfast" in the English translation, you conflated two rather separate ideas.

Since I can’t read Hebrew or Greek, I have to start with English words. But that’s not a big deterrent, I think. What I am trying to do though is to identify ALL the verses in the Bible – both OT and NT – with one specific meaning of the English word that I am interested in. In this example, I started with steadfast in James 1:3. It is not the verse with “steadfast” that I was interested in, but rather the verses with the meaning behind “steadfast” in James 1:3. This meaning is best summarized by BDAG: “the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty”.

I do find it puzzling that verses on this topic are not there in OT. I think I need to dig more.

Thank you for your time.

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1269921#Comment_1269921

I do find it puzzling that verses on this topic are not there in OT. I think I need to dig more.

Do a Bible Word Study on 'steadfastness' and compare the Greek usage with the Hebrew.

Alternatively, compare term:(perseverance OR endurance OR steadfast*) NOT INTERSECTS "steadfast love" between the OT and the NT