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When a Greek-Hebrew Definition Differs from the KJV Text

The New Testament

The set of Strong's numbers used in BIBLESOFT's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance for the New Testament follow the Nestle Greek textual tradition. This is the same tradition that most modern English Bible translations follow today (such as the NIV, NASB and NRSV). This tradition is also followed by the United Bible Societies' (UBS) Greek Text. Most scholars consider this tradition to represent the oldest and most accurate Greek text available today.

On the other hand, the King James Version and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of 1894 follow the Textus Receptus tradition. This tradition is generally considered by most scholars today to be based on later, inferior manuscripts than the Nestle tradition. In spite of this, in most cases the Nestle text and the Textus Receptus agree.

The Nestle tradition applies modern textual criticism to examine all existing manuscripts and determine which variant readings represent the oldest and most reliable. Today scholars have over 2500 manuscripts available to them for study, some of them very old and very close in time to the original writings. Although there are numerous variant readings in these manuscripts, none of these differences affect, in any way, New Testament theology or doctrine.

Since these new, exhaustive Strong's numbers follow the Nestle tradition, and the KJV text follows the Textus Receptus, you will occasionally find a Greek-Hebrew definition that does not seem to match the KJV text. When this happens, you may want to compare a second Bible version, such as the NIV or NASB, which is based on the Nestle text.

Note: In the Interlinear Bible (New Testament only), use the spacebar button to toggle the display between Nestle -based and Textus Receptus -based numbers. The default is Nestle -based. The current setting is always indicated in the title bar of the Interlinear display. Strong's numbers which differ between Nestle and Textus Receptus are identified by "angle brackets" (e.g., <2945>).

The Old Testament

The set of Strong's numbers used in Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance for the Old Testament conform to the Masoretic textual tradition*. Since the King James Version and the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of 1894 were also based on the Masoretic textual tradition, you will find that there are very few differences between the KJV text and the definitions for Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers.

* Based on the Leningrad Codex B19a, the Ben Asher text. The Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek Septuagint (LXX), and the Latin Vulgate were also consulted.

For More Information

For more information about this topic we would recommend the following books:

1.A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Bruce M. Metzger, (United Bible Societies, copyright 1971), Introduction, pp. xiii-xxxi. A brief introduction on the text of the Greek New Testament.

2.The Text of the New Testament, Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration , Second Edition, Bruce M. Metzger, (Oxford University Press, copyright 1968). An excellent, authoritative, full-length book on the text of the Greek New Testament.

3.The Books and the Parchments , Revised Edition, F. F. Bruce, (Fleming H. Revell Company, copyright 1963). Interesting, complete, and authoritative discussions on the canon, texts, and versions of the Old and New Testaments.