Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance

Rating:
Summary: Does for the NIV what Strong's did for the KJV--and more!
Review: A concordance is the one integral Bible study tool that absolutely must match the Bible translation you're using. Among concordances based on the New International Version, only one provides an exhaustive indexing of Exhaustive Concordance. It supplies readers of the NIV with more detailed and accurate information than the renowned Strong's Exhaustive Concordance has provided for readers of the King James Version. The Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance gives complete access to every word of the NIV text as well as to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek from which the NIV was translated. Feature for feature, this Gold Medallion Award-winning volume is by far the finest, most thorough NIV-based concordance available. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek word in the Bible, including the possible meaning of every proper name. The dictionary-indexes also supply an exhaustive listing of every NIV translation for a given word, and show all related words in the original languages. Frequency counts are given for each original language word and each of its English translations. Special index of articles, conjunctions, particles, prepositions, and pronouns. All references listed in biblical order. All words cross-referenced to spelling variations and variant forms. More than 2,000 key words from the KJV cross-referenced to their NIV equivalents. Each word heading lists total number of occurrences in the NIV. Special typefaces indicate the word or words used in the NIV translation for all Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek terms. Unique numbering system developed by Goodrick and Kohlenberger (G/K) eliminates the inherent gaps, flaws, and inaccuracies of the old Strong's numbering system. Special indexes allow for easy cross-referencing between the G/K numbering system for those using reference books keyed to the outdated Strong's number

Rating:
Summary: Best Concordance on the Market
Review: Let's face it: if you study the NIV Bible, you need this concordance. You'll be able to easily find any passage that you're looking for.

This book is EXACTLY what a concordance is all about.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book, but not the best resource...
Review: Sadly, despite the fact that this is a well-made, (and as the very title indicates) exhaustive concordance of the New International Version of the Bibe, this type of resource no longer fulfills its role to the extent that other resources can.

For instance:

* Websites exist that allow you full access to the NIV version, providing multiple keyword searches that this sort of reference simply cannot provide. Nothing beats a computer for searching for string matches. Cost? Free.

* Bible study software exists that fulfills the same keyword searches and can, in many cases, offer multiple translations with keyword searches across all versions. The better Bible software packages include commentaries, multiple translations, links to Strong's concordance, Hebrew and Greek lexical aids, Bible dictionaries, and so on. For the cost of this NIV concordance, you can purchase a decent piece of Bible software that offers more capability than the paper concordance does. Some of the best Bible software is even free.

* Text versions of the Bible exist for download online (though I am not certain of the NIV's availability.) When used with a word processor, you can search for words, too (though most word processing software does not allow searches on multiple words at once.) Still, this is another possibility.

But if you must have a bound concordance for the NIV, this is it folks. It has several plusses going for it to counter the format minuses above:

* Strong, plasticized, hard cover. Should last for a long time.

* Very easy to read sans-serif word heading typeface along with a nice, open serif typeface for the verse listings set on bright white pages. No eyestrain here.

* Excellent Strong's Concordance cross-reference.

* Detailed Hebrew and Greek dictionarys/lexicons.

It's everything you could want in one bound volume. However, since switching to computerized resources, I have not looked back.

Five stars for the quality of the book, but minus two for usability when compared to other resources.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Concordance!
Review: The best concrdance of the NIV translation of the Bible I have seen yet. It has every single word in the NIV, and lists the words in the original language(s) from which each word in the NIV is translated form (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic). Both of these features I have found extremely useful.

The G/K numbering system, which is used on all the words in the Bible, is better than Strong's and I've found it useful in using the Concordance with other books. This feature allows you to find all of instances of the same word in the original language, and the different ways it is translated. It counts how many times each word occurs in the NIV (and shows them all of course, with the entire verse it is in for context), and counts the number of times the original language's word occurs in the original text (including times the word was not translated).

Comparing the new numbers with Strong's was an essential and wise addition to the back as most books use that numbering system. Another good feature is that Zondervan's Nave's NIV Topical Bible can be used very easily with the Exhaustive Concordance, making word and topical searches very easy.

If you use the NIV for personal Bible study, get this. My preferred translation is the NASB (but I use the NIV nearly as much as the NASB) so I am looking forward to when Zondervan publish their NASB Exhaustive Concordance in September. If it is anywhere near as good as this concordance, then I will have two concordances which have no equals from other publishers.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Concordance!
Review: The best concrdance of the NIV translation of the Bible I have seen yet. It has every single word in the NIV, and lists the words in the original language(s) from which each word in the NIV is translated form (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic). Both of these features I have found extremely useful.

The G/K numbering system, which is used on all the words in the Bible, is better than Strong's and I've found it useful in using the Concordance with other books. This feature allows you to find all of instances of the same word in the original language, and the different ways it is translated. It counts how many times each word occurs in the NIV (and shows them all of course, with the entire verse it is in for context), and counts the number of times the original language's word occurs in the original text (including times the word was not translated).

Comparing the new numbers with Strong's was an essential and wise addition to the back as most books use that numbering system. Another good feature is that Zondervan's Nave's NIV Topical Bible can be used very easily with the Exhaustive Concordance, making word and topical searches very easy.

If you use the NIV for personal Bible study, get this. My preferred translation is the NASB (but I use the NIV nearly as much as the NASB) so I am looking forward to when Zondervan publish their NASB Exhaustive Concordance in September. If it is anywhere near as good as this concordance, then I will have two concordances which have no equals from other publishers.

Rating:
Summary: A Most Valuable Tool
Review: The NIV Exhaustive Concordance is one of the most useful tools I have ever used for studying the Bible. It never failed that when I tried to look up a particular passage using any condenced concordance, I could not find it. With the exhaustive concordance you can find any word you need. The reference includes everyword used in the NIV bible (sadly this also includes the and other common words) as well as some terms from the KJV and the modern equivelants. A total bargain for anyone who wants to know the Bible.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Resource
Review: This edition of the NIV concordance is much better than the first. The lexicons at the back are much easier to go through. I use this concordance with a variety of other bible study tools. If you teach, preach, lead a small group or anything like that, make use of this concordance because it is so easy to use.

I use concordances a great deal for a number of reasons, but most Christians could benefit from one.

Rating:
Summary: The best concordance for the NIV just got better!
Review: This update to the original 1990 NIVEC makes it even better!

Better typesetting in the dictionaries are a real boost to the productivity of this volume. Originally, the concordance used the "index lexicon" format where the Greek or Hebrew word was listed followed by the various ways the original word was translated--without any formal definition of the original word. The editors felt that to include a formal "definition" would be misleading since various contexts can change the meaning of a word.

According to the editors of the 1990 edition, this lexicon/dictionary format was in and of itself a dictionary since it showed all of the ways in which the word could be translated into English.

However, as stated in the introduction to this latest edition, there was an outcry from the public for the Greek/Hebrew dictionaries to mirror more closely the Strong's dictionary in terms of layout and features.

In response to this, the dictionaries now have "beefed" up definitions as well as the original index of English words used to translate the original word (along with their frequency count).

Now, we users of this concordance have the best of both worlds: the familiarity of Strong's layout with the power of Young's analytical layout. Although the concordance followed Young's layout more closely in the 1990 edition, this 1999 edition gives us the best of both worlds (Strong's and Young's) and makes it a real must-have for your Bible reference book shelf!

Cheers!

Rating:
Summary: The best concordance for the NIV just got better!
Review: This update to the original 1990 NIVEC makes it even better!

Better typesetting in the dictionaries are a real boost to the productivity of this volume. Originally, the concordance used the "index lexicon" format where the Greek or Hebrew word was listed followed by the various ways the original word was translated--without any formal definition of the original word. The editors felt that to include a formal "definition" would be misleading since various contexts can change the meaning of a word.

According to the editors of the 1990 edition, this lexicon/dictionary format was in and of itself a dictionary since it showed all of the ways in which the word could be translated into English.

However, as stated in the introduction to this latest edition, there was an outcry from the public for the Greek/Hebrew dictionaries to mirror more closely the Strong's dictionary in terms of layout and features.

In response to this, the dictionaries now have "beefed" up definitions as well as the original index of English words used to translate the original word (along with their frequency count).

Now, we users of this concordance have the best of both worlds: the familiarity of Strong's layout with the power of Young's analytical layout. Although the concordance followed Young's layout more closely in the 1990 edition, this 1999 edition gives us the best of both worlds (Strong's and Young's) and makes it a real must-have for your Bible reference book shelf!

Cheers!