Lesson 4 | Searching the Original
Common Words
The first challenge we run into is searching an original language word that happens to be very common. This could be a word like πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros) that shows up 66 times in the New Testament, or a word like עָשָׂה (ʻâsâh) that has 1,549 hits. In both cases (and especially the second) you may not have the time to look through all the search results.
There are two ways to handle this situation—neither of which is new to you.
1. Search the Suggested Grammatical Specification
In Biblearc's Discovery! Course we learn that sometimes meaning is affected by the grammar of a word. In particular, Hebrew verb stem and Greek preposition case can do this. The good news is that you don’t even have to remember the specifics to be able to narrow your search down in this way as Biblearc will only suggest relevant grammatical searches.
The 64 hits of הָלַךְ (hâlak) in the hithpael are going to be far easier to work through than the 1,549 total hits, and they are going to far more accurately give you a sense of what is meant by this word here since Hebrew verb meaning depends upon stem.
2. Search a Smaller Scope
Do you remember concentric circles?
The same principle for English searches applies to original language searches. And once again, such searches are easy to click over to from a particular passage.
With limited time, a search of πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros) in “Paul’s Writings only” will serve you best.