Search

Bible Search

Unlike most web-based search engines, searching within WordLinks does not take place on the web server. Instead, the files to be searched are sent to the user's web browser and the searching takes place on your computer. This was done in order to allow full searching capabilities when using the WordLinks CDROM without an internet connection. The disadvantage is, at present, it essentially prohibits searching over the internet--except over high performance connections.

In the future, a server-based search capability may be put in place to facilitate more efficient searching over the internet.

Search Controls

The following controls are unique to searching. (See the top-level Help for information about controls which all windows share in common.)

• Select Bible to Search
  Choose either the KJV-Strongs Bible, KJ2000 Bible, or the World English (WEB) Bible. Only the KJV-Strongs Bible allows searching for Hebrew or Greek words using Strong's numbers.
  
  
• Start Searching
  Press this button to begin the search.
  
  
• Stop Searching
  Press this button to end the search. If a search is canceled before it is complete, the results collected so far are displayed.
  
  
• Case is Significant?
  Check this box if uppercase and lowercase are significant in the search. For example, in order to differentiating between LORD (Yahweh) vs. Lord (Adonai).
  
  
• Include Old Testament?
  Check this box if you want to include the Old Testament in the search. Unchecking this box can greatly speed up your search.
  
  
• Include New Testament?
  Check this box if you want to include the New Testament in the search. Unchecking this box can speed up your search.
  
  
• Search Results
  The results of the search are grouped by Bible Book. Click on the Bible book name in order to view the individual verses found within the book. Click again on the book name to hide the individual verses. If only a few verses are found, then the search results are automatically presented with full verse detail (each book's results are expanded and shown).

  When the search criterial include Strong's numbers, the search result verses include Strong's numbers, otherwise they are hidden.

  Individual words, Strong's numbers, and phrases found within each verse are displayed in bold.

• Search Criteria
  Specify what you want to search for. Search criteria may be specified in a wide variety of ways.
  1. All Words
     To search for all verses containing both God and love specify: God love
     This is equivalent to specifying God AND love. (Note that two adjacent words which are not enclosed by quotes--not a phrase--are always assumed to be ANDed together.)
     
     
  2. Any Word
     To search for verses dealing with life or death, specify: life OR death
     
     
  3. Logical Combination of Words
     To search for verses containing eternal and life or death, specify: eternal AND (life OR death) To search for verses containing holy, but not ghost or nation specify: holy AND NOT (ghost OR nation).

     (As the search criteria logic becomes more complex, searching will take longer. The most "expensive" logic operator is NOT.)

  4. Phrase
     To search for verses containing a phrase, place the phrase within quotes: 'Jesus wept'. Phrases can occur anywhere a word can and can be combined into arbitrarily complex search criterial such using logic operators (AND, OR, NOT, parenthesis).
     
     
  5. Variable Ending
     To search for verses containing variations of a common word, use an asterisk to specify the variable portion of the word. The example above (overcom*) finds all variations such as overcomes, overcomer, overcoming, etc. As another example, to find all verses which deal with curse, curses, curseth, cursed, etc. specify: curs*.
     
     
  6. Unspecified Character
     Use a question mark to match any character. To find all verses which contain help, hell, or held, specify: hel?
     
     
  7. Character Range
     Use brackets to match a range or set of characters. To find all verses which contain love or dove specify: [ld]ove
     
     
  8. Strong's Number
     To search for the Hebrew word ruwach (spirit - Strong's number h7307) enter: h7307. When searching for Strong's numbers, the results indicate the various words the underlying Greek or Hebrew was translated as in the English text. These are sorted by frequency of appearance. For example:

     h7307 = spirit:227, wind:81, breath:27, winds:11, mind:5, side:5, spirits:5, blast:4, vain:2, air:1, anger:1, breath(h5397):1, cool:1, courage:1, quarters:1, sides:1, spiritual:1, tempest:1, whirlwind:1, windy:1

     In the example above, the results include another Strong's number h5397. Where this occurs, it indicates that the Strong's number in the search criteria is combined with the other Strong's number to produce the word shown.

     When Strong's numbers are included in the search criteria, the matching verses are display with full Strong's numbering. When Strong's numbers are not specified, the Strong's numbers are suppressed from the results.

     Strong's numbers operate like any other words and can be arbitrarily combined with each other and English words. For example: (h430 OR h7307) AND darkness

     The only limitation when using Strong's numbers with searching is the inability to combine Strong's numbers with phrases.

     When Strong's numbers are used without English words, if Strong's numbers corresponding only to Hebrew or only to Greek words are specified, then the search range automatically narrows to only include the Old Testament (Hebrew words) or NT (Greek words).

Search Performance - A Compromise

As mentioned above, searching is a very resource-intensive operation--especially the way it is done in WordLinks where the entire search is performed within your web browser. This kind of searching is generally impossible because a web browser does not allow direct access to data files on your computer (or on a web site). By packaging up the search data within hidden web page controls, we allow WordLinks to read the raw Bible text--but the cost is greatly reduced performance when compared with a commercial Bible Study search capability which installs and runs directly on your machine.

With some patience, the flexible search capabilities provided here can still be very valuable. Especially because of the way in which the search results are automatically linked to other Bibles within WordLinks. Clicking on any search result takes you immediately to the specified verse within a Bible.