Cruden's Concordance facts for kids
Cruden's Concordance is a very famous book that helps people find words in the King James Bible. It's like a giant index for the Bible. This amazing book was created all by one person, Alexander Cruden, back in 1737. It has been so helpful that it's still being printed today!
Contents
What is Cruden's Concordance?
A concordance is a special kind of book. It lists every important word from another book, like the Bible. Next to each word, it tells you exactly where that word appears. So, if you want to find every time the word "love" is used in the Bible, a concordance can show you.
Cruden's Concordance focuses on the King James Bible (KJV). This Bible version is very old and well-known. Alexander Cruden spent many years making sure his concordance was complete and accurate.
Who Was Alexander Cruden?
Alexander Cruden (1699–1770) was a dedicated man from Scotland. He was a bookseller in London. In 1735, he started working on his huge project: the concordance. He worked incredibly hard, often from 7 AM until 1 AM, almost every day.
How Was It Created?
Cruden worked on his own to create this massive book. He went through the entire Bible, word by word. He wrote down every word and where it appeared. This took him less than a year for the main part. The proofreading and organizing took a bit longer.
People who knew him said he was so focused. He barely noticed anything else around him. He was completely absorbed in his work. His biographer, Edith Olivier, wondered if anyone else had ever found such joy in this kind of detailed work.
First Publication and Success
The first edition of Cruden's Concordance was published in 1737. It was an instant success. One of the first copies was even given to Queen Caroline herself. The book was so useful that it has never stopped being printed since then.
Two updated versions were released during Cruden's lifetime. These were in 1761 and 1769. Even though it was a huge effort, the first edition did have a few tiny mistakes. For example, some names were missed. But these were fixed in later editions.
See also
- Strong's Concordance
- Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible
