Understanding advanced Bible software

Before we compare the different products available, let’s look at what marks out these packages from the more basic ones that we looked at in the last issue. In two words: morphological tagging. Let me explain what that means.

Each of the packages I’m going to review offer the Bible in English and in the original languages. They also offer several lexicons (i.e. Greek/Hebrew dictionaries). But simply having the Bible in Greek or Hebrew is of limited value. Most teachers of the Bible know that ἀγαπάω (agapaō) means ‘to love’. But did you remember that ἀγαπήσεις (agapēseis) is finite, second person, singular, future, indicative and active, and is usually translated ‘You shall love’? No, nor did I. That means you don’t just need a Greek text, you need a morphologically tagged Greek text. These texts have tags hidden in every word in the Bible that explain exactly the form of every word, and tell you what the lemma (root word) is.

A morphological text means that you can jump quickly to a lexicon in one click from any word, without resorting to looking up reference numbers. You will also be able to parse any word, usually by just hovering your mouse over it.

A morphological text also allows you to search for every instance of every word, regardless of its inflection. You can also do more complex searches, such as searching for every time ἀγαπάω (agapaō) is given as a command. If grammar scares you, skip to the next paragraph, but for those who are interested let me give you an idea of the power available. You could find all instances of a dative or accusative participle not immediately preceded by an agreeing article, and followed by an agreeing article and noun, excluding cases where a word from a specified list intervenes. I’m struggling to think of why you might want to this, but the point is that if you want to search for something – anything! – these programs will make it possible. You’ll be glad to know that they all come with tutorials that help you find your way through the complexities.

In other words, software like this should replace all your bibles (English and original language), your concordances, your interlinears, your lexicons,  and most of your grammar books – perhaps even your commentaries. You’ll never have a messy desk again!

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