Would Like some help on deciding

[quinnfallensol]

Greetings,

I am looking for a good bible software program. I am not a scholar just a mom who wants to study deeper. I am wanting a program that is geared more towards the original languages such as Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. I would like a program that can cross reference from the old to the new and vise versa. I would like this program to include the writings of Philo and Josephus if possible. When you study, does this program automatically bring up all references in either a single or more than one window? What I do not want is to have to look up a verse then look up all the references one at a time. I would like the program to do this automatically. I have been looking at Locos - The Original Languages Library. I have also been looking at PC Study Bible. I want something more from an original language point of view, but also a program that works like PC Study Bible or QuickVerse as far as what they do not neccessarily what information they have. I am not interested in a product that has church doctrine, or theology I just want original word for word or topical stuff so that I can break down the sentence and see what it meant originally. Can you click and paste anything in this program into word or a powerpoint presentation? Thank you all for your time. Does this program offer what I need? or is there another out there that would be better for me? Any information will be helpful.

Sincerely,
Heidi

[Ben Spackman]

Based on this,

I am not interested in a product that has church doctrine, or theology I just want original word for word or topical stuff

I'd say you've come to the right place. BW is heavily focused on language, and has very little in the way of theological books. It's not a library program.

I'm not quite sure what this means-

What I do not want is to have to look up a verse then look up all the references one at a time.

, but BW, wherever it has cross-references or references, has a nifty little feature. Just mouse over them, and they appear in whatever English, Greek, or whatever combination of verses you want.

Also, BW has a 30-day guarantee. If you feel like it doesn't meet your needs after watching the several hours of customized video files, send it back. It's very painless.

[MGVH]

From your description, I would think that BibleWorks comes closest to what you want, especially in terms of cost-effectiveness. Logos (the only other commercial program with which I am familiar) has some very nice features for linking texts that BW can't do,* but BW's standard package will do more in terms of the original language work you describe.


*E.g., BDAG in Logos does have clickable links to texts referenced in Josephus. BW does not. But BW does have the original, morph-tagged version of Josephus in Greek along with the English, while Logos (for now) only has the English.

[quinnfallensol]

What I do not want is to have to look up a verse then look up all the references one at a time.

What I meant by this was I do not want something that is like searching different books. You have to look a verse up in the bible then look up another source and see what it says on it and so on and so on. I want a program that will automatically look all of these things up related to the verse so I so not have to do it one by one. Hope this makes sense. Thank you to all who have answered. Sorry about the underline, I could not figure out how you did that above unless you took it into Photoshop and I was not willing to do that. )

Heidi

[Joan Korte]

Hi Heidi,

I, too, am not a scholar or a Bible school student and also wanted to delve more deeply into the original languages with Bible software. In another thread, someone mentioned E-sword which is a free Bible software program, very popular and many add on modules. All of these programs will use technology to do much of the work for you as far as look ups. But they differ as to expense and how much of the original languages you already know or want to learn in order to use them to your advantage without being overwhelmed.

PCSB and BibleWorks comes with video tutorials. BibleWorks videos are in the form of study guides which shows you step by step how to use the various features. Logos also has online tutorials to help and some you can purchase. Each program seems to have its pros and cons; it's worth researching them and all their features as described on their websites to see if they fit your situation.

With BibleWorks, you have a note taking feature that allows you to save your notes as .rtf documents. That is a nice feature. And you can link between those notes to a spot within one of your lexica you have found info. in to make it automatic in the future.
You can copy and paste from BibleWorks and Logos into MS Word without losing the original Hebrew and Greek lettering. I have not found a way to do that with PCSB.

These are just some of my thoughts and experiences. Hope it helps. God Bless,
Joan

[Noel Fitzpatrick]

Hi Heidi

If you go to a Ford Dealer and ask him to recommend a car for you, would you be surprised if he recommended a Ford?

Similarly in "BibleWorks User Forums" one would expect BW to be recommended.

I used to use Bible Windows, now I use both Logos and BibleWorks. Both are excellent and can do similar things. However to be honest, I would recommend BW.

However they are only tools; the important thing is to read and study the Bible itself.

I hope this helps.

NoelFitz.

[Mark Eddy]

What I do not want is to have to look up a verse then look up all the references one at a time.

What I meant by this was I do not want something that is like searching different books. You have to look a verse up in the bible then look up another source and see what it says on it and so on and so on. I want a program that will automatically look all of these things up related to the verse so I so not have to do it one by one. Hope this makes sense. Thank you to all who have answered. Sorry about the underline, I could not figure out how you did that above unless you took it into Photoshop and I was not willing to do that. )

Heidi

BibleWorks has the option to search all same-language versions. You can view only one verse at a time (unless you open multiple windows--which is possible). After doing such a cross-version search, BW gives you a box listing how many times the word you searched exists in each of the versions in which it exists. Then you click on the version you want, and BW gives a separate list of all the verses where that word (or phrase) exists. You have to click on each reference individually in order to view them. BW looks up the list. You click on the verses you want to view in detail.
Does this help?
Mark Eddy

[Gontroppo]

I have not used all of the bible software available, but am happy with Logos/Libronics for commentaries, dictionaries, etc and use the IVP Essential Reference Library, Word Biblical Commentary and a couple of other resources via the Libronix interface.

I use BibleWorks for my bible study. I haven't used Gramcord or other software, but find I can understand how BibleWorks works, and appreciate the unsurpased almost daily service from the creators via the BibleWorks forum.

For bible versions not in BibleWorks yet, I use the excellent and free e-sword program, though I have sent a couple of donations, for which they sent me a CD of most of the program [can't quite squeeze it all onto one CD].

David McKay
http://gontroppo.blogspot.com/
http://themusickeplace.blogspot.com/

[enfuego30]

Hi Heidi,

I am a user of both Logos Gold and BW. To be quite honest, I think it sounds like you're looking for a combo of these two.

BW is far superior (and faster) to anything on PC for the original languages--of course, you have to know them--BW is far too expensive for the person who only dabbles in the languages. Don't get me wrong, it's not overpriced, but the beauty of BW is how much you can do in the languages.

Logos has the vast library with all the tools and the most of the same capabilities in the languages as BW--just harder to use for the languages. It's more "English" friendly. Of course more tools means more books open on your window...otherwise you'd have to open them up individually (you can set things up, though). As MGVH said, Logos only has Jos. in English.

In short, no matter what you get, the program won't do all the work for you--you have to know what you're doing and you still have to go through the processes of looking at the right materials so you don't waste your time reading twenty pages of stuff you don't need.

Happy hunting. Hope this helps.

[mdemol]

Hello Heidi

Quote:
"I am looking for a good bible software program. I am not a scholar just a mom who wants to study deeper. I am wanting a program that is geared more towards the original languages such as Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic."

Maybe "Interlinear Scripture Analyzer (ISA)" is something for you.
It's a powerfull and easy to use bible program to overcome the language barrier and get in touch with the original languages.

You can download the ISA program for free at http://www.scripture4all.org/

Regards Marc....