If you are a Mac user, I recommend you take a look at Donovan Palmer’s article on “Logos versus Accordance” and the short follow-up “More about Accordance versus Logos.” I can sympathize with many of the things he says, and it makes for some interesting reading. Check it out!
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This is a response to an original video from Michael Hite in which he was showing how to find all the forms of a particular Greek word in the book of James. Seeing the rather convoluted method of searching I thought it would be a good idea to briefly describe how to do it with Accordance by means of a simple root search.
You can watch the video full screen in HD by clicking on the rightmost icon at the bottom.
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With the advent of Bible study software tools, the ability to link the English or modern language text to the original Greek and Hebrew has increased exponentially. We now have not only traditional interlinears, where the text follows the order of the original language, but reverse interlinears, where we can read the text of the English Bible and the original language follows that order.
WORDsearch markets a Holman Christian Standard Bible that includes a reverse interlinear.
As shown below, there are many display options available. Original words can be displayed as they appear in the text or according to their dictionary form (with or without English transliteration). There is also an option to hear the pronunciation of the original term (lemma).
Logos 4 offers a number of reverse interlinear English Bibles (ESV, NIV, NASB and NRSV, among others). There are also Hebrew, LXX and Greek interlinears.
It includes the same display options mentioned above, but the NT has an option for displaying Louw-Nida’s Lexicon numbers, which is an excellent addition.
Alternatively, the interlinear can appear at the bottom of the Bible text, rather than inline.
Accordance 9.5 turns any modern Bible tagged with Strong’s numbers (ESV, NIV, NASB, HCSB and KJV, among others –including some in Spanish) or any morphologically tagged text into a dynamic interlinear, capable of displaying all the associated information.
It works seamlessly based on the modules available, and users can choose between a “traditional” and a “reverse” interlinear layout. Besides, syntax information is displayed.
The advantage, in this case, is that any Bible with Strong’s, as well as any tagged Greek NT or Hebrew OT (no LXX currently) can be displayed alongside the regular display fields, and that any customized layout can be saved and retrieved. This allows for an unprecedented flexibility and power.
This screenshot shows a reverse interlinear with four English Bibles, plus the original Greek text and Strong’s numbers.
So, as you can see, there are a number of differences (not so much in the layout but rather in functionality), between the reverse interlinears currently available in the market. At any rate, this is an important tool for those who do not know or aren’t proficient enough in the Biblical languages. The kinds of studies that can be performed with reverse interlinears nowadays are pretty sophisticated.
CommentA new Bible Software Shootout session took place yesterday, at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) in San Francisco, CA. I had the opportunity of following the highlights in real time via Twitter, but today you can read a fairly exhaustive analysis by fellow blogger Mark Vitalis Hoffman.
This year the focus was on applying Bible software to the classroom setting. As usual, the contenders were Logos, Accordance and Olive Tree. I was rather surprised to discover that BibleWorks was not included. In fact, last week I tweeted the following: “I wonder why BibleWorks does not participate in Bible shootout 2 at #sblaar. They have some excellent classroom tips! http://bit.ly/vfvNba.”
Should more articles appear on this session, I’ll try to add a link here.
UPDATE:
Rick Mansfield’s This Lamp
Antoine RJ Wright’s Mobile Ministry Magazine
Mark Vitalis started it on his blog, and David Lang followed suit. Now we know how to go about it with BibleWorks and Accordance, respectively.
These kinds of exercises could well become a classic after this past SBL Bible Software Shootout.
Update (March 25): And here is how to do it with Logos Bible Software.
CommentMark Barnes has posted an excellent review comparing OliveTree BibleReader and Logos for the iPhone/iPod Touch. This is one of the most exciting areas right now for Bible software, and I’m sure it will be even more so when the new iPad is launched. It’s definitely worth a read.
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