Ned Sturzer has developed a new search engine for the Hebrew Bible (Leningrad Codex B19a), called Masorah Engine (please note that the site can only be viewed correctly with Internet Explorer — Neither Firefox nor Safari worked for me).

This engine (requiring Windows XP or better) is able to search for the Hebrew vowel marks (nikudos) and tropes (te’amim) in many different and rather complex ways, so you may want to take a look. There are a number of screen shots available, but no demo version.

As a follow-up to my previous post on the subject, I found out other Bible software that works on the iPhone (and iPod Touch). Again, I don’t have an iPhone to try these applications, so you are all by yourselves. You can, however, look at the websites, watch the video demos available and draw your own conclusions.

Bible App

BibleXpress

Mantis Bible Study

TouchBible

Sorry I can’t offer much more info at the moment, but this should get you started if you are looking for some Bible software for that particular device. Feel free to share your experience if you have first-hand knowledge using these applications, or if you know of others that could be added to the list. Thanks!

ScriptureDirect is not only an exciting new Bible software program, but also an innovative tool. iLumina paved the way for a whole new concept of user interface which brought together different multimedia elements into one single package (a la Encyclopaedia Britannica), but now ScriptureDirect has produced a 27-minute 3D animation movie called Back to the Source, where the term multimedia takes on a whole new meaning.

Rather than simply developing a professional and flashy ad to sell the product (only the last 4 minutes of the movie actually advertize the benefits of using ScriptureDirect), they have created a most interesting short movie explaining in very visual, entertaining and clear (albeit colloquial) language the “four keys” to biblical interpretation. While the plot unravels and Phil Davidson, a private investigator wearing Indiana Jones‘ hat and carrying around Luke Skywalker’s binoculars, is out on his search for a treasure locked away by four keys, we are exposed to such important concepts as historical and literary context, original language and semantic discourse analysis. Even the typical New Testament exegetical workflow is laid out before us (i.e., divide the passage in smaller units, translate Greek into English, mark the significant meaning indicators, establish the meaning structure, and draw conclusions & make a summary).

This engaging story can be viewed online or downloaded, and it is particularly suited to introduce the work of exegesis to general audiences. I would say it will leave no one indifferent, and if you like Sci-Fi movies you will notice certain influences from titles like Minority Report or The Matrix.

One final comment, if you are a purist or think that exegesis has to be boring in order to remain a truly academic enterprise, don’t watch it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

OliveTree has announced the availability of their BibleReader for the iPhone. There are currently some limitations that the company is working on, and more new features are expected to be available as development continues. Among them:

Greek and Hebrew Bible translations, lexicons, reference works, and fonts

More commentaries, study tools, and Christian eBooks—Olive Tree plans to release over 500 titles for iPhone

Phrase Search

Bookmarks

Auto-Scrolling

Hyperlinked Table of Contents for eBooks

Personal Notes

Support for Images

Highlighting

Split-Screen, to view multiple documents at once

Notes and Cross-References

On the other hand, Laridian also informs that PocketBible for the iPhone will be available soon. No release date has been set yet. Again, Craig Rairdin admits that developing software for the iPhone is rather difficult, but the following key features can be expected to be present when the product ships:

PocketBible for iPhone will support all the books and Bibles as our Windows Mobile application. It is build on the same base of shared code we use for all of our readers.

You will have access to all the books and Bibles you’ve already purchased for other platforms. You will purchase the reader from the iTunes App Store and have free access to any existing content you already own through your account on our Web site.

Search by words, phrases, combinations of words and phrases using Boolean (AND, OR, etc.) logic, and wild-cards (bapt* to match “baptist”, “baptize”, etc. and ?aul to match “Saul” or “Paul”)

Track your daily devotional reading progress.

I don’t have an iPhone myself, but this should come as good news to the increasing number of people who are using the latest “toy” from Cupertino (hey, even Bob Pritchett has seen the light and has got one!). I just wish Apple would make things easier for developers who are trying to program for that particular platform. Is it too much to ask?

Update (August 13): Rick Mansfield offers a preliminary review of BibleReader for the iPhone.

Really? Yep! WORDsearch just announced that a Mac version of their application will be available in September. You can see a video tour of the program, which will run only on the new Intel Macs with Leopard OS X 10.5. This “converted” version of WORDsearch, with identical features to the current version 8 for Windows, will bring a huge library of CROSS-compatible titles to Mac users. Among them, many Reformed works published by Doxa Digital Press.

Those blessed souls who own an iPhone and/or an iPod Touch will want to check out this new release from Laridian.

As a follow-up to my previous entry, I can now announce that PocketBible for Windows is already available. See full press release here.

Synchronization of notes, bookmarks and highlights between the desktop edition and the different mobile versions (PocketBible for Pocket PC/Smartphone and MyBible for Palm OS) will be possible shortly, as soon as the PDA-based programs are updated.

OakTree has done it again: a point-one update that smacks of a new release packed with great new features.

Here is the official announcement posted to the Accordance Forums:

The latest update to the Accordance application is now available for download. In addition to minor bug fixes and enhancements, Accordance 7.2 offers the following major new features:

* User Bible Import: You can now import your own custom Bible modules into Accordance from a text file!
* Horizontal Resource Palette: You can now choose to orient the Resource palette horizontally rather than vertically.
* Prior and Next Buttons in the Search window: As you navigate to different passages using the Go To Box, or by following a hypertext link, you can now use the Prior and Next buttons to retrace your steps.
* Larger Text Access Buttons: The verse, chapter, and book buttons are now larger, more colorful, and easier to hit with the mouse.
* Highlight Printing: You can now print any color highlighting you’ve done, as well as the Compare Texts highlighting.
* Polytonic Greek Keyboard Option: Those who are used to entering Greek with the Polytonic Greek keyboard can now customize Accordance to enter Greek using that keyboard layout.
* Custom Tag Arrangement: You can now customize the order in which grammatical tags appear in the Instant Details Box and Parsing window. If you prefer “nominative masculine singular” to “masculine singular nominative,” re-order the tags however you like!

In addition to these major features, Accordance 7.2 includes a host of minor improvements. This latest update includes so much, in fact, that we could easily charge for it; but it is free to all users of version 7.0 or above!

Even more new features are listed here. Please download the installer/updater here.

In an upcoming review we’ll see just how important these enhancements are. Meanwhile, the official press release can be found at the Announcements section of the Bible Software Review Forum.

Biblesoft has announced the release of PC Study Bible 5. This version includes a lot of new content and features. There is a full chart comparing the contents of the newly released libraries.

Of particular interest to many readers of Bible Software Review will be the Professional Reference Library.

GMPSoft has released Bible Software With You version 7.23

This new version includes some major enhancements that will be specially appreciated by Greek students.

GMPSoft now offers the standard Greek text of UBS4 with the morphological database developed by OakTree Software (makers of Accordance Bible Software). This is all part of the new Bible Bundle (Greek UBS4). Note that the Greek text is not searchable yet, but all the parsing and lexical information, as well as the English glosses for each NT word are available as a hyperlink.

One recent highlighting feature includes the ability to have all/any grammatical information appear with a different highlight color, background color or underline style whenever the UBS4 text is displayed. A detailed flash demo can be found here.

Version 7 is offered as a free update for users who already own a previous version of the program. It is particularly recommended for those who need to have a morphological version of the GNT on their PDA, but there are other enhancements in the area of bookmarking/highlighting that greatly improve the general value of a very nicely designed product.

I have updated my previous review with some comments on the new features.