More on Verse Mapping

Vincent's post about mapping out and harmonizing all the various book-chapter-verse schemes for the Bible has sparked some great discussion among other bloggers. Here are a few selections; click through on the links to read the complete posts at each site...

ESV Bible Blog - "They plan to use the data in the next version of their software to allow for a 'higher degree of precision when it comes to Bible navigation, comparing Bible versions and viewing them in parallel, and Bible reference tagging.' The amount of effort put into this project boggles the mind."

The folks at Crossway also point to a series of posts by blogger Ben C. Smith, who is working his way through a detailed description of the various canonical lists assembled by the early church. Interesting stuff which has a bearing on the Bible we read today.

Randy McRoberts of The Upward Way Press writes,

"Most people know that the chapter and verse divisions of the Bible aren’t part of the original text. Many people may not know that the versification of all Bibles is not the same. For example, if you look up a psalm in the Septuagint, it might have a different number than it does in the English Bibles. It is a very complicated situation. Particularly if your Bibles are digital."

I'm sure Vincent would concur with this assessment. He's been looking a little wrung out lately, and could probably use a care package.  :-)

In a post entitled "Here's Why I Believe in Logos Bible Software" (we appreciate the vote of confidence but would direct such praise to the One who truly deserves it), Benjamin Janssen writes, 

"There are many good reasons why any serious Bible student should invest in, learn, and use Logos Bible Software. But here's the best reason I can think of: the company is dedicated to getting it right. This is a Bible study software that I am confident will always be on the cutting edge of research and analysis without compromising quality, even down to chapter and verse divisions."

We do work hard to stay at the cutting edge of Bible technology, and are taking steps to promote a healthy "give and take" with others in the industry. The BibleTech 2008 conference in January will be a great opportunity for all those who work at the intersection of Bible and technology to share best practices and spur one another on to even greater levels of excellence.

If things like XML versification maps get you excited, you definitely need to be at the conference!