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To have a grasp on the biblical languages once required years of study. For those who wanted to dabble in understanding some Greek and Hebrew works they might add a Vine's Expository Dictionary or many of the other print helps available to give one a rudimentary understanding of key Greek and Hebrew words.

Maybe you have studied Greek and Hebrew in seminary but your skills are just not what they used to be. With the Exegetical Guide in Logos 4, your passage of Scripture is analyzed for you, word by word, in its original language, and definitions are displayed from dictionaries. You can also get insight from leading grammarians, see where biblical manuscripts differ, and observe the structure of the text.

The Bible Word Study gathers extensive information on any word in the Bible, whether Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic, and shows you how the word is translated and how it functions. It also shows you where else it is used in ancient literature.

Reverse interlinears are built right into many of Logos 4's English Bibles which allows you to see the Greek or Hebrew behind your text. Simply highlight a portion of text in one interlinear, and Logos 4 will highlight the corresponding text in other open Bibles. You can see immediately how the Greek and Hebrew was translated in other translations.

Logos Bible Software 4 is not just powerful for language studies. Search your resources with its lightning fast search engine which can scan your whole library in a second. Print brand new, high-resolution infographics that are PowerPoint ready to illustrate some of your major points in sermons, essays or Bible studies. This can all be done in an interface that is completely intuitive and adaptable to your study needs.

If you haven't upgraded to Logos 4 yet, what are you waiting for? Now is the time to streamline your study and work smarter, not harder.

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

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New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

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The Exegetical Guide is perfectly suited for digging deep into the grammar and syntax of a passage of Scripture. It provides you with a wealth of information from your grammars, critical apparatuses, lexicons, and more.

When you’ve landed on a particular portion of Scripture that you’re going to study in depth in the original Greek or Hebrew—perhaps for a sermon or paper—the Exegetical Guide is the tool for the task. But sometimes you may just want to see what your grammars have to say about a verse here and there as you’re jumping from passage to passage following cross references and looking at parallel passages. Did you know that you can use the Exegetical Guide for this kind of study as well?

All you need to do is link your Bible to the Exegetical Guide by setting them to share the same link set (e.g., Link Set A), and the Exegetical Guide will follow you wherever you go—providing nearly instant access to every place your grammars discuss the passage you’re looking at. Just click the chain icon at the top of both windows, and set them to the same letter.

To keep the Exegetical Guide as speedy as possible, you can collapse the sections that you’re not as interested in. Just click the minus sign to collapse a section and the plus sign to expand it again.

This is perfect for the times you’re moving around and haven’t settled on just one passage to dig into to. Give it a try. It’s like having someone looking over your shoulder while you’re studying the Bible and finding every occurrence of the passage you’re in in all of your grammars—only instantly!

By the way, you can also do this with the Passage Guide to always have your favorite commentaries just a click away, or with the Reference Browser to have instant access to the places your passage occurs in your favorite collections of books like the Church Fathers, Systematic Theology texts, Old and New Testament Introductions, etc.

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The post from two weeks ago about the 2 New Free Greek Vocabulary Lists led to some new Hebrew vocabulary lists surfacing. I guess the OT guys didn’t want to be outdone by the NT guys. :) We now have the lists from Zondervan’s Basics of Biblical Hebrew by Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt and Baker’s Introducing Biblical Hebrew by Allen P. Ross.

This brings our total number of vocabulary lists up to 26: 14 Greek, 9 Hebrew, 2 Aramaic, and 1 Akkadian. Visit our Vocabulary Lists page to download these new lists.

Once you’ve downloaded them, you can access your new lists in Logos by going to File > Open, selecting “Vocabulary List” from the Types column, and then selecting the list of your choice from the Documents column. For additional help using them, see the previous post.

Have a vocabulary list from a Hebrew or Greek grammar that you’d like to see us make available? Send an email to suggest@logos.com, and let us know.

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We now have the brand new Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible, Version 3 (or SESB 3 for short) in stock and ready to ship. SESB, which is a co-production of the German Bible Society and the Bible Society of the Netherlands, has been one of our most popular third-party products and is a standard for academic users around the world. Just read some of the many SESB reviews to see for yourself.

If you don’t already have an earlier edition of the SESB, you can get everything from the previous editions plus all of the new content by purchasing SESB 3. If you already have a previous version of SESB (i.e., SESB 1, SESB 1 (Logos Edition), or SESB 2), you can upgrade to SESB 3 for only $159.95.

Here’s a list of the more than 20 titles that are new to SESB 3:

• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: WIVU Syntactic Analysis (Note: This is a new syntax database like Andersen-Forbes, not a resource in My Library.)
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Workgroep Informatica Constituency Tree Analysis
• Biblia Sacra Vulgata (Apparatus)
• Biblia Sacra Vulgata (SESB)
• Biblia Sacra Vulgata: Psalmi iuxta Hebraicum et Varia Lectio (Apparatus)
• Das Thomasevangelium: Originaltext mit Kommentar
• Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet
• Den Hellige Skrifts Kanoniske Bøger 1931/1948
• The Gospel of Thomas: Original Text with Commentary
• King James Version
• King James Version Apocrypha
• Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers in English
• Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers in Greek
• Luther Bibel (1912)
• Russian Modern New Testament
• Russian Synodal Bible Translation
• Septuaginta: Apparatus Criticus
• Septuaginta: Apparatus Criticus (Alternate Texts)
• Septuaginta: SESB Edition
• Septuaginta: SESB Edition (Alternate Texts)
• A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament
• Zürcher Bibel

To see the complete contents, visit www.logos.com/sesb.

Note: We have a limited stock of these. Once we run out, it’ll take a few weeks to get more in stock. So it’s first come, first served!

Update: The SESB 3 Upgrade is temporarily out of stock. We have more on the way.

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If you’re learning a new language, mastering the most commonly used words is an essential task. Did you know that Logos makes available 24 different vocabulary lists taken from the most popular grammars to help you? We currently have 14 different Greek vocabulary lists, 7 Hebrew, 2 Aramaic, and 1 Akkadian. The best part is that all of these lists are free. Just download them and save them to C:\. . .\My Documents\Libronix DLS\VocabularyLists.

The two latest additions are the lists from Learn to Read New Testament Greek by David Alan Black and Essentials of New Testament Greek by Ray Summers. Visit our Vocabulary Lists page to download these new lists—and any of the others you’d like. You don’t have to own the corresponding resources to make use of the vocabulary lists.

Once you’ve downloaded them, you can access your new lists in Logos by going to File > Open, selecting “Vocabulary List” from the Types column, and then selecting the list of your choice from the Documents column.

With your list opened, you have the ability to add to it, edit it, and print out vocabulary cards that you can carry with you and review between classes or when you’re away from your computer.

If you’re not a fan of print vocabulary cards, you can work through the lists right in Logos. Just grab another Window and cover up the right column. Move it down after you guess the meaning for each Greek word.

Visit our Vocabulary Lists page to download the available lists.

On Thursday of last week, we looked at how to use Strong’s in Logos Bible Software version 3, but I left out a few things that are worth calling attention to. In addition to accessing Strong’s from the “Other Tools” section of the Bible Speed Search or the regular Bible Search results, you can access it directly from the right-click menu of any Strong’s-tagged Bible or by running advanced Bible searches for particular Strong’s numbers.

Accessing Strong’s from Your Bibles

You can still run the old Englishman’s Concordance report from the right-click menu in Strong’s-enabled Bibles. For example, open the KJV to Romans 8, right-click on a word like condemnation, and select “Englishman’s Concordance.”

Doing so will launch this report, which shows you all of the occurrences of that particular Greek word, which happens to be translated all three times as condemnation.

Another way to do this is to right-click on the word and choose “Selected Reference” > “Speed Search This Resource.”

This will generate a search that gives you the same results as the Englishman’s Concordance report, but provides a few additional options under “Other Tools.”

Searching for a Specific Strong’s Number

You’ll notice that when the previous search generates, it uses the standard Bible Speed Search window and populates the search box with GreekStrongs in G2631. What this means is that you can bypass the right-click menu and do a search directly from the Bible Speed Search if you are starting with the Strong’s number you want to find.

For Greek words, you just need to type in something like GreekStrongs in G2631. Simply replace the Strong’s number with the one you’re looking for. For Hebrew words, you would type in HebrewStrongs in H6942. This allows you to instantly generate a report of all of the occurrences of a given Strong’s number.

Searches like these will show you all of the occurrences of a particular Greek or Hebrew word, regardless of how it is translated in English. If you want to narrow the report to show you only the places where a particular Greek or Hebrew word is (or is not) translated with a particular English word, you would simple add to the search equals or notequals followed by your word. For example, GreekStrongs in G1680 gives you all of the places where this Greek word occurs. It is almost always translated hope. If you wanted to limit it to the places where it is not translated hope, you would search for GreekStrongs in G1680 NOTEQUALS hope. Here’s another one to try: GreekStrongs in G26 NOTEQUALS love, will find all of the places where the main Greek word for love is not translated as love in the KJV.

Many pastors and Bible students who have grown up using Strong’s numbering system for Hebrew and Greek are slow to switch to something unfamiliar like reverse interlinears. We believe that reverse interlinears are a far better technology and superior to the Strong’s system, but we understand that not everyone is ready to completely abandon Strong’s just yet. That’s why we’ve tried to retain our Strong’s functionality as new versions have come out.

James Strong is best known for his Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible in which every Hebrew and Greek word was given a number, all of the references where each word occurred were listed, and brief definitions were given for each word. Strong’s numbering system made it easy for people who couldn’t read Hebrew or Greek to look up words.

Last month we got a call from a customer who has been wanting to upgrade from version 2 of our software to version 3 for a couple of years now. The only thing holding him back was that he thought he’d lose his Strong’s Concordance. After we explained to him that all of his favorite Strong’s resources and reports would still work in version 3, he was overjoyed and quickly upgraded. This post is for anyone out there who might be in the same boat.

Resources and Reports

Sometimes there can be confusion regarding what is a resource or book that can be found in My Library and what is a report or part of the software’s functionality. So let’s start by setting the record straight.

Resources

There are several Strong’s lexicons or dictionaries:

• Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 2.0
• The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words
• The New Strong’s Guide to Bible Words

Other lexicons like the Dictionaries of Biblical Languages w/ Semantic Domains include Strong’s numbers and will work as well.

There are a few Bibles with built-in Strong’s numbering both inline and interlinear.

• King James Version
• The New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
• Russian Synodal Translation

The ESV and NRSV NT reverse interlinears also have Strong’s numbers.

Reports

Version 2 had an Englishman’s Concordance report that produced results like you’d find in Strong’s Concordance. Version 3 has a similar report under a different name.

• Version 2: Englishman’s Concordance
• Version 3: Search Analysis by Strong’s

Clarification: You can actually still run the Englishman’s Concordance report in version 3. See Where’d My Strong’s Concordance Go? Part 2 for the details.

Finding the Strong’s Report in Version 3

So where do you find Strong’s Concordance in version 3? If you’re looking for Strong’s Concordance in My Library, you won’t find it because it’s not a book or resource. It’s a report. Concordances (as resources) don’t make a lot of sense in Bible software because you can generate a concordance on any word or phrase by simply running a search.

To get the Strong’s Concordance report in version 2, you’d use the Englishman’s Concordance. The same basic content is still available in version 3. Here’s one way you access it:

1. Do a Bible Speed Search or a regular Bible Search using the KJV or the NASB (or another Bible with Strong’s numbering) on a word like marriage.

2. In the search results window, click “Search Analysis by Strong’s” in the top right hand column at the bottom of “Other Tools.” You’ll see this report.

This will show you all of the underlying Hebrew or Greek words for the English word you searched on. You can arrange the results by root word or by reference. You can also do the reverse of this. See the follow-up post for details.

For more on Strong’s, see:

• How to study the original languages of the Bible using Strong’s numbers
• "New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update" and Strong's Numbers
• Viewing Strong's Numbers (2:21, 2.4MB)

For more on reverse interlinears, see:

• ESV English-Hebrew Reverse Interlinear of the Old Testament
• ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear of the New Testament
• Better Bible Study Through Reverse Interlinear Bibles—OT (13:16, 12.8MB)
• Better Bible Study Through Reverse Interlinear Bibles—NT (14:21, 21.2MB)
• Getting started with Reverse Interlinears
• Explaining each line of the Reverse Interlinear
• Explaining symbols used in Reverse Interlinears
• Bullet points in Reverse Interlinears

See Where’d My Strong’s Concordance Go? Part 2 for more on using Strong’s in Logos Bible Software 3.

I recently posted about the progress we've made on our The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint (LXX), but that post was primarily about our progress. It didn't really answer the question, "Why should I worry about the Septuagint?"

Books have been written in attempts to answer that question; several are available for Logos Bible Software:

• The Use of the Septuagint in New Testament Research by R. Timothy McLay
• The Bible in Translation, Ancient and English Versions by Bruce M. Metzger
• The Septuagint by Jennifer Dines, in the Understanding the Bible and Its World Collection (4 vols.)
• The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon by Martin Hengel, in the Second Temple Period Collection (19 vols.)
• The Psalms in the New Testament edited by Steve Moyise and Maarten J.J. Menken, in Psalms: A Commentary, and Its New Testament Relevance (2 vols.)
• Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by D.A. Carson and G.K. Beale, in the Baker Hermeneutics Collection (14 vols.)
• There are many more; check out some of the JSOTS volumes and collections

As you can see, much ink has been spilled on the topic of the importance and role of the Septuagint (LXX) in Biblical Studies. I don't think I'll answer the question conclusively here, but hopefully I can shed some light on it.

So, why worry about the Septuagint?

Well, for starters, virtually every Bible study method I know of—particularly those geared to students without advanced training in Greek and Hebrew—recommend the consultation of several different Bible translations when examining a passage. Did you know that the Septuagint (LXX) is the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible that we have? So, when examining a passage in the Old Testament, it can be helpful to examine the LXX as well because it is another translation. The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint makes some of the differences between the Hebrew and LXX available through translation differences and also through notes. Used in conjunction with the Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible, with reputable commentaries on OT books, and with other English translations, The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint can be a benefit to your study.

Second, if you're studying a New Testament passage that quotes the Old Testament, you should check out the source of that quotation. Many times, the NT author is likely using the Septuagint (LXX) and not the Hebrew Scriptures directly. This means examining the fuller context of the quote source is important to understanding how the NT author is using the passage. The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint makes this larger context more accessible, particularly to those who may have only focused on the study of Greek in the New Testament.

(An aside, the best and most comprehensive treatment of the NT's use of the OT is Carson and Beale's Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by D.A. Carson and G.K. Beale, available for Logos Bible Software in the Baker Hermeneutics Collection (14 vols.))

Third, if you're studying an Old Testament passage that uses an obscure Hebrew word, looking to the Greek of the Septuagint can help in understanding what may have been in the underlying Hebrew text. This in turn can help in coming to a better understanding of the Old Testament text. Consult lexicon articles (such as those in HALOT) which also mention how these more obscure Hebrew words may have been translated in to Greek; use these as a base to track down other citations that use the Greek word in a similar manner.

The same can be said, perhaps to a greater degree, of obscure New Testament words. Examining the Septuagint use of an obscure NT word can be enlightening. Again, use a lexicon (like BDAG) which classifies senses and provides both LXX and NT citations to hunt down LXX citations to follow up on instances like this.

These are only a few reasons why the Septuagint (LXX) should play a role in one's study of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe to the pre-pub, lock in your low price, and reserve your copy of The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint today!

Over on his Exegetica Digita blog, Mike Heiser has been doing some tutorial videos on the Andersen-Forbes syntax resources.

• The Hebrew Bible: Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text
• The Hebrew Bible: Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Phrase Marker Analysis
• A Systematic Glossary to the Andersen-Forbes Analysis of the Hebrew Bible

These resources are included in the Original Languages Library and higher (Scholar’s, Silver, and Gold). If you don’t have one of these base packages, visit http://www.logos.com/upgrade to see your upgrade options.

If you’re interested in learning how to put these resources to good use, let Mike show you how in these five videos.

• Morphological Databases vs. Syntax Databases: Understanding the Difference | 4:46
• Finding Andersen-Forbes Database Resources in Libronix | 2:17
• Creating an Andersen-Forbes Workspace in Libronix | 3:14
• Finding Words in the Andersen-Forbes Database | 11:46
• Using Morphology, Semantics, and Source Tags in Lemma Searches in Andersen-Forbes | 9:34

For more Andersen-Forbes videos, see the Syntax section on our Videos page.

Textual apparatuses (a.k.a. critical apparatuses) are essential tools for serious exegesis. They list alternate readings, the texts that contain those readings, and often the level of certainty the editors had in choosing the reading they went with.

Students of the biblical languages will notice, though, that the main editions of the Hebrew OT (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) and the Greek NT (NA27 and UBS4) that come with our upper-end base packages lack the corresponding textual apparatuses. Without the apparatuses, you still need to reference your print volumes to check for variant readings. Are you stuck using part digital and part print for your study of the Hebrew and Greek texts?

There are two standard textual critical tools included in the Original Languages Library and Scholar’s Library: Gold.

• Tischendorf’s Novum Testamentum Graece: Apparatus Criticus (which comes bundled with Tischendorf’s GNT and his prolegomena)
• Metzger’s A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament

If you don’t own either of these base packages, you can either upgrade or buy the resources individually.

There are several other critical apparatuses available as add-on resources.

Apparatuses for the Hebrew Old Testament

• BHS Apparatus Criticus
• BHQ Apparatus Criticus (partial)

Both of these are included in SESB 2 and not available for individual sale. The BHS apparatus is also included in the Logos edition of SESB 1.

Apparatuses for the Greek New Testament

• NA27 Apparatus Criticus
• UBS4 Apparatus (not a separate resource)
• Majority Text Apparatus (includes the Majority Text GNT)

The NA27 apparatus is part of SESB 2 and the Logos edition of SESB 1. The UBS4 apparatus is available only in SESB 2. The Majority Text apparatus is bundled with the GNT.

It should be clear by now that if you really want to build the critical apparatuses section of your digital library, SESB 2 is a must.

For more on apparatuses and resources relating to textual criticism see the Critical Apparatuses section of the Product Guide for Greek Bible Texts & Tools. You’ll also want to check out the article “Critical Apparatuses: What and Why.”

I got an interesting email last week from an individual who was wondering if there was a way to find all of the geminate verbs in the Old Testament. I had never done this particular search before, but I was pretty sure that it could be accomplished fairly easily since Libronix supports regular expression searching. With my scanty knowledge of regular expressions, I took a stab at it, but eventually had to turn to Bradley Grainger for help.

While this search is a little on the complicated side for those without much knowledge of regular expressions, I thought it would be a great opportunity to demonstrate the power of Libronix. And with a little help from the tips below and Vincent’s excellent article on Hebrew Regular Expression Searching, this kind of searching really is within your reach.

What’s a Geminate Verb?

First, let’s define a geminate verb (also sometimes called double ayin, ayin-ayin, or ע״ע verbs). Hebrew verbs in their dictionary form are composed of three consonants. A geminate verb is a verb whose second and third consonants are identical. So סבב would be a geminate verb, as would ארר ,חנן ,צרר ,חלל, and שׁדד.

How Do You Search for Geminate Verbs?

What we want is to do is search the lemma field for words with a consonant followed by another consonant, which is followed by that same consonant again, and we want to search only for verbs, not nouns or other parts of speech.

Here’s the search that we would use to accomplish this for two different morphologies:

lemma:/.(.)\1/ @ WestMorph = v*

lemma:/.(.)\1/ @ AFMorphHeb = V*

To perform this search, you can use the Bible Speed Search, the Bible Search, or the Hebrew Morphological Bible Search (which is handy if you want to search multiple Bibles that share the same morphology).

What Do Those Letters and Symbols Mean?

Let’s break the search down into its main components so you can see what’s going on.

The Field: lemma:

The lemma: is a field search telling Libronix to ignore everything else besides lemmas. (We’ve recently covered some of the benefits of field searching here on the blog.)

The Regular Expression: /.(.)\1/

The next part, which begins and ends with /, is the regular expression. It is composed of three parts.

1. The first period specifies that we want any character. Since we are limited to the lemma field, it will find only a letter from א to ת (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet).
2. The next part, (.), is just a repetition of the first part, specifying that we want another letter from א to ת. (The parentheses are added in order to point back to this part from the next part.)
3. The final portion, \1, specifies that the third letter must be the same as what was found in the parentheses (i.e., the second letter).

The @ Operator: @

The @ sign is short for ANDEQUALS and simply tells Libronix that you are looking for all the words where both x and y are true. In this case, the x is the regular expression and the y is the specified morphology.

The Morphology: WestMorph = v*

The last part of the search specifies which morphology to search (you may have several different Hebrew morphologies) and what parts of speech you want to include. In this case, we’re going to search BHS with the Westminster 4.2 morphology, and all we want to see are verbs.

Search Results and Search Analysis by Lemma

To get a complete list of all geminate verbs, you could work through all of the hits and compile your list, but there’s a much easier way. Just click the “Search Analysis by Lemma” at the top of the search results to group your search results by verb.

Then you can simply scroll through the list and see all of the geminate verbs in alphabetical order in the right margin.

If you want to learn more about what you can do with regular expression searching in Hebrew, see Vincent’s article Hebrew Regular Expression Searching.

Update: I replaced the regular expression /[\u05D0-\u05EA]([\u05D0-\u05EA])\1/ with the much simpler /.(.)\1/.

As many may have heard, David Noel Freedman passed away recently. He was very prolific and very well respected among Biblical scholars. He was the editor of the highly-acclaimed Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, which has been available in Logos Bible Software for now well over 10 years. It is one of our top-selling additional purchases, bound to offer insight and help to your studies.

Anyway, I'm not writing this post about the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. I'm instead writing about our Semitic Inscriptions: Analyzed Texts and Translations product, which was just released a few months ago.

Why am I mentioning this and David Noel Freedman? Well, I was reading an essay written by Freedman the other night called The Biblical Languages, from a book called The Bible and Modern Scholarship. It is a collection of papers presented at the 100th meeting of the SBL (back in 1965). In the essay, Freedman notes the importance of inscriptional evidence for the study of Biblical languages:

Non-biblical manuscripts of a similar genre which are dependent upon or related to biblical materials may offer help in the interpretation of difficult passages, or may help to clear up grammatical, syntactic, or lexicographical problems through the use of the same or related terms in different contexts. The possibilities are practically unlimited, so that the discovery of inscribed texts almost always results in some positive gain in the interpretation of biblical passages. That is why the search for inscriptions remains the principle objective of biblical archaeologists. And the relative paucity of written materials turned up in Palestine has only increased the avidity of excavators. Practically every Hebrew inscription found, however brief, has contributed in some measure to the elucidation of the Bible. Needless to say, the reverse is also true, and in greater measure. (Freedman 299, emphasis added)

So, if you needed a nudge toward Semitic Inscriptions: Analyzed Texts and Translations . . . consider yourself nudged!

Two weeks ago my esteemed colleague Dr. Heiser wrote an insightful post about the importance of the Septuagint (LXX) for New Testament (NT) students and scholars. He used an example from Deuteronomy 33:2, showing how in three different verses, New Testament authors alluded to angels being present at the giving of the Law. In the Masoretic Text (MT) of the Hebrew Bible that we have today, there is no use of the word mal’akhim, or angels, but the Septuagint does mention angeloi in Deuteronomy 33:2. Dr. Heiser’s conclusion is that the NT authors must have used the Septuagint. But is this the only possible conclusion?

The phrase in question in the Hebrew Bible is ‘merivvoth qodesh’. Dr. Heiser reads this as a place name, but allows that it could mean “Ten thousands of Kadesh” with Kadesh also being a place name. (This is how the LXX translates this phrase, transliterating qodesh as Kades as if it is a place name.) But the MT points the word qodesh, not qadesh. So it could also be better rendered “Ten thousands of holiness” or “Ten thousands of holy ones”. Now this still isn’t using the word ‘angels’ and so doesn’t completely explain the Septuagint translation. After all, ‘holy ones’ could refer to righteous men or priests (like it does in certain Ugaritic tablets – maybe we need a follow up post on “Why use Ugaritic?”) rather than angels. Indeed, in Dr. Tov’s alignment of the LXX and the MT, angeloi is aligned to a different phrase than merivvoth qodesh altogether – being tentatively aligned with a very difficult portion of the MT which is often translated as fire or lightening flashing down from Yahweh’s right hand, or the law being brought forth from fire. But this ought to show that it is possible for ‘merivvoth qodesh’ to be interpreted as a large assembly of angels from the MT alone.

But is there any evidence outside of the Septuagint that this interpretation of the passage was widely held? Turn with me in your Targums to Targum Onqelos (TO) on Deuteronomy 33:2. It reads:

And he (Moses) said, “The Lord was revealed from Sinai, and the brightness of His glory appeared to us from Seir. He was revealed in His power upon the mountain of Pharan, and with Him were ten thousand holy ones; He gave us, written with His own right hand, the law from the midst of the fire.”

The Targums were an oral tradition long before they were written down. The basic practice was to read the scriptures in Hebrew and then translate them into Aramaic for those who couldn’t understand Hebrew. The translations are sometimes quite literal, and sometimes expanded with interpretive comments. Over time, some Targums came to be written down and achieved some authority in the communities that used them. Targum Onqelos is a fairly literal rendering of the MT in this verse, and it is obvious that the interpretation in the synagogues that produced TO that ‘merivvoth qodesh’ is referring to a myriad of holy ones instead of a place name. But still no mention of the specific word mal’akhim, or angels.

Now turn to Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (TgPsJ) on Deuteronomy 33:2. It contains a much-expanded reading compared to MT, LXX and TO:

The Lord was revealed at Sinai to give the law unto His people of Beth Israel, and the splendor of the glory of His Shekinah arose from Gebal to give itself to the sons of Esau: but they received it not. It shined forth in majesty and glory from mount Pharan, to give itself to the sons of Ishmael; but they received it not. It returned and revealed itself in holiness unto His people of Beth Israel, and with Him ten thousand times ten thousand holy angels. He wrote with His own right hand, and gave them His law and His commandments, out of the flaming fire.

Now we see that qodesh has become an adjective describing mal’akhim (actually, mal’akhin in Aramaic, with n replacing m as the plural suffix – but the word is the same). We’ve gone from ten thousands of his holy ones to ten thousand ten thousands of his holy angels! And all without losing the difficult section of the MT that is here translated as giving the Law from the midst of the fire.

To finish our tour of the Targums on Deuteronomy 33:2, you can turn to either Targum Neofiti or the Palestinian Fragment Targums to the Pentateuch – they both read about the same thing here, and the verse seems to be expanded even a little further than TgPsJ:

And he said: The Lord was revealed from Sinai to give the law unto His people of Beth Israel. He arose in His glory upon the mountain of Seir to give the law to the sons of Esau; but after they found that it was written therein, Thou shalt do no murder, they would not receive it. He revealed Himself in His glory on the mountain of Gebala, to give the law to the sons of Ishmael; but when they found that it was written therein, Ye shall not be thieves, they would not receive it. Again did He reveal Himself upon Mount Sinai, and with Him ten thousands of holy angels; and the children of Israel said, All that the Word of the Lord hath spoken will we perform and obey. And He stretched forth His hand from the midst of the flaming fire, and gave the Law to His people.

So what?

None of this proves whether the NT authors used the LXX or not. TO clearly translates MT. The other Targums may translate the MT but reflect an interpretive tradition that is similar to the one which produced the LXX, or both the LXX and the other Targums might be translations of a Hebrew text that is somewhat different from MT. But it does go to show that the interpretation of Deuteronomy 33:2 that is found in the New Testament might have also been found in the local, Aramaic speaking synagogue without any reference to Greek translations. And figuring out which text the NT writers are quoting or alluding to isn’t as simple as just reading the LXX and the MT and picking between the two. How many other places have theologians turned to Greek sources like the LXX or Philo when a trip to the local synagogue would have hit closer to home? Let’s not forget the Targums!

If you will be attending the SBL national conference in San Diego next week, you might be interested in some of these additional sessions that Logos is sponsoring. You'll see new stuff we've been working on (like the Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls Database and the Semitic Inscriptions) and you'll be able to associate some faces with names!

If you're not able to make these additional meetings but will be at the AAR/SBL meetings, please do at least drop by the booth and say "hello" to us!

(Yes, we'll be at the ETS national conference too; we'll have a post on what's going on there next week)

AM17-36 An Electronic Database of the Biblical Qumran Scrolls
Date: 11/17/2007 - 11:45AM-12:45PM
Room: New York - MM

This meeting presents, for the first time, a searchable database of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. The session will demonstrate searching and display strategies for comparison of the biblical scrolls with the other texts of the Hebrew Bible. In addition, a variety of books now available in digital form for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be presented.

Additional Links:

• Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls Database
• The Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts
• Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls (12 Volumes)
• Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition
• Product Guide for Hebrew Texts and Tools
• The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (VanderKam)
• The Dead Sea Scrolls and Modern Translations of the Old Testament (Scanlin)

AM17-51 Syntactically-Tagged Databases for the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament
Date: 11/17/2007 - 1:00-3:30PM
Room: New York - MM

This session will overview the latest quantum leap for computerized research and teaching in biblical texts: databases tagged for syntactical structures and functions. The session is appropriate for anyone interested in computer applications for exegesis and teaching of the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament.

Additional Links:

• Article: Why Syntax Matters ... to You
• Logos Blog Posts on Syntax
• Free Video Tutorials on Syntax
• Syntax Demonstration Disc

AM 18-21 Electronic Books and Databases for Research in Josephus, Philo and the Pseudepigrapha
Date: 11/18/2007 - 11:45AM-12:45PM
Room: Manchester 1 - MM

This meeting presents an overview of searchable, morphologically tagged databases of the Greek Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, the writings of Philo (the Philo Concordance project), and the Niese edition of The Works of Josephus with critical apparatus. Along with these databases, scholarly monographs now available in digital form for the study of these texts will be presented.

Additional Links:

• Josephus
• The Works of Josephus (Greek, English)
• Flavius Josephus Collection
• Synopsis of the Greek Sources for the Hasmonean Period
• PBI Old Testament Studies Collection
• Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah
• Philo
• The Works of Philo (Greek, English)
• Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah
• Pseudepigrapha
• Old Testament Greek Pseudepigrapha with Morphology
• The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English (R.H. Charles)
• Second Temple Period Collection (19 volumes)

AM 18-51 A Discourse Annotation Database for Biblical Texts
Date: 11/18/2007 - 1:00-3:30PM
Room: Columbia 1 - MM

This meeting presents a searchable database of descriptive annotations of grammatical features based on their function within the discourse. These annotations describe the pragmatic choices of the biblical writers/editors and their effects. The descriptive aspect of the methodology takes into account stylistic idiosyncrasies. The function-based aspect allows for stylistic comparison. The Greek NT database is complete. Preliminary data for the Hebrew Bible and LXX will be presented.

We don't have any additional links describing this at present because it is still in development, but you may want to examine some papers by the project editor, Steven Runge, D.Litt, housed on his Logos bio page.

AM 19-11 Electronic Books and Databases for Ugaritic and Northwest Semitic Inscriptions
Date: 11/19/2007 - 11:45AM-12:45PM
Room: Orlando - MM

This meeting includes a demonstration of the use of a searchable database for the Ugaritic corpus (Ugaritic Databank, Madrid) and searchable scholarly reference works for Ugaritic. The session will also feature a new database for Microsoft Windows users for select Northwest Semitic Inscriptions representing languages and dialects such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician, Moabite, and Ammonite. The inscriptions database includes morphological tagging.

Additional Links:

• Northwest Semitic Inscriptions
• Semitic Inscriptions: Analyzed Texts and English Translations
• Northwest Semitic Collection (7 vols)
• Ugaritic
• Ugaritic Library (12 vols)
• The Context of Scripture (3 vols)
• Writings from the Ancient World (16 vols)
• Article: What's Ugaritic Got to do with Anything?

In this blog post Dale Pritchett will extend the metaphor begun in his earlier blog entry and respond to some of the issues raised.

One summer my wife talked me into climbing a mountain. She explained in glowing terms all the benefits to body mind and spirit. She even extolled the value of the pain we could anticipate. The mountain had well marked trails and many had gone before. She didn’t tell me about the bodies.

Less than one hour into the hike we began to see a series of small monuments along the trail. These were dedicated to the memory of individuals who had died at that exact spot in a snow storm or a rock slide or suffered a heart attack, stroke, or whatever. I kept thinking, “I just want to see the view from the top. I don’t want to become a statistic.” The next time, I visited the mountain; I took a tram to the top. The view was the same. I observe that a lot more people want to enjoy the view than want to climb the mountain. I noticed also that enjoying the view killed a lot less people than climbing the mountain.

I understand that the person who climbs to the top has a different level of knowledge of the mountain, but it is also possible to climb the mountain the hard way and still miss the view. Each person has differing skills, abilities and gifts. The point is to capture as much perspective as you can and share the view with others, not the pain.

Original language study needs to be a reasonable amount of work for a skill you will use all your life.

I am not in any way attempting to minimize the value of traditional study in biblical languages. I am merely pointing out that the benefits accrue to only a few while the need exists for the many.

I am also not attempting to suggest that an ESV Reverse Interlinear in Logos Bible software is fully equivalent to the study of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. It is not. It is a major advancement over previous tools like Strong’s numbers.

I am pointing out the reality is precious few people master biblical languages in comparison to those who make the attempt or those who never make the attempt. I am expressing my opinion that the church is better served by people who make the effort to examine the original language text.

I am saying that exegetical fallacies are equally fallacious in any language. We need to be taught how to be responsible with whatever knowledge we hold. Software is not a substitute for instruction. For the English Bible student quality instruction in original language grammar and syntax was not possible with the limited resources in Strong’s numbers, the main link between English Bibles and original languages. Now with the expanded data available in a reverse interlinear, it is possible to expand the range of instruction significantly. It will take good instruction.

I am saying we need great instruction from great teachers which will develop the students to their potential regardless of whether it is based on a reverse interlinear or an biblical language text. I am saying that the reverse interlinear is a significant tool that can take an English Bible student further than ever possible before. And let’s face it; the reverse interlinear also serves a remedial function for those who have forgotten everything they ever learned in a traditional language course. The student is interacting with the text in a more intimate fashion sure to improve general exegesis. I am saying this is good!

My final analogy. Many people would love to be singers. Only a few become professionals. Do we forbid everybody else to sing? Do we cut out the tongues of those who don’t sing well to insure that we will not suffer from their impure tones? I am suggesting that it is very easy to fall into the trap of not developing the abilities we have, whatever they may be. We need to be reminded that we can teach students how to be responsible and stay within the boundaries of their range or ability.

Today's Guest Blogger is Dale Pritchett, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Logos. Also be sure to read Dale's follow-up article Mountain Climbing: The Challenge of Learning Original Languages.

Greek and Hebrew professors are fast becoming an endangered species. Some contemporary people in “ministry” refer to Greek and Hebrew instructors as “traditionalists” when they are being kind, and “relics” when they are being critical. Language study has been labeled as elitist, impractical and unnecessary.

As VP of sales and marketing at Logos I enjoy a unique vantage point over churches, denominations and educational institutions. Because we deal with virtually every segment of Christendom, it is easy to spot common trends.

One of the easiest-to-spot trends over the past two decades has been the spiraling decline in original language requirements in seminaries and Bible schools. With two decades of momentum, this trend is now so well established it has migrated from the classroom to the pulpit. We now have pastors all over the world who lack the ability to consult or teach from original language texts common to prior generations. An unintended consequence of less rigorous study is the general lack of encouragement and emphasis on Bible study and Bible study methods courses for lay people. If a pastor does not demonstrate original language skills, there is little motivation for lay people to explore beyond the reach of their teacher.

As a result, it is now easier to find an original language Bible study methods course outside the church than inside the church.

Today we have prospective Bible college and seminary students who have grown up in churches totally devoid of original language informed teaching. These prospective students now evaluate the relevance of a seminary program on the basis of their own exposure to preaching and Bible teaching. It should come as no surprise that the most attractive seminary programs are marketed with compelling phrases like, “does not require study of the biblical languages for graduation.”

It is easy to fault the spirit of anti-intellectualism in the church today. It is easy to say there is little immediate payoff for all the hard work, and perhaps easiest of all to say, “Original language study is a lot of work for something I will never use.”  Unfortunately, the preceding statement may be proven quite true in the reality of today’s church.

Original language study needs to be a reasonable amount of work for a skill you will use all your life. I believe this can be accomplished with automated tools.

I know seminaries would like to see more students take an interest in original languages but they are faced with a trend they don’t expect to see reversed any time soon. While they lament the state of Bible literacy, their first priority is student enrolment. Schools are competing for tuition dollars and they often find they must deliver the programs demanded by the market as opposed to programs designed by the institution. I believe this can be changed. This is where the cycle can be broken.

If a seminary really wants its students to work with original languages it needs to adopt methods which can make this happen. Original language study needs to become a pleasant and profitable experience for all students, not just the linguistically gifted or the doggedly determined. Let me make a couple of analogies. If you want to get a lot of people to a mountain top, you can hang a climbing rope, mark a trail, install a tram, build a road or install an elevator. Each successive technology will empower more people to get to the top. If we want everybody to get across the river we can offer swimming lessons, put a rope and pulley across the river, build a raft, operate a ferry or build a bridge. Each successive technology will empower more people to get to cross the river. If we want every student to learn to use original languages we need to build a bridge that gets everybody to the destination. This is the purpose of the Reverse Interlinear texts in Logos Bible Software.

I will say it again. Original language study needs to become a pleasant and profitable experience for all students. There needs to be a formal course of instruction to achieve this end. An English language Bible student can go a long way in Greek and Hebrew with the aid of our reverse interlinears but the benefits are best realized with first class, formal instruction in grammar and hermeneutics. If the very best Greek, Hebrew and Hermeneutics professors adopted the best computer based reverse interlinear technology, the following benefits would be realized.

1. All students would be able to study original language concepts.
2. Original language exegesis would take place earlier in the educational process.
3. There would be a larger potential pool of students motivated to go on in original language studies.
4. Language skill retention would improve dramatically because. . .
5. Students would have a permanent and familiar tool for ongoing ministry.

The gifted students will still be gifted students. There will only be more of them because the original language student pool will be larger. The gifted students will move on to traditional courses and become future faculty. The average students will be functional but always dependent on the tools. But this is the key point! All students will use original languages the rest of their lives. The tide of biblical literacy will rise and the entire church will benefit.

And finally, Greek and Hebrew faculty would have secure, full, long term employment. They are the people who can generate the most value from the new tools. Powerful tools are best used by powerful teachers.

For the past two summers, the church that I attend has had a series called "Summer of Psalms" as the basis of its evening services during the summer. They have someone (not the pastors) do a teaching from a psalm. It's pretty fun, and we end up learning a lot from the different ways in which the lessons are presented.

This year, I taught during one of those services. My text was Psalm 20. And I couldn't help myself; the teaching is heavily influenced by the underlying structure implied by the syntax of the Hebrew—even though I don't really know Hebrew.

If you've read the blog for awhile, you know that I have some level of understanding of the Greek of the New Testament and its grammar and syntax. However, I've not been lucky enough to study Hebrew. I know the alphabet and can vocalize the letters, but I have no understanding of it.

I used the lesson as an opportunity to look at the structure of Psalm 20 using the Andersen-Forbes Phrase Marker Analysis (aka Hebrew Syntax Graphs). I'd always heard that Hebrew poetry was a beautiful thing, but using the syntax graphs I was finally able to see it for the first time. It gave me a newfound appreciation for Hebrew poetry.

I couldn't help myself; the lesson I put together focused on the structure of the Hebrew of Psalm 20. I didn't do a single syntax search; I just examined how Andersen & Forbes broke the text down (that is, I looked at the arrows) to get an understanding of the poetic structure of Psalm 20. Using the View | Interlinear feature, I throttled the Hebrew Syntax Graphs down to only display "Clause-Immediate Constituent" and "English Literal Translation", so I could track clause constituents without worrying about the other levels (supra-clausal structures and phrase levels). So Psalm 20.7 (in the Hebrew it's v. 8) looks like this:

Psalm 20.7 (v. 8 in Hebrew), click for larger image

I didn't know what to expect from the teaching, but folks said they liked the lesson. That's encouraging. So if you've ever wondered how in the world "syntax" could be directly useful to exegesis and preaching, well, this could be an example. I thought I'd upload the sermon so y'all could look at it and perhaps see how simply looking at the structure implied by the syntax graphs (and not actually searching for stuff) could be used in the context of exegesis and teaching — particularly by someone who has a basic understanding of language and syntax but no formal training in Biblical Hebrew.

If you are teaching yourself Greek or Hebrew or simply trying to keep your skills sharp, you may want to check out these free vocabulary lists that can be downloaded and opened within Logos Bible Software 3:

Vocabulary Lists for Popular Grammars

We've built vocab lists built around 11 Greek grammars, 6 Hebrew grammars and 2 Aramaic grammars. Some of these grammars are available for Logos Bible Software; some aren't.

I was particularly excited to see a vocabulary list for Athenaze, the grammar I used when learning classical Greek at Hope College.

As you can see, the vocabulary words are given in the same order as they appear in the grammar, following the lessons or chapters and part-of-speech divisions. You can edit the glosses and words provided, delete an entry in the list (words you already know, perhaps?), and re-sort the entries.

Tip: To manually move a vocab word up or down the list, click and drag it. To delete a word, click it once and hit the Delete key.

Another cool thing is that you can print these vocab lists to make flash cards! So whether you're starting out on the adventure of learning a biblical language—or want to make sure your skills don't rust over the summer—take advantage of this freebie and give your studies a boost!

See also:

How-To: Make a Vocabulary Guide with Word Frequencies

How come I don't have the Vocabulary Lists feature? Vocabulary Lists are part of the Original Languages Addin, included in the following Logos 3 collections: Original Languages Library, Scholar's Library, Scholar's Library: Silver, and Scholar's Library: Gold. If you own the Original Languages Addin as part of an older collection but have not updated to Libronix DLS v3.0 or greater, you can get Vocabulary Lists for free: open Libronix DLS and click Tools | Libronix Update. If you own a collection like Bible Study Library or don't own a base collection, you can get the Original Languages Addin by upgrading to a Logos 3 collection that includes the addin or purchasing it individually.

You've been wanting to do it for some time...why not make it a goal to learn Hebrew this summer?

We've got some excellent tools to help make it as easy as it can be. Here are my top three picks, in no particular order:

Biblical Hebrew for Beginners

This brand new Logos book is due to ship at the end of the month, so now is your last chance to take advantage of the prepub discount and get this for less than $20.

The description says,"Biblical Hebrew for Beginners shows you how to master fundamental Hebrew in clear, simple steps. Starting from scratch with the Hebrew alphabet, Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok leads you through the essentials of biblical Hebrew and has you reading the Bible in Hebrew from the very first lesson. There are simple exercises (including answers), a word list, and plenty of examples throughout."

How much easier could it get? Plus it's even endorsed by a former Archbishop of Canterbury! So ignore the bizarre cover and check out the details...

Beginning Biblical Hebrew

I had the pleasure to meet Mark Futato when he was here in Bellingham giving a talk on Psalms as part of the Logos Lecture Series. It was a fantastic talk, and Mark would be a great teacher of Hebrew whether in person or via this grammar.

An RBL reviewer said of this one, "Mark D. Futato's new Hebrew grammar is a simple, thoughtful, and straightforward work that reflects genuine empathy for the beginning Hebrew student. The agenda of the book is to provide the fundamentals of the language unencumbered by information that may fog the road toward basic Hebrew competency."

Logos user George Somsel warned, "I can see it putting all Hebrew instructors out of work since it's so simple to teach yourself." Look to your tenure, Hebrew profs!

The First Hebrew Primer: Textbook, Answer Book & Audio Companion

This one is the big enchilada, complete with audio recordings and a workbook.

These resources begin with the alphabet...or you might say the Aleph-bet (aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, get it?)...and over the course of thirty lessons provides enough information and practice to enable you, with the aid of a Hebrew-English dictionary, to understand most biblical texts.

We just put together a brief video demo so now you can get a look at what the First Hebrew Primer package is all about. 

Wouldn't it be great if you got to the end of summer and could look back on not only a bunch of great barbecues, ball games and days at the beach...but also take with you a new knowledge of and appreciation for the Bible that Jesus used? Learning Hebrew would provide a lifetime of rewards and there's no better time to begin than now!

As I put the finishing touches on the Ugaritic Library, I realized that this was an excellent opportunity to talk about the Logos Bible Software philosophy of data type tagging. After all, there are more than 83,000 Ugaritic data type references tagged so far as part of this project. (83,266 and counting!) Using the Ugaritic Library as a test case, I made a video showing how good data type tagging makes for powerful digital library software, and helps you get the most out of your books.

Check it out!

Flash Video - 11 MB

Note: The Ugaritic Library ships Friday - it's not too late to take advantage of the great pre-publication sale.

The Logos Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Transliteration Keyboards have been updated to run on Windows Vista. Follow the link for more information and installation instructions.

General information on compatibility between Logos Bible Software and Windows Vista is at this link.

Logos Bible Software supports many advanced search features, like Regular Expression pattern matching and field searching. I've just finished a new tutorial on the website that shows some real-world examples of how you can use these advanced search features with your morphologically tagged Hebrew Bibles. Enjoy!

Libronix DLS 3.0a Release Candidate 4 (the latest beta version) includes a new build of the Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear. This build contains many significant enhancements, including Andersen-Forbes morphology tags and homograph indicators. It is the first edition of the LHI to be hooked into the new KeyLinking tables so that navigating to Hebrew and Aramaic lexicons will be much more accurate.

This represents a major improvement over previous versions of this resource, though it is still a work-in-progress. We hope to add cantillation marks into the running text and improve the support for Qere readings, and the team of scholars which produced this work continues to polish it.

To get the latest enhancements to your Hebrew-English Interlinear you can download LDLS 3.0a RC4. Once version 3.0a ships, the rebuilt interlinear will also be available on the Logos FTP site and via update disc.

Daniel Foster just came to me and said, "Hey, I didn't know that the Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text has two resource-specific visual filters!" I said, "Sure, I thought everybody knew that."

Well, if Daniel doesn't know ... okay, I guess almost nobody knows.

Visual What?

"Visual filter" may sound like something you do to a photograph to reduce red eye, but in fact it's a simple and flexible feature that the Libronix DLS can use to modify a book's formatting or content on the fly — that is, right when it's being displayed. A simple visual filter is the Page Numbers visual filter, which shows page numbers inline (for resources that have page number tagging).

In a recent article on Hebrew KeyLinking, I mentioned that using the arrow keys to scroll between lexicons isn’t always the best way to survey all the articles on the word you are studying, because the arrow key navigation is based on how a lexicon spells a word, not on the KeyLink look-up tables Logos Bible Software 3 supports for navigating from the Bible directly and accurately to the lexicons. I mentioned that you can more accurately get to all your lexicons using the Bible Word Study report or the Exegetical Guide, or you can use the right-click menu to select a specific lexicon as a KeyLink destination if you want to consult a resource other than your default lexicon.

I’m sticking with my story; it’s all true. But I over-looked a new feature in version 3. Sometimes I want to do a quick survey of my lexicons on a given word, but I don’t need all the other searches and features of the Bible Word Study report. Of course, I could manage my preferences and turn off most of the sections of the Bible Word Study report until I stream-lined it for the task at hand, but then I’d have to reset my preferences the next time I wanted to dig deeper. As it turns out, there is a fast way to execute all my KeyLinks on a given word while making use of the KeyLink look-up tables for increased accuracy: the KeyLink Summary report.

As an example, open one of the newer Hebrew Bibles (such as the Westminster 4.2 morphology or the Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text) and go to Psalm 19:9. Let’s say we wanted to check out what our lexicons had to say about the word ‘pure’ (bar in Hebrew). We only care about the entries for bar that mean 'pure'; we don’t want to read about when it means ‘son’ or ‘grain’ or 'field' or a 'soothsayer' or a 'cargo ship'. Right click the word and choose ‘Selected Text’ and then select the Hebrew word with the term ‘(Lemma)’ after it. (‘Lemma’ indicates that you are working with the dictionary form of the word. Selecting this form also makes use of the KeyLink look-up tables, if they are present.) Now click on ‘KeyLink Summary’.

Your exact results will vary depending on what lexicons you own, the order of your KeyLink preferences and whether or not you’ve downloaded the new texts and lexicons that are part of version 3.0 or, even better, the beta version 3.0a. But you should see something like this:

In the screenshot, I’ve clicked the plus signs next to the top three articles in order to be able to read their articles right in the summary report. You can see that we’ve landed on the correct homograph on the expanded examples. (Some of the other lexicons don’t have look-up tables yet, so they still link on spelling alone. Most of the prestigious lexicons have completed look-up tables for version 3.0a, but other lexicons are still works in progress.) You can navigate directly to the lexicon articles themselves just by clicking on the title of the lexicon. That way you can follow any links in the lexicon, or read surrounding articles, or execute searches against the lexicon.

Clicking the word 'More' will expand the report to execute more KeyLinks further down your list of KeyLink preferences.

That's it: the KeyLink Summary is a simple, one-purpose tool for quickly surveying your lexicons.

In yesterday’s post, Dr. Heiser demonstrated a simple example of using the Bible Word Study report with the syntax databases to get answers to syntax questions without ever learning how to write a syntax query manually, showing how even people who don’t know Greek or Hebrew can use these databases to make connections between verses. However, if you learn how to compose your own syntax queries, you can learn to ask a wider range of questions about the Bible. In today’s example, Michael uses the syntax databases to find hits that would take hours to sort through with the older generation of tools.

One of the Hebrew terms for God is Elohim. The ‘im’ ending is morphologically plural, but almost everywhere in the Hebrew bible, the verbs associated with Elohim are singular in number, making it clear that these are references to God, not the plural ‘gods’. Dr. Heiser has done a lot of research in the field of Israelite religion, so when he was learning about syntax databases, one of the first questions he asked was: where does Elohim appear as the subject of a plural verb? He knew that instances of this phenomenon might be theologically or exegetically significant and was quite familiar with several examples, but had never encountered a published list of every time this happens.

Knowing if ‘Elohim’ is the subject of a verb in a given sentence, rather than an object for example, is a syntax question. Without access to syntax tags, one could search for every plural verb that occurs in the same verse as the word Elohim. One would get over 3400 hits (i.e. words returned) in 1057 verses. Only a small fraction of those verses are useful, though, and wading through 1057 verses isn’t a small chore. One might be able to get really creative with filters, and start ruling out verses where certain words occur immediately before Elohim that would typically indicate that Elohim is something other than the subject of the sentence. This approach of simulating syntax using only morphological or lexical form tags is a rather blunt instrument, but I’ve used it in the past to narrow my search results. In capable hands, this blunt instrument can save time over manually checking thousands of hits, but there is now a better way.

Click here to watch the video.

Today's guest blogger is Dr. Michael Heiser, our Academic Editor.

In a previous posting, I shared some thoughts on what syntax databases mean for the English-only reader, stressing that the new syntax databases in several Libronix 3.0 collections are hardly the exclusive domain of scholars.

Here I want to offer a practical illustration of their value for coming up with topical sermons that are rooted in grammatical relationships (believe it or not!). Anyone interested in relationships between words (i.e., syntax) understands that just knowing that God is the subject of a certain verb that has a certain object can yield some penetrating insights for sermon material and Bible study.

The video linked below illustrates this simple, down-to-earth benefit of tapping into our revolutionary syntactical resources for those outside the scholarly fraternity.

Click here to see a Topical Sermon Using Syntax (Flash, 12:52).

Logos Bible Software version 3 introduced new keyboards for Greek, Hebrew and Syriac that are designed for easy entry of the ancient languages on an English/Roman keyboard. We've also created identical duplicates of the Logos keyboards that can be installed as standard Windows keyboards for Windows 2000 and XP users. This means that you can use the same keyboards in Libronix DLS that you use in Microsoft Word or any other Unicode compliant application!

For more information and download instructions, click here.

Several readers have requested that we produce more examples of syntax searching. Your wish is my command — at least in this case. I made a video that shows how to make a syntax search to find all the places in the Hebrew Bible where an animal speaks, or more specifically, where a clause has a verb of speaking with a “creature” in the subject. The query uses the semantic categories present in the A-F markup to narrow the hits down to only verbs of speaking with “creature” subjects.

Logos Bible Software version 3.0 sports a new feature called Vocabulary Lists that can be used to create flashcards to help you learn Greek, Hebrew or almost any other language. In addition, we've already made vocabulary lists for many popular Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic grammars so that you don't have to! To learn more about creating vocabulary lists or downloading the pre-made lists, check out the new web article. Cheers!

Logos Bible Software Version 3.0 introduced the use of homograph indicators for searching biblical texts in ancient languages. More information on homograph indicators and how to use them can be found in the new web article entitled, appropriately, Homograph Indicators.

There is a new article on the website titled "Getting to the right definitions in Hebrew lexicons". It describes the new LDLS version 3.0a enhancements to KeyLinking. While most of the article discusses Hebrew, there is information on Greek and other languages as well. The article Hebrew KeyLinking: A Strategy has also be rewritten to reflect how to get the most out of 3.0/3.0a. Enjoy!

Think of it...2006 could be the year that you finally get around to learning Hebrew! And I'm pretty sure we just took away your last excuse for not doing it.

On Wednesday, we finished work on The First Hebrew Primer: Textbook, Answer Book & Audio Companion, which is a complete system for learning the language of Moses, David, and the ancient prophets! This is your last chance to take advantage of the prepublication discount pricing so don't dillly-dally. For one low, low price you'll get the textbook, the answer key, and 9 discs worth of audio (compressed onto one CD-ROM).

I know, I know...all those squiggles and dots can seem intimidating. But The First Hebrew Primer takes you by the hand and helps you build the confidence to succeed. Starting right at the very beginning, the primer introduces the Hebrew alphabet ('aleph-bet'), demonstrates correct pronunciation, introduces vocabulary, then builds on that vocabulary in readings and exercises. Each chapter begins with an oral review of earlier material so you're always building on your skills.

I've had the privilege to correspond with the fine people at EKS Publishing, who developed and publish the print edition of The First Hebrew Primer. This is a system created by people who love biblical Hebrew and want you to love it, too.

They realize that the best way to stay motivated is to use your knowledge right away! So the first words you learn will be some of the most frequently-occurring words in the Hebrew Bible. You will be reading familiar folk tales like The Boy Who Cried Wolf (in Hebrew) by Chapter 8 and sections of the biblical book of Ruth by Chapter 10. By the end of the Primer, you will have learned most words that occur 200 or more times in the Bible.

The Logos implementation of this resource is superb. Working closely with the publisher, we embedded links from the textbook to the answer key and to the audio clips.

Click for the full size image.

As you can see, the answer key is a separate resource. This helps you avoid taking shortcuts by peeking. But when it's time to check your work (which you'll write out by hand on old-fashioned tree pulp), just click a 'dagger' symbol (†) to open up the Answer Book and see how you did.

The text developers also did something cool with the audio, which was to split the tracks into bite-sized chunks and embed them with the textual content. So instead of loading a disc into your CD player, finding the right track, and hitting fast forward/pause/play/rewind/pause...you just click an asterisk (*) to hear the audio clip for that word or that line of the reading, instantly. And click play to hear it again.

The audio is compressed in MP3 format and sounds fantastic. Check out the audio samples and additional screenshots.

Still reading? What are you waiting for...place your pre-order now and make this the year that you finally learn Hebrew!

We just posted 35 new training videos to the Training area of Logos.com.

The videos show how to most effectively use Logos Bible Software for biblical language study. And, yes, we have videos for both Greek and Hebrew.

In the coming months we will be producing a lot more web-based video tutorials and have some refinements in mind for presenting them…but I thought you'd want to know about the first batch to come out of the oven.

I was recently dispatched to Melbourne to visit Frank Andersen and Dean Forbes. One of the things I was assigned to discover — other than what kangaroo chili tastes like* — was the underlying linguistic/textual/grammatical philosophy of the Andersen-Forbes database (hereafter, A-F). Sure, they've marked the entire Hebrew Bible for syntax, but what exactly does that mean?

You may have noticed I haven't been blogging much lately. Mostly, I've been too busy working on the Andersen-Forbes Hebrew Syntax project. As part of that work, I recently went down to Melbourne, Australia to visit with Frank Andersen and Dean Forbes, the gentlemen themselves. It's rare that the two of them are ever in the same room, since Dean lives in California and Frank lives half a world away in Melbourne. When we found out that Dean would be visiting Melbourne for a month to work with Frank, we decided that I should crash the party.*

It would not do to have a syntactically tagged Greek NT without something similar for the Hebrew text. So we are partnering with Francis Andersen and Dean Forbes to make their three decades of work available to you for display and searching, too.