Logos 4: Look Up Louw-Nida Numbers

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Logos 4: Search Highlighting Styles

Morris Proctor | Mon, December 5, 2011 | Training 1

Today’s post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos seminars and provides many training materials.

If you’re like I am you can relate to this scenario:

We read a print book highlighting the main points in blue as we go. After completing the book, we ask ourselves, Now where was that insight the author gave about obeying God? So we flip back through the book only looking at the highlights until we locate the desired information.

Here’s how to replicate this search in Logos:

To highlight text in a resource:

Open a Logos book such as Biblical Ethics by Oswald Chambers
Choose Tools | Highlighting to open the Highlighting pane
Select text in the book that you want to highlight
Click a Highlighting style such as the Blue Highlighter pen
Continue highlighting as you read the book

To search highlighted text in a resource:

Open the book to be searched such as Biblical Ethics
Open the Search panel
Select Basic as the search type
Select Biblical Ethics from the resource(s) to be searched drop down list
Click the list first drop down list which is the text to be searched (which probably says All Text)
Click the arrow next to a highlighting palette such as Highlighter Pens
Click a specific highlighting style such as Blue Highlighter (you have just limited the search range to the blue highlights in Biblical Ethics)
Click outside the drop down list to close it
Enter the a search query in the search panel’s Find box
Press the Enter key to generate the search results

Each time you highlight something in a resource, that highlighting style becomes a search field that can be searched. Please note that the highlighting styles do not appear in the text to be searched drop down list until after you use that specific style to highlight the resource. You can use these steps for any type of resource: Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, etc!

This search technique is but one of many powerful features covered in detail in the soon to be released Camp Logos 2 Live DVD training series, which is set to ship next week!

How does highlighting help you study more effectively? Leave a comment and let us know!

Logos 4: Create a Block Diagram of a Biblical Passage

Morris Proctor | Mon, November 21, 2011 | Training 8

One of the most common questions I get asked during the breaks at Camp Logos is, “How do I create a sentence diagram?” After a little discussion, I discover the Logos user normally doesn’t want a traditional line diagram (like we learned in middle school), but a block diagram that allows us to see the general thought structure of a biblical passage. Let’s say as we’re reading Philippians 4:9 we’d like to see an “outline” of the text, at least as it appears in English. You’ll discover from what follows that this is a relatively easy (and painless) process in Logos:

Choose File | New | Sentence Diagram.
Name the diagram if you like.
Click Insert Passage.
Type a biblical reference in the Reference box like Phil 4.9 (the passage can be as short or long as you prefer).
Select a Bible like the ESV from the drop down list (a literal translation like the ESV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, or LEB works best for diagrams).
Select Text Flow diagram from the drop down list (this selection produces a block diagram as opposed to Line diagram which creates a traditional sentence diagram).
Select No alternate from the drop down list (you can of course select an alternate line of text if you wish).
Click Insert, which places the passage in the diagramming area
Click and hold the word “learned.”
Drag the word “learned” down one line and to the left so that it appears underneath the phrase “what you have” (notice all of the text following “learned” comes with you).
Click and hold the word “and.”
Drag the word “and” down one line and to the left so that it appears underneath the word “learned” (notice all of the text following “and” comes with you).
Repeat the above steps until you have created the block or text flow diagram you desire.

You can now choose the Sentence Diagram panel menu and choose Print / Export to create a hard or electronic copy of this diagram.

See? I told you it would be easy. The key to making the block diagram is to select Text Flow diagram from the drop down list when you initially insert the passage.

I can’t begin to tell you how many of these I created on paper as I prepared sermons before Logos came along. Enjoy the technology with which the Lord has blessed our generation!

This is one of the many features covered in Camp Logos 2 Live, our DVD set on how to customize your Logos Bible Software. Camp Logos 2 Live is shipping the first week of December, but you can still pre-order at the discounted price.

How do you use block diagrams of a passage in your Bible study? Leave a comment and let us know!

Logos 4: Proximity Search for Greek Words

Morris Proctor | Mon, November 14, 2011 | Training 4

Today’s post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos training seminars and provides many training materials.

Normally I try to address as many people as possible in my Monday blogs. Today, however, is an exception as I pass along a very specific Greek tip that I e-mailed a Logos user in response to his question:

I was wondering if there was a way to search for something like a Greek word within a parsed form of another Greek word. In particular, I wanted to search for the Greek word en, within four words, of the Greek letter omega with an iota subscript.

I’m happy to report here’s one way to do just that:

Click the Search icon
Select Bible as the search type (1)
Select from the drop down list a Greek text like Nestle Aland 27^th Edition (2)
Select from the drop down list a range like New Testament (3)
Type g:en in the Find box (4)
Select the Greek word ἐν from the drop down list (5)
Type WITHIN 4 words after ἐν in the Find box (6)
Type g:w after WITHIN 4 words in the Find box (7)
Select the Greek word ᾧ from the drop down list (8)
Notice the complete search query in the Find box ἐν WITHIN 4 words ᾧ (9)
Press the Enter key to generate the search results

Typing g: alerts Logos that we’re going to type the transliteration of a Greek word which is why the program lists all of the Greek words matching the transliteration. WITHIN 4 words is the command for a proximity search which locates the two Greek terms when they occur within 4 words of each other in the same verse. To disregard the verse restriction and find the two Greek terms within 4 words of each other even if they’re in different verses, select Basic as the search type.

These types of power features that are a little off the beaten path are among the many subjects covered in Camp Logos 2 Live DVD training, which is still available to pre-order!

How has your study of the original languages enhanced your understanding of scripture? Leave a comment and let us know!

Logos 4: Create a Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Morris Proctor | Mon, November 7, 2011 | Training 21

As you perhaps know, Logos allows us to create reading plans for any book in our libraries, with the most popular being a plan to read through the Bible. People often email asking if it’s possible to create a chronological Bible reading plan, that is, they want to read the biblical events in the order that they actually happened. If you would like such a plan, here’s how to create it:

Choose File | Reading Plan
Name the plan something like Chronological Bible Reading Plan
Select a Bible (from the drop down list) on which to base the plan
Click the passage drop down list where you select the range of Scripture to be included in the plan
Copy / Paste the biblical references from this text file into the New reference range box
Hint: Press Ctrl + A (PC) or Cmd + A (Mac) to select all text, then copy / paste like normal
Name this range by typing in the Title box something like Chronological
Click Save
Select from the drop down lists the frequency and start / stop times for the plan
Click Go to create the plan

This Chronological Bible Reading Plan will now be displayed in the ribbon of the Home Page!

Learn many more powerful features about your Logos Bible Software at Camp Logos. If you can’t attend a camp, check out our print and video training resources.

How has reading the Bible in chronological order helped your Bible study? Leave a comment and let us know!

Logos 4: Look Up Louw-Nida Numbers

Morris Proctor | Mon, October 31, 2011 | Training 1

One of the most powerful, yet underused, features in Logos Bible Software is the Louw-Nida (LN) Numbers that appear in English Bibles with the reverse interlinear option. They’re vitally important because they disambiguate the meaning of a word. In other words, an LN number indicates a word’s precise meaning in a specific context.

For example, in Matthew 17:5 the Lord admonishes people to “listen” to His beloved son. When we look up the meaning of the Greek word (akouo) translated listen we discover it could mean “hear,” “listen,” “pay attention to”, “obey”, etc. Which definition is correct for Matthew 17:5?

Johannes Louw and Eugene Nida, the authors of the LN numbers, point to what they believe to be the correct contextual definition of a word. Here’s one simple way to use these numbers:

Open an English Bible with the reverse interlinear option such as the ESV
Navigate to a verse such as Matthew 17:5
Click the Interlinear icon on the Bible’s toolbar to display the reverse interlinear pane at the bottom of the Bible
Click a word in the Bible such as “listen” to move the interlinear pane to that word
Notice a LN number for each word appears in the interlinear pane
Click LN 36.14, which is the LN number for “listen”

The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains opens to an article containing a complete definition for akouo in the context of Matthew 17:5! You don’t have to select from 10 possible meanings. Drs. Louw and Nida disambiguate the meaning for you.

The extended training on the LN Numbers is one of the favorite sessions in Camp Logos 2. We’ve taken that session and expanded it on our Camp Logos 2 LIVE DVD-ROM, which is currently available on pre-pub. Here’s a sneak peak at the video training that corresponds to the above instructions for the LN numbers.