- Platform: Windows 7 / Vista / XP
- Media: DVD-ROM
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Product Description
BibleWorks 9 is a large collection of software tools and database resources designed specifically to assist pastors, seminary students, professors and missionaries in their exegesis of the Biblical text. It contains more than 200 Bible translations in nearly 40 languages, 45 original language texts and morphology databases, 29 lexical-grammatical references, and a wealth of practical reference works. These include Greek and Hebrew sound files, Bible maps, Greek New Testament diagrams, Greek and Hebrew grammars, new transcriptions and image sets for seven of the most important Greek New Testament manuscripts, and the full CNTTS New Testament apparatus. These resources are presented to the user through a sophisticated but easy to use user interface that includes two powerful search engines and dozens of ways to organize, present and analyze the results of your research. To help the user master the program a comprehensive set of videos is included. A small number of critical databases are available as add on resources, but the base package contains everything that a busy pastor needs to help him use his study time wisely and efficiently. Like no other set of software tools, BibleWorks focuses on the central task of understanding the text of Scripture. It contains everything that you need and nothing that you don't need. BibleWorks is distributed on DVD and will run on any PC version of Windows (XP or later). When purchased directly from BibleWorks it comes with the option for a 30 day return and full refund (less shipping).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love to use this software for bible research & study,
By
This review is from: BibleWorks 9 (DVD-ROM)
January 2012 BW 9.0 update: I developed some trouble in 2011 with my BW8. It seemed unstable. Reinstalling didn't solve the problem. I decided to buy BW9. What a huge improvement in performance AND some textual research features for anyone who does indepth exegetical work. For example, you can see and search actual manuscripts! It's just amazing to me. I have to report that I did have trouble ordering my upgrade. The system did not take my order, and I am used to ordering online. It actually hung my order up and I was left wondering if my credit card was charged or not. So I wrote an email in to a order email on their website. Unfortunately I received no reply. So after waiting about a month I decided to reorder the product. I asked them to cancel any previous order from the earlier email and/or online action I initiated. They indicated nothing was in their system. The online order probably just crashed. But the email request should have been handled in my opinion. Most of my interactions with BW have been outstanding. But as a five star review, I feel this is the one ding with them that I've experienced. My overall 5 star review remains a 5 star. AND if I could, I would give the products performance a 5+.July 2009 update: I use BW 8.0 for sermon research and deeper bible study. I sometimes use it during small group teaching to look up references quickly as questions arise. I have looked at Logos and Gramcord in depth. Let me say that I gravitate towards BW 8.0 for a number of reasons. If you want to leverage technology to quickly analyze what is going on in a passage, and you know some Greek and/or Hebrew, then this is the program for you. Free with BW 8.0 includes all the tools you need to do extensive research on the Jewish Greek literature background to the New Testament. You also have a wide array of resources to research the LXX and Early Church Fathers in Greek/English and other languages like Latin. Let me give you a case in point that I think is very relevant for exegetical claims made by some Reformed scholars when it comes to words in the Greek text. In Romans 8:29 a very popular teaching among many scholars claims that the Greek term Paul uses in this verse has a Hebrew flavor in meaning. This is then used to establish doctrine. The verse says: ESV Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. The claim is made that the term 'foreknew' (proegknow) really means to forelove and that it doesn't mean foreknow in the simple sense because the Jewish Greek use modifies it. They claim that Jewish Greek use imports the Hebrew term for love into the Greek compound verb...and that the Hebrew term 'to know' can mean 'to love' and so the Greek word 'to fore know' really means here to 'fore love'. Part of the complaint is that it cannot mean simply foreknow or that would lead to Arminianism or Universalism. So, passing comments occur in a number of Reformed commentaries on Romans or on the topic of Predistination by reformed scholars when dealing with this verse. How would anyone who is not very well versed in Jewish Greek literature know? It sounds likely. It must be true right? With BW 8.0 you can just look it up and read the sources in about 30 to 60 minutes. Simply configure tabs in the search window to access all the different resources for Jewish background studies that exist in Greek literature. For example, the LXX, the Pseudepigrapha, the Apocrypha, Philo, Josephus and then the post NT Apostolic Fathers all can be searched in morphological databases (this allows you to search a dictionary entry and find any form instantly. You can configure it to display the English next to the Greek so that if you are not good at Greek, you can check the English as well. The bottom line: in this case I was studying on Romans 8:29 there was not one instance of Jewish Greek literature that contained the claim by popular scholars. In fact, after reading all the sources for myself, I concluded that there may be a failure on the part of these scholars to check their facts. This stunned me. Some of my favorite scholars were clearly wrong on this word. It also gave me the feeling that as a pastor doing regular sermon research I now have a real tool that allows me to confirm or reject claims in scholarly commentaries and pray through the data for myself. So with BW 8.0, it has now become financially and technically feasible for a regular preacher to double check confident claims by any scholar when it comes to the background of Greek terms in the era from 300 BC through to 200 AD. The flexibility of BibleWorks 8.0 to set up custom tabs (one for each time period of Greek literature for example) gives you the power to study the Greek NT on one tab, click another tab and study the same term or a different term in the Pseudepigrapha and then another tab for the LXX or Apostolic Fathers. It's like working with tabs on a browser in Windows. Once you set it up, you can really go as deep as you like. I'm telling you it is wonderful! Another example: While studying the term for virtue in 2 Peter 1:5 I found a reference in the Apocrypha to the story about the seven brothers who were martyred during Antiochus Epiphanes IV reign of hellenization. If you are unfamiliar with this story, it is part of the Jewish background that feeds into the concept of excellence or moral excellence that Peter is talking about in 2 Peter 1. BUT it is also probably part of the background of the story where Jesus is challenged by the question about a woman who is widowed, married to six other brothers (seven in all)...and then dies with no children. The attempt to trap Jesus was heightened by that allusion. Things like this come alive. You can find these links for yourself with BibleWorks 8.0 AND you can find other passages that refer to these links. The first use in Jewish Greek literature of the term Peter uses for moral excellence in 2 Peter 1:5 appears in the account setting up the story about the seven brothers in order to inspire them to stand true to the death when the law of Moses was challenged by the Greeks. All of this and the Jewish commentary on it all is right there for your beck and call, enriching your study of the term that Peter gives by drawing out the sense that the term may include a moral fiber that stands firm to the very death of a believer (wasn't that Peter's problem in Gethsemane?). You can do these sort of things with Logos or other programs, but to get all the tools for an exhaustive study across the 400-500 years of NT background studies in place you are going to spend a lot more money. (just Philo alone is $100 with Logos). What this also opens up for a pastor, is the potential of using ancient stories that most members in a congregation have never heard before to illustrate word meaning. This can be captivating and educational at the same time (nice eh?). So if you have gone to Seminary, Graduate School or Bible College, and even know just a little Greek/Hebrew and value being able to check the background of the NT/OT as well as the early church context, then BibleWorks 8.0 may be the very best program/price combination out there. I love the product. Previous review follows: I use BibleWorks 7.0 professionally, pretty much on a daily basis. I would not want to operate without it. There are other great programs out there, but this is the one I find myself using over and over. The others sit on the shelf unused in my office. Many years ago I bought BibleWorks 3.5 and a competitive Windows based program. I ran identical searches with both programs. I found they gave different answers. Then I discovered the BibleWorks competitor had a big problem running complex searches accurately. It was disclosed in their readme.txt, but even their sales people didn't know about the bug. I ended up using BibleWorks instead. That was version 3.5 or so. The difference today in improvements over my old BibleWorks program is akin to the difference between a Model T and a Cadillac. Today's Bible Works is so much better it's amazing. I have watched the BibleWorks people roll out several versions. They always add an overwhelming list of new features that make the upgrades a sweet deal for anyone. Some of the new things in BW 7.0 (just released this year) include a newly finished diagram for every verse in the NT. All of the steps that Gordon Fee suggests in his NT Exegesis book (get it if you don't have it) are now possible in this software. I use a checklist from his book and work through it with BW 7.0 open, a word processor, and an internet browser. Everything is very intuitive. They offer training courses around the nation (see their website for dates/locations). Those courses are helpful. If you are working on a passage, you can pull up multiple versions and paste them into a word processer for formatting and printing. This allows you to highlight either in the software or with a real highlighter on your paper. You can easily mix Greek with English...and if you have people like I do who are not really good at English, paste in the Russian, Spanish, French or whatever language they need....and you can provide printed text for them to read. This can be done in seconds. The program is flexible, and easy to use. The fastest way for us to print out our Sunday Worship Service text for reading is to use BibleWorks. I pull up the program, enter the version and the reference. Paste it into my Word Processor or drag it there..and click print. One of the things that Gordon Fee (Exegesis expert) recommends is for students to diagram their text. The new diagramming canvass is great. Just insert the text. Drag and drop it into place and drag the symbols for... Read more ›
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BibleWorks7,
By G. Michael Sheldon "sinner saved by God's grace" (Chesapeake, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: BibleWorks 9 (DVD-ROM)
For the past ten years I have owned, evaluated and tried just about every manufacturer's Bible study software. Traveling and health issues have dictated the need for a superior and reliable Bible study software program, especially when not being able to travel with one's library.
BibleWorks7 is serious Bible study software for the serious study of the Bible, and for serious Bible study students. It greatly improves on the time that you have for serious Bible study, without sacrificing the quality and quantity of information being sought after. BibleWorks7 enables the user to be consistently and rightly dividing the Word of truth! Regardless whether you use a laptop, desktop, or whatever MS-Operating System, BibleWorks7 performs flawlessly without any interoperability issues or glitches either from within or from other programs you happen to be using! This is not the case with other Bible study software programs! BibleWorks7 is a `very powerful' software program that contains many wonderful study tools and resources that can easily be configured and customized to one's own liking. This creates a personalized Bible study environment and approach that produces and achieves great benefit and success. Imagine having the capability of taking all of your favorite Bible study tools and pre-configuring them in such a way, so that when you open up a specific passage of Scripture that you are studying, all of those tools and resources become immediately available at your disposal. This enhances, promotes, excites and greatly encourages one in the study of God's Word! The tutorials, getting started videos, study guides, and on-line helps provide immediate answers to any questions that you might have, and can easily be re-visited time and time again. All of this wonderful easily accessible information is user-friendly and helps you to quickly use and understand all that BibleWorks7 has to offer! BibleWorks7 is an excellent value for the money. The base package is packed with many great resources to draw from and as well, the additional resources that one can purchase separately. BibleWorks7 is not just another collection of Bible study tools and resources, but rather it is a `very powerful' tool that can be custom configured with one's favorite Bible study tools to provide a `consistent methodology' that achieves great results, satisfaction, and success in a very timely manner! No Bible study software does it all. There will always be a need for this or that, but when you carefully analyze what BibleWorks7 has to offer, it comes very close and at a very affordable price!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indispensable.,
By
This review is from: BibleWorks 9 (DVD-ROM)
I was late to the game... I bought Logos my first year in seminary, and though I certainly don't regret doing so, I wish I'd purchased this alongside it. Those who know anything about Bibleworks and Logos know what the relative strengths and weaknesses of each product are, so I'll skip that discussion. Instead, I'll just repeat what others have said better: this program is essential for anyone in this modern age who intends to seriously study Biblical languages, or for anyone who just wants to explore those languages as they read their English Bibles.
The interface is so intuitive that once you learn a few basic processes, you'll be moving among resources at turbo-speeds. In addition to all the things you'd expect from a heralded, high-end program designed around language study - plenty of grammars, lexicons, and other tools, and an interface that lets you quickly integrate them - there are tons of 'smaller' tools that meet an abundance of specific needs: - The flashcard module has rendered my big box of homemade flashcards obsolete. Not only can you filter the words any way imaginable (there are even databases tailored to most of the major grammars in use today, so you can be sure what you're reviewing is exactly what your text expects you to know), it tracks your progress statistically, and continually updates your flashcard sessions according to what you've already learned; - The sentence diagramming tools are an absolute godsend. Now in second-year Greek (and Hebrew), I'm finding myself diagramming all the time, and Bibleworks makes it easy (and even sort of fun); it even has MOST of the New Testament diagrammed already, so you can see instantly where you've gone wrong; - Depending on how deep you want to get with it, there are a host of coding and programming options for the code-savvy user. I've not explored much of this potential, but I've already learned how to link Bibleworks up with some online databases to instantly cull additional information on words and passages I study. I'm no Bibleworks expert, but I can tell you as an (I guess) intermediate-level user, this program will make your studies exponentially more efficient, and the limits of the software are dictated only by how much time you want to invest in mastering its subtleties. Essential for the scholar, highly advantageous for the layman. If you can afford it, you should get it.
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