Customer Reviews

BibleWorks 9

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 diagramming to where they belong. That's it. For comparison, BW 7.0 now includes diagrams for every verse. If you have kids in school, they can use it for diagramming English as well-which can give them a professional look in high school papers/class assignments.

With a click of the mouse you can search the lemma (root) of a word in Greek or Hebrew from Genesis to Revelation (LXX & GNT). Or Hebrew OT only. You can do almost any kind of search.

I own the major competitors to this program. To use Gramcord you have to own a Mac or you can install a program that simulates Mac Operating system on your computer. The Mac feel to Gramcord has a very archaic feel to it and I never got used to it. I cannot tell if Logos is currently accurate in it's searches, so I don't know if you can trust that program to produce correct results.

I've found that BibleWorks is a great program for my use.

Some other things you can do: Look up all major lexicons on a word in a few seconds. Paste the results into your word processor embedded where-ever you want. Basically, you can quickly do exhaustive word studies. You can outline a passage in a word processor. Add in whatever you want and blog the results, print it or save it to your computer. You can highlight anything in any color, size or shape. Just drag, pull down the menu you want and that's it.

Let me talk a bit about the BibleWorks people. They seem to have a 'we can do it' attitude. They work hard and add new features and improve existing ones. Years ago I was one of their customers who asked for diagramming. Now it is reality. And it's slick.

If you are studying a passage and you are not up on all the Greek words...you can click on the flashcard module. It pulls up the passage and drills you on the words you don't know. You can configure everything on it from the amount of time a word is displayed to the fonts used or the actual definition.

With BW7.0 you can compile your own version of the bible. This allows one also to have other books besids the bible added in. There are user provided modules online that include a ton of documents. Plus, the Apostolic Fathers in Greek is now available. This means you can see exactly how a word is used by the disciples of the apostles and other early church fathers. Users have added tons of other ancient books, some seem to be worth having. I now have hundreds of books in my computer freely contributed through the work of many BibleWorks users who maintain a free unofficial blog service that allows users to download hundreds of ancient books...books I've heard of and always wanted, and many books I never knew existed...apocryphal books, apocalyptic literature and a variety of language and historically vital resources. There new volumes being added all the time and the BW users who manage that entire effort are very helpful if you have a problem. That feature would cost thousands of dollars on Logos. It's all free in BW (but is not currently officially supported...it does work just fine from my experience).

There are so many features in this program that I cannot review them all.

I don't have time to get into the search engine and it's rich feature list. It's great. Help is right there. The resource center has a wide array of resources. It includes things like Zerwick's analysis, Word Pictures by Robertson and many other classic resources...all built in for your convenience. There are grammar paradigms/forms for refreshing the memory of almost every greek student who walked the face of the earth.

Let me say this too...I took a class early this year at Wheaton College Graduate School. In the class I discovered they had a special exegetical process that included atypical symbols. With a quick check on the forum for bibleworks, I found an answer from another user that enabled me to use BW 7.0 for a customized exegetical process. Color coding and special insert symbols. It is fantastically flexible.

I would not want to function without this program.

Another great feature is the flashcard module now has Erasmus or Modern Greek pronunciation for each word! So if you want to learn Modern Greek pronuniation, you are off to a start for a trip to Greece because 70% of biblical Greek is used in Modern Greek.

To see this, all you have to do is pull up a passage of Modern Greek and the GNT original and do a side by side highlighted comparison. That's another slick feature on this program.

I'm skipping perhaps a couple hundred features and this is a pretty long article already. Perhaps the best thing about BibleWorks 7.0 is that the users forum hosted by BibleWorks has a lot of knowledgeable and active members. Almost anything you can imagine has been asked and answered about this program.

For those who are new to professional grade exegesis software, there are detailed tutorials explaining every movement of the mouse. You can review them over and over until you know your stuff...or just jump in like I do. It's fairly intuitive if you have any computer sense. Once it gets beyond your insight, the user forum is excellent. Many very knowledgeable and helpful guys on there.

I also have found that the grammars included in BibleWorks are helpful. For example, Futato's Hebrew grammar is built into BW and is so good that I am learning Hebrew primarily from that book digitally integrated into BW. The flashcard module allows me to drill myself in Hebrew words too. It's wonderfully simple and very helpful. The grammar even pronounces words for me by clicking on the sound icon next to words.

Go for BW 7.0. You won't be sorry. Let me know you saw this review. I will help you as much as I can. Hope to see you in the BibleWorks forum.

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!

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.

Bibleworks 7.0 is hands down the best software available for Bible Study. Customizable satellite image maps of Israel, incredible number of original language texts, lexicons and numerous resource material galore!! Also, don't listen to the review about poor customer service!! Customer service is excellent. I've had nothing but a positive experience with customer support. I also personally attended a full day of conferences where they send out representatives to help you learn how to better utilize the powerful program that you have (they have these in several locations across the country, just check out their website for more info). However, if you are not going to study the original languages, you may want to look elsewhere. Sure you could use the program and get a lot of help from it, but it really is original languages oriented. Also, Bibleworks has helped me to teach myself (with the Lord's help) Greek and Hebrew. It is well worth its price, if you spend a lot of time studying God's Word.

UPDATE (2-15-2011)

I upgraded to BibleWorks 8 as soon as it was available and have been using it daily. BibleWorks 7 blew me away with its ability to cut my study/research time by leaps and bounds and I couldn't even envision it getting any better other than add-on modules. BibleWorks 8 has done that! I just simply can't speak any more highly concerning this software program. Several new additions as far as resource grammars for Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew as well as the Early Church Fathers, and a new feature that allows you to copy search results and other selections directly to Word without first going to the editor then copying it over, etc. I could go on and on about BibleWorks 8. Again, there is no product available that I would recommend any higher than this program for serious Bible study that focuses on original language studies!

UPDATE (09-02-2011)

Well, now I have BibleWorks 9. I will not add anything to the above reviews that I have already done and just briefly comment on how incredible the new features in BW 9 are! First off, the CNTTS (Center for New Testament Textual Studies) apparatus is incredible! You can also view high resolution photos of major Greek manuscripts because of the BibleWorks Manuscript Project, even contains overlays to show you where the verse begins and ends (a lot of New Testament manuscripts had no punctuation or chapter/verse separations, so this is a great feature that can be turned on or off), and you can even mess with the color settings and make the manuscript more readable!!! Also included are searchable companion texts to the manuscripts that are viewable in the BW Manuscripts Project! Also, in the main BW window you have three main windows, the Search window, Browse window, and Analysis window. You now in BW 9 have the ability to add a fourth window to your workspace, which can be very handy, especially after watching the tutorial videos (included in the program itself) on how this can help your studies! Also included is the New Moody Bible Atlas, complete with printable high resolution photos and maps, that really help when putting together a presentation/lecture!! BibleWorks still continues to blow me away with each upgrade!! Worth well beyond the asking price, you won't regret this purchase if you are in the market for what it can deliver! BibleWorks 9

There is a reason leading seminaries use BibleWorks: it's the best.

As soon as you install this software, you recognize that you have not purchased a toy. It is FAST, it is EASY and nothing compares to the power of this software as a research tool. BibleWorks does not get in the way of the text.

An additional perk are the all-day workshops which travel around the country. They help BibleWorks users of all varieties to use the software to its fullest capability.

I have been a BibleWorks user since version 4 and have always been amazed with the commitment that the programmers have to making the program meet the needs of the users. They have an ongoing commitment to correcting bugs that might come up and have proven customer service in such situations. There is a very broad range of reference tools that are included in the 'standard' program, these tools can only be appreciated as you use the progam and become aware of the ease with which you can do multiple things while at the same time doing very basic searches or doing very specific grammatical searches. I admit I have personaly just scratched the surface of the power of this program, mainly due to my lack of a knowledge of the languages and just because of insufficient time. The designers have not only made the program capable of making vocabulary flash cards but they have included many grammar and language tools to actually help the user teach themselves the biblical languages. The resources have been made even easier to access in version seven by the use of tabs which quickly uncover many standard tools and some new additions to the program. If you want to do serious study in the biblical languages and possibly compare many various translations you can do that with much greater speed with BibleWorks.

BibleWorks is the premier software for the serious linguistic study of the Scriptures. Comes with Greek, Hebrew, and Septuagint Bibles, as well as translations in English, German, Spanish, and many other languages! This is the best of the best for serious Bible Study of the Masoretic text of the Old Testament.

I have been a loyal BibleWorks customer for years, since version 3.x, and have routinely found their support to be excellent whenever I needed assistance.

I am a Seminary student going into the pastorate and I purchased Bible works to help me translate Scripture passages, do word studies and examine various English translations. It is a phenomenol resource as it allows you to word searches in English, Hebrew or Greek. It also gives you statistics on how many times a particular word is used in the both the New Testament and Hebrew Scriptures. As you examine the Greek or Hebrew in one window I keep four English translations open in another (and you can pick which translations you wish to examine) side by side with the original text. There are various lexicons for you to choose from, and Bible works even gives you a summary of each translation and lexicon's publication. Bible works parses every word for you in Hebrew and Greek, but I would caution one to double check some of Bible works parsings as Bible works does not seem to recognize a deponent verb, but rather simply lists it as in the middle voice in the Greek text. If you know anything about Greek or Hebrew though, it is a resource which you will find invaluable in your studies. I use it daily and would highly recommend it. Well worth the money.

I bought my first copy of BibleWorks in 2007 (version 7). The strength of BibleWorks, in comparison with other Bible programs, is that it focuses on the study of the biblical text itself. I've used the new version (version 9) for about a month now, and have found that it continues to improve on this strength.

The most noticeable improvements are in the analysis window. One nice feature is the option of opening a second browse window within the analysis window. This allows the user to view an entire passage in two different versions, or to view several versions in one window and the entire passage in another. I was also impressed by the new manuscript tab in the analysis window, which contains high resolution photos of Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and a few others. This tab is very user-friendly, not to mention fast--the user may click and drag the manuscripts, zoom in and out, and quickly switch references. The interface is better than the Sinaiticus website, in my opinion. I've used this feature in the last week to study a few textual problems in the New Testament, and I plan to eventually use it in my Greek classes. Finally, I should note that the analysis window now splits into two panes, giving users the ability to view two analysis tabs at once.

Beyond these improvements, users will continue to benefit from the standard assortment of tools which give the ability to quickly compare multiple versions of the Bible, search for words and phrases, and view translation notes along with Greek and Hebrew tools. I regularly use BibleWorks to read Greek and Hebrew and to study lexicons and grammars. I also use it to quickly look up cross references and related passages of Scripture. It even comes in handy when I remember a phrase of Scripture but can't remember where it is from, because I can perform a phrase search.

All in all, version 9 is welcome update to an already fine product!

Kevin W. McFadden
Assistant Professor of New Testament & Greek
Louisiana College
Caskey School of Divinity

This review of BibleWorks 9 (hereafter BW9) is written from the perspective of Biblical Hebrew instruction. Therefore, the usability, efficiency, and original language capability are considered the most important criteria for review.

Upon opening BW9, one is confronted with what appears to be an extremely complex interface. Three main windows, along with an array of buttons and tabs, may intimidate the new user. However, a number of instructional videos accompanying the software help the new user to become accustomed to the BW9 interface. These videos, covering topics such as "The Search Window," "The Browse Window," "The Analysis Window," and "The BibleWorks Editor," are indispensable for quickly learning how to harness the BW9 interface. Each video addresses specific topics by means of a video recording of the BW9 interface along with voice narration. The videos are easily accessible and are extremely valuable tutorials, allowing the new user to quickly and easily learn the mechanics of BW9.

After watching the videos, the BW9 interface becomes both usable and effective. One can easily browse a given text in the "Browse" window. For example, when the Hebrew text is open, and one wants to examine a word, simply moving the mouse over the word in question will bring a up box that will fully parse the word. For instance, in Genesis 44:16, where the hithpael of 'tsdq occurs with metathesis (a potential stumbling block for the beginning Hebrew student), simply moving the mouse to that particular word reveals exactly what the word is. Then, if one feels obligated to investigate this word further, the analysis window parses the verb, but also allows the user to study the desired material in detail. Thus, using the aforementioned example from Genesis 44:16, one can see the references and definitions in Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon as well as Holladay's Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT. Double-clicking on the word in question will bring up the references of that word in the "Search" window.

The searching and cross-referencing capabilities in BW9 present one of the strongest components of the software program. For instance, one of the first rules that the beginning Hebrew student learns is that a guttural cannot take a dagesh. However, when a student comes across Ezra 8:19, the student will come across an alef with a dot in it. After making Hebrew searches vowel sensitive, if a student parses this verb with the software, the dot in the alef remains unexplained. In the analysis window, however, the student can click on the resources window to see if this particular verse is referenced elsewhere in the BW9 resources. The student will be relieved to find that Ezra 8:18 is cited in Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, and a simple click will bring up the relevant section of the grammar, where the dot is explained not as a dagesh but as a mappiq.

Another example of the usefulness of BW9's searching capabilities, from an English perspective, surfaces in the case of Psalm 22:21 (English). A reader of the KJV may be surprised (and confused) when coming across the word "unicorns" in this particular verse. To investigate this, one can toggle on the browse mode where other Bible translations of the same verse appear (the versions of choice may be changed depending on the user's preference; English, Hebrew, and Greek versions may be selected). One can then investigate the Hebrew (and the Greek LXX) behind the KJV's seemingly curious translation. Furthermore, double clicking the KJV's "unicorns" will show other KJV passages where this word occurs.

A comprehensive overview of every feature and resource of BW9 is not possible within a single review. However, a few deserve special mention. Among the resources available in the BW9 package, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, Joüon-Muraoka's A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, and Waltke and O'Connor's Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, represent three of the most important reference works for those who work with Biblical Hebrew. Paradigms are available for Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic to help those who need to sharpen their language skills. The "Vocabulary Flashcard Module" helps students study and retain vocabulary words (Hebrew and Greek). Notes, searches, and studies may be saved for later reference. The "Diagrammer" allows one to break down a verse into its component parts. The "Map Module" allows one to create maps. A simple click of the parallel Hebrew Bible/LXX will open Hebrew Bible and Greek LXX of whatever passage is on hand. A great feature for New Testament studies is the "Synopsis tool," placing parallel passages from the Gospels side-by-side. Of course, BW9 has a wide array of Bibles in English and many other languages, as well as other primary sources[...]
BW9 is a software package which combines lighting-fast search capabilities, comprehensive cross-referencing, and usability to provide a fine tool for the analysis of the biblical text. BW9 is for those who want to examine the Bible in its original languages, investigate contemporary translations, and enhance Bible study. In short, BW9 is a fantastic tool for those who take the Bible seriously.