April 6, 2013

Embracing technology as the pastor: Use Bibleworks to look-up lexicons and analyse words

One of the most laborious activities in learning a language is looking up a gloss for a word you're translating.  You have to stop what you're doing, heave down your lexicon, recall the order of the alphabet, and then search for your word.

But with Bible software, the entire search is practically done for you.  In Bibleworks all you have to do is hover over the word in the verse that you don't know, and automatically the gloss from your chosen lexicon is displayed in the analysis window. 
Searching BDAG and HALOT has never been so easy!  And if you want to change lexicons, it only takes a few clicks to change the default lexicon.

I have to admit I started my serious Greek and Hebrew work while owning Bibleworks, so I'll never really comprehend how much shelf space and time I've saved by not having to look up words manually - but I can imagine it is a lot!

The only problem is, I never picked up the sequence of the alphabet all that well (but there are songs to teach you that for both Hebrew and Greek).

Moreover, not only does the gloss show up in the analysis window when you hover over a word in Bibleworks, words are analysed for you too.  This means you don't have to do the heavy lifting of analysing your words and working out whether, for example, your verb is in the indicative or subjunctive mood.

Bible software may make you lazy, but if you're pressed for time, it is a Godsend.

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