Greek Tools Proficiencies - Part 2: BibleWorks8 Setup

You will want to become as familiar as possible with how your Bible software works. To that end, I strongly encourage you to work through the help files and/or video tutorials that BibleWorks provides. (Help>Getting Started)

When installing the program, you will have the opportunity to choose the translations you wish to install. It is nice to have a ton of versions available, but you might want to limit yourself to those you actually plan to use because they will only clutter up your menus. You can always add them later. My suggestions:

Hebrew/Aramaic/Syriac
If you know or plan to learn Hebrew, add all of them. (Note that the Targums are in Aramaic and the Peshitta is in Syriac. If you learn Hebrew, you will be able to make some sense of them, especially when matching with the English translations available.) If not, just add the bold ones.

1905 British and Foreign Bible Society Peshitto edition
The Aramaic New Testament (Peshitta), with the Etheridge (1849), Lewis (1896), Murdock (1851), Norton (1881), and Magiera (2005) English translations
Leningrad Codex Hebrew Bible, with full accenting & full vowel pointing
Leningrad Codex Hebrew Bible, transliterated
Delitzsch Hebrew NT
Groves-Wheeler Westminster Hebrew Old Testament Morphology database, version 4.10
Hebrew Accent Extensions to Groves-Wheeler Westminster Hebrew Old Testament Morphology database
Old Syriac Sinaiticus manuscript
Old Syriac Curetonian manuscript
Peshitta, with Syriac and Hebrew letters
Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts with morphology (locked)
Salkinson-Ginsburg Hebrew New Testament
The Targumim, parsed, lemmatized and tied to entries in the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon. Also included:

FragTargums with morphology, TgSheniSuppEsther with morphology, TgTosefProphets with morphology
Psalms Targum (English)
Rodkinson Babylonian Talmud and Mishnah (English)
Targum Cairo Geniza with morphology
Targum Jerusalem on the Pentateuch (English) (Etheridge)
Targum Neofiti with morphology
Targum NeofMarginalia with morphology
Targum Onkelos on the Pentateuch (English) (Etheridge)
Targum Pseudo Jonathan on the Pentateuch (Etheridge)
Targum PseudoJonathan with morphology
Targumim (Mostly Onkelos and Jonathan) with morphology (updated 2005)

Greek

Go ahead and add all the Greek texts. The only ones you don’t need to add are the modern Greek versions: Greek Orthodox Church NT; Metaglottisis Greek New Testament, 2004; Modern Greek Bible

English

You can add all the English versions if you want, but there are some of you won’t ever really use, and then they just tend to clog up your menus. Do install the versions in bold. The rest are only if you want to go for completeness.

American Standard Version, 1901
Bible in Basic English, 1949/64
Bishop's Bible, 1595
Brenton’s Septuagint English Translation, without Deutero-canonical section
Complete Jewish Bible, 1998
Darby Bible (1884/1890)
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
English Revised Version, 1881/1885
English Standard Version, 2007 update
Geneva Bible, 1599
GOD’S WORD® Translation, 1995
Holman Christian Standard Bible, 2004
Jewish Publication Society Tanakh, 1917
Jewish Publication Society Tanakh, 1985
King James Apocrypha, 1611
King James, 1611, with Strong's Codes and Geneva Bible notes
King James, 1611/1769, with Strong's Codes
MacDonald Idiomatic Translation Bible
NET Bible with notes and maps
New American Bible
New American Standard Bible, 1977, with Codes
New American Standard Bible, 1995, with Codes
New International Reader’s Version
New International Version (UK)
New International Version (US), 1984, with cross references and footnotes
New Jerusalem Bible
New King James Version (1982) Version, with Strong’s Codes
New Living Translation, 2nd edition, 2005
New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, 1989
New Testament Peshitta Translation, Etheridge, 1849
New Testament Peshitta Translation, James Murdock, 1851
New Testament Peshitta Translation, Lewis, 1896
New Testament Peshitta Translation, Norton, 1881
New Testament Peshitta Translation, Magiera, 2005
Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, 1952
Today’s NIV
Tyndale New Testament, 1534
Von Soden Greek New Testament
Webster Bible, 1833
Revised Webster Update, 1995, with Codes
Young's Literal Translation, 1862/1898

Latin

If you know Latin, install them all. If not, at least include:

· Nova Vulgata

· Latin Vulgate (Weber Edition)

Other Modern Language Versions

What languages do you know? Add the ones you want, but don’t add all those other ones. The Luther Bibel is there under the German.

NEXT >>>

Once you have everything installed, the first thing to do is start the program and install updates. (A note may pop up offering to update. If not, click on Help > BibleWorks on the Internet > Check for updates.

There may be a substantial amount to update, so be sure you have a good Internet connection and some time...
Setting up options within BibleWorks

Here is what my BibleWorks layout looks like:

I suggest that you use the following options:

To set up the most useful default display, go to command line (near top left – Note: the quick way to get here is to use the ESC key, hit the ESC key again to clear the command line) and:

type: NRS ↵

type: d -c ↵

type: d dra kjv nau bgt net niv njb nlt nrs wtt lxe ↵

What we are doing here is first making the NRS our focus version. Then we are clearing away (-c) all other display (d) versions. Then we are displaying (d) the versions we want to appear.

Now, go to Tools > Options [or click on the little in the button bar], then:

Select “Bible Versions > Version Order”:

Select Show Active Only at lower left; use “Move Up/Down” buttons to arrange in this order: WTT > BGT > LXE > NET > NRS > KJV > DRA > NAU > NIV > NJB > NLT
Click on “Save to file” and give it an easy name to remember

Select “Versions” tab:

Under “Search and Display Favorites,” click Add, then Edit:

Under the Search Version pane, choose BGM under Greek
Under Display versions, click on “Show Only Active Languages”
At the bottom left, rename the Description to HebrewGreekEnglish > OK

While we are here, let’s set up another “Search and Display Favorite” for use later.

Click on Add, then Edit
Under the Search Version pane, choose BGM under Greek
Under the Display Versions, deselect everything except BGT for Greek, WTT for Hebrew, and LXE and NRS and NET for English. At the bottom of the box, rename the Description to fav (for favorite) > OK

Still under the Versions tab, Add a “Parallel Versions Favorites”

In the bottom half of the screen under “Versions to Display in Parallel,” delete WTT and LXE
Rename this to GreekEnglishParallel

While we are here, let’s set up another “Parallel Versions Favorite” for use later.

Click on Add, then Edit
In the bottom half of the screen under “Versions to Display in Parallel,” delete everything but KJV, SCR, BYZ, BGT, NET >> If they are not all there >
Choose Greek on the top half and add SCR and BYZ ...
Rename this to GreekVersions

Still working in the Options box, now choose the Fonts tab. In the upper right are 3 choices under “Font Set to Edit.”

Choose “Search Window Fonts.” This will depend on your eyes and your monitor, but I have my sizes set: English at 10, Greek at 12, and Hebrew at 18. Don’t change the fonts and don’t bother with anything else.
Now choose “Browse Window Fonts.” I use the same settings as the previous
Now choose “Export Fonts”

Choose the English font and size (probably Times New Roman at 12)
At the bottom of the window, for Unicode Greek, select Cardo (at 12)
For Unicode Hebrew, select Cardo (at 12 or 14)
Check all three boxes about exporting Greek/Hebrew and using Unicode at the bottom of the window

Still working in the Options box, now choose the General > Flags tab.

Expand the Command Line Search Options:

§ Check "Remember command line ranges"

Expand Search Window Configuration Options:

Uncheck "Show morphology translation in Search Window..."

Expand Browse Window Configuration Options:

Uncheck "Automatically make morphology versions display versions"

Expand General Greek Options:

Check Show entries from all Greek Lexicons

Click OK to save and close all these option choices! Once you become more familiar with the program, you will be to come back and change things to ways that make better sense to you.

Now, go to the Command Line (click in the box with the mouse or just use ESC). Type: d fav ↵
Your middle panel should look similar to mine in the graphic above.

Let’s set up a few more things, and again, this is just a starting point for you based on my experience. Change these as you wish once you see how you use the program.

Just under “File” at the top left, click on the icon with three little boxes: . Add or remove whatever icons you want. If you look at my screen shot, you can see the ones I use.
Now, move the cursor to the command line, and right click with the mouse. I like to have checked “Code Insertion Buttons” and “Command Line Morphology Help.”
Now right click somewhere at the top of the middle panel. I like to have “Show Outline Heading” and “Show Browse List Boxes” checked.
Now move to the right panel (called the Analysis Window) and click on the “Resources” tab. Look through the sub-tabs under Resource Summary.

Put the Lexicons in this order by clicking on one of the lexicons and then using the little up/down arrows at the bottom of the panel (next to “Clear All”) to move it. I suggest that you put Gingrich at the top, then Friberg, then Bauer-Danker (if you bought it), then Louw-Nida, then Liddell-Scott, then Lust-Eynikel-Hauspie (if you bought it), then Thayer, then Moulton-Milligan, then Barclay-Newman (which you can uncheck). For the Hebrew lexicons, put Koehler-Baumgartner (if you bought it) first, followed by Holladay, then Brown, then Harris. It should look like this:
Under Grammars, put Wallace’s Exegetical Syntax = Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics at the top. You may not have all those displayed in my list, but here is my suggestion:
I pretty much leave everything checked under the “References” tab, except I uncheck showing the Matthew Henry commentary. This commentary was written in 1706. It may have devotional value, but it is not particularly reliable and certainly not up to date! You can see the order and ones I’ve un/checked here:
Finally, click on the Summary sub-tab again so that it will be the focus when you return to the Resource panel.

Some other helps:

To remind you again: ESC brings you to the command line. Hitting ESC again will clear the command line.
Most texts have a three letter abbreviation: BGM, BGT, NRS, NET, etc. To see one of these versions, you can always just type that abbreviation in the command line.
Most original language texts (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic) will end either in ??T or ??M. The ??T version is the text. The ??M version is the one with morphological encoding. Usually you don’t want the ??M version since all the morphology is available in the rollover popups or the Word Analysis panel. You may want to display a Greek morphological version (for example, use “d bgm” to display BGM) to create an interlinear version. With BGM displayed, use from the top menu: View > Show/Hide > check Interlinear Mode.
Note these text pairs: BGT/BGM; BNT/BNT; GNT/GNM.

The only difference between the BG? and BN? texts is that the BG? texts include the Greek of both the LXX and the NT while the BN? texts only have the NT part.
We have set up our systems so that we don’t have to see the morphological texts, but note that when you right click on a word in the displayed BGT text and choose “Search on Lemma,” you are actually searching the BGM text.
Also note that there a number of Greek morphological encoding schemes: BGM, GNM, BYM, SCM, STM, TIM, WHM. Some of the differences are due to the Greek text that they use. For most of your work, the BGM (or BNM) and the GNM will be most important. These versions use the same Greek text, but they analyze the Greek somewhat differently. You kind of need to keep on eye on both, but for most work you can just use the BGM (or BNM).

Can’t remember a version code and want to open it quickly? With the cursor in the middle Browse Window, simply type “v.” A small popup will appear that expands according to language choice.
Sometimes you want to see a verse with the Greek and a bunch of English versions. Sometimes you want to see a bigger chunk of text in just one version. To see only the text of one version, first double click on the superscript abbreviation preceding the text. This makes that version the focus version. Then you can either click on the button near the top of the Browse Window or, more easily, just type “b”
I find it easiest to browse through texts by verse in the middle pane by using my up/down arrow keys. To make this work, hold CTRL-SHIFT and push the UP arrow until it says in the lower left of the window: “Scroll Mode is now Synch Mode”
There are lots of other great features in BW8. Be sure to check out:

The ways you can ‘markup’ the text
The flashcard module (There are sets available for Croy and your complete 50+ vocabulary list)
The diagramming module (With a NT text, right click anywhere on the Greek text, choose “Open NT Diagram at the word”
If you get to know Hebrew, the Tov Parallel BHS/LXX is amazing
The KWIC (= Key Word In Context) / Collocation Table is also amazing. It’s a way to see what words regularly get associated with each other.
The GSE = Graphical Search Engine can be an easy way to do searches, but it is also capable of incredibly complex ones.
The Map Module in BW8 is extremely helpful! If you use the icon, you get the BW maps module, but if you the menu: Resources > Maps > … you will see that you also have some fine maps that go with the NET Bible. (If you want to create your own maps, I recommend the free BibleMapper program at www.biblemapper.com. )
If you go to the online BW Forum, you will see that people have created some very nice additions to the External Links possibilities. (These External Links are available when you right click on something.)
The Synopsis Tool, the Parallel Versions, Bible Outline, Related Verses Tool, and Bible Timelines modules are great! Play around with them!
Also be sure to check out the Old Testament Quotations in the NT module by Archer & Chirichigno.
As you get more experienced with the program, the Word List Manager and the Verse List Manager will prove very helpful.

You have really only started with customizing the program and finding ways to use it that are most effective and useful for you. If you discover a neat trick or shortcut, let me know! If you do want to learn more, I encourage you to check out the BibleWorks Forum (www.bibleworks.com/forums/index.php). Especially check the User-created Databases section for lots of free downloads you can add to your collection. I have more links you can check at: www.gettysburgseminary.org/mhoffman/other/bw7&logos.htm

NOW... to make some significant additions to your BibleWorks, go to: http://bibleworks.oldinthenew.org/

In particular, look at this page that tells you how to add modules: http://bibleworks.oldinthenew.org/?page_id=244

Then go to the Modules page: http://bibleworks.oldinthenew.org/?page_id=151

Ones I particularly think are worth downloading include: