Question/insight #5: "Is there software that you use, or do you do it from scratch?" (12/20/97)

Response #5:

I use the ABS Reference Bible to obtaining the raw texts from the NRSV, TEV, and KJV, but selecting and retrieving each verse is very much a manual, verse-by-verse process. (It is not nearly as easy as verse-retrieval in Concord, but the only Bible version included in Concord is the King James Version.) Even with the initial aid of some macros in a word processor, all of the verses then need to be manually collated and reformatted.

The textual commentary is done entirely manually. For each New Testament verse that is found within the Bible Lesson, I visually compare -- Greek word by Greek word -- the Greek text used by the KJV translators with the text in the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament, which is the internationally recognized standard for best representing the original Greek text.

The BibleTexts Online Bible Commentary (http://www.bibletexts.com/bt.htm) and the original articles such as those listed in the "Topical Index of Commentary and Cross-References" (http://www.bibletexts.com/topical.htm) and elsewhere on the BibleTexts Web site are also done based upon manual research.

All of the research I do uses both paper-based and electronically-based books. Some of my library is listed in http://www.bibletexts.com/bibliogr.htm. My primary electronic research tool is Logos4 (with additions), but I also use Concord.

Descriptions of some additional resources I use can be found at the the following Web pages:

• http://www.bibletexts.com/strongs.htm
• http://www.bibletexts.com/bl-components.htm

UPDATE

The ABS Reference Bible, to which I refer above, is no longer available for purchase. (A new addition has has been planned.) Logos Research Software (also mentioned above), the PC Study Bible Complete Reference Library, or Hermeneutica's BibleWorks 4 would be good alternatives to the ABS Reference Bible.