I have been using BibleWorks (BW) since it is 5th edition. Ever since, I have been upgrading and 
using its new additions of resources and functions. In my research and biblical studies, I rely on BW and use it regularly for my work on biblical languages, morphology, sentence flow, and discourse analysis.
In this blog series, I share my experience of using BW, with special attention to BW10, to show how your reading of God’s Word will be immensely enhanced as you avail oneself of BW10. This first post introduces BW as a whole and highlights some tools that I find useful in studying the Scriptures. The next three posts will explain some of the main functions of the three core Windows in BW: Search Window, Browse Window, and Analysis Window. The final post will highlight the new resources in BW10.
As the most comprehensive Bible software program I have ever used, BW offers numerous tools needed for close exegesis of the original text of the Bible. It has 200+ Bible translations in 40 languages, 50+ original language texts and morphology databases, dozens of lexical-grammatical references, plus several integrated analysis tools.
When you focus on a biblical passage, whether for an academic research, sermon preparation, or simple daily reading, you would definitely need some tools and resources to help you better grasp the text’s meaning. BW achieves two goals in a simple, straightforward way: it saves your time looking for information in books, and it points you to the text without simply making a hermeneutical decision for you. Thus, your exegesis, based on biblical languages, is accomplished efficiently and accurately as you use BW’s tools, which will enrich your study of the biblical text. Through BW, you interact with the text firsthand.
BW is inevitable if you are looking into doing a linguistic and intertextual analysis. Finding echoes, allusions, or direct quotations across the Testaments is made easy with the use of BW’s several search options and cross references. With a simple search, you can see how a certain word is used across the Testaments, in the LXX, Targum, or Pseudepigrapha. Text-linguistic analysis is effortlessly achievable through the aid of BW and its lexical and syntactic resources.
The tools for analyzing the text (e.g., related verses, phrase matching) and viewing the text (e.g., parallel versions, synopsis window, text comparison), are particularly helpful for nonacademic Bible students and readers. Whereas, the more academic resources that I find very helpful are the lexical-grammatical references for Hebrew (e.g., Joüon-Muraoka, Waltke & O’Connor), Aramaic (e.g., Reymond), and Greek (e.g., Danker, Wallace), text criticism resources (e.g., NT critical apparatus), and reference works (e.g., Bible dictionaries, confessions of faith, detailed satellite and elevation maps, and commentaries). These tools and resources are fully integrated and tagged with the text.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of resources found in BW10. For a complete list of resources, see the full contents of BW10 here.
The next post will look into the Search Window in BW10 with its numerous functions and options.
Rev. Dr. Sherif L. Gendy
Arabish Biblical Theology 