This is the last post of my five-post review of BibleWorks (BW). In the first four posts, we looked at BW as a whole, the Search Window, the Browse Window, and the Analysis Window. This post will focus on some key new databases and features in BW10 that enrich our study of the Scriptures.
BW10 starts up faster than BW9 did. The first, most notable feature in BW10 is the new screen layout and colors that allow one to define his own color schemes for the windows. A comprehensive list of new features and databases is available. Here is just some of the key ones.
1) Samaritan Pentateuch by August Freiherrn von Gall: OT students now can compare between the Masoretic, Septuagint, and Samaritan texts.
2) High-resolution tagged images of the Leningrad Codex: the verse locations in the manuscript are tagged so one can easily locate and display any verse.
3) Nestle-Aland GNT 28th edition
4) New English Translation of the Septuagint (2007)
5) Danker’s Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the NT (2009)
6) Instant lemma form usage info for Greek and Hebrew: the new Forms tab in the Analysis Window gathers together usage statistics for morphologically tagged Greek and Hebrew texts.
7) EPUB reader & library manager: the new EPUB tab in the Analysis Window allows one to read EPUB files and manage libraries of EPUB files.
8) Complete audio Greek NT: sound files for NA27 Greek NT & Robinson-Pierpont Greek NT.
If you are using an old version of BW, I strongly recommend upgrading to BW10; it is worth the $189. If you never used BW, I encourage you to purchase it for your own study and ministry. BW also offers extra modules for reasonable prices. Among many helpful modules BW offers are Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG) by Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich; Reformed Dogmatics (4 volumes) (BAVI) by Herman Bavinck; Stuttgart Original Languages Module (Old and New Testament texts with the NA28 & BHS critical apparatuses and morphologies) (SOLM); Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) by Kohler, Baumgartner, and Stamm; and Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Abridged) (TDNT) by Kittel, Friedrich, and Bromiley.
BW also has group discounts and, for unlikely situations, BW has a 30-day warranty and return policy where you can return it for any reason within 30 days. The intent of this warranty is to give the users sufficient time to decide whether BW fulfills their Bible research and study needs.
Rev. Dr. Sherif L. Gendy