1 November 2006

Finding the right web Bible tool for the job.

NET Bible have raised the standard for web Bible tools with their NeXt Bible.
It does almost everything you want, and fast. Of course it can't touch the big boys
like Accordance, BibleWorks, Logos etc, but unlike them, it is free.
There are other free web Bible tools which do some things better than NeXt.
Here are the best of the best, so you can find the right tool for your next study.

The NeXt Bible is probably now the best tool for most general Bible study
* NET Bible with full notes, plus the major commercial Bibles (incl. NIV, NKJV, NLT)
* Basic lexicon & concordance within easy reach
* Proper Greek & Hebrew fonts with easy installation tool
This is a new tool with a few problems, but it looks like it will go very far.




The Sword is the best tool for comparing original texts and translations
* almost every free Bible and many commercial Bibles can be selected in parallel
* Greek & English Bibles tagged to for parsing and simple lexicons (incl. LXX, NA27, NASV)
* tagged words link to a concordance search based on the original Hebrew or Greek
* click on a word to highlight every word derived from the same Greek or Hebrew original



The BlueLetter Bible is the tool for doing quick lexical studies
* easy access to full lexicon entries in Thayer and Gesenius with a brief preview
* no font problems because it uses multiple images and scans - surprisingly fast
* useful concordance search based on Greek & Hebrew.



ZHubert is the best tool for Greek lexicon analysis [currently being rebuilt]
* links to full Liddel & Scott and shorter lexicons, with bar charts for NT usage.
* readable hover details (better than interlinear)
* displays a chosen verse in a scan of Sinaiticus
* complex searches, eg noun A with verb B as aorist participle. (Not yet friendly enough).

Laparola is the best tool for NT Greek variants and textual criticism
* All the data from Nestle-Aland & United Bible Societies editions, and more.
* You can arrange sources chronologically, by text type or by type of manuscript
* Quotations and Allusions from the Fathers can be usually be read in context
* You can even find all variants in one manuscript and compare them with another manuscript
Note: ZHubert presents the same data in a prettier form, though with less flexibility.


For the specialist Biblical Scholars:
The Tanak verse analyser displays the structure of Massoretic punctuation diagramatically.
Tyndale Unicode Bibles - Greek and Hebrew texts as Word docs which you can copy and paste.
(this needs Unicode fonts - get a free fonts with Tyndale installer and keyboard)
Links to all English Bibles on the web - for those who can't get enough translations.
Links to facsililies and editions on the web, in Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Latin etc.

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