BibleWorks 9

BibleWorks 9 has just been released and I have just received my copy in the mail yesterday.  I have installed the program and will be writing a series of evaluations of the Bible software in the coming weeks.  Please be patient since I am working a full time secular job in addition to writing this blog.

In brief, however, there are at least two noticeable improvements to BibleWorks 9 over version 8.  First of all, there is a new Bible atlas included, a feature I have longed to see added.  I used to own Logos Bible Atlas in my earlier versions of Logos Bible.  However, Logos Bible Atlas has never been updated and the old version will not work in Windows 7 at all.  It did work in Windows Vista if you knew how to tweak the program to run under the older Windows versions by selecting the proper switches.  That is no longer an option so my old Logos atlas is inoperable on my new laptop.  The great news is that BibleWorks 9 has The New Moody Bible Atlas included with the complete text and Scripture reference links!  Understanding the context of the biblical text in its historical and geographical setting is a must when doing exegesis for either sermon preparation or for formal exegetical work in college or seminary.

In addition BibleWorks 9 has added a new textual criticism apparatus along with Tischendorf's Critical Apparatus which was included with BibleWorks 8.  The new apparatus, The Center for New Testament Textual Studies NT Critical Apparatus,© 2004, is the result of work done at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and promises to be a great comparative apparatus to use with your hard copy apparatus in the 27th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament and the 4th edition of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament.

BibleWorks 9 has so many English translations of the Bible and so many Greek versions that it is worth its weight in gold.  While the Hebrew version is the WTT Leningrad Hebrew Old Testament, BibleWorks 9 also has many of the ancient texts of the Old Testament including Aramaic, the Targums and the Peshitta.

The many lexicons and grammar resources make doing exegesis much easier than any other Bible software out there.  The software has no lag time and there is no waiting for results to search.  Logos 4, on the other hand, is a slower and bulkier platform and takes much longer to search. 

The searchable Reformed Confessions resources are useful as well.  I have used these in BibleWorks 8 for a year or more.  When I need to find something in the Westminster Standards or the Three Forms of Unity quickly I only need to open them and search for the word or phrase I remember.  There are hyperlinks to the Larger and Smaller Catechism where appropriate in the Westminster Confession.  What I see missing, however, is a hyperlinked version of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. 

The Greek and Hebrew flashcards come in handy for reviewing one's Greek and Hebrew skills.  Robertson's Greek Grammar and the Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon are fully searchable and appear in the Resources window links to the verse being studied.  Every seminary or college student studying New Testament Greek or Old Testament Hebrew will want to check out BibleWorks 9.  BibleWorks 9 is by far the best original languages software out there.

Although there is a little work involved, if you already own Logos you can access external hyperlinks by enabling these features in the external links windows of BibleWorks 9.  For example, you can enable the Liddell-Scott lexicon hyperlink so that you can click on a Greek word in BibleWorks and Logos will open the Liddell-Scott Intermediate Greek Lexicon to that lemma.  You can find out how to do that by going to the BibleWorks Blog and clicking on Modules.

You can watch a short video here to see BibleWorks 9 in action: