Nov 11 2007
Two New Semitics Databases
Logos of late has produced a wealth of Semitic resources. This year at SBL they will present two new projects: the Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and the Semitic Inscriptions Databases. The latter of which I had a hand in producing the Aramaic component. My hope is that each heightens interest in the field of Semitics and continues to make these documents accessible to a broader audience.
Forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask (you can always delete this comment), but I have a question regarding biblical software. I’m a doctoral student in OT and will be looking a lot at intertextuality. I’m going to have to get either Logos or Bible Works, but given the phenomenal prices I want to make sure I make the right decision. Do you have any opintions on what is better? I’d appreciate any thoughts. Thanks in advance (and thanks for this useful blog).
For those who use Accordance, “The Dead Sea Scrolls Biblical Manuscripts” has been released at SBL.
http://accordancebible.com/about/articles/dssb.php
The “Hebrew Inscriptions” module has been available for a number of years for Accordance.
http://accordancebible.com/modules/details.php?ID=137
I believe that “An Index of Northwest Semitic Inscriptions” was released last year at SBL.
http://accordancebible.com/modules/details.php?ID=463
This module gives a background and bibliography for the major inscriptions.
Phil,
I have both Bibleworks 6 (the newest version is 7) and Logos 3 Gold Edition. Also I should say that I am not an unbiased observer, as you know from the previous post; however, I will try to be as fair-minded as possible.
Both products are quite similar in that each will allow you to view a variety of texts and translations. Also, each will allow you to view and search the Westminster morphology codes (as well as the texts).
Personally, I use Bibleworks for searching the Greek and Hebrew morphology databases, but that is because I learned the commands for it before I got a copy of Logos (both, however, search the same databases). Other positives about BW are that it seems to require fewer resources (i.e. it will run on an older/slower computer), and it typically is less expensive. Ease of use seems to be the biggest negative for Bibleworks; a new user without experience using previous versions may find most functions difficult to use.
Logos, on the other hand, is built to do all of the above, plus it is an electronic library. This means that it contains (or you can add to it) many different resources. Whereas one can add Waltke/O’Connor and HALOT as expansions to BW, Logos offers these as well as Joüon/Muraoka, van der Merwe, and others (other modules include: Tov’s Parallel Aligned Hebrew and Greek Texts, Context of Scripture, the Ugaritic religious texts, Abegg’s Dead Sea scrolls w/ morph codes and the new Semitic inscriptions database; they also have a plethora of other titles). Another new feature in Logos is the Anderson/Forbes Syntax database, which allows you to search not just morphology, but syntax. This means that you can search for a certain word not just in a particular form (masc sing construct) but in a syntactic position (masc sing constr as the subject of a verbal clause).
Be sure to check out their website Logos.com to see all their resource offerings, and you can view some of their videos to get a feel for the software.
If you do decide on Logos and don’t want to drop $500 (or more) for the Silver or Gold package, I would suggest the Original language bundle which is competitively priced with BW7 around 300. Then you can add resources as you wish thereafter or you could always upgrade at a later point.
As for Accordance, I have to admit that I have not spent much time using the software, as I do not own a Mac, but I have colleagues who like it very much. It does have several nice offerings–notably the TAD expansion–however the price for the full package (nearly $2000) seems a bit prohibitive. Though one could buy the most basic edition and then put together a pretty good package a la carte.
Happy buying & Good Luck!
Phil,
Hardy wrote, “As for Accordance, I have to admit that I have not spent much time using the software, as I do not own a Mac, but I have colleagues who like it very much.”
For what it’s worth, Accordance will run well on a PC with a free Macintosh emulator.
http://accordancebible.com/resources/support/emulator.php
[...] Word from Logos is that the Semitic database will be shipping in March. Michael Heiser has produced a nice video here. Filed under: Resources Posted by Hardy at 11:39 pm [...]