Well done in the Training Seminar! It was clear. Helpful. Practical. Engaging. Even after 8 hours, it made me want to stick around and learn some more from you. Thank you for serving the body of Christ by traveling & thanks to your family for giving you the flexibilty to go.  

What I did for my class translation assignments was to print out the text of our assignment with wide spacing between lines, and using just a lexicon or two and a pencil, would parse the whole thing, use Accordance to check my parsing, then, finally, translate.  The Mounce Analytical Lexicon was particularly useful here, because the verb parts are right up front.  This process served me very well.

If I came across one of those really tricky verbs, I'd work at it for at least 20 minutes before going to Accordance parsing for help.  That didn't happen very often, but it did happen!

I greatly enjoy your blogs and read them all.  Thanks.

How does one swap between workspaces when they don't have a saved name?  Is there some command/keyboard shortcut?  At the moment I just reduce the size of the workspace to click the normally hiden workspace. 

I have taken the same approach with workspaces that you have outlined. As you have identified, I think the look and feel of Accordance 10, the more complete integration of the zones, the more intuitive approach that 10 takes when opening modules, the flexibility to adjust your personal look and feel, and the ease of use, all lead you to a place where having seperate workspaces becomes self evident. 

I started using multiple, dedicated workspaces prior to 10 (I think I started with 8 or definitely 9), but I have found them far more powerful and usable with 10.

It is such a blessing having Accordance as a tool to study the Scriptures, and as I have shared with people for over 10 years now, Accordance is a good enough application that will justify the purchase of a Mac computer (if anyone is looking for an excuse).

Accordance 10 continues to validate that statement as the premier application for Bible Study - IMHO.

Keep up the great work, and thank you to all the Accordance team.

Kevin.

I saw the book concerning translation on Amazon only for 5,62 in Kindle format. 

As your price is three times about more, what value do you add that worth to buy your module and not buy the kindle version ?

Thanks for any answer.

If you want your search to always default to just the verse you are looking for without the context, go to your Accordance preferences, select "Search Tabs", and uncheck "Add automatic context".

Hope this helps. :)

Though, the Toolbar is cool as well as the Unified Window, Library is definitely improved (Categories, Book covers, text info.), & Images & Reading mode, which I'm starting to use often. :-)

I agree. Honey could have this background color: 48, 19 100. (HSB Slider mode). And Elegance could have Apple Chancery font. Still not the easiest to read, but better. Vintage theme with Georgia font, 20% line spacing is excellent theme.

I didn't even realize that the search button was missing. :) Thanks for clarifying what the grayness is.

Drew

I can't imagine ever using honey or elegance. Honey is hard to look at and elegance is hard to read. 

OakTree:

The integrated window is definitely a move in the RIGHT DIRECTION and I thank you for that.

However, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, I am still disappointed w/the UI interface: perfect examples of what would be exceedingly pleasing are Bare Bones' Yojimbo app &/or Chronos' SOHO Notes.

Updating the following would make Acc. and absolute pleasure to USE AND actually ENJOY: 3D looking Toolbar with 3D colored-icons, 3D Analysis charts and graphs (think iWork), 3D looking buttons (examples: Vs, Ch, Bk; Art; AA; L), Timeline app (horrible), 3D syntax trees, highlighters (in User Notes), and Diagrams (are you kidding!). You've started in the right direction but the UI interface work (for a modern Mac app) is indeed needing.

Lee.

The idea of themes is great, but it would be even greater if it was possible for users to create/edit their own themes. Accordance 10 feels like a jump forward in interface design, but it still not fully modern. A further step in this direction would be to use non-modal inspector palettes to replace modal dialogs here and elsewhere.

But the goal would be to let users set up (and even share) favorite themes, and then to be able to easily re-use them. That's really only possible with built-in themes now.

Absolutely. All your current modules will work in Accordance 10 along with any new modules you pick up in an Accordance 10 Collection.

We all look forward to the next leap forward.  I personally do not use the Atlas mainly because the navigation is so poor.  Please, oh! please add azoom scroll based on the mouse wheel of pinch movement and a pan based on a click and hold mouse scroll wheel and an appropriate hand gesture.  Not being able to easily navigate a map is utterly frustrating.  

Thanks again for all the great work.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could simply do that in the same window, without knowing exact syntax? Because current search commands are powerful, but I have to use manual to run them. The same CONTENTS command doesn't work if you don't add <AND> after it. It would be nice if any novice could use these features without knowing syntax, just graphically selecting options.

Hmmmm. It sure would be nice.

You can already do this. Simply open another window, and search using the search command "CONTENTS" of the window with your search results. For more information, check the manual for the search command "CONTENTS" or ask around in the forum.

Wouldn't it be nice if all this was available in a "point release" for Accordance? Wouldn't it be nice if that new release was available today? :)

Wouldn't it be nice if Accordance synced my viewing preferences, workspaces, and modules across multiple Macs?

Wouldn't it be nice if you could browse the Accordance store from within the app?

Wouldn't it be nice if Accordance had a full-screen mode?

Wouldn't it be nice if Accordance ditched floating palets altogether?

Wouldn't it be nice if Accordance could sync my user notes to iOS devices automatically instead of relying on local wifi sync?

Thanks for the teasers. Now mine: "sooner."

PEACE
Kerry 

1) You're welcome.

2) I wondered if any one would catch that reference. Go Noles, Indeed. :-)

2)  Landis green huh?  Go NOLES!  

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Maybe I can re-frame my question this way: Why is it important that Accordance return to the top of the text when doing a search for all verses (i.e. double-clicking the Verses button)? Why not stay at the current marker? It seems arbitrary to me that you would assume the user wants to leave their current position. It's particularly frustrating when reading the NT in Greek/English parallel, when double-clicking takes you back to Genesis and hence a half-blank window.

The context slider is designed to make it easy to do a search, scroll through the hits until you find a verse you want to explore in context, then drag the slider to get the context. Want to go back to exploring other search hits? Remove the context and scroll the list of hits again.

If you are merely doing a search so that you can find a given passage to read, and it bothers you to begin reading with the search results still highlighted, just select the reference of the verse you want to read in context and click the Context button on the Resource palette. That will open a separate text window showing that verse in context with no search results.

Hope this helps.

A more relevant issue, perhaps, is that it is very easy to go back to viewing the whole text. It is more cumbersome to "zoom" in and out in terms of context. Double-click in the right spot and and wham! you've got your search cleared. Oh, you want to see the whole text? OK, mouse over there, click disclosure triangle here, slide this over there. OK, context set. 

Now I want to search again, so back to the context slider... OK, set context back to where I need it. Now search.  And on and on.  Wish it was easier.

Hope this helps.

I've been to training seminars in the past where the focus of the training was "Here is what this button does & here is what this button does & ....".   

Instead, you all started with a real question every pastor/student of the Bible would ask & then went to Accordance to show us the ways the software could help us answer that question.  Very helpful.  I not only learned a few things about Accordance; I learned a few things about the Bible.  Thank you.  

Thank you Accordance team for your "quiet perseverance" in your commitment to helping me to become a person who "more accurately handle the word of truth." Now pray for me to live it!

Peace,

Kerry

I'll gladly waiting to see what you-all have come up with for the need that I have for visual stimulation.

Cheers.

However, my only complaint is that it doesn't look like a real modern-Mac app (21st century), i.e., the UI has a very plain 2D face; whereas, other apps that I'm using are far more 3D looking animated face- very pleasant to use & look at.      Example: Accordance's graphs (including the Construct Window); interface icons (though the icons in the Resource Palette are modernly pleasant to look at, but not A.'s actual interface icons); & even Timeline uses a 2D construct to show distances of time.

P.S. Though I have to admit: Bibleworks is a great program for what it does & for what it offers, but now using a Mac, its Windows UI pales in comparison to Accordance's - I'm glad I switched; just would like to see the same interface but updated with a 3D flowing, animated face.

All this said, I urge Accordance to stay the course on their standards. It is one of the things that makes Accordance stand out of the pack!

i was explaining to someone yesterday how much i liked the translation (print edition) but found the bullet dots annoying when reading the text...

The example in your most recent comment doesn't advance your case, unfortunately. I serve in the denomination where Darrell Johnson is the senior pastor of the flagship church. I would characterize this denomination as mainline with Evangelical pockets. In my seminary preaching class this past semester, at the denominational theology school we used Craddock and Buttrick as course texts. Not Johnson nor MacArthur nor Robinson!

Moreover, Darrell Johnson joined Regent College after serving 30 years in the PCUSA, and took his MDiv at Fuller - hardly a bastion of conservatism.

Finally, have you read The Glory of Preaching? I have, and see nothing in it particular to conservative Christianity. 

Regards,

Mark@DR

Blessings,

Mark@DR

While I can't speak about the specific resources you mention, I can vouch that we are pursuing licenses that reflect the breadth of diversity in our user base.

In regards to the blog where I mentioned NICOT/NICNT as my favorite commentary, I was speaking from a first person perspective, which I typically do in blog posts. Others on our staff might claim a more critical commentary as their go-to resource, so I certainly didn't mean to speak for the entire Accordance team, and I apologize if it came off as such. I'm actually a bit of a commentary junkie, so in addition to the NICOT/NICNT, I typically check Word Biblical Commentary, Hermeneia, and The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture if I'm feeling especially adventurous :)

I appreciate your willingness, and the willingness of everyone at Accordance – including the users – to be sensitive to "Jewish users and Christian users of every theological stripe." I apologize for voicing my frustration in a way that wasn't helpful.

For what it's worth, I wasn't referring to this blog post in particular, but to other things I've noticed. (I didn't make that clear in my original comment.)

For example, in your blog post "What is the Glory of Preaching?" you note that you "e-mailed [the] VP of Licensing and asked him to license [The Glory of Preaching] for Accordance." Any chance you'll do the same for Willimon's The Witness of Preaching or Craddock's Preaching?

Likewise, Darin wrote earlier this month about how NICOT/NICNT is his favorite commentary series without any comment at all about the fact that it is a fairly conservative series overall and that other, more progressive, series written in a similar vein (e.g., The Old Testament Library/The New Testament Library) aren't available in Accordance.

Thus, while folks from "every theological stripe" might be using Accordance, I haven't seen content from them here on the blog in quite some time, if ever. Just an observation of at least the recent content posted here, that's all.

With respect to this blog post, I asked for readers to share their own experiences and I did not limit the invitation to conservative evangelicals, so all "progressive/liberal Christian and Jewish users of Accordance" needed to do in order to have their voices "featured" was to post a comment. You did that, but instead of gently offering another perspective, you chose to voice your annoyance with the perspectives of others. As you yourself wrote in a recent blog post, you need to view these people not as "enemies" but as "conversation partners."

Yes, if all the assumptions you're making - that the author of Matthew wasn't being ironic, that Jesus actually said those words, and that the only meaning the scriptures can hold is contained by exegeting Greek words in a modernistic fashion - are correct, then, yes, I guess you're right.

However, Jürgen Moltmann and many, many others have interpreted that passage in the same way your pastor did. But, clearly, since you have some Greek tools in Accordance, you've got it right, and all those other scholars and theologians must be wrong.

Thank God the Pharisees didn't have iPhones. They probably would have picked apart Jesus every time he "misquoted" the scriptures to them, too.

I use Accordance every day, and I've mostly enjoyed perusing the forums and reading the blog, but the conservative (and Christian) bias is really, really annoying. There are progressive/liberal Christian and Jewish users of Accordance, too. How about featuring their voices, at least on occasion?

Therefore, Israel, love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and all your soul and all of your very self. For the fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom, and for man to keep his commandments is everything. Let all who love the Elohim of Israel search for him with all their heart, for they shall seek and find him.

Fortunately, I have a good relationship with the writer, and he's always very open to correction.

I had a strong hunch that this interpretation was incorrect. When the meeting was adjourned, I grabbed my MacBook and opened Accordance. I quickly determined that the word he thought was aion (a noun) was actually the adjective, aionios. At the same time, I also discovered that the word he thought was a verb, kolazo, was actually the noun, kolasis. In a matter of minutes, with the power Accordance software and fabulous Greek texts (GNT-T) and tools (NIDNTT, L&N, BDAG, etc.), I was able to show that kolasis didn't come from horticulture but was common in "sacral jurisprudence" (NIDNTT) and that aionios describes something without beginning, without ending, or neither. In other words, eis kolasin aionion (and not "an aion of kolazo") truly means "eternal punishment." Though these were pointed out, the preacher, undeterred, included his interpretation unamended and unedited in his latest published book. 

And that is no longer my church. :)

Kerry

Please check again :) Check to make sure any full sets you find include at least 40 volumes (ours includes 43) and includes both the NICNT (red covers) and NICOT (green covers). Personally, I can't find a lower price than ours, even in paper books.  Admittedly, I haven't scoured the depths of Craigslist yet, so some enterprising youth might be able to find an unbelievable deal that has eluded me.

Clicked on the Google link you provided. I looked at the second link (which was Logos). Are they selling the entire set for $700? Is Accordance set (for $1100) different in numer of volumes, or new editions? If not, is the cost difference (+35%) due to the superiority of Accordance formatting and links?

I am probably missing something, but the cost seems like quite a premium. 

Tom

Michael: Thanks; glad you liked it.

How do you get that to work?

The new DVD lectures are like having a personal Greek tutor at your side. It's all extremely good value for money, in fact, if you want to learn Greek, priceless!

Your Mounce's "DVD" offering is a bit expensive, esp. when one could go to Amazon and purchase the three books and save $61.53:

Mounce's: “Greek for the Rest of Us” is listed at $25/$16.24 @ Amazon; Expository Dictionary: $30/$19.89 @ Amazon; Interlinear: $50/$31.29 @ Amazon.

$105 listed /Amazon: $67.47(savings off Accordance's offering: $150/right now: $130: $61.53...expensive "DVD"!)

Is there a possibility for a Hebrew version as well?

Thanks,

Rick

Thanks!

Thinking I may just do this with an iPhone app though...

However, if you look at those remarks for the NICNT and NICOT, those volumes generally rank #1-3 which is excellent.  So for those two I would make the exception, but only because they are ranked where they are ranked (excellent).  I've bought volumes in sets on Accordance because of cost, and because they were bundled that way.  the pricing is also cheaper in general if you get those volumes as a grouping than seperate. 

I think the addage comes from not getting sunk by looking at a sub par reference book for a sermon and end up hosed because of it.  I bought the hardcover of much of the NICNT because a bookstore was going out of sale, i knew the owner and i got an extremely good deal. (80% off).  Otherwise, i would have waitied for accordance's version. 

I'm still up in the air over the whole paper commentary vs digital commentary.  I think both are great to have.  Sometimes I like the book reading, other times, i like the ease of a search on the computer. 

Thanks for making such awesome products!!!

Great idea and wonderfully implement, David! Already mentioned it to new prospective buyers.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

As for making UI suggestions, any user can do that by posting to our user forums. Those threads always tend to generate lively discussion.

Suggestion: Why not put forth your UI ideas before us an let the majority vote save you-all time? Or, let some of us tallented-ones submit our ideas to you, and then let the majority vote ruled, to save you time and extra work?

And more importantly, DON'T FORGET UI UPDATE FOR MAC OS.

On another note, I like the graphic above. It has a kind of "I heart Accordance" feel to it. 

With your IVP collection, I imagine you are using its background commentaries (IVP-OT Comm.; IVP-NT Comm.) to identify relevant cultural issues. I also recommend the ZIBBCOT/NT for that purpose—and they often include photos and illustrations that can help make the point clearer to congregations.

Your congregation is blessed!

This is exactly what you can do now in Search All. If you search for Galations in the Scripture field and select All Tools (or make your own group of commentaries), it will list modules with articles on Galatians first, and then those with cross references.

It is beyond the scope of the Library to look into the contents of the modules.

I love the browser, but I would love it even more if it could be used with my WBC-NT/OT when I display two text panes above and the commentary across the entire screen width below. I can only get the Browser to work (to be visible as an option even) when the reference tool is positioned side-by-side with the text, which calls for a much wider screen than I've got. (OK, so it's a good reason to buy a new 27" iMac!) 

Any plans to implement that?

Jon

I wonder if you would be so kind as to fill that gap?

Mike

Thank you.  I've posted about using Kindle and Accordance over at my personal blog.  Hope that is helpful.  Thanks.

http://jwritebol.net/the-kindle-and-accordance

bless y'all

CMD-`

(This is the key to the left of the number 1 key on your standard keyboard.)

This allows you to quickly bounce between two Accordance windows, just like CMD-Tab allows you to switch between apps.

Just a thought. Hope it helps.

We do hope to have the G/K numbers (not Strong's) for the NIV11, but have no further details on that at this time.

I love the way in which Adam Nicolson describes the thinking behind the translation of the New English Bible, when contrasted with the KJV. In his book "God's Secretaries," Nicolson writes:

"The flattening of language is a flattening of meaning. Language which is not taught with a sense of its own signficance, which is apologetic in its desire to be acceptable to a modern consciousness, language which in other words submits to its audience, rather than instructing, informing, moving, challenging and even entertaining them, is no longer language which can carry the freight the Bible requires."

Whew! ;-)

Over the years of using your Accordance Bible on my computer, I have often run across the abbreviation, “prim.” I had thought it must mean “primary,” as a way of denoting basic words that are not formed from other words. The idea of “primitive” also occurred to me, but seemed foreign to my understanding of that word (“crude” or “undeveloped”). 

Even in the “Abbreviations” section of your Dictionary, I find this under “prim.”: “primary, primitive”! This seemed to indicate that you were taking no chances as to which it was! 

This morning I was consulting Matthew Poole's “Commentary on the Holy Bible,” on Hebrews 12:15. I found this: “Looking diligently: episkopountes notes a very strict and severe inspecting themselves; its primitive, skopein, signifieth such a looking at a thing as those who, in shooting, aim at the mark;”

 To complete my investigation, I looked up the word “primitive” in my on-line “Oxford American Dictionary.” There I found:

• Linguistics denoting a word, base, or root from which another is historically derived.

• Linguistics denoting an irreducible form.

 So it seems we may believe, with good reason, that “primitive” is the word which “aims at the mark” in your Lexicon!

You do need a Twitter account to enter our Giveaway, but the discounts are available to everyone.

Selecting a Bible from the Library icon will still open that Bible to its first verse, but Accordance for iOS 1.2 will let you switch an existing view to a different translation by tapping the Text label in the upper left. When you select a new Bible that way, you'll keep your place at the current verse.

Will Varner     

How do I activate tabs in version 9.2.1?

Great Work!

You hit a home run with אלכסה ! That is just how Alexa is written/translitterated in modern Hebrew.

Here are two ways that name Elizabeth can be written in Modern Hebrew:

אליזבת

יליזבטה

And, Lisa can be written like this  

ליסה

Bethany isn't Hebrew it actually is from Aramaic and it's really two words rather than a compound word that it appears as in the GNT.

Anyway Great Work!

Speaking of downloading to an iPad - Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's priemer guide book The Holy Land — An Oxford Archaeological Guide 5th edition is available as a Kindle download.

Derek hastlekha.

The problem with writing a blog read by Bible scholars is that mistakes are unlikely to go unnoticed. When I checked the PhotoGuide and saw the masculine spelling "Jean," it did raise a doubt in my mind, but not enough to make me examine it further. Since I wrote the PhotoGuide, I'm certainly at fault for the erroneous information, though I'm now curious to know whether I was passing on an error in my sources (which included popular guidebooks as well as academic works) or whether I merely misunderstood something I read. At any rate, I appreciate the correction.

Bad example aside, the PhotoGuide has been a great source of help at many of the other sites we've visited here, and having it on the iPad has provided the perfect combination of depth and portability. I'll talk about that in tomorrow's post.

Joan of Arc was not canonized until 1920, so she could not be called "St." before then. The French spelling of her name is Jeanne d'Arc, not Jean d'Acre. Jean is a masculine name (John) and referes to the John in the NT, patron saint of the Hospitallers, whose big fortress can be visited in the town.

Thanks for the update on the 3rd Edition. I look forward to getting it soon.

http://www.accordancebible.com/Two-Davids

In the end, I think the ideal Bible study method is the one which works best with the way each of us thinks and processes information. I talk a little about the influence of personality in this post from last year.

I completely agree—and this is a really important point. Commentaries can be a crutch, a lazy interpreter's easy way out. However, when used as you decribe, they challenge, refine and extend one's own interpretation. That's their highest and best use.

I have a woman in the Sunday School class I teach who reads exclusively from the Message. Now, if she had come to me to recommend a translation, I would never have suggested the Message alone. Nevertheless, I would also never say anything to her now about it because this is the Bible from where she hears God's voice most clear.

Very often in our class, if I've had the time in my preparation to take a look at our passage in the Message ahead of time, I'll ask her to read a particular verse out of the Message because very often there is a clever turn of phrase or "just right" wording that really drives a point in Scripture home. 

Eugene Peterson is one of my favorite Christian writers because he can so easily combine theology and church life together. Granted, these two should never be separated anyway, but it seems that they usually are. Since Peterson translated the Message directly from the original languages, to me, it's put on a level different from that of earlier paraphrases such as the original Living Bible. Sometimes, when I question a rendering in the Message, I will dig into the original language text and come away understanding exactly where Peterson was coming from. The man knows his stuff.

Reading unfamilar translations can do that too, I just find that the Message makes me do that a lot. ;-)

I was referring to your comments about the feminist scholar's exegesis of Genesis 1–3. While you begin by praising her as a "gifted exegete," you go on to say that she "distort[s]" the text "from the standpoint of her own ideology," thus implying that she, too, had a "blind spot" that you wanted to point out. My comment was simply meant as a reminder that not everyone would consider her exegesis a "distort[ion]."

You state your hermeneutic rather clearly when you suggest that "her willingness to read into the text a viewpoint which strikes [you] as clearly foreign to it" is a negative thing. Again, I have no problem with that; you are welcome to your views on these issues, and I appreciate the viewpoint that you – and others – bring to the text.

All of that said, I should have been more generous to you saying, "My point in telling you all this is not to critique this scholar's exegetical methods." My apologies for focusing my attention on the things that bothered me in your post rather than your obvious willingness to be as neutral as possible.

As always, I look forward to your upcoming posts.

With respect to the movement toward theological conservatism you perceive, I would argue that it's a mistaken impression. Yes, many of the modules we've recently released have been staunchly conservative, but that has more to do with the materials we have ready to release than any agenda on our parts. Before all the recent Zondervan material, we released JBL, Hermeneia, Semeia, etc. When each of those resources was released, we might very well have had conservative users perceiving a progressive shift.

As for my post "clearly suggesting that a hermeneutic based on authorial intent is somehow the 'right' way to interpret the scriptures," I think you're reading into my post suggestions which are not there. I said nothing about determining the author's intent in this post; I merely suggested that we need to do our best to become aware of our own interpretive preconceptions so that they do not blind us to important aspects of the text. Whatever our hermeneutic, if we ignore or gloss over aspects of the text, our understanding of that text is sure to be flawed.

Adam, due to my blind spots, please help me to understand how you are using and understanding the word "conservative"? Also, I'm a little bit in the dark by what you mean by "a progressive Accordance user". Are you comparing yourself to a conservative Accordance user? If so, would you be so kind to explain how you see they are different?

I guess for me, at the heart of it all is: why does anyone study the Bible? We all have assumptions--at least I believe that we can all agree on that. We all have "blind spots" and again, I think that we can at least agree on that. So what's in it for us--no matter what our theological persuasion is--as we come to the ancient text of the most meticulously examined book in the world? My assumption is that we all want light!  

To be perfectly honest, as a progressive Accordance user, it bothers me a little to see how conservative the material "surrounding" Accordance is becoming. Most of the modules are extremely conservative in their approach (including the new releases); Dr. J's podcasts, while helpful for learning the interface, tend to be theologically conservative; and, now, the blog is clearly suggesting that a hermeneutic based on authorial intent is somehow the "right" way to interpret the scriptures.

While I'm fully recognizant of the fact that most biblical scholars (and, thus, Accordance users) are conservative, not everyone is. It might be nice to see some more critical and minority approaches to the text in future blog posts as well as how Accordance can be of use to those interpreters as well.

I often think of epistemology when I think of our biases and blind spots.  Questioning our assumptions is well worth the effort.  Einstein questioned the linearity of time and thus developed the theory of relativity.  What other understanding are we not questioning?  That is a very good question and I look forward to your presentation of Accordance tools or techniques to use.

Thanks for the stimulating post.  

Amen, David!  You just can not observe the text too closely!  Many times what we are ‘familiar’ with is only what we have been taught the text says, rather than having studied it meticulously for ourselves.  Blind spots are healable, but they require diligent study on our behalf.

Speaking of ‘who’s where?’ and ‘who’s with who?” in the Creation story, back in 2001 I taught the pilot course for a Bible Study course I had written called “HIStory:  A Timeline of Biblical Events”.  The night we studied the Creation, I asked a few simple questions to prove we need to study even the most familiar parts of the Bible attentively (maybe even more so), one of the questions being, “Where was the woman when God gave His command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?”

Out of 150 students, not even one knew the answer!  When I told them God had not even fashioned a woman yet, and gave the instruction to Adam alone, they were all incredulous.  While it was not a major doctrinal crisis point, it was a perfect illustration that we who call ourselves Christians far too many times do not study His Word carefully for ourselves, observing every single word, sentence, verse, chapter and book in their contexts.

The application of that illustration became very real as we worked our way through the entire Bible--we didn’t want to miss anything God said because to believe something we had been ‘taught’ rather than believe what the Bible actually said on some other issue might just be the difference between Truth and error, or Life and death.

Thanks for your blogs.  God is using you through them.

i know you don't usually give time frames for this but any idea when there'll be an update to correct this? (c:

always loved accordance and find the app handy -- and trying to use the app as a justification to purchase an ipad, alas, not there ye...

Interesting. The JPS translation of Gen 3:6 merely contains "She also gave some to her husband, and he ate", completely leaving out any mention of his presence with her. An interesting omission.

Thank you for this great idea. I use it all the time.

God bless you!

Richard Labelle

Thanks for the post, but what many of us really WANT is an update to the UI, i.e., modernized, elegant, & simply more desirable to use!

We enjoy the brains, how about the beauty (e.g. "Graphical search window", "Diagram window", "Timeline", "Graph" in the "Details button", the "Graphical construct window", etc. [just to name a few] are woeful outdated and in need of a major 3D update-think Numbers, Keynote, etc.)???

Thanks for all the hard work you-all have put into Accordance so far!

Ahh, hello, old friend!

Thanks, Dave and Chuck.

Very nice (that you were reading Rev 1 with the family *and* using Accordance).

Quick question -- what font are you using in your map? I like it much better than what mine is set on.

Thanks.

I just moved to the Twin Cities area from Hawaii, and I get that ("Why?") all the time.  See you Saturday!

Robert Evans

At least I'll get to stop by and visit you at the Accordance exhibit. It'll be good to put a face with a name. See you there!

"Moral of this true story: Well, I don't know, perhaps it is simply what this: All the exegetical and original language skills in the world will not take the place of a willing heart broken before God and the honest desire to know Him."

Many years ago, as a learning tool for my students, I expanded on the axiom "Context is King!".  It goes like this:  "If Context is KIng, then Observation is Queen--and Interpretation and Application will be their royal offspring."  "Wisdom is vindicated by all her children."  Luke 7:35

I am new to Accordance (18 years with another platform) and I am thrilled and thankful for Accordance's centricity of the Bible.  I sincerely thank you.  Sharon Jensen

Yesterday I waxed philosophical about how it is more important to read English well than to know Greek and Hebrew.

Dave, I wonder if perhaps we ought to say instead:

"It is more important to read well than to be enamored with technical details of Greek and Hebrew."

You've made some very good point (in both posts), but the goal is to learn to read well, whether that be reading English or Greek or Hebrew or Spanish, or whatever language a text may be. This ought not to be contrasted with "knowing Greek and Hebrew." The same reading skills which you champion for English--and rightly so (Adler's advice is still valuable)--is just as true for reading Greek and Hebrew. The dangers of Greek and Hebrew (or at least one of them) is what I call grammatical maximalism (AKA, "the golden nuggets approach")--making too much out of isolated grammatical details and not paying enough attention to context. The grammar is, of course, important; without grammar there is no context, but the grammatical details are only individual pieces that, in themselves, do not communicate much meaning. Meaning comes from statements in context.

You are also quite right to emphasize the text-centric focus of Accordance. Instead of being told what is important (a "Big Brother" mentality, IMHO), Accordance keeps the text central and enables the user to easily access the supplementary material as needed to understand the text.

I completely agree with a hierarchical approach to Bible study. 

My Bible study workflow has evolved in a rather interesting manner. I used to have a completely print-based workflow, but major portions (all but the commentaries) have gone electronic. It started with Laridian's MyBible on Palm devices and moved to Olive Tree's BibleReader on my iPhone and then iPad. Next came Accordance on my Mac. I now typically read the Bible on my Kindle. It's refreshing, as the Kindle's focus on presenting the text alone makes it easy for me to avoid distractions. 

Here's my current Bible study workflow:

1. I read the passage in my four favorite translations on my Kindle: ESV, NLT, NET, and NIV 2011. Why Kindle? It's easier to focus there than on an iOS device or print study bible. A text-only print bible would be similar, just heavier.

2. I access the ESV and NLT Study Bible notes in BibleReader on my iPad as needed. I also can do Greek and Hebrew research in BibleReader. BR is very good for highly mobile, sophisticated Bible study.

3. I use Accordance on my Mac to do in-depth textual, Greek, and Hebrew research. The ability to compare everything side by side is priceless, as are the Greek and Hebrew resources.

4. My go-to commentaries are the Bible Knowledge Commentary (print and Accordance), the Revised Expositor's Bible Commentary (print), and the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (print).

5. For more in-depth commentaries, I usually buy them as needed. For basic Bible studies, I usually start with the NIV Application Commentary. The NICNT and NICOT are often my favorite next step.

Why isn't Accordance on the iPad included in my workflow above, especially since I already have it installed? In my humble opinion, it's not quite yet polished enough for effortless use.  I am confident it'll get there; version 1.0 shows great promise.

Why don't I buy my all commentaries electronically? I don't like to read long-form text on LCD displays (i.e. my Mac or iPad), and I prefer the random-access nature of books to the Kindle. I also don't like paying for them twice. Study Bibles work great in iOS; I have a few in BibleReader. I hope to pick up a few for Accordance in a future sale.

PS: Just picked up the JPS Torah commentaries for Accordance (nice sale!) and I must say what a delight it is to read on the iPad. I have the Genesis volume in print, and it's one of my favorite commentaries. It made a very nice transition from print to eBook.

I like to think that accordance is providing a path or bridge for those who do not have theological training in the church to step by step delve deeper into theological discussion.

I also appreciate the available "Legacy" commentaries because they allow us to better understand and access the two thousand years of theology we stand upon today.

-Jon

I would add the NIBC commentary series to your first tier of non-technical, shorter commentaries. I find it very readable and usually helpful for quick information.

• click and hold on the verse number
• determine if this is a new note, or you're editing a note
• select your note file
• wince as the note screen comes up and takes up the whole page, obscuring the text you're wanting to comment on (those split screens are useless to us?)
• then type your note

In Mantis, you:
• Click the note icon next to the verse
• Write your note (IN LINE WITH THE TEXT)

In Olive Tree, you:
• Click the verse number
• Click "add note"
• Leave your note in a floating box near the text

This is only one example of the many, many UI and workflow failures in this app.

Got a bible verse in your notes? Can't click it to take you to the verse. 

Want to make the text look less hideous and add a little padding to the reading? (something all readers should offer--or at least not default to slamming it up against the edge of the device) Can't do it.

Don't even get me started on the crashes.

Then there was the "Easy Install," which had to be the most ironically named button on my iPad. Even if it didn't crash every time I tried to sync with my purchased items, the fact that you have to sit there and stare at a screen for hours (because it can't download in the background) is failure enough. Not even a progress bar? Not an 'estimated time remaining?' Nothing to let us know that the application is still working. Just a big "cancel" button staring at you until the app crashes. 

The UI is entirely unpolished. You guys are 2 years behind everyone else, you couldn't find someone to help you in this department? Olive Tree looks much more refined, is easier to read, more intuitive, and has more options. I just don't want to repurchase my hundreds of dollars of materials again, so I feel trapped.

Really disappointed in the effort. I could go on, but I only have 90 characters remaining. :(

I would say that Software wise, accordance is a better program, but resource wise, I still like the other one (although the program drives me insane, and I despise using it.) 

Norman Danner
I can't really chose the "best" at the moment. Accordance is the number one for mac, but from the standpoints of german bibles to chose from (i know that will change) and design of the app (i hope that will change ) BibleReader 5 is the better product for iOS at the moment, at least for a non-heavy-user as I am. From what i read i guess Accordance already has a better search etc, but for the normal guy looking for a bible, BibleReader has a bit more to offer in usability.

Colin Randall
I would agree with Norman as regards iOS versions. Accordance is probably better for Bible study and research and has a great range of commentaries and other material. BibleReader works better as a Bible 'on your lap' when visiting people's homes or in small group discussions because the interface is very intuitive. Having said that we are all aware that this is just version 1 of the Accordance App and I am sure future versions will change all this.

Justin Neal
I am very happy I found Accordance. I bought Ilumina which is neat because it has video and neat and shinny bits and pieces, but I was disappointed in it. I am sure that program will be great for my kids when they get older, I already pla...yed the Christmas story for them. But when I tried Accordance on a whim last Christmas it was instantly the right program for me. I love it and it is the only program that I need.

The iOS is neat and I am very happy with v.1. I wish the Greek/Hebrew tag text would show a lexicon definition when I look up a word instead of going to a complete other reference tool, I always seem to loose my place in the text when I leave. And I still don't have all my modules downloaded because it quits on me. But when sync comes out all will be fixed. Anyway the iOS is great for what it is for now and knowing Accordance it will only get better. Until then its a great reader in my pocket for when I need it.

Also Youverson linked to FB which was a neat trick and it was easy to copy and paste into a document. I have not tried very hard to copy and past into a document yet but at first glance it didn't work for me. It would be very handy if the iOS had the same copy/paste options that the OSX version has.

Highlighting

Copy/Paste

Commentaries that are pastoral rather than detailed into the Greek & Hebrew - They have scholarship but are not bogged down in the details 

Illustrations/Quotations Books - Stories etc

Sometimes Pictures for Powerpoint Use

A few Bible Versions NIV, TNIV, NIV+, Message, NLTse

In the meantime maybe it's time to 'upgrade' that IVP Atlas for one of the new Carta releases. ;-)

i've been holding out in buying an ipad waiting for this app, yet i think i was disappointed in that graphics are not integrated into the text (think IVP Atlas, and others) and i'm wondering if this is different on the ipad...

Very Pleased and have mentioned it on Facebook and several e-mails, showed it to others and will continue to do so at every opportunity.

The speed of the app in all categories is just incredible on both the Ipad and my old Iphone 3g.

Thanks again.

Grace and Peace.

I have done alpha and beta testing for other business-centric apps and know what goes into development. For a 1.0 app, this one is well-developed. I can only imagine what's in store for the next release. While my heavy work is on my MacBook Pro, I have waited for this and am not disappointed.

Accordance continues to deliver the Word!

I also really appreciate the fact that it was free. To me that is excellent customer service. Too many companies seem to "nickel and dime" their customers to death by charging for iOS versions of software you've already invested in.

Thanks!

-Jon

I allow you to string me along... with as many details as possible.

Now that Mac users have lots of storage space (hard drive or RAM), surely the time is coming when a competent human reader will be recorded for the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. The era of using the Mac OS system voice (I use Fred) has passed.

Of course, both Hebrew and Greek present challenges with pronunciation systems. I suspect that you'll have to provide a couple of options for each, using your seminary profs as consultants.

For Greek, I guess that the Mounce version of Erasmian pronunciation would be an inescapable choice.

Really.

It's not.

But Jesus has already come! 

In the spirit of Advent, we aren't decorating the house for Christmas until the iOS app gets released. And, the choir party is on Boxing Day, 12/26.

No pressure, of course.

But seriously, I'll be addressing what you can and can't expect in this first release in future posts. I'm afraid a few people's utopian expectations may get dashed, but I think most of you will be very pleased. :-)

No complaints here I only ask that you please keep up the good work. 

I am starting to get a bit worried that I have spent my resources on the wrong software. This is despite the fact that I am very happy with the way Accordance performs and works. The matter of the fact is that the modules, books and texts that are becoming available rarely come close to being neither interesting nor relevant to any serious theological work. Like the ones this post relates to for example.

Whereas the Logos Bible Software (now available in a very well performing version for Mac, not to mention the already available version for iPad) offers theologically relevant titles, like Barth's Church Dogmatics for example, together with an impressive array of original-language related literature Accordance seems to be stuck with the publishers' leftovers. Again, see the blogpost´s books for a good example.

Unless there is "shape up" coming in the near future, when it comes to the theological quality and relevance of the titles released, I am afraid that at least one Accordance-user will start to regret tha fact that the Accordance-platform was chosen in the first place.

Too much (unfounded) certainty about things that in all honesty and with all careful research are ambiguous is similarly dangerous. I'll have to have a look at the resources. Thanks for highlighting them.

Any updates on where this process is?

Just in case you didn't catch it in Steve Jobs' presentation, Lion (OX X 10.7) will boast full-screen applications. So it's only a matter of David Lang & crew finding the time to allow Accordance to take advantage of those hooks!

For my part, my veiled references to other products are not meant to be a "silly game." The point of this post was not meant to criticize anybody else, but to focus on our central motivation for doing what we do. So I said all I needed to in order to set the context for the discussion, and then focused on Accordance. If your kids do that, they must be wise and diplomatic beyond their years! ;-)

Now to your point... tongue in cheeck if I could convince some of my profs that all I need for my studies is on Accordance then I could save a lot of money on books!

The truth of the matter is if you guys don't have a book, Logos Bible Software does. My only other option is to buy paper books and that would be counter productive in this age of electronic research.

That brings us to the strength of each product. I slightly prefer exegetical studies with Accordance and I slightly prefer research with Logos. I can use both to do the other task effective and BOTH do effective Bible study.  I am thankful for your emphasis and I am thankful for theirs, because without both available to me there would be big gaps in my Bible software computing needs.

Good job on version 9. I'm looking forward to any new tricks you have with version 10.

I understand. Thanks for the insight though.

michael.

Brian, there are lots of seminary Greek profs who demonstrate Accordance to their students and encourage its use, but I'll have to check on whether anyone actually requires it.

I have a Bible Search Text in one zone tied to a Commentary in another zone.  When I click a scripture reference link in the commentary zone, it opens the link in the Bible zone, however in a new tab.  I'd love for it to simply update the Bible tab that's already open, maybe by automatically entering the reference in the search field.  Is this possible?

Thanks!  SJ

Speaking about Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek": can you please tell to me if you will be offering the 3rd edition (to replace the current 2nd) in the near feature?

Thank you!!

Ron, it's certainly an interesting idea.

I love the new zones feature. It has provided a definite enhancement to productivity for me. I can envision a button on each zone that would expand the zone to full screen (especially useful for zones like timeline and atlas) and then collapse the zone to its preset grouping (kind of like the green button for normal window behavior, only for zones). What do you think?

Best regards,

Ron

Can a commentary in a zone though track with your scripture passages? I tried that and could and get that to work. Maybe I was misunderstanding what you were saying.

Thanks! Rino

Thanks for making Accordance both such a flexible and intuitive, not to mention creative solution for Bible study. I have been a user since version 5 in classic mode.

Interesting idea...but for laptops (mine is 15"s) this is just too cluttered and not very practical, but rather on my 27" iMac works nicely.

When?

Thanks for keeping us updated with what is actually going on behind the scenes - things which I haven't taken into account!

It sounds to me that you guys are now doing to Accordance what Apple did to Snow Leopard - enhancing the core foundation to build upon future feature-sets. I truly do respect this approach and am now patiently going to wait to see the improved UI in future updates - I myself find the program immensely useful, but would still like to have BEAUTY ALONG W/THE BRAIN!!!!

Gratefully yours!

Great post and excellent line of argumentation on the use of software programs. To be honest, I am skeptical of those who aver that a plethora of resources is essential for biblical study, and I think this bespeaks to a somewhat rudimentary view of exegesis by those who pontificate such a premise. In other words, we often overlook the significance of spending time in the primary text of Scripture, and more importantly we overlook the importance of secondary literature of the ancient world, so as to broaden our horizon.

I own several good commentaries, but truth be told, I spend much more time reading the ancient documents, both the Scripture and Sectarian. 

Accordance is certainly a mammoth of an application and I can't imagine what all it would entail to make massive changes to the UI.  I'm know you all get bombarded with UI requests all the time and I just want to say that I trust you and your team.  I'm excited for the future!

~Rick

Thanks!

Could't have said it better...

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4912&st=0 

That being said, how do you think the mobile device category will impact this? On the desktop/laptop, exegesis and in-depth study of biblical texts is going to be the primary things people do with Bible software. But what about on devices like the iPad? It's more of an e-Reader, so does the library become more important in this space?

As an iPad owner, I would not envision myself doing the same kinds of study or tasks on the iPad that I do in Accordance on my iMac. But, I don't have Accordance on my iPad yet, so maybe that will change. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Mary, for your active participation.

So glad I have a book budget and it still has some room on it. Any further info you're willing to give out about either the iOS app or Accordance 9--I'm all ears!

Keep up the great work, folks!

In any case, these will mostly not be lectures but informal discussions.

Really looking forward to incorporating Accordance on to my iPhone and iPod Touch. Keep up the excellent work and keep up posted!

Thanks, and keep up the good work on the best Bible software out there.

Alan

It looks awesome. And since I am not a programmer I have a question; how difficult is porting this application over to android? I live in an AT&T dead zone and in SoCal, the dropped calls are legendary. I love my Sprint EVO and actually have grown to love the Android OS. Now would I have an iPhone if the offered it? That could be a toss up. So, is it possible? If it is, do you think that you will do it? Would you think about it???

Thanks my friend,

Rino

Thanks so much for the update!!! To be honest, the entire reason I decided to get an iPad when I first heard of them was to one day put accordance on it. And that ways way before there was whisper of an iOS-Based Accordance.

Here's the thing: my iPad is my full-blown ministry assistant. All my notes, ebooks, calendar, Dropbox, audio, video, everything on there is for ministry, yet it has been incomplete without Accordance. This is great, great news. The iPad was made for Accordance! 

CAN'T. WAIT. CAN'T. WAIT.

Please keep us posted!! There are many of us who would absolutely LOVE to be BETA testers, as well...

I would love to have the ability to enter say verse markers in an EndNote field and have them pulled into my User Notes/Tools and vice versa. Maybe having two fields, one for the verse and one to index the citation? 

Holding all of that on an iPad/iPhone would also be a tremendous resource. And then syncing the links that I make on the iPad/iPhone back to the Mac would be a tremendous tool. I just think that I would keep more of those wonderfully rough splashes of thought that evaporate before I get my Mac out of its case (after the sermon and at home) and get it set up to type. 

The only question is when would you sleep?

In the meantime, I've been duplicating several of the reference works that I already own for Accordance by purchasing from Olive Tree.  I really like the Bible Reader setup and am happy with many of the modules (especially the ESV Study Bible and the new Strong's edition of the ESV and the HSCB Strong's.) The easy way to access references and notes with a touch instead of a separate box is great and makes the iPad a more enjoyable device for reading a study bible compared to my Mac Pro.  I hope that the Accordance app will allow this same kind of use.

However,  some items like the NLT Study Bible and Unger's Bible Dictionary in Olive Tree suffer from big problems when accessing verse references.  Many go to the wrong references.  I've become spoiled by the meticulous near perfection of the work done by Accordance- It seems that you really do get what you pay for when paying the higher prices for the Accordance software.

I'll be really happy to eventually standardize on the Accordance versions on my iPad.  

Thank you for your assurance regarding the modules!

As much as I ENJOY BibleReader (it really is a powerful app to use!), I simply cannot continue to afford to spend $ for two separate devices-platforms! I would rather give my $ to OakTree - because I've already invested extensively into Accordance - to acquire more needed modules, instead of purchasing, AGAIN, GNT/MT/LXX/BDB/BDAG/HALOT,etc. for my iPhone.

Henceforth, I'll remain quite loyal ($) toward OakTree (sorry OliveTree but to costly in the long-term).

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

Thanks for the update... I suppose we've been waiting for the iOS software (and you guys have been working really hard) so everyone is eager to see what comes of it all. 

I really can't tell you how pumped I am and agree with Ron about the last sentence in your post being really exciting. Thanks for communicating! Also, an iPad is a must! ;-)

Thanks for the update on Accordance for mobile devices. I love the convenience of using the iPad in a Bible class, but it comes up short on Bible software and Keynote presentations. I had to jailbreak it to get display out to the projector. I have tried about six different Bible programs, but none are killer apps. I have mostly gone back to using Accordance and Keynote on my laptop for Bible class and sermon presentations. I am hopeful that Accordance on the iPad will be flexible enough that I can go back to the iPad in the classroom. I get the feeling I will not be disappointed.

Glad you followed up the last blog with some more details.  All of your loyal Accordance users have been waiting so long for Accordance on the iOS platform and glad to hear it should be great from the start.  Just hope it is coming soon.  By the way, I agree we need to get you an ipad.

Jason, I am certainly aware that there are many other iOS Bible apps which enable you to look up passages quickly. In fact, I mentioned them when I contrasted our method of navigation with those of "most other programs I've seen."

While this blog post merely relates my experience of using our app in the most basic of ways, I did drop a hint of at least one unique search capability (I'm surprised no one seems to have picked up on it) and implied that there are already many more. I can assure you that you will have most of what you are looking for in the initial release of the app, but as I said, we've got to make sure we get the basics right as well. A top-heavy app with powerful features but clumsy navigation is most certainly not what Accordance users are looking for.

With respect to being able to use your already purchased Accordance modules without having to pay for them again, that's a given. In fact, it's the main reason we're developing Accordance for the iPhone and iPad. So be encouraged, the news is all good! :-)

I would suggest, even GLADY, that you charge $10-$20 for the app but allow us to use our ALREADY PURCHASED MODULES instead of charging us for them individually (like Craig Adam's mention of Olive Tree - who can [continually] pay to purchase modules for two separate devices: Accordance GNT & MT for Mac & Olive Tree's for iPhone/iPad???? I would rather pay even $20 for the reader and $0 for the own modules...

Gratefully yours,

michael.

1. Search your text for words using an asterisk in the entry box, to see every word highlighted in red.

2. Click Details and click Analysis to see an alphabetical listing of your lemmas with the count (unless you have set your defaults to something else).

3. Select Set Analysis Display (command-T) and drag the Inflect item under the Lex item in the first column, and click OK to get exactly the list you wanted: all the inflected formsin the text, sorted by lemma and with a count.

4. Experiment with other display options, and tell your friends how easy this was.

I spent about 15 minutes at the beginning of the presentation going over history and philosophy of electronic texts. I was running a Keynote presentation from the iPad before I switched to a document camera for demonstrations. In that Keynote presentation, I used a screenshot from Accordance related to some of my recent dissertation work to explain the kind of potential electronic texts have over printed books. I showed a fairly "busy" screen that I had in no way created for the presentation, but really was from my actual work. It included both biblical languages and translations in parallel based on a Hebrew part of speech search I had done, the Word commentary, and separate windows that were linked together. 

Those of us who have used Bible software such as Accordance for a number of years take a lot of very incredible functionality for granted. The idea of electronic texts was still a new idea for most of the people I was talking to in my presentation. I explained to them that we have to rethink the way we use books as we begin to transition to tablet devices. 

I think that those of us who have been using Accordance for a while have a significant leg up on those who are just now starting to think about electronic texts.

May just be a bleed over of the Apple User air of arrogance that comes from enjoying the best and having excellent service with constant impprovement in design and usefulness.

Thanks for all your hard work: Apple and Accordance are a great combo! Lord, keep us humble to be fruitful servants!

"People have been talking about e-books and e-publishing for a long time, but reading books on electronic devices has only recently become a popular activity. With the rising popularity of Amazon's Kindle and now Apple's iBooks, it seems that all you hear about these days are "e-books." Of course, [...]"

I'm using Google Reader...

Feed address is http://www.accordancebible.com/common/rss2/?channel=blog

which if you follow the link redirects to feedburner, and the extract for the post on that page is exactly as I posted above, so it doesn't appear to be a feed reader issue...

Matt

I use Mail and the entire post displays. Also make sure you are using the …/common/rss2/?channel=blog address.

Feel free to email me if you continue to experience issues and we can look at it more closely.

Could you change the settings on your rss feed so that the entire post gets sent and not just a portion?

Thanks for the reply... I have waited patiently since the iphone came out 3 years ago... I can easily wait if it will be delivered this year :) Thanks for the update. 

Ben

Also, keep in mind the iOS app is just one of the big things in store for this year. 

Ben

Any update you can send our way? A little teaser, please?

James

I am a new Accordance user.  As such, I wanted to let you know that I am thouroghly enjoying your product.

I am not an expert user yet, but here is where I am first off getting a massive bang for my buck:  incredible biblical scholar's resources, in one place, available to me anywhere on the planet, without having to carry around 100 pounds of textbooks!

My back thanks you!

It's a good discussion because there are different perspectives as to whether or not it seemed successful. Folks at Oak Tree might want to listen in order to consider whether or not to attend next year's event (assuming there is an event next year).

i would read sections of the passage and then look on the map following key place names mentioned in the text, occasionally clicking on the places (which i link to ISBE), and also zoom in with the 3D features to investigate the route's terrain.  these features give great geographical context to the apostless journeys.

If we think an Apple-less MacWorld Expo really can be successful, we'll certainly consider exhibiting once again. At this point, we've read mixed reviews and anecdotal evidence which is largely inconclusive. Still, the fact that it hasn't been all doom and gloom is a hopeful sign.

Interesting take _after_ the show.

The other option is to use my favorite keyboard shortcut of shift-control-command-4. That lets you select a portion of the screen to copy and it copies the screenshot to the keyboard.

I currently have to use the application Grab to take a snapshot of the screen or window and then crop it in Preview.

Thanks!

Can it get any better? Nope.

Just maybe... Accordance will run on the soon to be released islate? 

I think for this post a picture of an iphone would have been more appropriate.

I am stoked!

GET

US

EXCITED!

(and you were correct)

iPhone developer? Hammina hammina!

WHAT!  Excellent news.  I can't wait.  

By being organized, it is possible to get too locked into your pre-arranged method.  Though your choice of modules may be sufficient to suit your needs, there is a chance that by being so methodical that you miss out on or forget about the plethora of other quality resources hiding in your Resource Palette.

Perhaps you could give us an example of your "loosey-goosey" workflow?  Some of us might benefit from a walk on the "wild side" of studying.

I'm very glad that sales this Christmas season were exceptional for you guys!  Looking forward to more great stuff in the years ahead!

This is most definitely possible. It is one of the great features of the CNTTS NTCA. At the top left, above the search window, there is a drop list next to the one that reads CNTTS Apparatus. From this list, select Manuscripts. Then type the MS you want to search in the search window (for the Papyri you need to put a space after the P so P45 should be P 45. This is just the nature of the Module). The module will then highlight that MS in the Apparatus. You can use the drop list next to the button (on the far right above the main text window) and select Articles, paragraphs, or Add Titles to limit the amount of text that is shown in the main text window.

In addition to selecting a single MS you can perform searches with multiple criteria by clicking (below the search window on the left). Then you can enter MS B03 in the main search window, and the Reference John in an additional search window and the Module will find all of the John passages that are in B03. You could add another search window and limit the search to find the Additions in John in B03.

Hope this helps.

Similarly, if undertaking the search found in David's earlier post at http://www.accordancebible.com/about/articles/cntts.php, how would you restrict the search to the overlap between the miniscule 69 and f13? Otherwise, the search "f13 69" would presumably include hits where 69 is incomplete?

I've been thrilled with my CNTTS apparatus. I believe it represents a BIG step forward for both text critics and exegetes. I look forward to more research along these lines, now that the apparatus is complete.

http://www.accordancefiles2.com/training/data/Advanced.html

and select "Using MT/LXX"

http://www.accordancebible.com/archive/blog/archive/2008_04_01_archive.html

Read, "Determining What Gets Displayed in MT/LXX" and "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics"

These series of posts along with the others should help with understanding how to use the MT/LXX module.

Again, HTH

http://www.accordancebible.com/archive/blog/archive/2008_09_01_archive.htm

Begin reading the article, "Creative Merging" and scroll up to read to follow-up posts.

HTH...

Rob Robinson beat me to it, but I have the same request. 

Thanks,

Irwyn

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2580&view=findpost&p=15156

While I'm not David, I thought I would point out Rick's post on this forum thread about syntactical databases: http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2580&pid=15163&st=20&#entry15163.

While I think there is some benefit in having a syntactical database, I don't find it at all surprising that Accordance's competition would tout this feature as "some of the most important and useful" features for scholars. To me, that's just pure marketing, plain and simple. There might be a small niche group of scholars for whom that statement is true, but for the vast majority (I'd venture over 99%) of Bible software users (including the scholars), syntactical searches certainly would not rank as one of the most important and useful features of Bible software. Just my two cents.

I am a long-time Accordance user.  I have read your summary of the shoot-out out as well as the summary of one of your competitors.  I would be interested to know what your thoughts are about the arguments of Dr. Heiser on his Naked Bible blog in regards to the importance of syntactical searches and how these are some of the most important and useful for scholars.  You mention that you have critical apparatus but you don't mention the fact that you don't have any syntactical databases.  Is the lack of syntax databases a weakness in Accordance?

Thanks,

Ahshuwah

Would it be possible to have a copy of the handout mentioned in The Lamp Blog?

Blessings,

Tim Wilhite

I have had the same issue-as a child, I learned KJV scriptures. The archaic language combined with (shameful) disuse results in imprecise scripture searches.

So I always had gone to google to look up, "study to show thyself approved", then plugged the reference (2 Timothy 2) into Accordance.

Irritating but doable.

However, this afternoon I read the "Who's your daddy" post on this blog and immediately created a "Search All - English - All Bibles" tab. Now, looking up "study to show thyself approved' locates the scripture. Unfortunately it found the NET version... not KJV... but at least it was found!

Not perfect but better.

joel

As for whether Google really does ignore common words, I get mixed results. I get what appear to be the same results for both vows "Jewish wedding" and vows Jewish wedding, but you're right that if I enter Jewish and or Jewish of it seems to search for phrases including both words. Perhaps when common words are used by themselves Google treats them as part of a phrase. I have learned that with Google, I can't always predict the results, because no one outside Google really knows what all the rules are. 

By the way, using for in Accordance should still translate well into Google. "A" is a common word too.

Your post was well said.

EXACTLY --> "When searching the text of the Bible, defaulting to a broad search will often return too many false positives, leaving you to wade through lots of extraneous hits to find the results you're looking for."

As for why most of us rarely go very deeply into Google search results, that is due in part to how well Google ranks the results, and in part to how impatient we are with wading through lots of hits. If we don't find what we want in the first couple of pages, the subsequent results usually become much less relevant, and we end up tweaking the search. Unfortunately, Google's syntax is actually pretty arcane for anything beyond simple searches, and few people bother to learn its intricacies. As you yourself noted, few people even realize that common words are ignored.

Now, with respect to having to translate back and forth between Google searches and Accordance searches, I'd recommend you actually try the searches you gave. If you paste vows "Jewish wedding" into Accordance, then click the All words option, you'll get vows "Jewish wedding". Accordance ignores the quotation marks, so this search will actually work without further tweaking.

Of course, this search is not really what you want, since your quotation marks indicate you want the phrase "Jewish wedding." To get the search you want, you can double-click the second AND and delete it. Now, perhaps we can improve the Google translation so that it does not add AND between words within quotation marks. We'll see.

Regardless, you can then take the search vows "Jewish wedding" and paste it right into Google. Remember, Google ignores common words like "and" so you don't need to reverse translate it at all. I think you'll find that the improvement you initially dismissed as a "hack" will actually make it much easier to do what you want to do.

Hope this helps.

To throw in my two coins: there's definitely a learning curve with searching in Accordance, but once I got the hang of it (practice makes perfect, and Dr J's Lighting the Lamp podcast was a huge help: http://www.accordancebible.com/site/resources/multimedia/podcast/), I could appreciate the power that flows from the logic. Because Accordance is meant for a range of users, the Accordance logic of search forms the core of its strength, I think. If I wanted to search a Bible version Google-style, I just switch over to Google to get the verse reference, and plunge back into Accordance again. Maybe I don't need to do that now with the latest Googlian tweak.

I think learning the Accordance logic has also helped me in my Bible study -- it's important to see Scripture not as a resource you dip in and out of (like the Internet), and more than a collection of words and phrases and sentences, or even verses (hence the joke that John the apostle would have no idea what we're talking about if we ran up to him to discuss the import of John 3:16.).

So that's why I think Accordance logic is great for BIble searches. There was yet another learning curve for searching tools, which was a bit discouraging, but I've come to appreciate the usefulness of choosing between Titles and English content, for example.

While we are on the topic of the Google generation, I think searching could learn a lot from Google. When I search Google I get results ordered in terms or relevance, with an excerpt of the bit that matches, and some summary information. When I search in Accordance, I've got to navigate all those tiny expansion triangles. Then I don't get an excerpt. If I click them to see the context I end up with a zillion tabs. There is no ordering results by relevance (e.g. in a title is better than in the text.) And it would nicer if you didn't have to wait for the entire search to finish before you could start scanning excerpts of the results.

This situation is made worse, because of the way Accordance splits things up. The Church Fathers are split across three modules. The Greek bible is split up across separate NT and OT modules, and the way of navigating from a search of one module is very different to the way of navigating from a search of multiple modules. I find the multi-module search annoying enough that I'd rather just search 3 books of church fathers separately.

The same goes for searching bible versions for a phrase. If I think I remember a verse but can't remember what version it is in the way I remember it, I'd like to see the results of search all bibles with the matching verse without having to open tabs for every result, close the tab, etc etc. Give me the Google generation.

I don't think Google users have any idea that "of" is ignored by Google. That's something they probably need to do when indexing a zetabyte of information. What googlers expect is an AND search.

But you see, its not just Google. It's iTunes. It's iPhoto. It's Finder. And by extension, pretty much EVERY Mac application is starting to acquire search boxes with AND implied. So you could call it the Mac generation too. Oh, and Windows Vista and 7 have acquired the same search boxes. So its now the Windows generation. You might as well say its the computing generation.

I mean, its quite common for me to search Google AND Accordance for a topic. I might search Google for 

vows "Jewish Wedding"

and my starting point for searching Accordance would be to cut my search out of Google and paste it into Accordance. Then probably forget that the syntax is different at least once, and fix it up. Then I might modify it a bit to be "wedding ceremony Jewish" or something. Then I'll paste it back to Google, and have to reverse translate it.

It sounds like you were trying to search for Maundy Thursday in a regular Search window, which will only search the currently selected Bible text. Since the word "maundy" does not appear in the Bible, Accordance tells you that the word is not found.

Hope that helps.

All I'm basically asking for is a version of accordance that has 80% of the features stripped out completely or invisible to me and is all contained in one window.

Accordance doesn't need more features, it *needs* less, and the best way to improve the software from here on out is to make some major refinements to the interface and basic functionality. I was telling my sister in law a while back, I feel like just figuring out how to program something myself with XCode. Because all I want is the bible on my computer, it should be as easy to use as a real bible, and it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

For example,

If I do a search for a phrase, and I didn't get the wording right, I don't think it should say "No results found". It should see what it can find that's similar to what I entered and give me those results. Maybe I mispelled a word, or maybe I left out a comma, or maybe I was searching in the wrong version. The program has the search string that I want on hand but it's not intelligently analyzing it to determine what I might have meant.

For example, I just searched for "I am the way the truth and the life" and got nothing. There should be *plenty* of info there to formulate some results. But I get nothing.

I don't know about the current version, but in my version (6.7) I have some search tools at my disposal under the "Search" menu, but they're full of programmer logic, wildcard characters, ranges, my favorite, "XOR". I have an IT degree so I have an idea how to use these features, but I don't even want to go to the search menu bar, it's not user friendly. I have a very intelligent computer that can work with those tools far more efficiently than I can.

My dream product is Accordance with a minimalist UI, and a basic search field and one translation of the bible of my choosing - at a cost of 30 dollars. And Accordance Pro for the true bible scholars. - Oh, an iPhone version would be fabulous too.

Some study sessions I enjoy getting exactly what I type in, but most of the time I don't know the exact wording or phrasing (as most newbies I assume) thus it would be great to have an easy way to tell accordance that I really don't know what I'm talking about.

As far searches go, I think Accordance does it right.  I would really dread a google style search in Accordnce :)

When did Accordance integrate context-sensitive menus? I use them everyday. 

And for what it's worth, Google could learn a few things about searching from Accordance.

You're right that a two button mouse only presents the user with two choices, but that's twice as many choices as a one-button mouse. The difference between the two buttons is not hard to grasp. What's hard for beginners is training two different fingers to press two different buttons each at the right time and without having to think about it. For those who've never done it before, there is a period of training involved and a frustrating tendency to make the wrong choice.

That period of acclimation is probably far shorter for new users today who have grown up with multi-button gaming devices and gadgets than it was for non-computer users in the early '80s, but that just proves that we have been better trained to deal with interfaces requiring manual dexterity. When Apple was trying to introduce a completely new way to interact with a computer, it deliberately chose to make the input device as simple and intuitive as possible.

I would like to see a "clear" button in the search field somewhere though...maybe similar to the tiny X you see in an iphone search field.

Because your article did not name the programs, I was a bit confused by it. Right now Bible Desktop and Alkitab are the only java based freeware programs. (Alkitab is a sister project of Bible Desktop targeted to the Indonesian speaking people.) So I was pretty sure you were referring to Bible Desktop.

Yes, the Book Installer is what I was referring to, according to the path that you gave. It should have taken effect without a program restart. Though sometimes, one has to select a different commentary and then select the original one for it to take effect. Thanks for the feedback. I'll log a bug on that one.

MacSword is another sister SWORD project of CrossWire's. Soon BibleTime, another one, will be cross-platform and available for the Mac.

Thanks for not adding to the SWORD/e-Sword confusion.

Blessings in your efforts,

DM

By the way, I hope I didn't give the impression that MacSword and Bible Desktop are Windows ports. MacSword was among the "freeware programs developed for OS X" I mentioned (the one with the most flexible typography), and I tried to indicate the cross-platform nature of Bible Desktop. I know many people confuse the Sword Project (the cross-platform open source initiative from which MacSword and Bible Desktop derive) and E-Sword (an unrelated Windows freeware program), but I'm well aware that the former didn't come from the latter. I hope I didn't inadvertently add to that confusion.

BibleDesktop, the java-based freeware program you referenced does allow you to choose a font in three different ways. You will be able to choose from all the installed fonts on your Mac. It is not limited to 10 fonts, unless that's all you have installed.

For Greek and Hebrew, I recommend the SIL fonts.

1) You can choose the font, it's size and it's style in preferences for the application as a whole.

2) You can choose the font, it's size and it's style in the Book manager for each Book.

3) There in the same Book manager, you can set the font on a per language basis.

Unfortunately, this is not obvious and is an omission in the manual.

Regarding MacSword and BibleDesktop, neither are ports of a Windows program. MacSword was developed as a Mac program from the start. BibleDesktop was developed as a cross-platform program from the start. Nearly all the development of Bible Desktop in the last 3 years has been on a Mac.

DM Smith

Lead Developer for Bible Desktop

www.crosswire.org/bibledesktop

Now, since Accordance has become Unicode-friendly, will we eventually be able to get to change the fonts for the Greek and Hebrew bibles as well? I really prefer reading them in a sans-serif font like Trebuchet or Helvetica.

One thing I like about accordance is all the little customizable features that bring so much satisfaction to the user experience. As ridiculous as it sounds, it just feels good.

That is, on the one hand I might not always practice minute exegesis of the historical portions of the Bible, but on the other hand I can look carefully at the way the Holy Spirit chose to communicate the Law, Jesus' teaching, Paul's doctrine, and certain other portions.

God's choice of Hebrew and Greek I suggest was not just a happy coincidence but part of a particular choice which has included culture, idiom and even climate as a unique way of expressing his mind.  In the way God chose Isaiah or Peter to perfectly express his mind in language which although theirs was also from the mouth of God, so God has chosen Hebrew and Greek as the best vehicles for his accommodation to communication with human beings.  This is not to say we need Hebrew and Greek to know the mind of God but simply that Hebrew and Greek are not 'merely languages'.

Having said that, the reverse of your stated malady is having heated linguistic arguments about Bible words based exclusively on English grammar! I will usually chime in on the Greek that underlies simply to point out that the issues are far more nuanced and that some grace has to be given!

The biggest advantage to your and similar software is that we have the Greek words (mostly) fully parsed so that I have backup for my weak conjugation skills. But understanding verb agreements goes a long way to clarifying many texts! In this way it is superior to either the concordance or an interlinear text.

As a former student and ongoing employee (IT) at Dallas Theological Seminary I consider myself extremely blessed to have known Dr. Hoehner for nearly twelve years. Your description of him reflects his character and ways very well. Everything he did was with purpose and conviction. Other adjectives that immediately come to mind when I think of Dr. Hoehner are: integrity, joyful, humble, scholar, generous, and so much more. I will miss him very much.

Dave Largent

"how to prepare an expository sermon, how to exegete a passage for a college/seminary research paper, and how to prepare a presentation for a Bible study. I imagine you’ll also see some special guests, who will share their unique uses of Accordance."

One important task-based topic would be personal study strategies (involving setting up various workspaces and highlights categories, using auxiliary Accordance modules such as the Timeline & Atlas, etc.), something along the lines of the "Study of Mark" series.

These various topic-based training videos will offer a tremendous supplement to the Accordance introductory tutorials.  Fantastic!  Thanks for devoting all this effort to free online training!

Your points were well-made in this article. Workflow is one of the primary areas I discuss with people trying to decide on Bible software. In my opinion, Accordance has the best blend of ease of use and workflow customization. Keep up the good work, and I'm excited to see what you have planned for future versions.

You'll be pleased to know that upcoming webinars will include some that are task-oriented: how to do a word study, how to write a sermon, how to compose a presentation and how write a research paper in biblical studies.

We started off with webinars that covered the basics bacause of all the new features in Accordance 8. Eventually, this will give us a pool of resource materials for new users.

So, stayed tuned..., help with tasks is on the way!

Blessings,

Dr. J

In my discussions with many bible software users and programmers over the years, I have found just as many different workflows. Most new users that have never really studied the Bible in depth are completely lost. Most that were seminary trained using books use a similar system with electronic texts regardless of the software. A power user is someone that understands how they want to study the bible and how to make the software work to their benefit. That should be the goal of training, albeit challenging given the different levels of skill in each software's customer base.

I think some software companies recognize that their potential market includes many people that are new to bible study, not just bible study software. Or, they are designing software for a targeted market that are trained to study a certain way and design their software accordingly.

The challenge is to train users that need to learn how to study the bible and not just how to use the specific software to study the bible. The danger is making it seem easy to translate the original languages, when it is not; or to overwhelm the user with too much information, at least too soon in their study of the text. Demonstrating how much information a particular software product can search and obtain and how quickly is not necessarily bible study, but it makes for good marketing. Finding information specific to a particular stage of study should be the goal. This takes knowing what you are looking for and how to get it from the software.

To be specific:

BibleWorks Study Guides are all task oriented and not a tutorial on just how to use their software. Their vision of workflow is probably more incorporated into the design of their product than most, and is in line with their vision of their market.

Logos has tutorial that show both how to use the software as well as workflow. While they provide the home page for beginning users and market it as in-depth bible study, the true workflow design is in the passage guide and possibly their study templates currently in beta.

Regarding these two products, I do not think they lock you into a workflow, even though they may suggest starting points and steps for study in their design.

Accordance tutorials are mostly how to use the program. Fortunately your blog expands this knowledge into incorporating it into a workflow. Accordance is well designed and efficient, once you get under the hood. Making the webinars and training videos available is a great step. The resource "Beginning in Mark" is a great tutorial combining both why and how to. Keep up the work in this area. If your customers get more out of God's Word using your software, then you have accomplished your goal.

Tom 

Extraordinary!

Tom

PS O.K. a little of the top by me. But you are, at least, a very good writer. ;-)