10 replies to this topic

[Timothy Jenney]

How many words are in the Bible? Which ones appear only once? What is the most common word to begin a verse? Join Dr. J for an investigation into Bible trivia—and learn some valuable techniques for statistical research along the way!

[StephenFroggatt]

Thank you, Dr J, for this fascinating and useful podcast. It inspired me to revisit one of the trivia facts I remember reading as a boy - the search for 'pangrams' in the Bible (i.e. verses containing all 26 letters of the alphabet).

Of course, Accordance makes short work of this, using the search string:

 

*A* <AND> *B* <AND> *C* <AND> *D* <AND> *E* <AND> *F* <AND> *G* <AND> *H* <AND> *I* <AND> *J* <AND> *K* <AND> *L* <AND> *M* <AND> *N* <AND> *O* <AND> *P* <AND> *Q* <AND> *R* <AND> *S* <AND> *T* <AND> *U* <AND> *V* <AND> *W* <AND> *X* <AND> *Y* <AND> *Z*

 

And then the various translations reveal their results, if any! A couple of examples:

 

HCSB

 

Ezek. 28:13  You were in Eden,  the garden of God.

Every kind of precious stone covered you:

carnelian, topaz, and diamond, 

beryl, onyx, and jasper,

sapphire,  turquoise  and emerald. 

Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold; 

they were prepared on the day you were created.

 

MESSAGE

 

Rom. 12:2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

 

I know this is a trivial pursuit on its own, but it does reveal the speed and power of Accordance.

[circuitrider]

Thank you for the great podcast!

[rsteffens]

Stephen, I like your idea! A simpler way to implement it would be to do a character search like:

a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m. n. o. p. q. r. s. t. u. v. w. x. y. z.

Try it and you'll see the results are exactly the same!

Blessings!
Randy

[Ken Simpson]

Hi Randy,

 

as you have it there, the search doesn't work because the periods are in the wrong position...

 

this is the format that works...

 

.a .b .c .d .e .f .g .h .i .j .k .l .m .n .o .p .q .r .s .t .u .v .w .x .y .z

 

the period precedes the letter, and there is a space between each one.

Edited by Ken Simpson, 02 June 2013 - 05:12 AM.

[rsteffens]

Oops! Yes, that's the way I did it in accordance as well. Sorry for my absentminded typing...

[StephenFroggatt]

Perhaps I'm being a little dim but I can't get either of these approaches to work. 

Do I simply enter ".a .b .c .d .e .f .g .h .i .j .k .l .m .n .o .p .q .r .s .t .u .v .w .x .y .z" into the search box (Words not Verses)?

Perhaps a 'character search' requires an additional command?

Thanks for giving this your thoughts.

Stephen

[rsteffens]

Yes, you should be searching for words, not verses. Try entering it without the quotation marks. Make sure your range is set to "all text" and scope is set to "verse". And make sure the period PRECEEDS each letter.

Edited by rsteffens, 02 June 2013 - 07:21 AM.

[StephenFroggatt]

Thank you Randy.

It turns out that I was doing it correctly, but the single pangram in TEV (1 Kings 15:22) was not being found because it contained no lower case 'k' (despite 'King Asa' having an upper case K).

The full-stop/period version of the formula turns out to be case sensitive.

The *A*<AND>*B* etc version appears to be case insensitive.

Every blessing,

Stephen

[rsteffens]

Yep you're right about that! Blessings!

[Timothy Jenney]

Hah! What a wonderful thread!

Glad I could contribute to this sort of "unorthodox" Bible study. Just don't start setting any dates for the "Day of the Lord" and blame the results on me.