Biblical Greek | Nerdlets

A Guide to Using Zotero in Biblical Studies: Collecting, Annotating and Citing Bibliographic Data
Zotero is free bibliographic software that allows you to easily collect, annotate, and cite bibliographic data. It runs as a plugin for the excellent Firefox browser, which means that you have the web at your fingertips as kyou manage information, and also that it can run on any operating system that Firefox can run on [...]
Logos Rolls out Biblia.com, with Desktop Integration
David Stark at New Testament Interpretation reports on the (still beta) roll-out of Biblia.com, an excellent web resource for Biblical Studies. Check out the full report here, or if you’d just like to see the goods, check that out here.
Sale at WTS Books
WTS Books currently has a super sale on all NICOT commentaries. The sale is running until August 19th, so be sure to check it out!
ESV Study Bible Now Available on iOS Devices
The folks at Crossway have produced a really phenomenal application for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. The iPad version is especially handy, with an interface perfectly fit for its widescreen. The app is currently on a promotional sale ($9.99), so check it out on iTunes. Via: What’s Best Next
Upgrade In Progress!
No, Nerdlets is not dead. It’s just been on sabbatical. But now that I have graduated (so now it’s Dr. Nerdlet), I should have more time to regularly update this blog. Here’s what to expect in the future. Faster and better. Some plugins were slowing things down, and those have been removed or replaced. I [...]
Using Greek and Hebrew on your Web Site
The always interesting Phil Gons has a wonderful guide to blogging in Greek and Hebrew. You can find that here. Looks like he is prioritizing Gentium as a Greek font, which is also my font of choice. And if you don’t know how to type in (Unicode) Greek and Hebrew, make sure you check out [...]

Online Reader's Bible

Biblical Greek, Christianity, Computing, Webapps and Websites 2 Responses »

Apr 062009

: Image via Wikipedia

Mourning the loss of Zhubert? Me too, and I will have an update on the copyright discussions soon, and a new eBook of the GNT as well.

In the mean time there is an excellent new reader’s Bible available that is based on Tischendorf‘s Greek New Testament. Check that out here. It features handy footnotes and popups. You will need Google Gears for it to work, but that’s an easy install.

HT: Justin Taylor

Update:David Stark points out that the site also displays the OT, with notes for both Hebrew and Aramaic.

eBook of the Greek New Testament (UBS4) for the Kindle, iPod, or iPhone

Bible and Hermeneutics, Biblical Greek, Books, Research Tools, Software 5 Responses »

Mar 142009

Update: The links to the ebook in question have been (preemptively) removed pending licensing discussions. See here. Perhaps I will have time in the future to provide a Tischendorf version, which is in the open domain.

Having Googled long and hard for a free, accented, open-source, Unicode eBook of the Greek New Testament, and to no avail, I decided to make one myself.

Getting the Book

You can download the NA26/UBS4 Greek New Testament eBook in the following formats (right-click and “Save File As”): Kindle, Palm, mobi, and xhtml. Follow the instructions for your device. The Kindle version is the best, so use that if your device supports it. You can convert eBook files using the free application Calibre.

iPhone and iPod Touch users can use the free application Stanza with this guide to get everything set up (it’s easy).

If you need another format for your reader, try Stanza’s Desktop Reader to convert one format to another.

I will post about new releases and improvements on this site, so if you like what you see you may want to subscribe. There are a couple of improvements I would like to make–like sub-chapters and a better Table of Contents–but that will have to wait for another time. Stay tuned!

Licensing

The source text is for this eBook came from the MorphGNT with UBS4 (ver. 5.08) by CCAT and James Tauber, as produced by the Work Viewer web-app created by the Open Scriptures project. It is the same Greek text you will find on the much more robust Resurgence Greek Project and was originally derived from NA26.

This eBook is distributed and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as allowed and required by the use of MorphGNT.

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SBL's Unicode Greek Font Finally Released!

Biblical Greek, Research Tools 1 Response »

Mar 062009

It’s been a long time coming, but SBL has finally released their promised Greek Font. The download page is here, or you can download it directly here. There is also a Hebrew font.

The fonts work in all Operating Systems (Windows, Linux, Mac). They are not open-source (so a couple of other fonts are still my top recommendations), but they are free to use:

SBL fonts are made available without cost to individual scholars for non-profit use. Commercial use by publishers is reserved for members of the SBL Font Foundation.

If you haven’t already set up your keyboard to support Unicode Greek, follow my guide (for Macs go here, or for Linux here).

SBL’s Biblical Font FAQ is also worth a read. If you’re not already familiar with the advantages of Unicode (as described, for example, in my guide), you may find their explanation of interest:

Why should I bother with a Unicode font? Isn’t it easier to keep using the fonts I have used for years?

With older, non-Unicode fonts, character glyphs were simply mapped over Roman characters. So, with SPEzra for example, pushing “b” displays a bet, and “[” displays an ayin. However, the computer understands these characters as “b” and “[.” Thus, when the document is transferred to a computer that does not have that specific font installed, the computer displays those characters.

Unicode seeks to allow for transfer of encoded documents between platforms and independent of fonts. So, if a document is typed using one Unicode font, it will also be viewable using another Unicode font. Likewise if the font is not installed, the computer simply defaults to its normal Unicode font. If one wants to use a different font for aesthetic (or other) reasons, one can change the font just like one would do with English. Additionally, the computer understands the characters to be the ones that the screen displays. So, an ayin both displays as an ayin and is encoded that way. This makes cross-platform text transfers and searches possible, because texts can be encoded with the characters in which they are written. Even though learning to switch to and use keyboard layouts for other languages takes a little bit of time to learn, the benefits of Unicode more than make up for this small initial investment of time and effort.

HT: Rod Decker

Unicode Guide for Mac Users

Biblical Greek, Christianity, Software No Responses »

Mar 062009

If you ever type in Greek, Hebrew, or any other language that requires special characters, then you need to make sure you are using a Unicode font. I have written up a pretty thorough guide to using Unicode fonts in Windows and/or Linux, but my Mac knowledge is flaky. If you’re a Mac user and are interested in typing in Greek or Hebrew then follow this guide.

Regardless of your operating system you might also be interested in my introduction to Unicode.

New Unicode Greek Font with Text-Critical Glyphs

Biblical Greek, Software 2 Responses »

Mar 032009

Rod Decker and Danny Zacharias have reported about a new unicode Greek font that will be of particular interest to those that need text-critical glyphs. From Zacharias’s blog:

I’ve just been made aware of an excellent Greek unicode font that is the most thorough I have ever come across. Designed for the papyrologist and text-critical scholar in mind. The font is called IFAO-Grec and can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. You will see also a documentation page, which lists all of the extra characters available.

You can download the font here.

Rod Decker mentioned in a comment that the font is offered free of licensing constraints:

The only statements I can find re. licensing issues is that “IFAO-Grec Unicode is issued free of all rights” and: “Elle est gratuite et libre de droits” (~ “It is free and free of copyright”). There does not appear to be any reference to any of the “Open” licenses.

This is not quite the protection I would recommend (see my post about Greek font recommendations) but if you need a full text-critical arsenal, this might be a good option.

For most of us, however, some other open-licensed Unicode font might be preferable. Check out my guide for more information and font recommendations for Greek (and Hebrew).

Add Your Bibleworks Database to Zotero

Biblical Greek, Computing, How to, Software No Responses »

Mar 032009

It’s pretty easy to add all the various modules and resources available in Bibleworks to your Zotero database. Follow this guide.

Göttingen Septuagint in Logos Pre-Pub

Biblical Greek, Books, Software No Responses »

Feb 272009

From the Logos blog:

The Göttingen Septuagint (a.k.a. Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum. Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis Editum) is the most important edition of the Greek translation of the Old Testament ever published. At present it spans 24 print volumes and nearly 7,000 pages, setting the bar high for text-critical studies.

For optimal use in Logos Bible Software, these 24 print volumes will be split into 65 digital resources. This means you’ll be able to view the Greek text right alongside of the apparatus, and in several cases multiple Greek translations with multiple apparatuses. By linking them all together, they will stay in sync as you scroll or jump from passage to passage.

Logos is making this resource available for $299.95 for a limited time. Get it here.

You can find a short but concise introduction to this edition of the LXX here. If you would like to learn more about the relevance of the Septuagint for Old and New Testament studies, Karen Jobes’s Invitation to the Septuagint is an excellent resource.

How to Run Bibleworks 8 (or 7) in Linux

Biblical Greek, How to, Software No Responses »

Feb 062009

Bibleworks 8 now runs in Linux through WINE.

I posted a guide awhile back walking Linux users through the steps required to get Bibleworks 7 up-and-running in Linux (using Wine). It has recently been confirmed that the steps used in that guide also work for Bibleworks 8. If you are interested in running Bibleworks in Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE) you can find the guide here.

Surprisingly, it appears that some problems that plagued Bibleworks 7 in Linux are no longer issues in Bibleworks 8. This is good news!

Preach your Greek

Biblical Greek No Responses »

Jan 262009

Mounce fields a question I get a lot: how do you use your Greek in the pulpit? His answer is well worth a read. My favorite part:

It starts with your homework. The most important place to use biblical languages is behind the scenes in doing your research, whether it be sermon preparation or getting ready for a Bible study. The languages give you access to tools that are far beyond the reach of English.

In class I have sometimes used a cooking analogy to get this across. Imagine someone in cooking school. One day one they are taught how to make pancakes. The good chef does not respond, “Why should I have to learn how to make pancakes? Why not just use Aunt Jemima?” The master chef does not pull out Aunt Jemima. Aunt Jemima may be easy—the ingredients are already mixed up together, just add water!—but the master chef always starts from scratch. Why? Because he knows his ingredients and wants to use them effectively. In the same way the pastor should be a master exegete. He should not rely on the pre-packaged just-add-water translations available to him. Those translations have already made all the tough decisions! Rather, the pastor should struggle with the original, even if only in a limited way.

And here is another good rule, this time more on presentation:

But I imagine that you have noticed I have not yet used the word “Greek” or “Hebrew” publicly. This is my general rule. When I want to talk about the meaning of the Greek word, I say something like, “The word translated such-and-such has a range of meanings that includes.…”

Read the whole thing.

Even More Greek Advice

Biblical Greek, Software 1 Response »

Jan 192009

How many times have you learned Greek? There is something enormously discouraging about spending all that time taking a year’s worth of Greek only to forget it in the course of a summer. Con Campbell has been instructing us how to avoid the forgetfullness that sets in as soon as Greek is over (start here). His latest post contains some wise advice regarding the use of Greek Bible software:

Be slow to move that cursor. The risk of using software is that you can short-cut the learning process, just as you will with an interlinear (see my second post). You need to struggle to remember words and grammar, rather than just get a quick answer (By the way, this need only apply to your ‘Greek reading time’, not every time you use the software). So, if you’re disciplined, go ahead and use the software for your Greek reading. But if you can’t be trusted not to cheat, then close your laptop, and get out a paper Greek New Testament. If you can find one.