Tag: swordsearcher

Alexander Scourby in Bible Software

Alexander Scourby is as-yet unmatched in his skillful narration of the King James Bible. The best MP3 set available is from AMG Publishers.  If you don’t have it, get it — it’s only $12.

The new SwordSearcher 6.1 supports integrating Alexander Scourby’s Bible narration right into the software. I made a video demonstrating this.

The Scourby recordings are quite old, so the quality isn’t exactly “digital master.” But they are still very easy to listen to. The AMG CD set (containing MP3 files) is the best quality you’re going to find. There is a more recently “re-mastered” MP3 set of the recordings, but the remastering is ham-fisted and clunky, so I don’t recommend anything other than the AMG CD set.  And again, it’s cheap!

But if you’re looking for an alternative to Scourby, Max McLean did an excellent job reading the Bible too. And you can integrate that into SwordSearcher as well!

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

SwordSearcher 6.1 Released; adds audio Bible support

Today I released version 6.1 of my Bible software, SwordSearcher.

New to this version is tight integration of audio Bibles. You can import your MP3 Bible so that it’s playable in the Bible panel (with scrolling text), and if you’re using the excellent AMG Publisher’s Scourby Narration, you’ll have verse-level playback (not just chapter-based), individual verse highlighting during playback, and you can also play verse lists. More info on audio Bible support here.

Also, as usual, there are a bunch of new library resources, including the often-requested Bullinger Companion Bible Notes and Appendixes.

Perhaps the most important library update, however, is the newly Expanded Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. A lot of work went into this “completion” of the TSK. Check out the link for details.

More information on the new version is available here and here.

Ben Chayyim (Hayyim) Hebrew Old Testament in Bible Software

As far as I know, SwordSearcher is the only Bible study software currently available that has the Ben Chayyim Hebrew Old Testament.  The Ben Chayyim text differs from others like the Westminster Leningrad Codex or the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia in that it much more closely represents the Hebrew text used by the King James Bible translators. The Ben Chayyim Masoretic text was essentially the de-facto Hebrew Bible for several hundred years before losing favor to the Ben Asher Masoretic text in modern scholarship. It is, basically, the “Received Text” of the Old Testament.

When studying original languages of the Bible it makes sense to combine the Textus Receptus Greek New Testament with Ben Chayyim’s Masoretic Old Testament, so I combined the two into a single TR module for SwordSearcher 6. It’s convenient to be able to switch seamlessly between the Hebrew OT and the Greek NT.

The SwordSearcher Hebrew text includes vowel points, and the Bible search function of the program allows you to search either with or without them.  So, for example, you could do a search for יהוה (the Tetragrammaton) in the SwordSearcher TR with the Consonant search option selected and get results including יְהוִה יְהוָה יְהוִֹה יֱהוִֹה. Might be useful to someone.

The Hebrew portion of the TR module should be considered a work in progress and feedback is welcome.

For comparison, the Westminster Leningrad Codex is also available for SwordSearcher.

SwordSearcher 6.0 Released

This poor blog sure has been neglected.

Been busy.

SwordSearcher Bible Software version 6 is now available. 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of SwordSearcher.

I love my job!

Lots of details here and here. Also got a video of some of the new features here.

I’ve recently created a SwordSearcher fan page on Facebook, too.