Cool Bible Stuff

Believe it or not, there’s still more to cover with the Bible Gateway. We’ll come back and review it again once the new redesign is finalized. Meanwhile, you can see what’s coming without having to wait!

From the Bible Gateway website:

“An all-new, redesigned Bible Gateway is on the way! You can get a sneak preview of it and help out the Bible Gateway development team at the same time by visiting the public beta site, where you can take the new Bible Gateway for a test run. The beta is fully functional and features many improvements and new features, including a redesigned search interface, the ability to compare passages in different languages, search preferences, dictionaries, and a new topical search. Your opinions and feedback will help make the final version the best it can possibly be!”

As we saw yesterday, the Bible Gateway’s advanced search form provides a way of looking up passages and keywords/topics that is both easier and more powerful than the standard search. It is easier because you can select options from on-screen checkboxes and menus. It is more powerful in that you can do things such as refined word searches or parallel searches which list a desired passage in multiple Bible versions. The latter feature is so simple and yet so useful. It is also extremely powerful! You can list up to 19 different versions of a passage or group of passages in parallel!! These versions include the most popular versions in your chosen language. The layout can be changed from listing the passages down the page one version at a time or as a spreadsheet like parallel passage view. This allows you to either compare them side-by-side or simple to have a list of the passage in multiple versions. All of the usual Bible Gateway features are still present including the audio bibles, commentary, footnotes, cross-references, bookmarking passages, and navigating by chapter! The Bible Gateway’s advanced search form is avaible in any of the languages supported by the Bible Gateway and the parallel bibles are available in any language which has more than one version. I was not able to view parallel bibles in multiple languages, however.

Finally, the Bible Gateway’s advanced search form has a button which allows you to view a page with all of the books of the bible (in whichever version you’ve selected) listed with hyperlinked chapters in each book. Combined with the built-in navigation system, this is a useful way of reading large sections of the Bible.

The Bible Gateway’s advanced search form provides a way of looking up passages and keywords/topics that is both easier and more powerful than the standard search. It is easier because you can select options from on-screen checkboxes and menus. It is more powerful in that you can do things such as parallel searches which list a desired passage in multiple Bible versions or refined word searches which even include the ability to count the number of verses within which a given term appears (e.g., “Christian” only appears three times in the King James Version). I did find some odd results which are not quite bugs. It turns out that the word search includes the headings and footnotes in some versions. This causes it to appear to list some passages which do not actually contain the search term. Even so, it’s still a useful feature.

The Bible Gateway’s advanced search form also allows you to restrict word searches to a particular section of the Bible such as “Books of Moses” or “Gospels” or “Wisdom Books” or even “Apocalyptic Books”. This is a powerful search feature. You can even specify a custom range within which to search by defining a start and end book for the range.

Finally, the Bible Gateway’s advanced search form allows you display your results as references only. This means that instead of the entire context, you will only get the book, chapter, and verse (e.g., John 3:16-20). This is useful for including a list of references on a particular topic without actually quoting the passage. I forgot to mention that in the normal search results, you are also provided with the ability to see the immediate context of the verse in view. This is a wonderful feature which aids in understanding the Bible and which helps correct for the temptation to look for “proof texts”.

Many Scriptures in the Bible Gatewayare available in audio form, allowing you to hear the richness and power of the texts. You can hear the entire Bible in English, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Dutch, and Slovak with some of the languages having multiple versions of the Bible. You can listen to selected verses, chapters, or entire books. Your listening selections may even be composed of sections from different books, for example, Luke 24 and Acts 1-4 in a single listenting session. Audio Bibles are in RealAudio format. Anywhere within the Bible Gateway, Scriptures available in audio form will have a little speaker icon next to them. Audio Bibles are great for learning a new language, for those with limited reading skills, and for hearing the text (people in Biblical times usually read out loud…silent reading is a relatively late development in the history of reading). While most of us are used to reading the Psalms out loud, much of the Bible takes on new significance and power when read out loud; especially the Old Testament prophets like Amos and Isaiah or works with lots of puns like Genesis.

Bible Gateway, is one of the resources available through the online ministries of Gospel Communications. The Bible Gateway features 89 Bible versions in 40 different languages including online searchable texts, audio texts in RealAudio and mp3 formats, and downloadable e-books. One thing which really distinguishes this resource from others you may find on the ‘Net is the large number of popular, modern language (and not just English) versions available. English versions include such favorites as the New International Version (NIV, the default online search translation), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the New Living Translation (NLT), the New King James Version (NKJV), and the Message (MSG) paraphrase as well as other excellent modern versions like the Contemporary English Version (CEV). Somewhat surprisingly, some very recent versions are included such as the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) and the English Standard Version (ESV). There are actually more versions in English alone, not to mention some of the other languages, than I have time to discuss here! In fact, there’s so much here that I will be dedicating the entire week to the Bible Gateway! Consider this an appetizer to whet your appetite and please don’t leave before dessert on Friday.

The complete text of the Roman Catholic version, The New American Bible is online on the Vatican’s very comprehensive and well designed website. This online version has Scripture cross-referenced and hyperlinked to explanatory notes, the Roman Catholic Catechism, and the Code of Canon Law (the theocratic, legal underpinnings of the Catholic Church). Each resource is linked to the other two books.

This is a tremendous resource for scholars and for Roman Catholics or for those interested in Roman Catholic teaching and practice.

This online edition of The New American Bible is available in English, Italian, and Latin.

The BibleDudes web site is kind of like those ubiquitous books for “dummies” and “idiots” that seem so popular these days (as you’ll see, this is a compliment). Like those type of books, BibleDudes uses fun characters, colloquial language, multimedia, and great production values to convey sometimes difficult concepts in a very engaging and memorable manner. The site is oriented toward a teen audience, but most adults will enjoy the contents and everyone will learn something new.
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