The Lords' Witnesses Bible Linguistics

Acknowledgements
Bible Copyright Discussion
Out of Copyright Works
Copyright info on the Bible Texts and Lexicons used in Bible Linguistics
Fonts
History
Concept
Innovations
Greek and Hebrew vowel pointing and accent standardization
The Tregelles Greek Text from Tyndale House
Fixes to the BHS version form the Oxford Text Archive
User Guide for Bible Linguistics
Choose the Bible Versions to Display
Separate Lexicon Button
Bible and Lexicon Searches
Automatic Exhaustive Concordances
Search Results and History
Example Screen Shots
Bible Linguistics Greek Code System
Bible Linguistics Hebrew Code System
Lexicon Enhancements
Microsoft bugs and failings discovered whilst writing Bible Linguistics
Bible Linguistics Bugs and Tips
Matching Stems to Lexicons
Strong's Introduction Pages and Abbreviation List
Thayer's Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament
Gesenius' Hebrew - Chaldee Lexicon
Middle Liddell
The Emphatic Diaglott
The Codex Sinaiticus (the British Library, the National Library of Russia, St Catherine's Monastery, Leipzig University Library)
The Codex Vaticanus B (1867 Tischendorf, corrected against 1868 Cozza and Vercelloni)
The Fantastic BibleWorks 10

www.hebrew4christians.com is a very good site for learning how the Hebrew language works

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Great Works of Gesenius, Ben Davidson, Thayer, Strong, Liddell/Scott, Bill Mounce, The Watchtower Society, www.BibleWorks.com and www.Logos.com, drupalbible.org and to the translators of the various bible texts we use and to Westminster Theological Seminary for the Groves Wheeler Morphology of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) and to Deutsche Bibelgesellshaft.for the NA27, the UBS4 and the BHS5.
Thanks even more to our two great Gods, Jehovah and Jesus and their respective wives/administrations/holy spirits for producing the holy scriptures and for leading us through them in accordance with their will.

Bible Copyright Discussion

There is a wonderful quote from Nehemiah Gordon (a Karaite Jew) on www.karaite-korner.com saying: Copyright Notice: The Tanakh/Tanach, an acronym for the Torah (the Pentateuch, the 5 books of Moses) the Neviim (the prophets) and the Ketuvim (the writings), i.e. the old testament according to the Hebrew Canon, is copyright YHWH, Most High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, c.1500 BCE. Actually the notice should read copyright YHWH, 1513-440 BC. He then asserts that the electronic version (which you can download from his site) is Public Domain. For that surely is the will of God, who is the editor, or should we say the ghost writer, of the book. Certainly the Hebrew letters are his copyright. The vowel pointing was copyright of the masorete scribes who added them and copied the Tanach down through the centuries. But the Masoretes who vowel pointed the main Hebrew texts we use today died around 1,000 years ago. So the vowel pointing is out of copyright. Now it is the purpose of modern Hebrew text scholars to produce a Codex that is as close a possible to the original. Putting this another way they are trying not to add new creative material to the Tanach, but actually to remove any material which may have been added over the years. So to claim copyright on the result of that process cannot possibly work under man's law and representing that the works of God are owned by man is a really bad idea from a salvation standpoint. 

However it is an expensive and laborious and time consuming process to make an accurate digitization of the bible, and in this world people expect to get paid for doing work. The scripture also says that the worker (for God) is worthy of his wages (from man). 

TYN And in the same housse tary still eatinge and drinkinge soche as they have. For the laborer is worthy of his rewarde. Go not from housse to housse: 
KJV And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 
ASV And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 
NWT So stay in that house, eating and drinking the things they provide, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not be transferring from house to house (Luke 10:7). 

So one cannot object to paying some sort of fee, which might as well be a licence fee, for exploiting electronic digitizations of the bible resulting from a lot of work by dedicated people. Now Jesus' advice was to pay Caesar's things to Caesar, but God's things to God. So how does one reconcile both of these requirements in the case of a digitized bible? Here is our suggestion. The Nehemiah Gordon/Gordon Ritchie solution.

All scripture, both the old and the new testaments are copyright of YHWH, the inventor of love, the creator of the heavens, the earth, the angels and mankind, the editor/ghost writer of the bible, 1513BC to 100AD. Even Jesus Christ himself, the word of God, the only begotten God, did not claim ownership of scripture, for he said...

What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me (John 7:16)

For the bible is said by Paul to be the word of God, not the word of Jesus or Moses, although it contains many of their words.

For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart (Hebrews 4:12).

In order to pay God's things to God one has to make any digitized bible codex freely available to anyone who wishes to do bible research with it.
In order to pay Caesar's things to Caesar, the digitizer can choose to charge a licence fee for making available a digitized bible codex to any commercial outfit that sells a product containing that codex (unless that outfit can prove that the codex is given away free and they are charging for other parts of their product).

So a digitized bible is copyright of God and therefore must be freely copyable for non commercial use (God's things).
But licence fee rights for commercial use belong to the digitizer (Caesar's things).

In other words the digitizer has a commercial only copyright. And God has the non commercial copyright.

Technically it would be hard for a bible digitizer to claim that he had a commercial only copyright in the case of an original language (Greek or Hebrew) codex, since there is by definition no new content added. Unless he claimed that there was creative work involved in ensuring that there was no extra non divine creative work added to the codex! 

However with a bible translation certainly there is creative work involved.

Deutsche Bible Society and the Alan Groves Centre at the Westminster Theological Seminary go a long was towards the above definition by making available a digitized version of the BHS in the Cardo font for free from the Oxford Text Archive and for making the WLC itself available for free from www.tanach.us

Out of Copyright Works

The law of copyright at present is that it survives for 70 years after the death of the author/editor. Jehovah is of course still alive!

Furthermore it is manifestly apparent that making an electronic copy of an out of copyright printed work does bring that work back into copyright for the digitizer. Copiers do not gain a copyright merely because they have copied something, however laborious that copying process may have been. Making a copy in any format of a work does not give you a copyright. Adding new content does give you copyright. That is why there is a whole industry in adding new content to out of copyright religious works. 

Mankind is blessed with a huge amount of scholarly biblical work that has been published by people who died over 70 years ago. Bible Linguistics attempts to bring some of that work into an immediately accessible form today.

Copyright info on the Bible Texts and Lexicons used in Bible Linguistics

NA27, Nestle Aland Greek bible text, 27th edition, licensed by Bible Linguistics from Deutsche Bibelgesellscchaft, Stuttgart. 
UBS4, United Bible Societies Greek bible text, 4th edition, licensed by Bible Linguistics from Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
BHS5 Hebrew bible text licensed by Bible Linguistics from Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
WLC text, WLC morphological codes, WLC Hebrew Stems, (Westminster Lenigrad Codex), licensed by Bible Liguistics from The Alan Groves Centre at the Westminster Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon 1889 (a revised version of C.G. Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, 1841) (both out of copyright)
Middle Liddell and Scott's Greek lexicon 1888 (out of copyright)
Strong's Concise Hebrew and Greek Dictionary 1890 (out of copyright)
Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon 1846 (out of copyright)

PAB, Portuguese João Ferreira de Almeida, Revista e Corrigida 1969 (Copyright Brazilian Bible Society)
LUT, Luther Bibel 1912 (out of copyright)
SCH, Schlachter 1951 (Geneva Bible Society - This text can be copied freely as long as no money is asked)
SRV, Spanish Reina Valera 1909 (out of copyright)
LU2, Louis Segond 1910 (out of copyright)
DBV, Danske Bibelselskab Version 1907NT 1931OT (Copyright Danish Bible Society)
IRB, Bibbia Italiana Riveduta 1927 (Public Domain according to www.youversion.com)
SVV, Dutch Staten Vertaling Version 1750 (out of copyright)
CRV, Cornilescu Romanian Version 1921 (Public Domain according to drupalbible.org)
RUS, Russian Orthodox Synodal Edition 1917 (out of copyright)
UKR, Ukrainian Bible 1996 (Copyright Bob Jones University: Use of the work for profit making purposes is expressly forbidden. This work may not be copied or reproduced in any way for the purpose of profitable business ventures. Non profit uses of the material for the exclusive purpose of propagating the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are expressly permitted provided that the work is in no way modified and provided that those who use it hold strongly to the doctrines of the verbal plenary inspiration of the Bible, the deity and humanity of the virgin-born Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the physical bodily resurrection of our Lord, and otherwise hold to the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith)

TYN, Tyndale's Translation 1534 (out of copyright)
KJV, King James Version 1611/1769 (out of copyright)
ASV, American Standard Version 1901 (out of copyright)
JPS, Jewish Publication Society (1917) (out of copyright)
ED, Emphatic Diaglott 1865 (accurate interlinear translation) (out of copyright)
GLT, Jay Green's Literal Version (copyright of Sovereign Grace Publishers Inc. www.sgpbooks.com)
YLT, Young's Literal Version 1862/1898 (out of copyright)
TIS Greek, Tischendorf's 8th edition Greek Text 1859 (out of copyright)
STE Greek, Stephanus' Textus Receptus 1550 (out of copyright) (accenting by www.bibleworks.com)
SCR Greek, Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894 (out of copyright) (accenting by www.bibleworks.com)
BYZ Greek, Byzantine Majority Text (Public Domain thanks to Maurice Robinson and William Pierpoint)
TRE, Tregelles Greek Text (1854) (out of copyright)
WHO Greek, Westcott and Hort's Greek Text (1881) (out of copyright)
TIS Parse, Parsing of Tischendorf's Greek Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
STE Parse, Parsing of Stephanus' Textus Receptus (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
SCR Parse, Parsing of Scrivener's Textus Receptus (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html) 
BYZ Parse, Parsing of the Byzantine Majority Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html) 
WHO Parse, Parsing of the Westcott and Hort Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
TIS Stems, Greek Stems for the words of the Tischendorf Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
STE Stems, Greek Stems for the words of the Stephanus Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
SCR Stems, Greek Stems for the words of the Scrivener Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
BYZ Stems, Greek Stems for the words of the Byzantine Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)
WHO Stems, Greek Stems for the words of the Westcott and Hort Text (by Robinson and Pierpoint) (Public Domain - http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html)

NWT and KIT. Bible Linguistics would like to be licensed to distribute the New World Translation and the Kingdom Interlinear Translation. But these are copyright of the Watchtower Society and at present we have no licence. So like the TWOT they are not included in our distributed software.

BHSox, the BHS electronic text deposited at the Oxford Text Archive is freely available for non commercial use subject to the following copyright notice...

"This ASCII text was prepared by Robert Kraft and Emanuel Tov under the umbrella of CCAT (University of Pennsylvania) - see the history of this project at http://www.wts.edu/hebrew/
The original text is found at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/text/religion/biblical/

David Instone-Brewer of Tyndale House converted the CCAT text to Unicode and added both the Hebrew and English versification. 

Most electronic versions of the BHS can be traced back to the CCAT project, though often this is not acknowledged. The CCAT text is copyright, and made available for scholarly non-commercial use, subject to each user acknowledging their agreement with the terms and conditions. 

If you use this text, you should acknowledge your agreement to the terms and conditions by doing one of the following: 
1) sign your email address at http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/search/download.perl?ID0525=1&0 
or
2) print, sign and mail the text at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/text/religion/biblical/mbhs/user-declaration.txt
or
3) read and fill in the document below then copy and paste it into an email to kraft(AT)ccat.sas.upenn.edu

USER DECLARATION 
CENTER FOR COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF TEXTS (CCAT) 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
227 Logan Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304
Telephone (215) 898-5827

With regard to the texts and software it distributes, CCAT has made all reasonable efforts to insure that appropriate consent and permission has been obtained from copyright holders of published materials converted into machine-readable form as well as from producers of the electronic form, and thus that fair and permitted use of such materials does not constitute an infringement on copyright. 

In accepting materials distributed by or through CCAT, the recipient agrees to observe the following "fair use" provisions: 

(1) Not to use or make available these materials for commercial purposes without first obtaining the written consent of the owners/encoders; 
(2) To observe any special restrictions that may govern the use of particular texts or bodies of material as stipulated in the aforementioned documentation; 
(3) To control access to these materials and require any other party to whom the recipient supplies any portion of this material to observe these conditions and to register a signed USER AGREEMENT form with CCAT; 
(4) When making formal public reference to the materials, to acknowledge appropriately the holder of the copyright to any published text that has been encoded as well as to the encoder and the source from which the machine-readable form has been obtained, to the extent that these details are supplied in the aforementioned documentation. Unless otherwise noted, CCAT is the legal owner of the software and documentation being distributed. 
(5) To report promptly to CCAT any errors discovered in these machine-readable materials or problems with the software. 

FULL NAME & DATE____________________________________________________

ADDRESS ____________________________________________________

Text(s) obtained: 
Parallel MT/LXX from CCAT, and MBHS via the Oxford Text Archive.
Converted to Unicode with Eng/Heb versification by David Instone-Brewer, 2005. 

OXFORD TEXT ARCHIVE: Bible. O.T. Hebrew (bibl0525) Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia 
[Electronic resource] : (Michigan-Claremont text) 
Eds: Kittel, Rudolf, 1853-1929 Alt, Albrecht, 1883-1956 Eissfeldt, Otto, 1887- Kahle, Paul, 1875-1964 Elliger, Karl, 1901-1977 Rudolph, Wilhelm, 1891- 
Creation of machine-readable version: Whitaker, Richard E. Parunak, H. Van Dyke Rev. ed. / Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies (Project) 

DISTRIBUTOR: Oxford Text Archive Oxford University Computing Services, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6NN, info@ota.ahds.ac.uk

AVAILABILITY STATUS='FREE': Freely available for non-commercial use provided that this header is included in its entirety with any copy distributed. From the printed Code manual deposited with the electronic text: "The project was made possible ... by the gracious release granted by the Deutsche Bibelstiftung, Stuttgart, publishers of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia."

Coded transliteration of printed version: "The Hebrew text used in the [Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies (CATSS)] project was encoded under the direction of Richard Whitaker (Claremont Institute for Antiquity and Christianity) and H. Van Dyke Parunak (University of Michigan Computer Center) ... and has been corrected by the Jerusalem team with the aid of the Maredsous Data Bank"--Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies (CATSS). vol. 1. p. 8. This revised edition overseen by Emanuel Tov and Robert A. Kraft Publication based on this text: Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies (CATSS) / project directors, Robert A. Kraft [and] Emanuel Tov. -- Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press, 1986- . -- (Society of Biblical Literature. Septuagint and cognate studies series ; no. 20). -- Contents: Vol. 1. Ruth / [by] John R. Abercrombie, William Adler, Robert A. Kraft [and] Emanuel Tov. -- ISBN 0-89130-978-0 (v. 1 : alk. paper). -- ISBN 0-89130-979-9 (v. 1 : pbk. : alk. paper).

Transcribed from: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia quae antea cooperantibus A. Alt, O. Eissfeldt, P. Kahle ediderat R. Kittel / editio funditus renovata, adjuvantibus H. Bardtke ... [et al.] cooperantibus H.P. Rüger et J. Ziegler ; ediderunt K. Elliger et W. Rudolph ; textum Masoreticum curavit H.P. Rüger, Masoram elaboravit G.E. Weil. -- Stuttgart : Deutsche Bibelstiftung, 1977. -- Prolegomena in German, English, French, Spanish and Latin. -- Added title and text in Hebrew: Torah, Neviim u-Khetuvim. -- ISBN 3-43805218-0. The aim of this project was to produce the first complete machine-readable Old Testament text in the public domain

Imported from Tyndale House.

Fonts

We use: Bwgrkl.ttf, Bwhebb.ttf, Serto Jerusalem, Abyssinica SIL, Scheherazade, SBL Greek, Arial, Times New Roman. Bible Linguistics will load these fonts into memory whilst the program is in use. We do not actually install these fonts into Windows. If you want to install them them please go to the Windows\Fonts folder choose Install New Font from the File Menu and then Browse to the Bible Linguistics\Fonts folder.
Here is the BibleWorks.com copyright notice: "BWHEBB [Hebrew]; BWGRKL [Greek] Postscript® Type 1 and TrueTypeT fonts Copyright © 1994-2011 BibleWorks, LLC. All rights reserved. These Biblical Greek and Hebrew fonts are used with permission and are from BibleWorks (www.bibleworks.com)." Please respect copyrights as described in www.bibleworks.com/fonts.html if you distribute these fonts.

History

The writer started serious bible research with the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1987. They proved to him that God was real and that the Kingdom of God was a real administration of mankind by Jesus that would begin in the near future. They also proved to him that the dream of Nebuchanezzar in Daniel 4 has two meanings, two fulfilments, one on Nebuchanezzar himself who spent either 7 months or 7 years living as a wild animal and then was returned to his throne, and the other on the saints who oversee the true people of God, who lost their kingship over them for 7 Prophetic Times or 2520 years which is 7 x 360 years which is 7 years of years rather than 7 years of days. These ran from 607Tishri, the agricultural year in which Pharaoh Necho appointed Eliakim the son of Josiah as a vassal king for Egypt over God's people, the sons of the Isaiac Church Covenant, those with a valid water baptism (through Moses or through an Elijah) to 1914Tishri, when God appointed Charles Taze Russell, the angel of Ephesus (who thought that he was the angel of Laodicea) over the sons of the ICC. Russell knew this date having correctly mapped the 2520 year interpretation of the Presbyterian minister John Aquila Brown to the period. He called this period the Gentile Times (since it involved God's official people, the sons of the ICC, being ruled over by Gentiles (spiritual gentiles, non saints, people who were not members of spiritual Israel). Russell recognised that Jesus would 'come' at the end of the Gentile Times, in fact to set up the 3rd true Christian church which was the first true Christian church of the second presence. Since he recognised Jesus' coming, he was appointed over all his belongings in accordance with Matthew 24. These belongings are the saints. Although he incorrectly thought that Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 607 BC. It fell in 586, the temple being burned on 586Ab10. The lunar calendar that the bible uses has 360 days in it. It is the original calendar of mankind. It was used by all of us prior to 1000 BC - see U4.

This concept that one set of bible words had two meanings was a revolution to the writer. He realised that it meant the book was essentially quadratic (a mathematical equation with two solutions). The bible was interpretationally quadratic. Mankind has known since Jesus that the bible has a literal meaning a symbolic meaning a prophetic meaning and a moral meaning. This has been known generally but not specifically. We have not really known how to get to these further meanings and in many cases we do not properly understand even the literal meaning of the scriptures. For example when Jesus fed the 5,000, the lame but prevalent interpretation is: Make sure you pick up left over food, do not waste any. But Jesus asked his disciples: How many provision baskets did you take up in the case of the 5,000 and how many in the case of the 4,000 fed? So there is a greater meaning to the number of provision baskets picked up from the feeding of the 5,000 and the number of baskets picked up from the 4,000. Remember that Joseph interpreted the 3 bread baskets in the case of the dream of the chief of the bakers as standing for 3 days for him. For our latest attempt at these greater meanings see understanding67.html

Once the writer had grasped that the dream of Daniel 4 has two meanings he asked the question: What about Daniel 5? What about Genesis 4? etc. This lead to his realisation that essentially the entire bible was a multi meaning book. In particular it lead the writer to realise that not only were there 7 Prophetic Times of Daniel4 between 607Tishri (when the crown of Israel was lost to Pharaoh Necho at his appointment of Eliakim as king, whose name was changed to Jehoiakim to make him sound like he was a vassal king of Jehovah, but he was chosen by and ruled for Pharaoh) and 1914Tishri when actually Charles Taze Russell was appointed to rule as vassal king of God over his true people who were at that time the International Bible Students, but that there were also 7 Prophetic Times (2520 years) from the eviction out of Eden on 3993Nisan14-17 BC to the entrance into the promised land and eating of its fruits on 1473Nisan14-17. These two periods being a Kingship malediction encoded as a dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 and a Promised Land malediction encoded as a protection for Cain in Genesis 4 during his 7 year eviction period for murdering his brother.

Now once you have the date of the eviction from Eden, you have the date of the start of Satan's system, this world, which is the start of his 6,000 year lease, a day for 1,000 years. Well actually the lease started on 3990Iyyar17, 3 years after the eviction - see our home page. Said lease ends with the Lord's Sabbath which is the 1,000 year kingdom of God. So Satan's lease expired on 2011Iyyar14, 6,000 years after 3990Iyyar17 (first fruits). On 2008Tishri12 (September15), Lehman brothers filed for bankruptcy which began the worldwide financial meltdown. But the scripture says that the Kingdom of God is not coming with observability. So we would not expect a fanfare or a firework display. 

For these reasons and for many others not least an understanding of the unbreakable and universal nature of God's love for his children, the writer continued bible research from 1987 onwards. But he did not start independent bible research, by which is meant research using his own mind rather than the minds of the people who run the Watchtower Society until 1992 when he discovered the 7 Prophetic Times of the Exedenic Times from Eden to the Promised land. He was thrown out of the Watchtower in 1996, not for doing independent research, but for seeing from that research that God had rejected the Watchtower as his true church. 

He also saw in his research that the 4thtrue church, the second true Christian church of the second presence, should be set up and called the Lords' Witnesses. We put the apostrophe after the 's' because there are two Lords, Jehovah and Jesus. We are witnesses to them both. The LWs are not really an evangelical church, there are plenty of them in the world. We are a research church, there are hardly any of them. We are the church of Mary who sat at the feet of the Christ rather than Martha who ran around doing administration. Mary represents the first law, to love God. Martha represents the second to love your brother as yourself. 

We came up with some absolutely wonderful new church doctrine and understandings, and were blessed with so many sacred secrets which we endeavour to explain in www.truebiblecode.com. But sadly only a very few will choose a church on the power of her understandings. People do not judge on content, they judge on track record, status, credibility etc. That is the sad and empty way of the world. So a church with almost no good understandings but a thousands of members is acceptable to the masses. But a church with thousands of good understandings and almost no members is of no interest. Therefore a wicked generation and an adulterer seek a sign and actually need a sign due to their intellectual blindness. 

We have known since 2,000 AD that it will take a sign from God before any significant number of people join this church. Hence we have been attempting to predict the date when fire will come from the heavens in accordance with 1Kings18. This has pre-occupied us for the last 6 years since 2006Iyyar14. But having made 350 incorrect calculations for the date of the 3rd fire sign of 1Kings18 we then realised from Joshua6 and 1Kings18 itself that 350 was the full number of gyrations we should make. This freed us up to do something else.

Obviously what we needed was a more accurate view of the bible. So we decided after 2011Shebat17 (2012February14-15), the end date of our 350th failed prediction, to write some software to give us the most accurate view possible of the holy book.

Concept

We wanted to see all the decent translations on one page in a simple interlinear format for word by word comparison.
We wanted to see all the decent Greek and Hebrew texts on one page in a simple interlinear format for the same reasons.
We wanted to see all the stems and parsings of the Greek and Hebrew texts on one page.
We wanted to look up all the best lexicons at the same time and have all the relevant entries displayed on one page.
We wanted the one page for all the 4 objectives above to be the same page.

We wanted to see at a glance, in an instant, all of the best information that mankind had about a bible verse. 

At the start of this project our view was that the best Hebrew Lexicon was that of Benjamin Davidson (Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon), and the best Greek Lexicon of the New Testament was that of Bill Mounce (Analytical Greek Lexicon of the New Testament) and the best general Greek Lexicon was that of Liddell and Scott, and the best bible research software was that of BibleWorks4. The best Hebrew Interlinear was that of Kohlenberger, the NIV Interlinear Hebrew English Old Testament and the best Greek Interlinear Bible was the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Watchtower Society. Indeed these were the tools that we used prior to 2012February14.

At the end of it we would add Gesenius' Lexicon and Thayers to the list above. But we reject entirely the lexicon of Brown Driver Biggs which is a naricistic exercise in pointless and gratuitous over-abbreviation which we spent days unabbreviating to reveal a book which translates Abimelek (%l,m,ybia]) which plainly means [Father of King or Father-King - Gesenius] as [noun proper masculine ( Melek ( = Malik , Molech ) is father ) - BDB]. This is rubbish. Melek is not the false God Molech. Furthermore BDB abbreviates God's name to either a yod y or a J. This is an totally unacceptable insult to our creator. One letter for him and a million letters for the rest of their lexicon? BDB is supposed to be based upon Gesenius but the spirit of the two books could not be more different in our opinion. Ben Davidson's lexicon is based on that of Gesenius. We wholly recommend Gesenius but counsel against BDB. 

There is so much valuable information in these out of copyright lexicons from the 1800 and 1900s. But they were massively abbreviated in those days in order to save paper. Today of course it is time we are short of, not virtual computer screen paper! So we have unabbreviated Gesenius and Thayer and Strong's substantially. The electronic copies of many lexicons today are spaced out for easy reading rather than cheap paper printing! One has to be careful because the abbreviation tables for each lexicon have many errors in them and one abbreviation such as gen. can mean several things when unabbreviated (genitive, generally) or conj. (conjunctively, conjunction, conjugation) or part. (particle, participle) etc. 

Strong's Lexicon although on occasion hardly any better than a couple of bible translations so thin being its entries, is still of value because Strong was an innovative chap in his day. He makes some interesting connections between words and has good things to add to the mix. Strong's numbers are great for looking things up in books, but the new way is to click a link. So his great invention is now almost obsolete if your bible research software is designed correctly.

In general with most churches and most Lexicons and most bible translations, the holy spirit has worked with the people involved and so they all have a unique perspective to offer which together gives you the widest possible picture. But Satan is not asleep. There is always corruption and discernment needs to be used to avoid it.

Innovations

1. The first realisation we had was that it is not necessary to display bible verses in the standard interlinear format wherein the Bible text and its translation are bound into the same cell so that the follow each other exactly as you read them. If you choose the font sizes carefully you can get a pretty close match between the Greek, Hebrew and English for any verse and the reader with a tiny amount of experience can make adjustments with his eye to see which Greek or Hebrew word goes with which English word. So we just place each translation directly under the other and each Greek or Hebrew text or parsing or Stems list directly under the line above and then adjust the point size of the letters to synchronize the lines to a point where the reader can easily see which word goes with which. 

2. Synchronizing verse numbers. The Masoretic text has 23,213 verses in it whereas the KJV has 23,145 in the Old Testament. Most bible software ignores this and just gives you one verse in Hebrew with a completely different verse in English. That is not much use. So we decided to synchronize all verse numbers in the BHS/WLC/Masoretic text to the KJV in order that everything is truly interlinear. Verse numbers are not canonical so it matters not whether you synchronize to the Masoretic or one of the Greek NT codices or to any English translation. We chose to synchronise to the King James because it is the most widespread versification of the bible. The ASV uses the same verse list for example. 

Here is how we synchronized the OT to the KJV...

BHS text of Num 25:19 moved to the start of Num 26:1
BHS text of 1Sa 21:1 moved to the end of 1Sa 20:42
BHS 1Sa 21 all verse numbers decreased by 1 (leaving 15 verses in chapter 21) 
BHS 1Ki 18:34 first part up to pieces of wood, moved up to the end of 1Ki 18:33
BHS 1Ki 20:3 first part up to Ben Hadad, moved up to the end of 1Ki 20:2
BHS text of 1Ki 22:44 moved to the end of 1Ki 22:43
Rename BHS 1Ki 22:45-54 to be 1Ki 22:44-53
BHS text of 1Ch 12:5 moved to the end of 1Ch 12:4
Rename BHS 1Ch 12:6-41 to be 1Ch 5-40
BHS omits KJV Neh 7:68 (736 horses and 245 mules). We put Neh 7:68 back into the BHS as a blank verse.
Rename BHS Neh 7:68-72 to be Neh 7:69-73
BHS text of Psa 13:6 is split to make a 7th verse starting at: I will sing to the Lord
BHS text of Isa 63:19 is split so that its last 6 words (oh that you would rend the heavens…) become Isa 64:1
Rename BHS Isa 64:1-11 to be Isa 64:2-12

BHS verse numbering changes were as follows…

Rename BHS Gen 32:1 to be Gen 31:55 and decrease each remaining verse number of Gen 32 by 1 up to verse 32
Rename BHS Exo 7:26-29 to be Exo 8:1-4 and increase each remaining verse number of Exo 8 by 4 up to verse 32
Rename BHS Exo 21:37 to be Exo 22:1 and increase each remaining verse number of Exo 22 by 1 up to verse 31
Rename BHS Lev 5:20-26 to be Lev 6:1-7 and increase each remaining verse number of Lev 6 by 7 up to verse 30
Rename BHS Num 17:1-15 to be Num 16:36-50 and decrease each remaining verse number of Num 17 by 15 up to Num 17:13
Rename BHS Num 30:1 to be Num 29:40 and decrease each remaining verse number of Num 30 by 1 up to Num 30:16
Rename BHS Deu 13:1 to be Deu 12:32 and decrease each remaining verse number of Deu 13 by 1 up to Deu 13:18
Rename BHS Deu 23:1 to be Deu 22:30 and decrease each remaining verse number of Deu 23 by 1 up to Deu 23:25
Rename BHS Deu 28:69 to be Deu 29:1 and increase each remaining verse number of Deu 29 by 1 up to Deu 29:29
Rename BHS 1Sa 24:1 to be 1Sa 23:29 and decrease each remaining verse number of 1Sa 24 by 1 up to 1Sa 24:22
Rename BHS 2Sa 19:1 to be 2Sa 18:33 and decrease each remaining verse number of 2Sa 19 by 1 up to 2Sa 19:43
Rename BHS 1Ki 5:1-14 to be 1Ki 4:21-34 and decrease each remaining verse number of 1Ki 5 by 14 up to 1Ki 5:18
Rename BHS 2Ki 12:1 to be 2Ki 11:21 and decrease each remaining verse number of 2Ki 12 by 1 up to 2Ki 12:21
Rename BHS 1Ch 5:27-41 to be 1Ch 6:1-15 and increase each remaining verse number of 1Ch 6 by 15 up to 1Ch6:81
Rename BHS 2Ch 1:18 to be 2Ch 2:1 and increase each remaining verse number of 2Ch 2 by 1 up to 2Ch 2:18
Rename BHS 2Ch 13:23 to be 2Ch 14:1 and increase each remaining verse number of 2Ch 14 by 1 up to 2Ch 14:15
Rename BHS Neh 3:33-38 to be Neh 4:1-6 and increase each remaining verse number of Neh 4 by 6 up to Neh 4:23
Rename BHS Neh 10:1 to be Neh 9:38 and decrease each remaining verse number of Neh 10 by 1 up to Neh 10:39
Rename BHS Job 40:25-32 to be Job 41:1-8 and increase each remaining verse number of Job 41 by 8 up to Job 41:34

Rename BHS Ecc 4:17 to be Ecc 5:1 and increase each remaining verse number of Ecc 5 by 1 up to Ecc 5:20
Rename BHS Sol 7:1 to be Sol 6:13 and decrease each remaining verse number of Sol 7 by 1 up to Sol 7:13
Rename BHS Isa 8:23 to be Isa 9:1 and increase each remaining verse number of Isa 9 by 1 up to Isaiah 9:21
Rename BHS Jer 8:23 to be Jer 9:1 and increase each remaining verse number of Jer 9 by 1 up to Jer 9:26
Rename BHS Eze 21:1-5 to be Eze 20:45-49 and decrease each remaining verse number of Eze 21 by 5 to Eze 21:32
Rename BHS Dan 3:31-33 to be Dan 4:1-3 and increase each remaining verse number of Dan 4 by 3 up to Dan 4:37
Rename BHS Dan 6:1 to be Dan 5:31 and decrease each remaining verse number of Dan 6 by 1 up to Dan 6:28
Rename BHS Hos 2:1-2 to be Hos 1:10-11 and decrease each remaining verse number of Hos 2 by 2 up to Hos 2:23
Rename BHS Hos 12:1 to be Hos 11:12 and decrease each remaining verse number of Hos 12 by 1 up to Hos 12:14
Rename BHS Hos 14:1 to be Hos 13:16 and decrease each remaining verse number of Hos 14 by 1 up to Hos 14:9
Rename BHS Joel 3:1-5 to be Joel 2:28-32 and then Rename Joel 4:1-21 to be Joel 3:1-21
Rename BHS Jon 2:1 to be Jon 1:17 and decrease each remaining verse number of Jon 2 by 1 up to Jon 2:10
Rename BHS Mic 4:14 to be Mic 5:1 and increase each remaining verse number of Mic 5 by 1 up to Mic 5:15
Rename BHS Nah 2:1 to be Nah 1:15 and decrease each remaining verse number of Nah 2 by 1 up to Nah 2:13
Rename BHS Zec 2:1-4 to be Zec 1:18-21 and decrease each remaining verse number of Zec 2 by 4 up to Zec 2:13
Rename BHS Mal 3:19-24 to be Mal 4:1-6


Psalm introductions are not included in the verses of the KJV but are sometimes included and other times not included in the BHS. This results in the BHS having 67 more verses in Psalms than the KJV. 

In the following Psalms the first verse in the BHS is an intro which is added to the beginning of the second verse in the BHS to make the first verse in the KJV. Then the remaining verse numbers in the Psalm are reduced by 1.

3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,13,18,19,20,21,22,30,31,34,36,38,39,40,41,42,44,45,46,47,48,49,53,55,56,57,58,59,61,62,63,64,65,67,68,69,70,75,76,77,80,81,83,84,85,88,89,92,102,108,140,142

In these Psalms the first 2 verses in the BHS are the intro which are added to the beginning of the 3rd verse in the BHS to make the first verse in the KJV. Then the remaining verse numbers in the Psalm are reduced by 2.

51, 52, 54, 60.

Here is how we synchronized the NT to the KJV...

We have Acts 10 with 48 verses, Acts 19 with 40, 2Corinthians13 with 13, 3John with 15 and Revelation 12 with 18 in all bibles. This gives 7957 verses to the New Testament.

In the WHO, NWT and KIT texts we concatenate Acts 19:40 and Acts 19:41
We concatenate 2Corinthians 13:12 and 2Corinthians 13:13 and relabel 2Corinthians 13:14 to be 2Corinthians 13:13
We split 3John 14 into 2 verses so that the last word in verse 14 is speak lalesomen and the first word in verse 15 is peace eirhnh
We split Revelation 13:1 so that the first 7 Greek words (And it-stood upon the sand of-the sea) become Revelation 12:18.

These are the verses which are also need to be split and concatenated as above in various other bible versions to synchronize the verse enumerations to 9757 in each bible.

WHO has no entry for Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Mark 11:26, Mark 15:28, Luke 17:36, Luke 23:17, John 5:4, Acts 8:37, Acts 15:34, Acts 24:7, Acts 28:29 and Romans 16:24.
BYZ has no entry for Luke 17:38, Acts 8:17, Acts 15:34, Acts 24:7, Romans 16:25-27. And has these extra 3 verses...

Rom 14:24 Tw/| de. duname,nw| u`ma/j sthri,xai kata. to. euvagge,lio,n mou kai. to. kh,rugma VIhsou/ cristou/( kata. avpoka,luyin musthri,ou cro,noij aivwni,oij sesighme,nou(
Rom 14:25 fanerwqe,ntoj de. nu/n( dia, te grafw/n profhtikw/n( katV evpitagh.n tou/ aivwni,ou qeou/( eivj u`pakoh.n pi,stewj eivj pa,nta ta. e;qnh gnwrisqe,ntoj(
Rom 14:26 mo,nw| sofw/| qew/|( dia. VIhsou/ cristou/( w-| h` do,xa eivj tou.j aivw/najÅ VAmh,nÅ

3. Reversing the order of the Hebrew words in their verses but not the order of the Hebrew letters in the words. This means that Hebrew words still read Right to Left as Hebrew words, but that the sentence itself reads from Left to Right. One cannot have an interlinear bible where the English reads Left to Right and the Hebrew reads Right to Left. The idea is that the words follow one another but on separate lines. The net result for Genesis 1:1 is as follows...

KJV In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
ASV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
NWT In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
GLT In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;
YLT In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth -- 
WLC tyviarEB. ar"B' ~yhilOa/ tae ~yIm;V'h; taew> #r<a'h'
GW  ncfsa+p  vqp3ms  ncmpa  o  ncmpa+a  o+c  ncfsa+a
GW  tyviarEÂB. arb ~yhilOa/ tae ~yIm;v'Âh; taeÂw> #r<a,Âh

We use 23 point for the Hebrew font (because the vowel pointing is not properly visible any smaller) and 12 point for the parsing with a double space between each code and then 10 point for the English translations. Once you have learned the basic prepositions (p) and conjunctions (c) and the object marker (o), you can match the codes to the Hebrew words without any difficulty. This form of interlinear presentation is not new to mankind. It is done on www.studybible.info

4. Schwingenschloegl Numbers. In the late 1800s James Strong published his Strong's Concordance. His revolutionary idea was to number all the stems in the Textus Receptus version of the Greek New Testament and in the Masoretic text (the BHS/WLC) of the old testament. His numbers for each unique stem enabled readers who were not familiar with classical Greek or Hebrew to find a word quickly in his dictionary. His idea took off and many copies of his concordance and lexicon were sold. However he deviated from his original premise and included Greek and Hebrew words and phrases that are not biblical stems. This is fine for the casual reader of his paper books but is rather unhelpful to a Greek or Hebrew novice who is trying to understand the language. Maurice Robinson, who is responsible for the stems and parsing of the Tischendorf, the Byzantine, the Westcott and Hort, and Scrivener and the Stephanus Greek texts, has a good critique of Strong's work at http://www.byztxt.com/download/index.html

So we decided to update Strong's numbers for the New Testament, by collating the Greek stems not merely from the Textus Receptus but actually from the following 7 Greek Texts: WHO, NA27, UBS4, BYZ, TIS, SCR STE. We deduped these to produce 5850 Greek Stems all of which were truly Greek stems. We then found that variant accenting for the same stem occured in 19 of these stems amongst the 7 Greek texts. So we removed the accenting from these 19 variants to remove ambiguity and to make matching to Lexicons work correctly. Here is the table showing the de-accenting decisions we made...

This left us with 5831 unique stems. We numbered these alphabetically from 1 to 5831 and we call these numbers Schwingenschoegl numbers for a bit of fun. Mike Schwingenschloegl was one of the people working on the project. We refer to these as L nos from the last letter of his name to avoid confusion with Strong's numbers. So there are 5624 Strong's numbers, 6068 Goodrick Kohlenberger numbers and 5831 Schwingenschloegl numbers. Bill Mounce has a great dictionary page relating Strong's to GK numbers at http://www.greek-dictionary.net/alpha. 

However, with computer linking and html and good bible software, one does not really need these numbers much anymore.

Rather amazingly, once we had finished the project, we discovered that our numbering system matches Thayer's lexicon entries (when numbered) almost precisely. This must be because he made his lexicon in the same way that we chose to make our multi-lexicon (from all the available Greek NT codices. One can see this from his references to R G L T Tr WH R^elz R^bez R^st which are respectively the Greek texts of Textus-Receptus, Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles (who produced the version of Gesenius' Lexicon that we use), Westcott and Hort (WHO), Textus Receptus of Elzevir, Textus Receptus of Beza and Textus Receptus of Stephanus. We have de-abbreviated most of these absurdly cryptic references in our version of his lexicon. Isn't it wonderful not to be restricted by printing costs! Mind you with text messaging today mankind has gone back to the days of diabolical over abbreviation!

5. Groves Wheeler Numbers. In the case of the Hebrew Old Testament there is really only one text. We have the BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia from the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft in Stuttgart) and its mother, the Codex Leningradensis or Leningrad Codex. The digital form of the Leningrad Codex is called the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) and is maintained by the J Alan Groves Centre at the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. The BHS is also derived from the Leningrad codex which is the oldest complete old testament manuscript dating to 1008 or 1009 AD. This is not that old for biblical manuscripts. For example the recently discovered dead see scrolls have the entire book of Isaiah and date to just before Jesus. An older codex, the Aleppo codex half of which wnet missing around 1947 is used by DB in Stuttgart and many Hebrew scholars to correct the Leningrad Codex against. Hence there are slight differences between the WLC and the BHS. Both the BHS and the WLC are called 'the masoretic text' after the Masorah whose job was to copy the text from generation to generation. Perhaps if they had copied it a bit less we might have an older text today! 
For the story of the WLC see http://www.wts.edu/resources/alangroves/grovesprojects.html.
Since there is really only one electronic text of the Old Testament and presently only really one morphology of that text, we took all the Groves Wheeler Stems and split them up in the case that they were two words joined together and deduped them to leave 8094 unique Hebrew stems of Old Testament bible words. We listed these stems in Hebrew alphabetical order and numbered them from 1 to 8094 These therefore are the Groves-Wheeler numbers (GWnos). 

6. Greek Multi-Lexicons. In order to present all the best information that mankind has at one time to the reader we decided to combine Strong's Dictionary and Thayers Lexicon and the bible related entries in Liddell and Scott (4,690 out of 47,240 in Middle Liddell) into one 3 in 1 giant combined lexicon (absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the false trinity doctrine of course). We did this by matching each entry in the 3 books to the 5831 Greek bible stems. So that instead of having 3 Lexicons with one entry per word you have one giant Lexicon with 3 entries per word. The result is amazingly powerful. We have produced a ThayerLiddellStrong Lexicon if you like. 

7. Hebrew Multi Lexicon look up. These days one does not actually have to combine several lexicons in order to look up a word in them all at the same time. One can program a computer to search several separate lexicons and return the results for all of those searches on one page. This is what we did in the case of the Hebrew words using Strong's Dictionary, The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) and Gesenius' Lexicon, as finished by Tregelles. Gesenius tragically died at Shin in his Lexicon. Tragelles did Tuv for him. Gesenius' word definitions are are the basis of Bed Davidson's Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon. But Moody Publishers of Chicago suddenly refused to licence us the TWOT (even though we had agreed the price etc.) once they discovered that we did not believe in the trinity! We pointed out that religious discrimination is a criminal offence in the UK - No response. So we cannot include the TWOT in the final versions of Bible Linguistics. Perhaps that is the will of Jehovah, who is a singular spirit as are all of his sons. If God was a trinity we would all be walking around in threesomes, since we are in his image. God, and Jesus, his son, and the holy spirit, his administration, his wife, his workforce, are united in one administration, which is one holy family, the royal family of the universe, yes. But they are not united in one being. So our triple Hebrew Lexicon became a double Hebrew Lexicon. Our trinity became a binity! And there are two Gods, Jehovah the uncreated father, and Jesus the only begotten God of John 1:18, the created God, the son who became a God due to his successful efforts to save mankind. He is our saviour and our eternal father. And Jehovah is his saviour and his eternal father.

May Jesus open Moody's eyes!

In fact we discovered that there were only 60 WLC Hebrew Stems which had an entry in  the TWOT but which were not directly defined either in Strong's or Gesenius. We found that most of these were plurals or had the article prefixed to them or were variant spellings etc. So with further research in the Gesenius Lexicon and with the help of Ben Davidson's Analytic Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon which uses Gesenius' Lexicon for most of its word definitions but sometimes present the info in a more digestible form, we added those 60 word as new entries in the Gesenius Lexicon.

Greek and Hebrew vowel pointing and accent standardization

As shown in the table above out of the 5850 unique Greek stems for the 7 Greek codices we considered only 19 words had variant accenting. We therefore removed the accents from both variant form in these 19 cases. So the accenting is actually irrelevant in the Greek since there is a one to one correspondence between the unaccented and the accented word for the other 5812 cases.

This is not the case with the Hebrew however. The original Pentateuch (the 5 books of Moses, the first 5 books of the bible) and in fact the entire Old Testament had no vowel pointing at all (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah). In fact the letter Aleph was originally related to a, Hey was related to e, Yod was related to i, and vuv to o or oo or u. It is interesting therefore to note that the Tetragrammaton (the 4 letters which make Jehovah's name) YHWH hwhy are also vowels. So one might argue from this that one should pronounce the divine name as Yiheyvooh or the likes (using the first three of the consonants as vowels too). In any event the original lettering of the language had 4 vowels which doubled as consonants (typical Hebrew) - not sure about Ayin. Then the Masoretes introduced umpteen other vowels in the form of vowel pointing. But not satisfied with that, a whole bunch more of accents were introduced. So that in the end there were more vowel points and accents than there were letters in the original alphabet (alpha beta - aleph beth). This is the path to phariseeism. You end up with a word so covered in vowel points and accents that you can hardly see it, read it, or understand it. 

All of these vowels and accents are of course is a disaster for computer matching of Hebrew stems with Lexicons. So we decided the following.
1. Remove all Hebrew accents, since we are not that interested in how classical Hebrew was pronounced.
2. Standardize the vowels so that there is only one way to depict any Hebrew word.

Vowel standardization is critical because there are 3 positions for the holem vowel point (each of which is a different extended character), and 2 for all the others and then in some fonts such as SBL Hebrew one can manufacture a Shin with a Dagesh in several different ways. This again is a disaster for computer matching. Incidentally we reject entirely unicode fonts because mankind has enough trouble dealing with a code page with 255 characters in it. In any event unicode fonts only half work in their aim of being able to translate between one another without a code page conversion. And that is useless. Either they should work perfectly or we should find another method. Also the complex script idea of Microsoft to have fonts type one way but read another is diabolically confusing. If you press the right arrow on your keyboard the cursor moves left - wonderful! So in the end we chose the regular non unicode true type Hebrew font of Bwhebb from bible works. A very nice looking a well coded font which has only two floors in it. Firstly you cannot easily see the vowel pointing until you reach 23 point size. Secondly the vowel pointing goes wrong and the vowels bump into each other at 28 or 29 point. So we only use 23 point and 26 point in this font. This is the standardization we went for...   

Vowel Sign        Vowel Name        Key Stroke          Pronounciation
  '                          Qamets                ' = alt + 0039      All, Are, Qamets
  ;                          Pattach                ; = alt + 0059      Man, Pattach
  ]                          Sheva Pattach     ] = alt + 0093      Hat 
  e                          Tsere                   e = alt + 0101     They, Tsere
  ,                          Segowl                 , = alt + 0044      Men, Segowl
  /                          Sheva Segowl      / = alt + 0047      Met
  .                          Sheva                   . = alt + 0046      Average, Sheva
  i                          Chiriq                    i = alt + 0105      Pin, Chiriq
  O                          Howlem               O = alt + 0079     Whole, No, Howlem
  \                          Sheva Qamets     \ = alt + 0092      Not
  u                          Qibbuts                 u = alt + 0117     Rude, Qibbuts

The table above is for long Hebrew letters a b d h x j k l m s [ p c q S f v t. and for the final letters  ! $ ~ # @
 The table below is for the short Hebrew letters, g w z y n and for r  

Vowel Sign        Vowel Name        Key Stroke          Pronounciation
  '                          Qamets                " = alt + 0034      All, Are, Qamets
  ;                          Pattach                : = alt + 0058      Man, Pattach
  ]                          Sheva Pattach     } = alt + 0125      Hat 
  e                          Tsere                   E = alt + 0069     They, Tsere
  ,                          Segowl                 < = alt + 0060      Men, Segowl
  /                          Sheva Segowl      ? = alt + 0063      Met
  .                          Sheva                   > = alt + 0062      Average, Sheva
  i                          Chiriq                    I = alt + 0073      Pin, Chiriq
  O                          Howlem               O = alt + 0079     Whole, No, Howlem
  \                          Sheva Qamets     | = alt + 0124      Not
  u                          Qibbuts                 U = alt + 0085     Rude, Qibbuts

The vowels in the lower table for the short letters are short vowels. Short in the sense that they do not extend much past the short letters. No other vowels and no accents are used either in the Hebrew text or in the Hebrew stems or in the Lexicons. It was quite a challenge to convert SBL Hebrew to BWhebb. But having written the conversion tables, these should in theory apply to all unicode fonts. These are the fonts which you cannot type and which work backwards.

We exclusively used keystroke A for A rather than keystrokes wO which also give wO.

The Tregelles Greek Text from Tyndale House

"Tregelles’s Greek text belonged to the first generation of critical texts that departed from the Textus Receptus as printed in the previous 350 years.
Tregelles produced a critical text with a complete apparatus for the whole of the New Testament, a one-man effort repeated only by Tischendorf.
Tregelles emphasized the most ancient evidence.
Variants are noted which are often not mentioned in the modern pocket editions.
Tregelles produced his Greek New Testament in the conviction that theology should follow from the text, not vice versa.
Tregelles was a major influence on Westcott and Hort.
TNT contains a transcription of the Greek text exactly as printed.
TNT2 is a corrected edition in which many of the print and accentual errors have been removed."

Bible Linguistics uses TNT2.

Fixes to the BHS version from the Oxford Text Archive

This text has the final Hebrew letters $ ~ ! @ # in the middle and at the start of some words. We replaced these non final letter occurrences with k m n p c. It also has the non final forms of these letters occurring at the end of words. We likewise replaced these and fixed any accenting troubles that resulted.

User Guide for Bible Linguistics

The idea is to present all the bible translations you require and the original Greek or Hebrew text and its parsing and the stem words which are inflected to make the scriptures on one screen. You choose which of the 8 Greek texts and parsings and stems you want to see and which of the translations you want to see. We present them in an interlinear manner. So you can end up with an absurdly large interlinear bible of pretty much everything mankind has all on one screen. For this purpose it is best to get a HD screen, 1920 by 1080 pixels. Then you will see virtually all the bible verses without having to either wrap them or scroll along to see the last part of them. 

For the best possible research experience get a full HD (1920 x 1080) projector and point it at a fairly white wall! Then you can fulfil Daniel5! We used a BenQ for best font definition. Do not get one of the projectors pretending to be Full HD (WUXGA) which has a native screen resolution of less than 1920x1080. This gives you IMAX bible research! We also present as many verses as possible at once on the screen because you cannot really understand a verse without considering at least the verse above and the verse below. So you can scroll up and down to see further preceding and succeeding verses. But the more lines you decide to have in your interlinear the less verses will fit on your screen. 

Choose the Bible Versions to Display

Hit the Bible Versions button on the right of the toolbar at the top of the viewing screen. The Bible Versions Windows will then appear. You can select all the bible versions at once or select none of them using the two buttons at the top. You can select or deselect each bible version separately by checking or unchecking the relevant box. If you select 3 or 4 bibles, then everything will be instant. If you select 40 or 50 then Bible Linguistics will slow down a bit!

Click on a word in a Greek Scripture and you will get the multi lexicon look up of the Greek Stem from which it is inflected.
Click on a word in a Hebrew Scripture and you will get the multi lexicon look up of the Hebrew Stem from which it is inflected.

Hover over a Greek morph code and you will get the complete grammatical parsing that the code represents.
Hover over a Hebrew morph code and you will get the complete grammatical parsing that the code represents.

Hover over the 3 letter Bible acronym or the 4 letter Lexicon abbreviation on the left of the screen to get the full details of the Bible Version or the Lexicon.

We have used a plus sign to separate inseparable Hebrew prepositions and conjunctions from the main stem (after Groves Wheeler).

Choose to wrap the text or not by clicking the Word Wrap button between the Separate Lexicon button and the Translations button.

Hit the x button in the bible search box in the middle of the tool bar at the top of the viewing screen to clear the search box and then hit the Verses button to get a list of all of the verses in both testaments of the bible.

Separate Lexicon Button

Choose to see the lexicon data in a pane below the interlinear bible text or in a separate window altogether by clicking the Separate Lexicon button at the top right of the viewing screen. If you have a wide screen you can put the separate Lexicon on the right to optimise screen space usage. You can keep the Lexicon on top by hitting the Keep on top button at the bottom left of the separate Lexicon screen.

Bible and Lexicon Searches

By entering text into the upper search box you can search all the bible versions you have selected for one word or two words or three words etc and for one phrase or two phrases or three phrases etc. Use the + operator to search for more than one word or phrase in a verse. Pick the search language by hitting the English, Hebrew, Greek or More buttons. Hit the Verses button to find a particular verse in the bible. If you clear the bible search box (by hitting the x button at the right of the box) and hit the Verses button, then you get the entire verse list of the bible - both testaments one after the other. Bible searches ignore punctuation.

For a history list of all your previous bible searches in the current session hit the history button which is second left on the top tool bar. This is a session bible search history.

The lexicon searches work in the same way except that one can only search in Hebrew or Greek and there is no + operator for lexicon searches. 

1. Be careful when copying Hebrew words into a search box to copy the space after the word to ensure that you get the vowel point on the last letter. Then delete the space after you paste the word into the search box.
2. When typing Greek words into the Lexicon search there is no need to accent them, the search routine does both an accented and an unaccented search. 
3. Hit the option button at the top right of the tool bar to perform a wider lexicon search if necessary.

The Greek lexicon search looks up 3 lexicons at once (Thayer, Liddell and Strong's). Every one of the 5830 Greek stems in the Greek bible texts should be in one of those lexicons (we added about 300 entries that were missing to Strong's).

The Hebrew Lexicon search looks up two lexicons (Gesenius and Strong's). Every one of the 8094 Hebrew stems will be found in one or other or both Lexicons (except around 50 of them).

You can paste Greek or Hebrew words from the Lexicon entries into the Lexicon search box in the lexicon window to find more info on those words in the lexicons.

GeseH means that the word you are searching for appears in the Hebrew text of a Gesenius entry but not as a word entry in its own right.

Automatic Exhaustive Concordances

If you search the bible versions you have chosen for a Greek or Hebrew word you get a verse list of every incidence of that word in those bibles. This is therefore an automatic computer generated exhaustive concordance. Bible Linguistics is therefore a multi lingual concordance. In fact it is a multi word and a multi phrase multi lingual concordance, since it will give you a list of all incidences of multi words or multi phrases in a verse and it will do this in every language that we have a bible for!

Search Results and History

If you hit the upper search result button you toggle between displaying the search results box and no displaying it. This is useful if you have a particularly long verse such as Daniel 5:23, which is full of Kethibs and Qeres. Kethibs are shown in () and Qeres in []. The Kethib is the written form of the scripture found in the text itself. The Qere is a marginal note meant for pronounciation and therefore generally of not much interest to bible interpretation. But actually sometimes the Masoretes appear to have put an alternative written form in the Qere. So on occasion the Qere is of value to a bible interpreter. 

If you hit the lower lexicon search button them you can the latest search results. If you hit the adjacent lexicon history button you get all the lexicon looks ups that you have so far done in the current session.

Example Screen Shots

Below is a search for the two English words David and Saul. The verses containing both of these words (not necessarily one after the other but merely both in the same verse) are listed in the Bible Search Results Window. The Lexicon window has a search for the Hebrew word @p;a'  Awpap, meaning to surround. It also shows the previous Hebrew lexicon search history.

Below is a search fro the 3 English words woe, Scribes and Pharisees. The Search Results window has the verses which contain all 3 words. The lexicon window shows the Greek Lexicon search history. It also has the triple lexicon results for the Greek word ovfei,lw.

Below is a Greek Bible search for the adjective tufloi, meaning blind (ones). There are 8 bible version chosen and 5 verses are displayed. The lexicon window has a Greek search for the word a,ga,ph which means love, charitable principled love.

Below is a Russian word search for the two words in the bible search box. They only appear in the same verse in Matthew 6:30. The lexicon search word was the Greek katakauca,omai.

Bible Linguistics Greek Morph Code System

Here is a useful table from www.ntgreek.org describing the Greek verb tense. For more info click the Tense Name. 

Here are the Greek codes we use... 

Bible Linguistics Hebrew Morph Code System

The philosophy here as usual was KISS (keep it simple stupid). So we have devised a simplified and slightly more intuitive version of the Groves Wheeler morphological coding system (although you would not believe it looking at the tables below). It works as follows...

 The 7 most common verb stems are...

h   Hiphil (causal action, active)
n   Niphal (simple action, passive)
o   Hophal (causal action, passive)
p   Piel (intensive action, active)
q   Qal (simple action, active)
t    Hithpael (intensive action, reflexive)
u   Pual (intensive action, passive)

Aramaic verbs have the same codes as above but with the following Stems 

Lexicon Enhancements

Old lexicons are in general treasure chests of linguistic information which is necessary for the proper evaluation of scriptural meaning. But no one has the time to go and look a word up in all of them. Even if one did have the time, the abbreviations will take days to get one's head around. This is where modern computer technology comes in. We have enhanced the lexicons we use as follows...

1. As mentioned above we search all the Hebrew Lexicons or all the Greek Lexicons at once for a word and return all the entries for that word together on one page.
2. We de-abbreviate them as much as possible, using the various abbreviation lists, taking care with ambiguous abbreviations
3. Every alternative word form in an entry is made into a new entry so that the computer can search for that word form too. So for example the regular Strong's Dictionary has 8674 entries in the Hebrew, which are the Strong's numbers. But our enhanced version has 10,404 entries because there are many alternative word forms that never got a Strong's number. We assign these numbers such as 1000.1 and 1000.2 preserving the original Strong's coding scheme.
4. Strong's dictionary spends most of its time sending the reader around in circles to look up other words referred to only by their Strong's number. That is not much help if you are busy and you haven't yet memorized all 8674 Hebrew stems. So in common with some of the versions of Strong's Dictionary on the net we have added in the Hebrew word that corresponds with the Strongs number referring to it. This make a monstrous difference to the power of the dictionary. For example the original lexicon has this entry... 

 The enhanced lexicon has this entry... 

The non vowel pointed stem is added for computer searching when we cannot get an vowel pointed match with that lexicon. In the enhanced entry you see immediately how the two roots combine to make the stem. In the origial entry you have to do two look ups before understanding what Dr Strong was attempting to convey.
5. When lexicons refer to a scripture, this reference can be made into an html link so that the reader gets to the scripture immediately if required.

Microsoft bugs and failings discovered whilst writing Bible Linguistics

To be fair to Microsoft, which is more than they are to their competition, we did use their software. We used Word 2000, Access 2000, Excel 2000, Windows XP and character map. Here are some of the disasters that befell us as a result!

1. We tried Word 2010 and it was 60x slower in loading a 50 MB 10,000 page word document and 60x slower in converting said document to html than Word 2000. Word 2000 opened our 50 MB document in 20 seconds and converted it to html in 30 seconds. Word 2010 achieved the same results, but in minutes. Also a 4MB word 2000 file becomes a 28MB Word 2010 file. So in short unless you absolutely have to 'upgrade', stick with the far more powerful Word 2000.

2. If you import a large text file into Microsoft Access 2000 it will scramble the order of the records in the text file (whether you permit Access to add an index or not). It is better to copy the file to the clipboard and then paste append it into an Access table. Pasting into Access does not work with large files. Paste Appending does - very well.

3. If you export a table from Microsoft Access 2000, it will scramble the record order yet again. So give the table an index, then copy paste that index into a text file and compare it with the scrambled index of the exported file using a text file compare program such as the excellent and free WinMerge. Then manually unscramble it according to the shuffle order that WinMerge reveals. 

4. If you do quite a lot of work in one Access database it grows at an absurd rate until it reaches 2GB when it stops working. But Microsoft Access does not tell you it has stopped working. Instead it gives you a series of errors that it represents you have made when in fact it is Access itself that is at fault. It will say 'invalid command' for example when you have made a perfectly valid command. The fix is to compact the database which in our case then shrank from 2GB to 24MB! It shrank by 99%. We therefore recommend compacting Access databases as soon as they reach 250MB.

5. If you search for a paragraph marker in Microsoft Word 2000, then you use the code ^p in the find box. Word then finds all of the paragraph markers in your document (normally). But actually there are some paragraphs markers in some documents that it does not find. These seem to arise when large tables are used. These can be found not with ^p but with ^13. 

6. When you search for a character in a font which uses an extended character set as most of them do, Microsoft Word will sometimes mistake a character at or above alt 0128, i.e. in the extended character set, with a similar character in the keyboard character set (below alt 0128). We found this with alt 0039 and alt 0145 and alt 0146 with the Bwhebb font. Word kept sticking Qamets vowels where they shouldn't be. It was in fact mistaking an acute accent (0145, 0146 latin) for an apostrophe (0039 latin). The fix was to de-accent the Hebrew before we started doing find replace operations upon it.

7. Word by default assumes that you are an illiterate moron and edits your document proactively by capitalising or decapitalizing and autocorrecting your text as it sees fit. This will totally corrupt a file in a foreign character set. The fix is to turn off all the auto correction functions in Word. In other word treat Microsoft like the moron.

8. When you dedupe a file (remove duplicate entries from it) in Microsoft Access, the dedupe process is not case sensitive and there is no option to make it case sensitive. The fix we found was to use this great website www.textmechanic.com. Just copy paste your data into his data box and check the case sensitive box and hit the 'remove duplicate lines' button and count to 5 and your 500,000 record file is deduped in a case sensitive way. Just imagine what these sorts of people could do if they had 1% of the funding of Microsoft!

9. If you highlight a table in Microsoft word by clicking on the top of the column so that the whole column goes black indicating that it has been selected then you are being deceived. If you do a find and replace supposedly in that column you will corrupt your entire table. Instead you have to use the table menu and choose select and then column. That highlights the column in precisely the same way but only finds and replaces in that column - most of the time. Also you must choose to search down only to keep things localized to one column.

10. If you do a lot of find replace operations in a Microsoft Word document (more than 250,000) word will run out of memory which is being used to store these edits in order to enable you to undo them. At this point it will suddenly become unable to save your work which means you lose all the edits that it was remembering! So make sure that you save the document after 250,000 edits and close it and re-open it to reset the undo store.

Bugs and Tips

There are no known bugs in Bible Linguistics. But there are plenty of known bugs in Microsoft Windows and its applications which can cause trouble for Bible Linguistics. If you find a bug in Bible Linguistics please email us the details.

1. If you see a square or oblong box instead of a Hebrew or Greek character, or if some vowel points disappear or move or if your Greek letters develop inexplicable spaces between them, this is because Windows has lost some or all of the relevant Hebrew or Greek font characters. This can occur if you have a large number of fonts installed. According to Microsoft you should uninstall some fonts because you put too many of them into Windows! This 'solution' reminds the writer of the response Mozart gave to the King when he criticized one of his pieces for having too many notes. Mozart replied saying: Which particular notes would you like me to remove your majesty? The fix is not to remove any fonts. Firstly find a copy of the font file (bwgrkl.ttf or bwhebb.ttf) on your PC somewhere, (using the windows search function) even the one in the Windows\fonts directory is OK. Copy that file to your desktop. Then simply to remove this font that is giving you trouble by finding it and then deleting it from the Windows\fonts directory. Then to re-install it using the File menu and the Install new font item on that menu. You will get a screen asking you where to get the new font from. Point the relevant box at the desktop and it will find all the fonts on your desktop. Select the font you are re-installing and press the relevant button to install it. You are just effectively rehousing that font. 

Windows has a character map program which does not display all your characters the way your PC sees them. It can be useful. It can be useless. There is an alternative program called extended character map v 1.41. This program is not written by Microsoft. It is available for download from the net for free. Just do a Google search for it's name. It shows the characters exactly as they appear in Windows and gives you the keystrokes for all the characters in the extended character set. But it only goes up to the extended character set maximum of Alt 0255 (hold down the alt key and type the number to get the character). It is no good for unicode fonts which can have many more characters than even the extended character set (extended above the number of characters that a keyboard can type).

2. If you add or subtract a bible version from to or from the display screen it will jump a bit to another verse. This is because the software does not actually know where you are on the screen. This is not a bug it is an inadequate design. We will fix this in BL2.

3. Once again remember with Hebrew word copy pasting into the search boxes to take the trailing space with you such that you do not miss out the vowel on the last letter of the word. And remember with Greek word copy pasting into the Lexicon search box in the lower window that you can de-accent the Greek word if the accented word is not found since the search checks both accented and unaccented lexicon entries.

4. The bible search box does not search for Hebrew or Greek Stems. It only searches the bible texts themselves.

Matching Stems to Lexicons

Greek stems are matched to Lexicons as follows: 
1. Stem search
2. Simple unaccented search.

Hebrew stems are matched to Lexicons as follows: 
1. If there are two stems joined by an upper dash, first search the combination (combination match)
2. Try a stem match on each of the components ignoring the upper dash 0045 (keystroke is - )
3. Try a simple unaccented match on each of the components.

Strong's Introduction Pages and Abbreviation List

A CONCISE DICTIONARY OF THE WORDS IN
THE GREEK TESTAMENT AND THE HEBREW BIBLE
WITH THEIR RENDERINGS IN THE
AUTHORIZED ENGLISH VERSION
BY
JAMES STRONG, S.T.D., LL.D.

THE GREEK TESTAMENT

PLAN OF THE BOOK

1. All the original words are treated in their alphabetical Greek order, and are numbered regularly from the first to the last, each being known throughout by its appropriate number. This renders reference easy without recourse to the Greek characters.
2. Immediately after each word is given its exact equivalent in English letters, according to the system of transliteration laid down in the scheme here following, which is substantially that adopted in the Common English Version, only more consistently and uniformly carried out; so that the word could readily be turned back again into Greek from the form thus given it.
3. Next follows the precise pronunciation, according to the usual English mode of sounding syllables, so plainly indicated that none can fail to apprehend and apply it. The most approved sounds are adopted, as laid down in the annexed scheme of articulation, and in such a way that any good Græcist would immediately recognise the word if so pronounced, notwithstanding the minor variations current among scholars in this respect.
4. Then ensues a tracing of the etymology, radical meaning, and applied significations of the word, justly but tersely analyzed and expressed, with any other important peculiarities in this regard.
5. In the case of proper names, the same method is pursued, and at this point the regular mode of Anglicizing it, after the general style of the Common English Version, is given, and a few words of explanation are added to identify it.
6. Finally (after the punctuation-mark:—) are given all the different renderings of the word in the Authorized English Version, arranged in the alphabetical order of the leading terms, and conveniently condensed according to the explanations given below.
By searching out these various renderings in the MAIN CONCORDANCE, to which this Dictionary is designed as a companion, and noting the passages to which the same number corresponding to that of any given Greek word is attached in the marginal column, the reader, whether acquainted with the original language or not, will obtain a complete Greek Concordance also, expressed in the words of the Common English Version. This is an advantage which no other Concordance or Lexicon affords.

GREEK ARTICULATION

THE following explanations are sufficient to show the mode of writing and pronouncing Greek words in English adopted in this Dictionary.

1. The Alphabet is as follows:

1.       A       a        Alpha (al´-fah)                    a, as in Arm or mAn *
2.       B       b        Bēta (bay´-tah)                   b
3.       G       g       Gamma (gam´-mah)          g hard†
4.       D       d        Dĕlta (del´-tah)                   d
5.       E       e        Ĕpsilŏn (ep´-see-lon)         ĕ, as in mEt
6.       Z       z        Zēta (dzay´-tah)                  z, as in aDZe
7.       H       h        Ēta (ay´-tah)                       ē, as in thEy
8.       Q       q       Thēta (thay´-tah)                 th, as in THin
9.        I       i        Iōta (ee-o´-tah)                    i, as in machIne║
10.      K      k       Kappa (cap´-pah)                k
11.      L      l        Lambda (lamb´-dah)           l
12.      M     m         Mu (moo)                            m
13.      N      n        Nu (noo)                              n
14.      X      x         Xi (ksee)                              x = ks
15.      O      o        Omikrŏn (om´-e-cron)         ŏ, as in not
16.      P      p        Pi (pee)                                p
17.      R      r        Rhō (hro)                             r
18.      S      s        Sigma (sig´-mah)                s sharp
19.      T      t        Tau (tŏw)                              t
20.      U      u        Upsilŏn (u´-pse-lon)             u, as in fUll
21.      F      f       Phi (fee)                                ph = f
22.      C      c       Chi (khee)                             German ch*
23.      Y      y       Psi (psee)                             ps
24.      W      w       Omĕga (o´-meg-ah)             ō, as in nO.

ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED (THIS LIST CONTAINS MISTAKES AND DOES NOT APPLY UNIVERSALLY)

abst. = abstract (-ly)
acc. = accusative (case)
adv. = adverb (-ial) (-ly)
aff. = affinity
alt. = alternate (-ly)
anal. = analogy
app. = apparent (-ly)
caus. = causative (-ly)
cer. = ceremony, ceremonial (-ly)
Chald. = Chaldee
Chr. = Christian
coll. = collective (-ly)
comp. = comparative, comparatively, compare, compound (-s)
concr. = concrete (-ly)
corr. = corresponding
dat. = dative (case)
der. = derivation, derivative, derived
dim. = diminutive
dir. = direct (-ly)
E. = East
eccl. = ecclesiastical (-ly)
Eg. = Egypt (-ian)
ell. = ellipsis, elliptical (-ly)
eq. = equivalent
esp. = especially
euph. = euphemism, euphemistic, euphemistically
ext. = extension
fem. = feminine
fig. = figurative (-ly)
for. = foreign
gen. = genitive (case)
Gr. = Greek
Heb. = Hebraism, Hebrew
i.e. = id est, that is
imper. = imperative
imperf. = imperfect
impers. = impersonal (-ly)
impl. = implication, implied
incl. = including
ind. = indicative (-ly)
indiv. = individual (-ly)
inf. = infinitive
inh. = inhabitant (-s)
intens. = intensive (-ly)
intr. = intransitive (-ly)
invol. = involuntary, involuntarily
irr. = irregular (-ly)
Isr. = Israelite (-s), Israelitish
Jer. = Jerusalem
Lat. = Latin
lit. = literal (-ly)
mean. = meaning
ment. = mental (-ly)
mid. = middle (voice)
mor. = moral (-ly)
mult. = multiplicative
nat. = natural (-ly)
neg. = negative (-ly)
neut. = neuter
obj. = objective (-ly)
obs. = obsolete
or. = origin (-al) (-ly)
Pal. = Palestine
part. = participle
pass. = passive (-ly)
perh. = perhaps
pers. = person (-al) (-ly)
phys. = physical (-ly)
pl. = plural
pref. = prefix (-ed)
pos. = positive (-ly)
prim. = primary
prob. = probably
prol. = prolongation, prolonged
pron. = pronominal (-ly), pronoun
prop. properly
redupl. = reduplicated, reduplication
refl. = reflexive (-ly)
rel. = relative (-ly)
Rom. = Roman
sing. = singular
spec. = special (-ly)
subj. = subjective (-ly)
sup. = superlative (-ly)
tech. = technical (-ly)
term. = termination
trans. = transitive (-ly)
transp. = transposed, transposition
typ. = typical (-ly)
unc. = uncertain
var. = variation, various
voc. = vocative
vol. = voluntarily, voluntary

SIGNS EMPLOYED
+ (addition) denotes a rendering in the A. V. of one or more Gr. words in connection with the one under consideration.
× (multiplication) denotes a rendering in the A. V. that results from an idiom peculiar to the Gr.
( ) (parenthesis), in the renderings from the A. V., denotes a word or syllable sometimes given in connection with the principal word to which it is annexed.
[ ] (bracket), in the rendering from the A. V., denotes the inclusion of an additional word in the Gr.
Italics, at the end of a rendering from the A. V., denote an explanation of the variations from the usual form.


THE HEBREW BIBLE

PLAN OF THE BOOK

1. All the original words are treated in their alphabetical Hebrew order, and are numbered regularly from the first to the last, each being known throughout by its appropriate number. This renders reference easy without recourse to the Hebrew characters.
2. Immediately after each word is given its exact equivalent in English letters, according to the system of transliteration laid down in the scheme here following, which is substantially that adopted in the Common English Version, only more consistently and uniformly carried out; so that the word could readily be turned back again into Hebrew from the form thus given it.
3. Next follows the precise pronunciation, according to the usual English mode of sounding syllables, so plainly indicated that none can fail to apprehend and apply it. The most approved sounds are adopted, as laid down in the annexed scheme of articulation, and in such a way that any good Hebraist would immediately recognize the word if so pronounced, notwithstanding the minor variations current among scholars in this respect.
4. Then ensues a tracing of the etymology, radical meaning, and applied signification of the word, justly but tersely analyzed and expressed, with any other important peculiarities in this regard.
5. In the case of proper names, the same method is pursued, and at this point the regular mode of Anglicizing it, after the general style of the Common English Version, is given, and a few words of explanation are added to identify it.
6. Finally (after the punctuation-mark:—) are given all the different renderings of the word in the Authorized English Version, arranged in the alphabetical order of the leading terms, and conveniently condensed according to the explanations given below.
By searching out these various renderings in the MAIN CONCORDANCE, to which this Dictionary is designed as a companion, and noting the passages to which the same number corresponding to that of any given Hebrew word is attached in the marginal column, the reader, whether acquainted with the original language or not, will obtain a complete Hebrew Concordance also, expressed in the words of the Common English Version. This is an advantage which no other Concordance or Lexicon affords.

HEBREW ARTICULATION

THE following explanations are sufficient to show the method of transliterating Hebrew words into English adopted in this Dictionary.

1. The Hebrew is read from right to left. The Alphabet consists of 22 letters (and their variations), which are all regarded as consonants, being enunciated by the aid of certain “points” or marks, mostly beneath the letters, and which serve as vowels. There is no distinction of capitals, italics, etc.
2. The letters are as follows:

Form. Name. Transliteration and Power.
1.            a                    Aleph (aw´-lef) unappreciable
2.            b                     Bêyth (bayth) b
3.            g                      Gîymel (ghee´-mel) g hard = γ
4.            d                     Dâleth (daw´-leth) d
5.            h                    Hêy (hay) h, often quiescent
6.            w                      Vâv (vawv) v, or w quiescent
7.            z                      Zayin (zah´-yin) z, as in zeal
8.            x                     Chêyth (khayth) German ch = χ (nearly kh)
9.            j                     Têyth (tayth) t = T
10.          y                      Yôwd (yode) y, often quiescent
11.          k final $         Kaph (caf) k = q
12.          l                     Lâmed (law´-med) l
13.          m final ~        Mêm (mame) m
14.          n final !           Nûwn (noon) n
15.          s                    Sâmek (saw´-mek) s sharp = f
16.          [                    Ayin (ah´-yin) peculiar 
17.          p final @        Phê (fay) ph = f = φ
               P                    Pê (pay) p
18.          c final #        Tsâdêy (tsaw-day´) ts
19.          q                    Qôwph (cofe) q = κ = k
20.          r                     Rêysh (raysh) r
21.          f                     Sîyn (seen) s sharp = s= σ
               v                    Shîyn (sheen) sh
22.          t                     Thâv (thawv) th, as in THin = ϑ
               T                    Tâv (tawv) t = j= τ

A point in the bosom of a letter is called Dâgêsh´, and is of two kinds, which must be carefully distinguished.

a. Dâgêsh lenè occurs only in the letters t p k d g b (technically vocalized Begad´-Kephath´,) when they begin a clause or sentence, or are preceded by a consonant sound; and simply has the effect of removing their aspiration.
b. Dâgêsh fortè may occur in any letter except [ x h a r it is equivalent to doubling the letter, and at the same time it removes the aspiration of a Begad-Kephath letter.

ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED

abb. = abbreviated, abbreviation
absol. = absolute, absolutely
abstr. = abstract, abstractly
act. = active, actively
adj. = adjective, adjectively
adv. = adverb, adverbial, adverbially
aff. = affix, affixed
affin. = affinity
appar. = apparent, apparently
arch. = architecture, architectural, architecturally
art. = article.
artif. = artificial, artificially
Ass. = Assyrian
A. V. = Authorized Version
Bab. = Babylon, Babylonia, Babylonian
caus. = causative, causatively
Chald. = Chaldaism, Chaldee
collat. = collateral, collaterally
collect. = collective, collectively
comp. = compare, comparative, comparatively, comparison
concr. = concrete, concretely
conjec. = conjecture, conjectural, conjecturally
conjug. = conjugation, conjugational, conjugationally
conjunc. = conjunction, conjunctional, conjunctionally
constr. = construct, construction, constructive, constructively
contr. = contracted, contraction
correl. = correlated, correlation, correlative, correlatively
corresp. = corresponding, correspondingly
def. = definite, definitely
denom. = denominative, denominatively
der. = derivation, derivative, derivatively
desc. = descendant, descendants
E. = East, Eastern
e.g. = exempli gratiâ for example
Eg. = Egypt, Egyptian, Egyptians
ellip. = ellipsis, elliptical, elliptically
equiv. = equivalent, equivalently
err. = erroneous, erroneously, error
esp. = especial, especially
etym. = etymology, etymological, etymologically
euphem. = euphemism, euphemistic, euphemistically
euphon. = euphonically, euphonious
extern. = external, externally
infer. = inference, inferential, inferentially
fem. = feminine
fig. = figurative, figuratively
for. = foreign, foreigner
freq. = frequentative, frequentatively
fut. = future
gen. = general, generally, generical, generically
Gr. = Græcism, Greek
gut. = guttural
Heb. = Hebraism, Hebrew
i.e. = id est that is
ident. = identical, identically
immed. = immediate, immediately
imper. = imperative, imperatively
impl. = implication, implied, impliedly
incept. = inceptive, inceptively
incl. = including, inclusive, inclusively
indef. = indefinite, indefinitely
infin. = infinitive
inhab. = inhabitant, inhabitants
ins. = inserted
intens. = intensive, intensively
intern. = internal, internally
interj. = interjection, interjectional, interjectionally
intr. = intransitive, intransitively
Isr. = Israelite, Israelites, Israelitish
Jerus. = Jerusalem
Levit. = Levitical, Levitically
lit. = literal, literally
marg. = margin, marginal (reading)
masc. = masculine
mean. = meaning
ment. = mental, mentally
mid. = middle
modif. = modified, modification
mor. = moral, morally
mus. = musical
nat. = native, natural, naturally, nature
neg. = negative, negatively
obj. = object, objective, objectively
or. = origin, original, originally
orth. = orthography, orthographical, orthographically
Pal. = Palestine
part. = participle
pass. = passive, passively
patron. = patronymic, patronymically
perh. = perhaps
perm. = permutation (of allied letters)
pers. = person, personal, personally
Pers. = Persia, Persian, Persians
phys. = physical, physically
plur. = plural
poet. = poetry, poetical, poetically
pos. = positive, positively
pref. = prefix, prefixed
prep. = preposition, prepositional, prepositionally
prim. = primitive
prob. = probable, probably
prol. = prolonged, prolongation
pron. = pronominal, pronominally, pronoun
prop. = properly
prox. = proximate, proximately
rad. = radical
recip. = reciprocal, reciprocally
redupl. = reduplicated, reduplication
refl. = reflexive, reflexively
rel. = relative, relatively
relig. = religion, religious, religiously
second. = secondarily, secondary
signif. = signification, signifying
short. = shortened, shorter
sing. = singular
spec. = specific, specifically
streng. = strengthening
subdiv. = subdivision, subdivisional, subdivisionally
subj. = subject, subjective, subjectively
substit. = substituted.
superl. = superlative, superlatively
symb. = symbolical, symbolically
te. = technical, technically
tran. = transitive, transitively
transc. = transcription
transp. = transposed, transposition
unc. = uncertain, uncertainly
var. = variation.

SIGNS EMPLOYED

+ (addition) denotes a rendering in the A. V. of one or more Heb. words in connection with the one under consideration.
× (multiplication) denotes a rendering in the A. V. that results from an idiom peculiar to the Heb.
° (degree), appended to a Heb. word, denotes a vowel-pointing corrected from that of the text. (This mark is set in Heb. Bibles over syllables in which the vowels of the marg. have been inserted instead of those properly belonging to the text.)
( ) (parenthesis), in the renderings from the A. V., denotes a word or syllable sometimes given in connection with the principal word to which it is annexed.
[ ] (bracket), in the rendering from the A. V., denotes the inclusion of an additional word in the Heb.
Italics, at the end of a rendering from the A. V., denote an explanation of the variations from the usual form.

Thayer's Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament

As respects PUNCTUATION—it should be noticed, that since only those verbal forms (or their representatives) are given in the Lexicon which actually occur in the Greek Testament, it becomes necessary to distinguish between a form of the Present Tense which is in use, and one which is given merely to secure for a verb its place in the alphabet. This is done by putting a semi-colon after a Present which is a mere alphabetic locum tenens.

Further: a punctuation-mark inserted before a classic voucher or a reference to the Old Testament (whether such voucher or reference be included in a parenthesis or not) indicates that said voucher or reference applies to other passages, definitions, etc., besides the one which it immediately follows. The same principle governs the insertion or the omission of a comma after such abbreviations as "absol.", "pass.", etc.

A hyphen has been placed between the component parts of Greek compounds only in case each separate part is in actual use; otherwise the hyphen is omitted.

[] Brackets have been used to mark additions by the American editor. To avoid, however, a complexity which might prove to the reader confusing, they have been occasionally dispensed with when the editorial additions serve only to complete a statement already made in part by Professor Grimm (as, in enumerating the forms of verbs, the readings of the critical editors, the verbs compounded with su/n which observe assimilation, etc. etc.); but in no instance have they been intentionally omitted where the omission might seem to attribute to Professor Grimm an opinion for which he is not responsible.
* An asterisk at the close of an article indicates that all the instances of the word's occurrence in the New Testament are noticed in the article. Of the 5594 words composing the vocabulary of the New Testament 5300 are marked with an asterisk. To this extent, therefore, the present work may serve as a concordance as well as a lexicon.
A superior a or b or c etc. appended to a verse-numeral designates the first, second, third, etc., occurrence of a given word or construction in that verse. The same letters appended to a page-numeral designate respectively the first, second, third, columns of that page. A small a. b. c. etc. after a page-numeral designates the subdivision of the page.

The various forms of the GREEK TEXT referred to are represented by the following abbreviations:

R or Rec. = what is commonly known as the Textus Receptus. Dr. F. H. A. Scrivener's last edition (Cambridge and London 1877) has been taken as the standard.1 To designate a particular form of this "Protean text" an abbreviation has been appended in superior type; as, elz for Elzevir, st for Stephen, bez for Beza, eras for Erasmus.
G or Grsb. = the Greek text of Griesbach as given in his manual edition, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1805. Owing to a disregard of the signs by which Griesbach indicated his judgment respecting the various degrees of probability belonging to different readings, he is cited not infrequently, even in critical works, as supporting readings which he expressly questioned, but was not quite ready to expel from the text.
L or Lchm. = Lachmann's Greek text as given in his larger edition, 2 vols., Berlin, 1842 and 1850. When the text of his smaller or stereotyped edition (Berlin, 1831) is referred to, the abbreviation "min." or "ster." is added to his initial.
T or Tdf. = the text of Tischendorf's "Editio Octava Critica Major" (Leipzig, 1869-1872).
Tr or Treg. = "The Greek New Testament" etc. by S. P. Tregelles (London, 1857-1872).
WH = "The New Testament in the Original Greek. The Text Revised by Brooke Foss Westcott D.D. and Fenton John Anthony Hort D.D. Cambridge and London, Macmillan and Co. 1881."
KC = "Novum Testamentum ad Fidem Codicis Vaticani" as edited by Professors Kuenen and Cobet (Leyden, 1860).
The textual variations noticed are of course mainly those which affect the individual word or construction under discussion. Where an extended passage or entire section is textually debatable (as, for example, Mk. xvi. 9-20; Jn. v. 3 fin.—4; vii. 53 fin.—viii. 11), that fact is assumed to be known, or at least it is not stated under every word contained in the passage.

As respects the NUMBERING OF THE VERSES — the edition of Robert Stephen, in 2 vols. 16°, Geneva 1551, has been followed as the standard (as it is in the critical editions of Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, etc.). Variations from this standard are indicated by subjoining the variant verse-numeral within marks of parenthesis. The similar addition in the case of references to the Old Testament indicates the variation between the Hebrew notation and the Greek.

In quotations from the ENGLISH BIBLE—

A. V. = the current or so-called "Authorized Version";
R. V. = the Revised New Testament of 1881. But when a rendering is ascribed to the former version it may be assumed to be retained also in the latter, unless the contrary be expressly stated. A translation preceded by R. V. is found in the Revision only.


A. S. = Anglo-Saxon.
Abp. = Archbishop.
absol. = absolutely.
acc. or accus. = accusative.
acc. to = according to.
ad l. or ad loc. = at or on the passage.
al. = others or elsewhere.
al. al. = others otherwise.
Ald. = the Aldine text of the Septuagint (see Sept. in List of Books).
Alex. = the Alexandrian text of the Septuagint (see Sept. in List of Books).
ap. = (quoted) in
App. = Appendix.
appos. = apposition.
Aq. = Aquila (see Sept. in List of Books).
art. = article.
augm. = augment.
auth. or author. = author or authorities.
B. or Bttm. see List of Books.
B. D. or BB. DD. see List of Books.
betw. = between.
Bibl. = Biblical.
Bp. = Bishop.
br. = brackets or enlose in brackets.
c. before a date = about.
Cantabr. = Cambridge
cf. = compare.
ch. = chapter
cl. = clause.
cod., codd. = manuscript, manuscripts.
Com., Comm. = commentary, commentaries.
comp. = compound, compounded, etc.
compar. = comparative.
Comp. or Compl. = the Complutensian text of the Septuagint (see Sept. in List of Books).
contr. = contracted, contract.
dim. or dimin. = diminutive.
dir. disc. = direct discourse.
e.g. = for example.
esp. = especially.
ex., exx. = example, examples.
exc. = except.
excrpt. = an excerpt or extract.
fin. or ad fin. = at or near the end.
G or Grsb. = Griesbach's Greek text (see above)
Graec. Ven. = Graecus Venetus (see List of Books).
i.e. = that is.
ib. or ibid. = in the same place.
indir. disc. = indirect discourse.
init. or ad init. = at or near the beginning.
in l. or in loc. = in or on the passage.
i. q. = the same as, or equivalent to.
KC = Kuen and Cobet's edition of the Vatican text (see above)
L or Lchm. = Lachmann's Greek text (see above)
L. and S. = Liddell and Scott (see List of Books).
l. or lib. = book.
l. c., ll. cc. = passage cited, passages cited.
Lag. = Lagarde's edition of the Septuagint (see Sept. in List of Books).
mrg. = the marginal reading (of a critical edition of the Greek Testament).
Opp. = Works.
opp. to = opposed to.
paral. = the parallel accounts (in the Synoptic Gospels).
Pt. or pt. = part.
q. v. = which see.
R or Rec. = the common Greek text (see above) Textus Receptus.
R^elz = Receptus of Elzevir
Rec.^elz = Receptus of Elzevir
R^st = Receptus of Stephanus
R^bez = Receptus of Beza
Receptus = Textus Receptus
r. = root.
rel. or relat. = relative.
sc. = namely, to wit.
Skr. = Sanskrit.
sq., sqq. = following.
Steph. = Stephanus's Thesaurus (see List of Books).
Stud. u. Krit. = the Studien und Kritiken, a leading German Theological Quarterly.
s. v. = under the word.
Symm. = Symmachus, translator of the Old Testament into Greek (see Sept. in List of Books).
T or Tdf. = Tischendorf's Greek Text (see above).
Tr. or Treg. = Tregelles's Greek text (see above).
u. i. = as below.
u. s. = as above.
v. = see.
var. = variant or variants (various readings).
Vat. = the Vatican Greek text (see above, and Sept. in the List of Books).
Vulg. = the Vulgate (see List of Books).
w. = with (especially before abbreviated names of cases).
writ. = writer, writers, writings.
WH = Westcott and Hort's Greek text (see above).
Other abbreviations will, it is hoped, explain themselves.

Thanks to Blue Letter Bible. 1 Jun 2003. 7 Apr 2012.
http://blueletterbible.org/study/misc/thayers.cfm.

Gesenius' Hebrew - Chaldee Lexicon 

GESENIUS’ HEBREW-CHALDEE LEXICON
TO THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES
TRANSLATED, WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS FROM THE AUTHOR’S THESAURUS AND OTHER WORKS,
BY
SAMUEL PRIDEAUX TREGELLES, LL.D.

PREFACE.
—————
THE following work is a translation of the “Lexicon Manuale Hebraicum et Chaldaicum in Veteris Testamenti Libros,” of DR. WILLIAM GESENIUS, late Professor at Halle.
The attainments of Gesenius in Oriental literature are well known. This is not the place to dwell on them; it is more to our purpose to notice his lexicographical labours in the Hebrew language: this will inform the reader as to the original of the present work, and also what has been undertaken by the translator.

His first work in this department was the “Hebräisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch des Alten Testaments,” 2 vols. 8vo., Leipzig, 1810–12.
Next appeared the “Neues Hebräisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch; ein für Schulen umgearbeiteter Auszug,” etc., 8vo., Leipzig, 1815. Of this work a greatly-improved edition was published at Leipzig in 1823. Prefixed to it there is an Essay on the Sources of Hebrew Lexicography, to which Gesenius refers in others of his works. Another and yet further improved edition appeared in 1828.
In 1827, the printing commenced of a much more extensive work, his “Thesaurus Philologicus Criticus Linguæ Hebrææ et Chaldææ Veteris Testamenti.” The first part of this work was published in 1829: the second part did not appear till 1835 (other philological labours, which will presently be noticed, having occupied a considerable portion of the intervening years). The third part of the “Thesaurus” appeared in 1839; a fourth in 1840; and a fifth in 1842; bringing the work down as far as the root שָׁבַר. On the 23rd of October, 1842, Gesenius died in his fifty-seventh year. His MSS., etc., were entrusted to his friend, Prof. Rödiger, in order to the completion of the work. Three years, however, have passed away without any further progress having been announced.
Between the publication of the first and second parts of the “Thesaurus,” appeared the “Lexicon Manuale,” in Latin, of which the present work is a translation; and also (in 1834), an edition of his German Lexicon, conformed to the “Lexicon Manuale.”
Of several of the above works translations have been made into English. In 1824, Josiah W. Gibbs, A.M., put forth a translation of the second of the afore-mentioned Lexicons, at Andover, in North America. This translation has also been twice reprinted in London.

The first of these Lexicons was translated by Christopher Leo, and published at Cambridge, in 2 vols. 4to., the former of which appeared in 1825.

In 1836 there was a translation published in America of the “Lexicon Manuale,” by Edward Robinson, D.D.

This work of Dr. Robinson, as well as the translations of Gibbs, had become very scarce in England, and the want of a good “Hebrew and English Lexicon,” really adapted to students, was felt by many.
The question arose, Whether a simple reprint of one of the existing translations would not sufficiently meet the want? It did not appear so to the present translator; and that on various grounds: Gibbs’s work, having been based upon the earlier publications of Gesenius, was in a manner superseded by the author’s later works; while, as regards the translation of Dr. Robinson, considerable difficulty was felt, owing to the manner in which the rationalist views, unhappily held by Gesenius, not only appeared in the work without correction, but also from the distinct statement of the translator’s preface, that no remark was required on any theological views which the work might contain. Marks of evident haste and oversight were also very traceable through the work; and these considerations combined led to the present undertaking.

This translation was conducted on the following plan:—Each root was taken as it stands in the “Thesaurus,” and the “Lexicon Manuale” was compared with it; such corrections or additions being made as seemed needful: the root and derivatives were at once translated, every Scripture reference being verified, and, when needful, corrected. A faithful adherence to this plan must insure, it is manifest, not only correctness in the work, but also much of the value of the “Thesaurus,” in addition to the “Lexicon Manuale.”
Every word has been further compared, and that carefully, with Professor Lee’s Hebrew Lexicon; and when he questions statements made by Gesenius, the best authorities have been consulted. In Arabic roots, etc., Freytag’s Lexicon has been used for verifying the statements of Gesenius which have been thus questioned. Winer’s “Simonis” and other authorities were also compared.

In the situations and particulars of places mentioned in the Old Testament, many additions have been made from Robinson’s “Biblical Researches.” The “Monumenta Phœnicia” of Gesenius (which was published between the second and third parts of his “Thesaurus”) has been used for the comparison of various subjects which it illustrates. It is a work of considerable importance to the Hebrew student; and it would be desirable that all the remains of the Phœnician language therein contained be published separately, so as to exhibit all the genuine ancient Hebrew which exists besides that contained in the Old Testament. A few articles omitted by Gesenius have been added; these consist chiefly of proper names. The forms in which the proper names appear in the authorised English translation have been added throughout.

When this work was ready for the press, a second edition of Dr. Robinson’s translation appeared: this is greatly superior to the first; and it has also, in the earlier parts, various additions and corrections from the MSS. of Gesenius. The publication of this new edition led the translator to question whether it would not be sufficient for the wants of the Hebrew student: a little examination, however, proved that it was liable to various objections, especially on the ground of its neology, scarcely a passage having been noted by Dr. Robinson as containing anything unsound. This was decisive: but further, the alterations and omissions are of a very arbitrary kind, and amount in several places to the whole or half of a column. It was thus apparent that the publication of the new American translation was in no sense a reason why this should be withheld. The translator has, however, availed himself of the advantage which that work afforded; his MS. has been carefully examined with it, and the additions, etc., of Gesenius have been cited from thence. This obligation to that work is thankfully and cheerfully acknowledged.

It has been a special object with the translator, to note the interpretations of Gesenius which manifested neologian tendencies, in order that by a remark, or by querying a statement, the reader may be put on his guard. And if any passages should remain unmarked, in which doubt is cast upon Scripture inspiration, or in which the New and Old Testaments are spoken of as discrepant, or in which mistakes and ignorance are charged upon the “holy men of God who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,”—if any perchance remain in which these or any other neologian tendencies be left unnoticed—the translator wishes it distinctly to be understood that it is the effect of inadvertence alone, and not of design. This is a matter on which he feels it needful to be most explicit and decided.

The translator cannot dismiss this subject without the acknowledgment of his obligations to the Rev. Thomas Boys, M.A., for the material aid he has afforded him in those passages where the rationalism of Gesenius may be traced. For this, Mr. Boys was peculiarly adapted, from his long familiarity with Hebrew literature, especially with the works of Gesenius, both while engaged in Hebrew tuition, and whilst occupied in the Portuguese translation of the Scriptures.
All additions to the “Lexicon Manuale” have been enclosed between brackets [ ]: those additions which are taken from the “Thesaurus,” or any correction, etc., of the author, are marked with inverted commas also “”.
Nothing further seems necessary to add to the above remarks; they will inform the student as to the nature of the present work,—why it was undertaken,—and the mode in which it was executed. It has been the translator’s especial desire and object that it might aid the student in acquiring a knowledge of the language in which God saw fit to give forth so large a portion of those “Holy Scriptures which are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” To him be glory for ever and ever! Amen.

S.P.T.
ROME, February 24th, 1846.

The following are the more important MSS. which Gesenius consulted for his work, and which occasionally he cites:—

I. The Book of Roots (كتاب الَصول) by Abulwalid (ابو الو ليد) or Rabbi Jonah. This MS. is at Oxford. Uri. Catalog. Bibloth. Bodl. Nos. 456, 457.
II. The Commentary of Tanchum of Jerusalem, in Arabic, on the Former Prophets. This MS. is also at Oxford; Gesenius used a copy of it made by Schnurrer.
III. Bar-Bahlul’s Syriaco-Arabic Lexicon; also at Oxford.

TO THE STUDENT

IN issuing a new impression of this translation of Gesenius’s Lexicon, there are a few subjects to which I may with propriety advert.
The accurate study of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, so far from becoming of less importance to Christian scholars than heretofore, is now far more necessary. For the attacks on Holy Scripture, as such, are far more frequently made through the Old Testament, and through difficulties or incongruities supposed to be found there, than was the case when this translation was executed. Indeed, in the eleven years which have elapsed since the final proof sheet of this Lexicon was transmitted to England, there has been new ground taken or revived amongst us in several important respects.

We now hear dogmatic assertions that certain passages of the Old Testament have been misunderstood—that they really contain sentiments and statements which cannot be correct,—which exhibit ignorance or the want of accurate and complete knowledge of truth on the part of the writers; and this we are told proves that all the inspiration which can be admitted, must be a very partial thing. We are indeed asked by some to accept fully the religious truth taught “in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms,” while everything else may be (it is said) safely regarded as doubtful or unauthorised. It is affirmed that the Sacred writers received a certain commission, and that this commission was limited to that which is now defined to be religious truth: that is, that it was restricted to what some choose to consider may be exclusively thus regarded. To what an extent some have gone in limiting what they would own to be religious truth, is shown by their holding and teaching that we must judge how far the Apostles of our Lord were authorized in their applications of the Old Testament. Thus even in what is really religious truth of the most important kind, it is assumed that we are to be the judges of Scripture instead of receiving it, as taught by St. Paul, as “given by inspiration of God.” We are farther told that it is incorrect, or only by a figure of speech, that we can predicate inspiration as attaching to the books themselves; that inspiration could only properly be ascribed to the writers; and thus the measure of the apprehension possessed by each writer, and the measure of his personal knowledge, is made to limit the truth taught in Scripture throughout. And these things are connected with such dogmatic assertions about the force of Hebrew words, and the meaning of Hebrew sentences, as will be found incapable of refutation on the part of him who is not acquainted with Hebrew, even though on other grounds he may be sure that fallacy exists somewhere.

Hence arises the peculiar importance mentioned above, of properly attending to Hebrew philology. A real acquaintance with that language, or even the ability of properly using the works of competent writers, will often show that the dogmatic assertion that something very peculiar must be the meaning of a Hebrew word or sentence, is only a petitio principii devised for the sake of certain deductions which are intended to be drawn. It may be seen by any competent scholar, not only that such strange signification is not necessary, but also that it is often inadmissible, unless we are allowed to resort to the most arbitrary conjectures.

Here, then, obsta principiis applies with full force: let the Hebrew language be known: let assertions be investigated, instead of assuming them to be correct, or of accepting them because of some famous scholar (or one who may profess to be such) who brings them forward. Thus will the Christian scholar be able to retort much of what is used against the authority of Holy Scripture upon the objectors themselves, and to show that on their principles anything almost might with equal certainty be affirmed respecting the force and bearing of any passage. And even in cases in which absolute certainty is hardly attainable, a knowledge of the Scripture in the original will enable the defender of God’s truth to examine what is asserted, and it will hinder him from upholding right principles on insufficient grounds. Inaccurate scholarship has often detracted from the usefulness of the labours of those who have tried, and in great part successfully, to defend and uphold the authority of Scripture against objectors.
The mode in which some have introduced difficulties into the department of Hebrew Philology, has been by assigning new and strange meanings to Hebrew words,—by affirming that such meanings must be right in particular passages (although no where else), and by limiting the sense of a root or a term, so as to imply that some incorrectness of statement is found on the part of the Sacred writers.

Much of this has been introduced since the time of Gesenius, so that although he was unhappily not free from Neologian bias, others who have come after him have been far worse.

And this leads me to speak of one feature of this Lexicon as translated by me, to which some prominence may be given in considering these new questionings. This Lexicon in all respects is taken from Gesenius himself; all additions of every kind being carefully marked. The question is not whether others have improved upon Gesenius, but whether under his name they have or have not given his Lexicography. Students may rest assured that they have in this volume the Lexicography, arrangements, and divisions of Gesenius himself, and not of any who have sought to improve on him. For such things at least the translator is not answerable. It would be as just to blame a translator of a Dialogue of Plato for the manner arid order in which the interlocutors appear, as a translator of Gesenius for not having deviated from his arrangements.

That Rationalistic tendencies should be pointed out, that such things should be noted and refuted, was only the proper course for any one to take who really receives the Old Testament as inspired by the Holy Ghost: so far from such additions being in any way a cause for regret, I still feel that had they not been introduced, I might have been doing an injury to revealed truth, and have increased that laxity of apprehension as to the authority of Holy Scripture, the prevalence of which I so much deplore.
That any should object to these anti-neologian remarks of mine is a cause of real sorrow to me; not on my own account, but on account of those whose sympathy with the sentiments on which I found it necessary to animadvert, is shown too plainly by what they have said on this subject. If they consider that an excessive fear of neology haunts my mind with morbid pressure, I will at least plainly avow that I still hold and maintain the sentiments expressed in my preface to this Lexicon eleven years ago: I receive Holy Scripture as being the Word of God, and I believe that on this, as well as on every other subject, we must bow to the sovereign authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost through the Apostles. Thus are we sufficiently taught how we should receive and use the Scriptures of the Old Testament as well as of the New. To be condemned with the writers of the New Testament, and for maintaining their authority in opposition to some newly devised philological canon for the interpretation of the Old, is a lot to which a Christian need but little object as to himself: he can only lament for those who thus condemn, and he must thus feel the need of warning others, lest they, too, should be misled.

Sound Hebrew Philology will, then, often hinder difficulties from being introduced into the text of Scripture, and will guard us against the supposition that the writers of the Old Testament introduced strange and incongruous things incompatible with true inspiration, and against the theory that the purport and bearing of Old Testament passages were misunderstood by the writers of the New.

Thus a whole class of supposed difficulties and objections is at once removed out of the way of him who receives Scripture as the record of the Holy Ghost: and though it is quite true that difficulties do remain, yet let it always be remembered that the principle laid down by discriminating writers, such as Henry Rogers, remains untouched, that nothing is really an insuperable difficulty if it be capable of a solution: even if we do not see the true solution, yet if we can see what would suffice to meet the circumstances of the case, we may be satisfied that if all the particulars were known, every difficulty would vanish. And farther, it may be said, that if we receive the Old Testament Scriptures on the authority of our Lord and His Apostles as being really and truly the inspired revelation and record of the Holy Ghost, then all the supposed discrepancies must be only seeming, and we may use all that is written for our learning, whether history, precept, or prophecy, well assured that its authority is unaffected by any such difficulties.
Objections will no doubt continue to be raised: but he who uses Holy Scripture as that from which he has to learn the grace of Christ, the glory of His Person, the efficacy of His blood as the propitiation for sin, and the glories as yet unmanifested, which are secured in Him to all believers, will increasingly feel that he stands on a ground of security which can never be thus affected. He alone who is taught by the Spirit of God can know the true use and value of Holy Scripture. Hosea xiv. 9.

S.P.T.
PLYMOUTH, Feb. 24th, 1857

Bible Linguistics have substantially unabbreviated this version of Gesenius' Lexicon. Below is a partial abbreviations index in case we have missed some out! One has to be careful with find replace unabbreviating since for example part. can mean particle OR participle!

conj. = conjugation OR conjunction
trop. = tropically or figuratively
spec. = specifically
prim. = primative
parag. = paragogic = leader alongisde literally = prefix
pass. = passive
trans. = transitive
Symm. = Symmachus
emph. = emphatic state (Aramaic)
const. = contrauct state (Hebrew)
Ethpa. = Ethpaal
fut. = future
Gr. veneti = A Greek version discovered in venice
Gr. anon. = The unknown author of a Greek version.
Heb. = Hebrew
Syr. = Syriac
Synon. = Synonymous
Samar. = Samaritan
Aqu. = Aquila, author of a Greek version
Absol. = Absolutely, i.e. the aboslute state, i.e. not followed by an object
art. = article(s)
caus. = causative
collect. = collectively
med. vav = having middle radical vav
obsol. = obsolete
coll. = collectively
prop. = properly
Pa. = Pael
Pi. = Piel
Po. = Poel (not the tellytubby)
Pu. = Pual (not the bear)
prob. = probably
Onk. = Onkelos, author of a Targum of the Pentateuch
i.q. = id quod = the same as
Thes. = Gesenius' Thesaurus (Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae Hebraica et Chaldaicae veteris testamenti - Leipzig 1829, 1842, 1858.
Ges. = Gesenius Hebrew Grammar or perhaps generally works by Gesenius other than his lexicon
Lehrg. = "Lehrgebäude" (German for approximately "edifice of learning") -- the title of Gesenius' own Hebrew Grammar in it's original 1817 edition published by F.C.W. Vogel in Leipzig. 
part. = Particle OR Participle
§123 = Section 123 in Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar.

Middle Liddell

AN INTERMEDIATE GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON
FOUNDED UPON THE 7TH EDITION OF
LIDDELL AND SCOTT’S GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON

PREFACE

THIS Abridgement of the Oxford Greek Lexicon has been undertaken in compliance with wishes expressed by several experienced School Masters. It is an entirely new work, and it is hoped that it will meet their requirements.
It differs from the old Abridgement, in that

1st. It is made from the last Edition (1883) of the large Lexicon.
2ndly. The matter contained in it is greatly increased. This increase has been caused by giving fuller explanations of the words, by inserting the irregular forms of Moods and Tenses more fully, by citing the leading Authorities for the different usages, and adding characteristic phrases.

With regard to the citation of Authors’ names, it has been endeavoured to give the earliest authority for each usage. When the word or meaning continued in general use, an ‘etc.’ is added to the first authority or authorities. When the original usage seems to be continued only exceptionally, the names of the exceptional authorities have been added.

Generally speaking, words used only by late writers and scientific terms have been omitted. But from Homer downwards, to the close of Classical Attic Greek, care has been taken to insert all words. Besides these, will be found words used by Aristotle in his moral and political treatises, by Polybius and Strabo in the books generally read by students, by Plutarch in his Lives, by Lucian, by the Poets of the Anthology, and by the writers of the New Testament.

With regard to Etymology, when the word represents the Root or Primitive Form with a termination easily separable, it is printed in Capital Letters, as  GEMW KRATOSJ when the Root and termination are not so distinctly separable, the assumed Root is added, as tu,ptw (Root TYP).

In Derived words, reference is made to the Verb or other word under which the Root is given, as nifo, - boloj (ba,llw); except that in cases where the Root can only be found in the aor. 2 or some other tense of a Defective Verb, this form and not the Verb is given, as dro,moj ¿dramei/nÀÃ o;yij ¿o;yomaiÀ.

In Compound words, the parts of which they are made up has been marked by placing a hyphen between them, as avpoÄba,llwà avfÄi,hmià a;ÄbatojÅ When either part of the compound remains unaltered or only slightly altered, no reference to the simple forms has been thought necessary. And words derived from a compound already divided are left undivided, as filosofe,w from filo,Äsofoj.

The Quantity of doubtful syllables is marked: when a doubtful vowel precedes another vowel, it is to be understood that the former is short, unless it is marked long.

H. G. LIDDELL.
CH. CH., OXFORD, Oct. 27, 1888. 

The below Abbreviations List is thanks to www.classicsunlocked.net

absol. = absolute, absolutely
acc. = accusative
acc. to = according to
Act. = Active voice
act. = active signification
Adj. = Adjective
Adv. = Adverb
Aeol. = Aeolic, in the Aeolic dialect
Aesch. = Aeschylus
Aeschin. = Aeschines
Anth. = Anthology
aor. = aorist tense
Ar. = Aristophanes
Arist. = Aristotle
Att. = Attic, in Attic Greek
Babr. = Babrius
c. = cum
c. acc. cognato = with cognate accusative, i. e. when the Subst. has the same or similar signification with the Verb
c. gen. partit. = cum genitivo partitivo
c. gen. pers. = cum genitivo personae
cf. = confer, compare
collat. = collateral
Com. = Comic, in Comic Poets
Compar. or Comp. = Comparative
Conjunct. = Conjunction
contr. = contracted, contraction
dat. = dative
Dem. = Demosthenes
Dep. = Deponent Verb, i. e. a Verb of Middle or Passive form with Active sense
deriv. = derived, derivation
disyll. = disyllable
Dor. = in Doric Greek
Ep. = in Epic Greek
esp. = especially
etc. = et cetera
Eur. = Euripides
f. or fut. = future tense
fem. = feminine
fin. = finem or fine
freq. = frequent, frequently
gen. or genit. = genitive
Hdt. = Herodotus
Hes. = Hesiod
Hom. = Homer
imperat. or imper. = imperative mood
imperf. or impf. = imperfect tense
impers. = impersonal
ind. or indic. = indicative mood
inf. = infinitive mood
intr. or intrans. = intransitive
Ion. = Ionic, in the Ionic dialect
irreg. = irregular
Isocr. = Isocrates
Lat. = Latin
lengthd. = lengthened
Luc. = Lucian
Lys. = Lysias
masc. = masculine
Med., med. = medium, middle voice
metaph. = metaphorically
metri grat. = metri gratia
Mosch. = Moschus
n. pr. = nomen proprium
N. T. = New Testament
negat. = negativum
neut. = neuter
nom. = nominative
oft. = often
opp. to = opposed to
opt. or optat. = optative mood
orig. = originally
part. = participle
Pass. = Passive voice
pass. = passive signification
pecul. = peculiar
perf. or pf. = perfect tense
Pind. = Pindar
pl. or plur. = plural
Plat. = Plato
plqpf. = plusquamperfectum
Plut. = Plutarch
poët. = poetically
Polyb. = Polybius
Prep. = Preposition
pres. = present tense
q. v. = quod vide
qq. v. = quae vide
radic. = radical
regul. = regular, regularly
shortd. = shortened.
signf. = signification
sing. = singular
Soph. = Sophocles
sq. = sequens
Strab. = Strabo
sub. = subaudi, subaudito
subj. = subjunctive mood
Subst. = Substantive
syll. = syllable
Theogn. = Theognis
Theophr. = Theophrastus
Thuc. = Thucydides
Trag. = Tragic, in Tragic Greek
trans. = transitive
trisyll. = trisyllable
usu. = usually
v. = vide
verb. Adj. = verbal Adjective
voc. = voce, vocem
vocat. = vocative
Xen. = Xenophon

The Emphatic Diaglott

THE

EMPHATIC DIAGLOTT

CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL GREEK TEXT

OF WHAT IS COMMONLY STYLED THE NEW TESTAMENT
(According to the Recension of Dr. J. J. Griesbach)

WITH AN

INTERLINEARY WORD FOR WORD ENGLISH TRANSLATION

A NEW EMPHATIC VERSION
BASED ON THE INTERLINEARY TRANSLATION, ON THE RENDERINGS OF EMINENT
CRITICS, AND ON THE VARIOUS READINGS OF

THE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT
No. 1209 in the Vatican Library
BY BENJAMIN WILSON

The Emphatic Diaglott

In 1888, Zion's Watch Tower carried in the July issue (Reprint page 1051) an offer to all its readers to receive a copy of the Emphatic Diaglott at a subsidized price of $1.50 which included a year's subscription (or renewal) to the Tower, and postage of sixteen cents. The brother who made this possible, acquired in 1902 the copyright and plates and presented them to the Society as a gift. 

An early copy at hand, which was presented in 1903 to Br. Silas Arnold of Dayton, Ohio by Br. Russell, includes an editor's page. As this has not been included in later editions, the text of this item may be of interest to our readers and is reprinted here.

A Friendly Criticism

This work we regard as a very valuable help to all Bible students, whether conversant with the Greek language or not. We esteem it (as a whole) the most valuable translation of the New Testament extant. 
We call special attention to the 'word for word' translation, found immediately under the Greek text, in the left hand column. It will be found valuable, especially for a critical examination of any particular text. A little study will enable you to appreciate it. Like all things made and done by imperfect mortals, we think this valuable work not without its faults. It would seem to us that the author must have held the view that Jesus had no prehuman existence, and that there is no personal devil; i.e., that when the word devil' is used evil principle is meant; also that Jesus is still a man and flesh, in glory. In commending this work to you as a whole so highly as we have done, we deem it but a duty to draw your attention to a very slight bias which we think pervades the work in the direction named. 

As some pointed illustrations of what we have remarked, we suggest an examination and comparison between the right and left columns of the work, in the following scriptures, viz: John 1:10, Rev. 13:8; Jude 9; Heb. 10:20. Editor of Zion's Watch Tower. 

PREFACE

To trouble the reader with any lengthy remarks on the important advantage to be derived from a new translation of the Sacred Writings is deemed altogether unnecessary. Much information on this point has been given by others who have published modern versions of the New Testament, with the reasons which have induced them to do so. Those reasons will serve in a great measure also for this. It is generally admitted by all critics that the Authorized or Common version of the Scriptures absolutely needs revision. Obsolete words, uncouth phrases, bad grammar and punctuation, etc., all require alteration. But this is not all. There are errors of amore serious nature which need correction. The translators of the Common version were circumscribed and trammeled by royal mandate; they were required to retain certain old ecclesiastical words which, accordingly, were left untranslated. Thus the minds of many who had no means of knowing the meaning of the original words have been misled and confused.Biblical criticism, however, during the last two hundred years, has done much to open up and elucidate the Word of God, by discovering many things which were unknown to the old translators, making great improvements in the text, detecting numerous interpolations and errors, and suggesting far better renderings of many passages. Many modern versions have availed themselves of this valuable assistance, and it is believed they have thereby been enabled to give the English reader a better understanding of what was originally written. 

Without presuming to claim any superiority for this, as a translation of the New Testament, over any other modern version, it is thought that the present Work presents certain valuable features not found elsewhere, and which will be of real practical utility to every one who wishes to read the books of the evangelists and apostles as they were written under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. These features are:--An approved Greek text, with the various Readings of the Vatican Manuscript. No. 1209; an Interlineary literal Word for Word English translation; a New Version, with the Signs of Emphasis; a copious selection of References; many appropriate, illustrative, and exegetical Footnotes; and a valuable Alphabetical Appendix. This combination of important items cannot be found in any other book. The reader will find further remarks on this subject, on the page headed, Plan of the Work and he is also invited to read the pages with the respective captions: To the Reader; History of the Greek Text ; and History of English Versions. Also, on another page will be found the Letters and Pronunciation of the Greek Alphabet, for the special benefit of those who may wish to obtain a rudimentary knowledge of that language. 

The intelligent reader will at once perceive the utility and importance of this arrangement. Readers who are familiar with the original tongue obtain in this Work one of the best Greek Testaments, with important ancient readings, well worthy of their attention; and, it is presumed, there are even few Greek scholars who are so far advanced but may derive some help from the translation given. Those who have only a little or no knowledge of the Greek may, by careful reading and a little attention to the Interlineary translation, soon become familiar with it. This Work, in fact, places in the hands of the intelligent English reader the means of knowing and appropriating for his own benefit, with but little labor on his part, what has cost others years of study and severe toil to acquire. 

Scrupulous fidelity has been maintained throughout this version in giving the true rendering of the original text into English; no regard whatever being paid to the prevailing doctrines or prejudices of sects, of the peculiar tenets of theologians. To the divine authority of the original Scriptures alone has there been the most humble and unbiased submission. In the preparation of this work for the press, all available help to be derived from the labors of great and learned men has been obtained and appropriated. Lexicons, Grammars, ancient and modern Versions, Commentaries, critical and explanatory, Cyclopedias, Bible and other Dictionaries, etc., have been consulted and culled from. Also, the suggestions, opinions and criticism of friends, on words, phrases and passages, have been duly considered, and sometimes adopted. It is not presumed that this work is free from faults or errors. Infallibility is left for others to claim. Great care however, has been exercised to make it as correct as possible. The Work is now sent forth to the public, to stand or fall on its own merits. True, it cannot boast of being the production of a council of learned men, as King James version; but let it be remembered that TYNDALE alone, under very disadvantageous circumstances, did far more for the English Bible than that learned body, for they only followed in the wake of his labors. 

This Volume, principally designed for the instruction and advantage of others, is now reverently committed to the blessing of our Father in the heavens, with an earnest and sincere desire that many of those who peruse its pages may be led by the knowledge, faith and obedience inculcated therein to obtain an inheritance in the aionian kingdom of Jesus the Anointed One. 

B. WILSON. 

HISTORY OF THE GREEK TEXT

The following condensed account of the different editions of the Greek New Testament will introduce the reader to the history of the Greek Text, and the various steps taken by learned men for the purpose of editing it with greater critical accuracy. The history will commence with the first printed editions. 

The first printed edition of the whole of the Greek New Testament was that contained in the Complutensian Polyglot; published by Francis XIMENES de CISNEROS. The principal editor of the work was Lopez de Stunica. It was printed in Greek and Latin, and completed January 10, 1514. In consequence of the delay as to the publication of this edition (from 1514 to1520) that of ERASMUS was commenced and completed, and was published in 1516, being the first edition published of the Greek New Testament. Like the Complutensian edition, this was also in Greek and Latin. The latter part of the book of Revelation being wanting in his MS. He supplied the same by translating the Latin vulgate into Greek. 

The Greek Manuscripts used for these two editions were few in number, of little critical value, and therefore do not possess much real authority. In 1535, Erasmus published his fifth edition, which is the basis of the common Text.* 
In 1546, and again in 1549, ROBERT STEPHENS printed, at Paris, two beautiful small editions of the Greek New Testament; and in 1550 his folio edition with various readings from several Manuscripts--he collated some 15 MSS., but chiefly followed the Complutensian copy. BEZA published five editions of the Greek Testament; the first in 1565, the last in 1598. 

In 1624, the ELZEVIR, printers at Leyden, published a small and beautiful Greek Testament, the editor of which is wholly unknown. It differs little from Stephens folio edition. The printers gave to this Text the name of Textus Receptus. 

In WALTON'S POLYGLOT of 1657, the Greek New Testament was given according to the Text of Stephens; and in the last volume there was a collection of various Readings from such MSS. as were then known. These various Readings, with some additions, were given in the Greek Testament, published by Bishop Fell, at Oxford, in 1675. 

In 1707, Dr. MILL'S Greek Testament appeared. His Text is simply taken from Stephens as given in Walton's Polyglot. His collection of various Readings was extensive, and these were made the ground for a critical amendment of the Text. 

Dr. EDWARD WELLS published the first critical revision in parts at Oxford, between1709 and 1719, with a translation and paraphrase. 

BENGEL followed on in the same work and published his edition in 1734, and in his Apparatus Criticus he enlarged the stock of various Readings. 

WETSTEIN published his Greek Testament in 1751-2, but only indicates, in his inner margin, the few Readings which he preferred to those of the Elzevir edition. But in the collection of critical materials he did more than all his predecessors put together. 

--------------*Erasmus, in his third edition of 1523, inserted the text, 1 John v. 7, on the authority of a MS. now in Dublin. Tyndale used this edition to revise his English version. 

GRIESBACH, in critical labors, excels by far any who preceded him. He used the materials others had gathered. His first edition was commenced in 1775; his last was completed in 1806. He combined the results of the collations of Birch, Matthaei and others, with those of Wetstein. In his Revision he often preferred the testimony of the older MSS. to the mass of modern copies. 

Since the publication of Griesbach’s Text, three or four other critical editions have been published, and have received the examination and approval of scholars. Of these, the edition of Scholz has passed through numerous editions. His fundamental principle of criticism was, that the great majority of copies decide as to the correctness of the Text; hence, those who prefer the more ancient documents will consider the Text of Griesbach preferable; while those whose judgment would favor the mass of testimonies would prefer that of Scholz. 

In addition to Scholz’s collation, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, &c., have given to the world the result of their critical labors, and which are acknowledged to be of the highest authority. 

The number of MSS. now known, and which have been examined, is nearly 700; thus affording now a far better chance to obtain a correct Greek Text than when the authorized version was at first published. 

HISTORY OF ENGLISH VERSIONS

THE first English version of the New Testament was that made by JOHN WICLIF, or WYCLIFFE, about the year 1367. It was translated from the Latin Bible, verbatim, without any regard to the idiom of the languages. Though this version was first in point of time, no part of it was printed before the year 1731. 

TYNDALE'S translation was published in 1526, either at Antwerp or Hamburg. It is commonly said that Tyndale translated from the Greek, but he never published it to be so on any title page of his Testament. One edition, not published by him, has this title-- The Newe Testament, dylygently corrected and compared with the Greke, by Willyam Tyndale, and fynesshed in the yere of oure Lorde God, A. M. D. And xxxiiij. in the moneth of Nouember. It is evident he only translated from the Vulgate Latin. 

COVERDALE published the whole Bible in English, in the year 1535. He followed his interpreters, and adopted Tyndale's version, with the exception of a few alterations. 

MATTHEW’S BIBLE was only Tyndale and Coverdale s published under the feigned name of Thomas Matthew. 

HOLLYBUSHE’S NEW TESTAMENT was printed in 1538, both in Latin and English, after the Vulgate text, to which Coverdale prefixed a dedication to Henry VIII. 

THE GREAT BIBLE, published in 1539, purported to be translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes, but it is certain that it was only a revision of Matthew’s, with a few small alterations. It was named the Great Bible, because of its large size. 

CRANMER’S BIBLE, published in 1540, was essentially the same as the Great Bible, but took his name on account of a few corrections which he made in it. 

THE GENEVA BIBLE was published at Geneva in 1560. The New Testament in 1557. Coverdale was one of the Geneva brethren who issued it. 

THE BISHOP’S BIBLE was a revisal of the English Bible, made by the bishops, and compared with the originals. It was published in 1568. 

THE DOUAY BIBLE appeared in 1609, and was translated from the authentical Latin, or Vulgate. 

KING JAMES BIBLE, or the Authorized Version, was published in 1611. In the year1604, forty-seven persons learned in the languages were appointed to revise the translation then in use. They were ordered to use the Bishop s Bible as the basis of the new version, and to alter it as little as the original would allow; but if the prior translations of Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthew, Cranmer or Whitechurch, and the Geneva editors agreed better with the text, to adopt the same. This translation was perhaps the best that could be made at the time, and if it had not been published by kingly authority, it would not now be venerated by English and American protestants, as though it had come direct from God. It has been convicted of containing over 20,000 errors. Nearly 700 Greek MSS. are now known, and some of them very ancient; whereas the translators of the common version had only the advantage of some 8 MSS. none of which was earlier than the tenth century. 

Since 1611, many translations of both Old and New Testaments, and portions of the same, have been published. The following are some of the most noted. 

The Family Expositor: or a Paraphrase and Version of the New Testament, with Critical Notes. By Philip Doddridge. 1755. 

The four Gospels translated from the Greek. By George Campbell. 1790. 

A New Literal Translation, from the Original Greek of the Apostolical Epistles. By James Macknight. 1795. 

A Translation of the New Testament. By Gilbert Wakefield. 1795. 

A Translation of the New Testament, from the original Greek. Humbly attempted by Nathaniel Scarlett, assisted by men of piety and literature. 1798. 

The New Testament in an Improved Version, upon the basis of Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation, with a corrected Text. 1808. 

The New Testament, in Greek and English; the Greek according to Griesbach; the English upon the basis of the fourth London edition of the Improved Version, with an attempt to further improvement from the translations of Campbell, Wakefield, Scarlett, Macknight, and Thomson. By Abner Kneeland. 1822. 

A New Family Bible, and improved Version, from corrected Texts of the Originals, with Notes Critical, &c. By B. Boothroyd. 1823. 

The Sacred Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, translated from the original, by Campbell, Macknight, and Doddridge, with various Emendations by A. Campbell. 1833.

A New and Corrected Version of the New Testament. By R. Dickinson. 1833. 

The Book of the New Covenant, a Critical Revision of the Text and Translation of Common Version, with the aid of most ancient MSS. By Granville Penn. 1836. 

The Holy Bible, with 20,000 emendations. By J. T. Conquest. 1841. 

The Good News of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed; from the Critical Greek of Tittman. By N. N. Whiting. 1849. 

A Translation of the New Testament, from the Syriac. By James Murdock. 1852. 

Translation of Paul s epistles. By Joseph Turnbull. 1854. 

The New Testament, translated from Griesbach s Text. By Samuel Sharpe. 1856. 

TO THE READER. 

THAT. All Scripture, divinely inspired, is profitable for Teaching, for Conviction, for Correction, for THAT Instruction which is in Righteousness, is the truthful testimony of the Sacred Writings about themselves. We rejoice to express our conviction that the word of God was perfect and infallible as it emanated from those holy men of old, the prophets and apostles, who spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit. As a revelation of Jehovah's will to the human race, it was requisite that it should be an unerring guide. Amid the ever conflicting strife of human opinions, and the endless diversity of thought, we needed such a standard, to lead us safely through the perplexing problems of life, to counsel us under all circumstances, to reveal the will of our Heavenly Parent, and to lift on high a celestial light, which, streaming through the thick darkness that broods around, shall guide the feet of his erring and bewildered children to their loving Father's home. We needed, therefore, a testimony upon which to repose our faith and hope, free from all error, immutable, and harmonious in all its details--something to tell us how to escape from the evils of the present, and attain to a glorious future. With reverence and joy we acknowledge the Sacred Writings to be such, as they were originally dictated by the Holy Spirit. How important, then, that they should be correctly read and understood! 

But can it be fairly said that such is the case with our present English Version? We opine not. Though freely acknowledging that it is sufficiently plain to teach men the social and religious duties of life, and the path to immortality, yet it is a notable fact that King James Translation is far from being a faithful reflection of the mind of the Spirit, as contained in the Original Greek in which the books of the New Testament were written. There are some thousands of words which are either mistranslated, or too obscurely rendered. Besides others which are now obsolete, through improvement in the language. Besides this, it has been too highly colored in many places with the party ideas and opinions of those who made it, to be worthy of full and implicit confidence being placed in it as a genuine record. In the words of Dr. Macknight, It was made a little too complaisant to the King, in favoring his notions of predestination, election, witchcraft, familiar spirits, and kingly rights, and these it is probable were also the translator's opinions. That their translation is partial, speaking the language of, and giving authority to one sect. 

And according to Dr. Gell, it was wrested and partial, and only adapted to one sect; but he imputes this, not to the translators, but to those who employed them, for even some of the translators complained that they could not follow their own judgment in the matter, but were restrained by reasons of state. 

The Version in common use will appear more imperfect still when the fact is known that it was not a translation from the Original, but merely a revision of the Versions then in use. This is evident from the following directions given by King James to the translators, viz.: The Bishop's Bible [was] to be followed, and altered as little as the Original will permit. And these translations [were] to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishops Bible--namely, Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, Whitchurch’s, Geneva. None of these were made from the Original Greek, but only compare with it--being all translated from the Vulgate Latin. Hence it follows that the authorized version is simply a revision of the Vulgate. And the Greek Text, with which it was compared, was compiled from Eight MSS. only, all of which were written since the tenth century, and are now considered of comparatively slight authority. The Textus Receptus, or Received Greek Text, was made from these MSS., and is now proved to be the very worst Greek Text extant, in a printed form. And there was only one MS. for the Book of Revelation, and part of that wanting, which was supplied by translating the Latin of the Vulgate into Greek!

Since the publication of the Textus Receptus, and the Common Version, some 600 MSS. have been discovered, some of which are very ancient, and very valuable. The best and oldest of these is one marked B., Cod. Vaticanus, No. 1209 of the fourth and fifth centuries. The second marked A., Cod. Alexandrinus, of the fifth century. The third marked C., Cod. Ephrem., about the fifth century, and the fourth, marked D., Cod. Cantabujiensis, of the seventh century. 

Besides valuable assistance from ancient MSS., the DIAGLOTT has obtained material aid from the labors of many eminent Biblical critics and translators. Among these may bementioned.--Mill, Wetstein, Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tittman, Tregelles, Doddridge, Macknight, Campbell, Horne, Middleton, Clark, Wakefield, Bloomfield, Thompson, Murdock, Kneeland, Boothroyd, Conquest, Sharpe, Gaussen, Turnbull, Trench, &c., &c.Should any person doubt the propriety of the Translation, in any particular part, let him not hastily censure or condemn till he has compared it carefully with the various authorities on which it is based; and even should he see reason to differ in some respects, a correct Greek Text is given, so that the Original may be always appealed to in cases of doubt. However imperfect the Translation may be considered by the Critic it cannot adulterate the Original. 

PLAN OF THE WORK. 

1. Greek Text and Interlineary Translation.--The left-hand column contains the GREEK TEXT according to Dr. J. J. Griesbach, and interlined with it a LITERAL WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLATION, wherein the corresponding English is placed directly under each Greek word. 

The Sectional Divisions are those of the Vatican and Alexandrian MSS. Greek Words enclosed in brackets [thus], though authorized by Griesbach, are omitted by the Vatican MS. The advantages to be derived from such an arrangement must be apparent to the Bible student. The learned have a Greek Text acknowledged to be one of the best extant., while the unlearned have almost an equal chance with those acquainted with the Original, by having the meaning and grammatical construction given to each word. This part of the work will be adesideratum by many, but more adapted for criticism than for reading. Although by adhering to the arrangement of the Original, the Translation may appear uncouth, yet the strength and beauty of many passages are thereby preserved. 

The frequent recurrence of the Greek article of emphasis, and an occasional ellipsis, often interfere with the sense and elegance of a sentence, but this cannot well be avoided in a word-forword Translation. The advantages, however, accruing to the diligent investigator of the Divine Word by pursuing this plan are many, and will be duly appreciated. 

2. New Version.--The column on the right-hand side of the page is a NEW VERSION for general reading. This rendering is based upon that in the left-hand column, and the labors of many talented critics and translators of the Scriptures. The Readings of the oldest Manuscripts now known are sometimes incorporated, and always referred to. In this column the EMPHATIC SIGNS are introduced, by which the Greek Words of Emphasis are designated. For the use and beauty of this arrangement, the reader is requested to examine the annexed remarks on Signs of Emphasis. 

The Chapters and Verses of the Common Version have been retained, principally for convenience of reference. The reader, however, by following the paragraphs in the opposite column, need not be governed by these arbitrary divisions. Chapters and Verses were not introduced till the middle of the 16th century. 

3. Foot Notes and References.--The various Readings of the Vatican MS., Notes for the elucidation of the text, and References, are introduced at the bottom of the page. The Notes are critical, illustrative, explanatory, and suggestive. Old Testament quotations are always referred to, and copious parallel passages in the New. 

4. Appendix.--It is intended to add an Appendix to the Work, containing all the Geographical and Proper Names found in the New Testament, with Words and Phrases intimately connected with doctrinal subjects, alphabetically arranged. These will be critically examined, and the light of Biblical science thrown upon such as have given rise to sectarian disputes, and the cavils of infidels. 

SIGNS OF EMPHASIS

The Greek article often finds its equivalent in the English definite article the, but in the majority of cases it is evidently only a mark of emphasis. It frequently precedes a substantive, an adjective, a verb, an adverb, a participle or a particle, thus pointing out the emphatic words. The Greek article and Emphatic Pronouns exercise a most important influence on the meaning of words, and sometimes throw light on doctrines of the highest interest. The sacred penmen of the New Testament were, in the opinion of many eminent persons, guided by Divine inspiration in the choice of their words: and in the use of the Greek article there was clearly a remarkable discretion displayed. In fact, the Signs of Emphasis are incorporated with the words in such a manner that the latter cannot be stated without conveying at the same time to the intelligent mind an idea of the very intonation with which the sentence was spoken when it was written down. This peculiarity of the Greek language cannot be properly expressed in English except by the use of typographical signs: such as, Initial Capital letters, italics, SMALL CAPITALS and CAPITALS. The Common Version of the New Testament fails to give the reader a full conception of the meaning designed to be conveyed by the Greek original, in regard--

1st. To those Words which are connected with the Greek Article; 
2nd. To those Pronouns substantive which are intended to carry in themselves a peculiar emphasis, and, 
3rd. To those Adjectives and Pronouns which obtain a comparative importance, by reason of the position which they occupy in the Greek Text, with reference to some other words. To remedy these deficiencies, the following System of Notation is employed in the English column of the DIAGLOTT. 

1. Those Words rendered positively emphatic by the presence of the Greek Article are printed in Small Capitals: as, The LIFE was the LIGHT OF MEN. 

2. Those Pronouns Substantive which, in the Greek, are intended to be positively emphatic are printed in Black Letter: as, He must increase, but I must decrease. 

3. Those Adjectives and Pronouns which in the Greek are comparatively emphatic, as indicated by their position, are printed with an Initial Capital Letter: as, One Body, and One Spirit, even as ye are called in One Hope of your CALLING. 

4. All Greek Substantives, as being of more importance than other words, are also commenced with a Capital Letter [which actually is the basis of the bible code - ed] . 
By adopting these Signs of Emphasis, it is believed certainty and intensity are given to passages where they occur, as well as vivacity and earnestness to the discourses in which they are found; thus rendering the reader a hearer, as it were, of the life-words of Him who spoke as never man spoke, or which were enunciated by His inspired apostles.

The Codex Sinaiticus

For a slightly sanitized version of the history of the Codex please see http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/history.aspx
For a more entertaining version of its history please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus#Discovery

Essentially, according to Tischendorf, who is responsible for making the Codex Sinaiticus available to mankind, the trail started in a wastepaper basket in St Catherine's Monastery. Tischendorf was the Indiana Jones of the oldest bible Codices. He travelled the world on a mission to make the oldest codices available to all mankind. We are privileged to be able to help finish that mission.

We downloaded the entire Codex page by page from www.codexsinaiticus.org, stuck it together, deabbreviated it as in the table below and replaced regular sigmas with final sigmas at the end of words.

Download the entire New Testament of the Codex Sinaiticus as a Word 2000 document in the bwgrkl.ttf font here.

The Codex Vaticanus B

For a history and explanation of the importance of this Codex please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Vaticanus. The first the modern world knew of this codex was the publication of Tischendorf's typographical facsimile in 1867. He had to work under the most absurd conditions to produce it. He was given 2 weeks to finish the job of transcribing it. His work was brilliant given the time constraints that were imposed upon him by the Vatican. Here is a quote from http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2009727

For a long time, Vatican authorities were reluctant to make the codex available to Bible scholars. Eminent textual scholar Sir Frederic Kenyon related: “In 1843 [Bible scholar Konstantin von] Tischendorf, after waiting for several months, was allowed to see it for six hours. . . . In 1845 the great English scholar Tregelles was allowed indeed to see it but not to copy a word.” Tischendorf applied to see the codex again, but he was denied permission after copying 20 pages. Yet, as Kenyon reported, “renewed entreaty procured him six days’ longer study, making in all fourteen days of three hours each; and by making the very most of his time Tischendorf was able in 1867 to publish the most perfect edition of the manuscript which had yet appeared.” The Vatican later made a better copy of the codex available.

The better copy was the Cozza and Vercelloni edition of 1868.

We performed an OCR on an online copy of Tischendorf's 1867 edition of the Codex from www.archive.org at http://www.archive.org/stream/novumtestamentum00tisc#page/30/mode/2up

We used AABBYY Fine Reader 11 which was pretty accurate save for a few predictable errors. Then we painstakingly corrected the result for OCR errors and for Tischendorf's errors against the 1868 Cozza and Vercelloni text, checking every word which did not agree with the same word in the Westcott and Hort text which is largely based upon the Vatican B. 

Download the entire New Testament of the Codex Vaticanus as a Word 2000 document in the bwgrkl.ttf font here.

Here are the amendments to the Tischendorf 1867 edition that we made...