Tag: swordsearcher

SwordSearcher 5.3 out the door

SwordSearcher Bible Software version 5.3 is finally released. Yay!

In looking over the revision history, I think this is one of the most significant updates since 5.0 — not because of new content, but just because of new code. The new user editor should really be useful for people writing their own personal notes in the software, and the new Scan Text for Verse References tool should be an all-around time saver for anyone who reads Bible study stuff on the web.

Here’s what it does:

SwordSearcher Scan Text for Verse References tool

In the above example, I copied in text from a web page using the Windows clipboard. Each reference is automatically highlighted by SwordSearcher, and I can hold the mouse pointer over a reference to read the Bible text as I read along in the article. Obviously, clicking the verse links performs actions such as moving the Bible panel to the passage or loading the references in a Verse List panel.

This even works with “old style” commentaries that use Roman numerals for chapter identifiers.

(Geek alert: the rest of this blog post is programmer stuff.)

In order to handle this automatic verse reference discovery, I built a custom parser that uses a combination of Regular Expressions and good ‘ol Delphi code. SwordSearcher can understand over 2,000 forms of Bible book names and abbreviations. Jan Goyvaerts’ program RegEx Buddy was an invaluable aid in developing the RegExes SwordSearcher uses internally — I highly recommend it if you have to build RegExes in your line of work.

Anyway, version 5.3 was a lot of fun to develop. Now I can switch gears for a little while and do some other work that’s been waiting for me…

SwordSearcher 5.2 Released

A new version of SwordSearcher Bible Software is now available: version 5.2.

As I mentioned before, this new version adds “words of Christ in red letters” for the KJV, and also gives the ability to restrict a Bible search to just the words of Christ. The Deluxe study library also adds the following modules:

  • Morrish Bible Dictionary
  • Calvin’s Commentaries
  • Sketches of Jewish Social Life and The Temple: Its Ministry and Services

See the revision history for a complete list of new features.

The Bible in Klingon?

Shakespeare is best in the original Klingon, as every Star Trek fan knows.  The Bible… not so much.

Joel Anderson has used a lexicon to “translate” the Bible into Klingon and compiled a SwordSearcher “Klingon Language Version.” Tranlsate is in quotes because as Joel says on his website, “It is useful for for entertainment value, not linguistic purity.”

Here’s John 3:16 in the KJV:

John 3:16 vaD  joH’a’  vaj loved the  qo’,  vetlh  ghaH  nobta’  Daj  wa’  je  neH  puqloD,  vetlh  ‘Iv  HartaH  Daq  ghaH should  ghobe’  chIlqu’,  ‘ach  ghaj eternal yIn.

Here you can see the difficulties of using a lexicon-based translation system (heh — lots of people try to do that with a Strong’s dictionary on a routine basis!). Should and eternal don’t seem to have corresponding entries in the English-Klingon lexicon.

Sir Robert Anderson: An interesting theologian

Intersting Guy of the Day: Sir Robert Anderson. Sir Robert had quite a sharp wit, as anyone who has read his theological writings knows. He spent his life fighting criminal activity and was at Scottland Yard, but also fought against critics of the authority of Scripture as well, defending the authenticity of the Book of Daniel among other things.

By no means was he perfect, of course, as no writer on Biblical topics ever is. But overall, his life was a “net benefit” to Christianity and his books are currently enjoying more circulation today and continuing to influence students of Scripture.

I’m pleased to have been able to add several of his doctrinal writings to the latest version of SwordSearcher Bible Software.