Update: Wycliffe translation of the Vulgate

Bob Venem has finished an update of the Wycliffe Middle English translation of the Vulgate. He fixed the verse-mapping so that it will work smoother in the Browse Window and hopefully line up properly with other verses.

He provides the following notes with this release:

1. WYC contains the exact number of verses as the VUL, minus the Apocrypha.
2. The WYC.vmf (this is the verse mapping file) is the VUL.vmf file minus the Apocrypha references.
3. While the verses are aligned, the text used for WYC (from the Wesleyan Study Center) has some peculiar verse divisions compared to the VUL (or the KJV, for that matter). Not having a copy of Wycliffe available to see the original divisions (or if there even are divisions), and not knowing the reasoning used by those who created the Wyclif text files stored at the Wesleyan Study Center, I have left these peculiar divisions intact. If they
   prove bothersome, I can re-edit the file to match the Vulgate, but that will take a fair amount of time, so I am in no rush.

DOWNLOAD!

BibleWorks 7 New Module: Joüon-Muraoka Biblical Hebrew Grammar

Although I am partial to Greek resources, I am still excited by news of a new module being released today for BibleWorks 7:

Don't be fooled. There is another edition of Joüon-Muraoka floating around out there, but this module represents the latest edition, published in 2006 by the Pontifical Biblical Institute, but more information on the print edition at Eisenbrauns:

Already well known in its two-volume first edition [«Subsidia Biblica», n. 14], this is the most extensive revision yet of one of the most complete Hebrew Grammars available in English. That first edition of 1991 was, in its turn, based on the original work in French by Paul Joüon published for the first time in 1923. This edition brings the work up to the present by taking account of developments in our understanding of the Hebrew language during the intervening years. For the first time the work is presented in a single volume. Professor Muraoka hopes that this helps to make the book more attractive and the content easier to use. As with the earlier edition students of the Old Testament, Hebrew and Semitics who have a basic knowledge of Biblical Hebrew will find much useful insight and information here.

The module is available as a download for $75 via the BibleWorks website.

Update: Bible Geocoding Maps Module

Ever seen one of those commercials where the guy is on the plane and he's talking to the person next to him about how much money he saved on his hotel or some other thing and he's all proud of himself for getting a great deal. Well then the next person tells him how much he paid for the same thing and instantly the man is torn apart because he realizes he paid far more than the other person.

Well today is not one of those days. Today is an update to a wonderful Bible Atlas/Dictionary Combination project. It's not only a Bible dictionary, it's also an atlas, it's also a way to walk through the physical lands of the Scriptures.


DOWNLOAD! 54MB!!
(unzip file into c:\Program Files\BibleWorks 7\databases\)

NOTE: This module will require both an Internet connection and Google Earth to work effectively.

Real Books for Sale!

Speaking of not having access to the materials you need....

Oxford UP is having its twice a year (I believe) sale where you can get a great deal on real books. You will not find better prices for new books than what they offer here. (and if you can find better prices, someone needs to tell me!!)

The big Liddell-Scott-Jones is on sale for $80 (sic)

and the equally large Oxford Latin Dictionary is also on sale for $135.

In other words, those are both really great deals. Buy now, pay later.*


* Although I am not advising abusing your credit cards or buying a lexicon for yourself while letting your significant other go without some other necessity like an iPod just because you had to have an expensive lexicon. That's just silly.

Using Latin in BibleWorks

As promised, I thought I'd say a bit more about using Latin in BibleWorks. Right now it has its limitations, the biggest thing being that there is presently no Latin dictionary in BibleWorks. The reason for this is the lack of an e-text for any of the existing Latin dictionaries out there. BibleWorks could theoretically pay a lot of money to digitize a text themselves, but it's probably not the best use of their means and so for now anyway, one has to accept the fact that BibleWorks is still limited in this area. (For what it's worth, if you are aware of an e-text of any good Latin dictionaries, email the BibleWorks staff and maybe that will help get it included in a future update of BibleWorks)

However, it's not completely useless. In BibleWorks 7, the use of the External Link Manager greatly enhances the shortcomings within BibleWorks proper by being able to call up resources outside BibleWorks. Don't ask me how the External Link Manager works because I wouldn't be able to tell you, but let me show you how you can use it to help you slog through some Latin prose.

There are two ways to edit the External Links Manager. I will walk you through both ways.

First, through the menu system. Select Resources: Edit External Links. That will pop up a window like thus:
It's been a while since I've played around with this, so I can't remember if BW7 comes loaded with the option to use Perseus to lookup morphology for Latin. At this point it doesn't really much matter since Perseus' website has been down for over 10 days and doesn't appear to be making a quick recovery. So let's add a different method which will give both morphology and lexicon options. Click New and fill in the blanks so that your screen looks like the following:

You can't see the full entry in the box marked webpage, so note carefully that it must read the following: http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?<dummy>

The second way to edit the External Links is to open the text file called ShellExec which is found in the directory C:\Program Files\BibleWorks 7\init\ and add the following entry (use the next consecutive number for the External Link #):

//
// External Link #28
//
[Latin lookup in WORDS]
Operation = Open
Directory = NULL
File = http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?<dummy>
Parameters = NULL
MenuLocation = Browse Window Latin
TextType = Latin Text
MapToVersion = NULL
Lookup = Form
MenuText = Latin lookup in WORDS
Enabled = 1

Then save the ShellExec file and when you restart BibleWorks, this option will become available when you right click on a Latin word in a Latin database. Like so:

And once you select that, it will load the website in your default Internet browser (note: an Internet connection *IS* required in order to make this work).

Ta-da! And that is just another example of BibleWorks' ability to improvise so that while it may still not have all the resources someone might ever want, it can still make a few adjustments to help you out. For more on the External Link Manager, go visit the Official BibleWorks forums!

User-database: Suetonius (English and Latin)

It's taken a long time, but I finally put together a database of Suetonius' influential piece called the Lives of the Twelve Caesars. It doesn't much matter if you believe it's historical, fiction or a little of both, it is very fascinating reading for the bits and pieces of life that Suetonius decides to pass on to his readers. At times perhaps a little dry, but at other times very much like the soap opera culture of today. Maybe you won't catch all of his innuendo in the somewhat humane English translation, but it's there in the Latin. Trust me.

This is a very complex piece mostly because I chose to use a very complex (yet most excellent) source for the database, namely Bill Thayer's wonderful website Lacus Curtius.

Thus it's only fair to include a few notes before you get too far into the text itself in BibleWorks.

Here are a number of issues to be aware of:

1. Both the Latin and the English contain Greek characters (something BibleWorks is not yet well suited for). All of the Greek I have transposed into the BGreek Transliteration style (see this website for an explanation.)
2. Both the Latin and the English contain markings for notes. The note files themselves are included as Word documents. Perhaps in the future I will find a way to make them more functional within BibleWorks, but for now this will have to suffice. If you want the real deal with the notes experience, you should really use the website which carries this edition which I borrowed. Bill Thayer has spent who knows how many hours making this work very well annotated according to its initial publication with a few of his personal notes added. Once you have this database loaded into BibleWorks, if you click in the Browse Window area and press the letter "N" that will toggle Translator Notes on and off. This will show or hide the annotations which alert you to whether there are notes on a given portion of the text or not. In order to test this feature out go to S01 9:3 (Divus Julius). If you have clicked on the Browse Window and type N you should see a toggle on and off of a superscripted 2 after the word Ambranos. That is how the Translator notes work. If you want to find out what the actual note read, you will have to look it up in the accompanying Word file, or else you could visit the Bill Thayer website above.
3. In a few places in the text there are raised dots "•" These indicate notes/hyperlinks that were present on Bill's web page. If this interests you, go to his web page to find out what the note is.
4. Source. As I said, you will not find a better edition of Suetonius' Live of the Caesars than Bill Thayer's. This edition is drawn from his work. Thayer based his edition on the Loeb Classical Library public domain Suetonius book. The Latin text is that of Maximilian Ihm in the Teubner edition of 1907, with cosmetic changes as printed in the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1913-1914. The English translation is by J. C. Rolfe, printed in the same edition. Both text and translation are in the public domain. Once again, huge props to Bill Thayer and his work found at his website.
   

DOWNLOAD Latin version!
DOWNLOAD English translation!

Tomorrow I will comment a little more about using Latin in BibleWorks.

New Module - Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary

I'm not sure this new module really needs much of an introduction. Love it or hate it, the Keil and Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary is a classic in conservative scholarship. This is not a commentary in the style of Matthew Henry or even the Popular Commentary posted on the blog earlier. This is a technical and critical look at the Hebrew Bible with all of the insight of a past age ready to speak. This one is a must for anyone in the exegetical field, even if you don't agree with Keil and Delitzsch, they will make you think.

DOWNLOAD (14 MB!)

This version was put together by the good efforts of Mr. Willem Swanepoel of Krugersdorp, South Africa and we thank him for allowing other users to benefit from his work!

New Module - Bible Geocoding Maps

Another wonderful release by Pasquale for BibleWorks 7 users is the addition of files which were initially provided on the web by Bible Geocoding website. The files are used in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution License.

While you're at it, check out the entirety of the Bible Geocoding website and, BibleWorks user, Mark Hoffman's blog in which he discusses some of the map bonuses for Google Earth.

DOWNLOAD! (36MB!)

User-database: Bishops' Bible, 1568

Yet another addition by Bob Venem to the early English Bible collection is the Bishops' Bible edition of 1568. This version is a precursor to the King James Version and perhaps will be a little easier to understand than the Wycliffe edition. While the King James Version has become the gold star, the Bishops' Bible is an important piece in the history of the translation of the English Bible.

DOWNLOAD!

Note that both this database and the King James Version 1611 might have some verse mapping issues (mostly in the Psalms), these will eventually be fixed in further releases. Those will be released here, so stay tuned.

User-database: King James Version, 1611

Another great Bible version for those interested in the early English Bible, Bob Venem has now made available the King James Version of 1611 for users of BibleWorks. This will be a treat for people who can't get enough of their thees and thous.

DOWNLOAD!

User-database: John Wycliffe's Middle English Translation of the Vulgate (1388)

For fans of the (pre-)Reformation period, the history of the Bible, Beowulf, and Bible databases in general, Bob Venem, a fellow BibleWorks user, has made available to all BibleWorks users the text of John Wycliffe's translation of the Bible from the Vulgate into Middle English. This will be a fun one for the linguists and philological nerds out there including myself!

DOWNLOAD!

UPDATE: (4/11/07) Files were updated to include James (which was inadvertently missing from the first release)

New Modules - Nadal's Gospel Illustrations and Doré Bible Gallery

Two new unique additions to the BibleWorks 7 free user add-on modules involve illustrations of the Gospel stories. They are interesting because of their antiquity (although some would say a few hundred years wouldn't quite qualify as antiquity), and also because they show that just as a written commentary can be an interpreter of the Bible, so also pictures and all forms of art can also interpret the Bible and arguably reach even more people. A picture is worth a thousand words, well then these additions should equal a few sizable tomes.

Jerome Nadal's Evangelicae Historiae Imagines ("Illustrations of the Gospel Stories") date from 1593-1595. This is a collection of 153 engravings meant for use in prayer and meditation of the Gospel stories. Nadal is a historical figure some may not be familiar with but he was one of the ten founding members of the Society of Jesus (or the Jesuits). The pictures are tagged to the Bible verses which they are depicting and each picture is scene which is explained by Latin captioning below. While it's always nice to know what the Latin is saying, if you are reading along with the English (or your preferred language), you'll probably be able to figure out what the Latin is saying since these pictures are a visual interpretation of the narrative of the text. If you are interesting in learning more about it, see this website.

The Doré Bible Gallery is another module which covers a number of different scenes in the Bible. These date from the 1860's. While the author of the pictures may be less famous, no doubt you will recognize a few of these pictures because they are widely used or imitated. For more on the Doré Bible Gallery, see this website.


DOWNLOAD Nadal's Gospel Illustrations! 25 MB


DOWNLOAD Doré Bible Gallery! 43 MB

(By the way, lest you think my hand was responsible for these great modules, both of them were put together by Pasquale Amicarelli. Our continued thanks to him for putting together these files and sharing them with us!)