BibleWorks - currently in its 9th version - is a language-focused Bible software program available for PCs and Macs. Campbell has a license for the software, which can be used on the library's laptop computers. It will be available on the desktop computers in the Information Commons area once some licensing issues are resolved.
BibleWorks enables the user to have a variety of search and translation functions at their fingertips.
For a more robust look at BibleWorks 9, you may want to watch some of the videos at right. But below are some instructions for some of the more common tasks you can perform using BibleWorks.
Locate a Particular Verse in Various Translations
1. First select the Bible version to view. To do this, left click on the Version Button (beneath the search command box at the upper left). Here you find options to "Choose Display Versions." For example, if you want to display the New Revised Standard Version. you would left click on the Version Button, select "Choose Display Versions," view under the "English" versions, and click on the matching checkbox (NRS).
2. After choosing your display versions, left click on the Command Line and type book, chapter, verse (e.g., 1 John 1:1). [The command line also accepts shorthand citations, e.g., "1jo 1 1".] The verse appears in the Results Window (in the center section of the screen) in each of the "Display Versions" you selected.
Read a Verse with Surrounding Verses
Click on the "Toggle Browse Mode" option (the button with footprints) To view the individual verse again, click on the toggle button one more time.
Paste a Verse Into Another Document
Highlight the verse in the Results Window, right click, and choose the option "Copy String to Clipboard." You can now paste the verse into your document.
Compare Translations of a Verse
Click on the toggle button (the button with footprints) to show multiple versions which you've chosen using the Version Button. If you have a grasp of Hebrew and/or Greek, a good strategy is to include the original language versions (e.g. WTT and BGT) along with multiple English versions (e.g., NAS, NIV, NRS). After your verse is entered in the command line, the mulitple versions will display in the Results Window.
Compare Parallel Gospel Passages
To open side-by-side windows containing parallel passages from the Gospels, select "Tools" > "Viewing the Text" > "Synopsis Window" from the main menu.
Compare Versions in Parallel
From the BibleWorks menu, select "Tools" > "Viewing the Text" > "Parallel Versions." Select the languages and Bible versions you would like to compare by locating a version and selecting "Add". All of the versions you have selected will be listed in the bottom portion of the screen. Once you have selected all versions of interest, click "OK." A parallel versions box will open, with each selected version in its own column. You can navigate these versions independently or simultaneously using the navigation buttons provided.
BibleWorks has posted a variety of video tutorials that explain various functions of the software. We strongly recommend checking these out before diving headlong into BibleWorks, which is - for all its virtues - a complicated piece of software!
Some additional tips and activities are available here.